i haven't tried ECSD but i have smoked a good amount of original diesel a couple years ago. can you compare the choc. diesel to that if u had the original d. i definitely want to include the choc. d in the vault but so much shit is available. and i have a ton of older shit to try to germ. little space and short time windows to grow = seriously suck if you're me right now. lol Yet, being able to try is comforting to me at least and now it's just a matter of getting them ready so i can go for the green finish line.
I would say I've had the original diesel #1 dozen or so times in at least half o buys/trades, under the headband name. It was always import from Cali, but top notch. Totally can see why it has the headband moniker, regardless of the actual genetic's given name. It has a really chem91, gassy, skunky flavor with some more pine and minty flavors added. Obviously really good stuff. The headband always glued me to a chair if I sat in it, good giggly/conversation/thinking/creativity weed. I remember the crash from that being rough if I overdid it. Nap time. If you're looking for a cross that should bring an interesting variation/continuation to this I suggest Blast Chiller from WyEast. My boy just ran through 6 seeds and every plant was awesome, I really enjoyed it.
ECSD is very similar to the original diesel #1 in a lot of ways. Way more skunk smell and diesel taste on the exhale, coats the mouth/throat/nose/whatever you were wearing/occupying. Stanky shit, cannot be stressed enough. The high on both starts off kinda confusing roller coastery, about 45-60 minutes depending on how much you toke. After that you're kind of put into motion, mainly from the albeit enjoyable slight goofy paranoia it gives me, most chem stuff hits me this way. The last 3-4 hours are wonderful, you're impaired to an almost imperceptible degree with good feels and great functionality. You can take 2 hits or 14 and there's an astronomical difference between the experiences, I usually smoke this before 4 and don't get super blasted in the AM. Little to no crash, very fresh feeling at the end of it. I like that there is basically no tolerance buildup and a very high ceiling. Its a terrific plant as well if your environment is on point, long flowering time be damned.
Chocolate diesel is a cross that really made the ECSD experience different in lots of ways but still retaining the absolute volume of stank. I've grown a good number of Useful's S1s and know the clone I've sampled is the same. The ECSD shines through but there's more nuance to the smell, starts off sweet fuel and skunk. It's almost pre98 bubba on the finish, that level of dark chocolate/coffee with that diesel skunk hitting you again. The high is a bit more even in getting your body and mind equally debilitated. You can smoke a tad all day and keep going if you want. You can smoke yourself retarded and take a nap. This stuff just has a super unique vibe to it but there's a lot of familiarity to the diesel family. It grows very nicely, yields a little better than ECSD in a commercial environment, a less finicky plant for sure.
Sorry it took me this long to see your post. Hopefully you get a chance to grow it soon.