I’m an oft-stoned creature of routine. I buy 90% of my weed from Oregrown in Portland because they’ve made me a happy customer over what must be 5-something years now with their consistently well-curated selection of craft cultivators and complex cultivars.
In this review we explore:
The other 9% of the time I’m probably buying from Kaleafa in Beaverton in a pinch or from Somewhere in Portland for that last minute pre-dinner doobie when hanging downtown. .
Then there is approximately 1% of the time where I venture outside of my usual haunts and find some newness that truly excites me and gets my lungs salivating.
My recent trip to Archive Portland netted me some amazing flower in a quarter ounce of their house Oishii and a quarter ounce of Trop Fire Breath from a farm that goes by the pretty fuckin rad name of Stardust Cultivation.
The Trop Fire Breath stood out to me instantly because I’m one of those Tropicana Cookies kind of dudes, specifically a true lover of all things Tangie. There’s just something about that special combination of shit loads of myrcene, beta-caryophyllene, and dash of alpha-pinene that gives my shnoz the fizz.
That said, I’ve been disappointed with Tropicana Cookies crosses in the past so I didn’t have high expectations before asking for a sniff of the Stardust Cultivations Trop Fire Breath jar, incorrectly assuming it was “just another Trop Cookies cross”.
What I smelled surprised me. While there definitely are those seductively perfume-y Tangie terps this Trop Fire Breath also had an extra bit of a twangy kind of bite, a little kick behind it that instantly reminded me of this amazing Tang Breath I got from Fox Hollow Flora a while back.
Turns out Trop Fire Breath is a cross of Secret Tang Breath (Tang Breath x Secret Cookie) and Coolie High (Guava Cooler x Woo Tang Breath)! Wild isn’t it?
But once you understand that Tang Breath is that candy Tropicana with a funky Mendo cross and that Secret Cookie is a cross between dessert-tasting Cherry Pie and bready fresh GSC and that Guava Cooler is a cross between refreshing Guava and spicy Kush Mints and that then there is the enigma that is Wu Tang Breath (a 2nd Tang Breath) and you come to realize that this is like a deconstructed Tropicana Cookies but in a much more complex way pulling key flavor characteristics from a broader variety of parent genetics!
It reminds me of something a fine dining establishment that specializes in gourmet infused food would serve as a post-dinner smoke.
TL;DR the terps on this bitch fuckin slap and if you like Tropicana Cookies and/or sweet citrusy Tangie crosses then you should try some Trop Fire Breath. It is indeed “Trop” and it is indeed “fire” and there is definitely some funky twang “breath” to it for all you mendo freaks out there.
There’s a lot to like about Trop Fire Breath besides just its prominent Tangie characteristics. Below I dig into the physical form of the buds, go more in-depth into the smell, before finally explaining a bit more about the type of high you can expert from these genetics.
Appearance: Dense Dark Little Digits
In terms of appearance, these are really cute little nugs that you see sometimes with a kind of three-pronged bud structure. I refer to them as big middle finger buds because instead of one conical shaped cola you’ve got sort of a Patrick star upper torso shape going on. I see this structure quite a bit and they’re usually on the small-to-medium side of things, with this batch on the medium-larger side of that spectrum.
In terms of density, these are obviously well-grown. Stardust Cultivation is yet another data point among many for me that organic no-till grows are the best grows.
There’s not a lot of air in there but they’re not like overly dense like vacuum sealed buds for example. They’ve been appropriately cured so when you break them up into your grinder the intensity of the smell increases.
Given the consistent density it doesn’t take a lot to roll up a joint, at least one and a quarter size doinks that I usually smoke when I’m reviewing weed. The colors are quite beautiful – there’s purples, dark purples, almost blacks mixed in with greens and oranges.
These nugs are definitely on the more colorful side, not just in each bud but from bud-to-bud as well which is quite interesting, usually my flower is pretty consistent in color from nug-to-nug.
I’m presuming some of this has to do with which part of the plant the nug was harvested from; the very top colas vs the lower ones or just the ones that are closer to light might end up looking a little bit different than maybe a shoulder flower from midway down the plant, for example.
But I can’t say for certain A) because I’m not a grower and B) because this is my first experience with these particular genetics, and it might just be a colorfully creative plant – who am I to say?
Regardless, they are pretty lil thangs. The bag appeal is there; if you’re sharing these, people will likely perk at least one brow at intrigue in terms of the colors and the sassy smell in particular.
These aren’t the biggest buds in the world, and as much as I like the sheer spectacle of massive buds, smaller buds also smoke fantastic. In fact, my favorite strain of all time Tropicana Cookie doesn’t produce particularly intimidating buds but goddamn do they sure as hell smell good and smoke smooth.
Appearance isn’t really the standout feature of this flower, that’s going to be the smell and the sensation, the latter being the most important part of the experience.
Smell: Take Delight, My Trop Tangie Lovers
As soon as I gave this jar of buds a sniff, I was 99% confident that was what I was going to walk out of Archive with that day, even though I still smelled another four or five strains after this and even though it was my first time hearing about Trop Fire Breath and Stardust both.
If you’ve read any of my other reviews or seen my guide on how to do your dispensary shopping, winging it and buying an unfamiliar strain from an unfamiliar farm (without a personal recommendation) is something I generally advise against.
My philosophy has been to buy from trusted living soil farms doing things the right way without pesticides and herbicides that I’ve smoked in the past and have established a relationship of trust with. This is why I have recommended farms on The Hallowed Gram’s homepage and why I generally frequent the same set of dispensaries repeatedly.
Buying from trusted farms and trusted genetics is one way to ensure a high hit rate when it comes to investing your hard earned dollars. Going off just genetics though is one way to discover new farms to mix into your rotation and potentially expand your buying options.
This genetic aspect is what sparked my interest in Trop Fire Breath. Yes, TROP, I know TROP.
I’m a devoted member of the cult of TROP now and forever, so I’ll admit the name did draw my attention. To be honest though, I’ve smoked a lot of different Tropicana crosses and none of them have rivaled the original Tropicana Cookies, at least not yeat.
I find that a lot of breeders making these Trop crosses overly fixate on the Trop aspect at the detriment of the Cookies, and usually it’ll be like Tropicana Cookies crossed with some other really fruit-forward type sweet candy strain just to try to heighten that sweet candy note that the tangy Tropicana Cookies makes it famous for even more.
I’m looking at you SuperBoof..
So there was definitely a little bit of a gamble here in terms of picking this up, as I didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t even get the name of the parent genetics while I was at the dispensary. I bought this purely off the smell alone.
The smell is like, well, I’ll say the smell is to me, if I had to describe it in the least sexy terms, would be if you crossed a really good cut of Tropicana Cookies with a really good cut of Tang Breath.
I say that mostly to try to accentuate the fact that this has a really nice Tangie presence throughout the experience, but with a more vivid punch, like applying a warm filter to an Instagram picture.
From smelling the whole flower to breaking it up where you’re releasing even more of those terpenes that were bound up in the plant you’re immersed in waves of bright zesty tangerine-dominant citrus. Rolling it up and dry pulling gives you that classic Tropicana sweet-sweet, and then to smoking it where you’re getting that Tangie flavor.
The lingering smoke after blazing picks up where the Tangie leaves off with a fun spicy tang, like white pepper and slightly over-ripened papaya. You could probably use this stuff as fruit fly bait if you were a frog.
So, yeah, if I haven’t already made it abundantly clear, if you’re a fan of Tangie,or anything clementine-y orange-y or zingy citrus then I think you would like Drop Fire Breath, and likewise, if you’re a fan of Tang Breath, I think you would love it.
Trop Fire Breath, because one of the parent strains turns out to be Secret Breath, which has a Tang Breath parent as mentioned at the introduction to this review, makes it a more complex smoke than many other popular Trop crosses.
So, Tangie lovers, Tropicana Cookies lovers, and Tang Breath lovers should all seriously consider trying some Drop Fire Breath if you can get your hands on it. Because the name doesn’t lie, it’s pretty fire when it comes to those drop tangy smells and flavors that fans cherish.
Sensation: Fire Breath Wants To Make Friends
The “Fire Breath” part of the name might sound a bit intimidating to some. Is this going to be very spicy? Is it going to have that black pepper kind of terpene that makes me sneeze? Do I need to have a glass of milk on standby when blazing this stuff?
Well, I do occasionally enjoy a post-blaze glass of whole milk and I will say that I think “Fire” in “Trop Fire” here is being used in the slang sense of the word of it being “dope-ass weed”.
Sure, the sensation is potent, but not spicy. The intensity of the high is something experienced smokers will enjoy. It’s not one of those tepid rain cloud strains that are less impactful, you’re getting your money’s worth with Stardust no doubt about it.
One aspect of this strain I enjoy is that it’s kind of a classic “fun times and lots of laughs” kind of weed. It’s not going to knock you out and cement you in your couch for 3 hours. It’s not going to make you sleepy, geeky, nor does it make me feel particularly productive, which is something Tangie forward citrus strains tend to do.
Admittedly, writing this, it’s not the easiest weed to keep a train of thought going, which may be obvious at this point to the reader, in which case I do apologize, I’m trying my best to be authentic with my reviews, and that means composition under influence.
It’s definitely a fun weed. Smoking this before a for a walk aka siDe quEsT would be rad. It’s an exploratory smoke. I’ve gone on some pretty deep YouTube wormholes with it.
It’s a moderately energizing strain, you’re going to stay awake, and the gears in your mind are going to be moving, but in a more merry than manic kind of way.
I think I laugh easier, let go of daily stressors more easily, and just kind of feel nice and like cloud nine kind of stony, like a real bouncy, fun sort of sensation.
Trop Fire Breath is a less scary medieval dragon that’s going to kill you and more Charmander-like in its friendly nature. It’s not a big bad Charizard, it’s definitely more Charmander, maybe even Chameleon because of the little extra kick over other straight Trop Cookie/Tang Breath genetics.
Overall It’s a fun strain that smells dope, tastes great, and makes you high and happy. So, which is, I think, kind of what most people are often looking for when they want to smoke weed in the first place?
I listened to a lot of chill smooth jazz while blazing Trop Fire Breath. Music just hit right in that “golden hour” kind of way. It’s thanks to Trop Fire Breath for creating the YouTube rabbit hole I traveled down that led me to discovering Glass Beams and I’m thankful for that.
Overall this is a great offering from Stardust Cultivation. This is my first experience with one of their harvests and I’m very impressed. I’m definitely going to buy Stardust Cultivation again in the future as they’ve won my trust in both flavor profile and grow quality.
And to Archive, thanks for stocking this, and stocking Stardust Cultivation in particular. They had a couple other strains that smelled quite interesting as well, but I’ll be saving those for a visit in the future.
If you’re looking for something exciting hit up Archive in SE Portland and give the Stardust offerings a moment of your time. You’d be a fool not to.
