Doja Pak is the barometer of quality in California and a must-try brand for anyone who’s interested in West Coast cannabis culture. They’ve got a huge billboard over the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the “exclusive” on the bag is absolutely warranted. Doja’s RS-11 strain lit the whole world on fire when it dropped last year. The demand for RS-11 (Sunset Sherbert x OZK Pheno #11) in Europe is higher than almost any other strain in history. EU users on Doja Pak’s community Telegram account are constantly clamoring for RS-11, leading shops like the Netherland’s Dizzy Duck to stock a steady supply.
In addition to RS-11, Studio 54, Zoap and Rainbow Sherb #40, Doja Pak is mainly known for two other strains. The first is Rainbow Belts (Zkittlez x Do Si Do reversal), which was originally bred by Archive Seeds. The second is Bixcotti, a rebranded cut of Connected’s Biscotti (Gelato 25 x South Florida OG Kush) cultivated by Doja’s crew. These seem to be marketed as their lower-tier options, despite Doja stating that Rainbow Belts is one of his favorite Doja Pak offerings because of the Zkittlez flavor.
Doja Pak Operations
During his appearance on the First Smoke of the Day podcast, Doja Pak explains that his operation is mostly distribution (around 78 minutes in). Having pushed Connected’s work for years and boasting strong relationships with Alien Labs, Cookies’ Berner and Mario Guzman of Sherbinski’s, Ryan Bartholomew has amassed serious buying power — but that’s not the extent of his operation. Doja Pak also works with cultivators and affiliate brands all over Northern California to hunt for and deliver some of the most elite cannabis destined for retail. We’re not talking middle-shelf, mixed environment, plain label, daily driver bud here! These are fresh flowers, trichome-covered, smooth-smoking, flavorful, with intricately-planned genetics that leave nothing but white ash behind.
How Doja Exclusive Hunts Phenos
With all these enormous facilities at their disposal, Doja Pak runs pheno hunts that start with 100 or more seeds. For the Rainbow Sherb phenos, Doja believed that the potency from Sherbinski’s Sunset Sherbert played off a guava pheno of OZ Kush in a way that mixed consistently outrageous potency with distinct flavor. They were lucky enough to find the mixture they were looking for from the eleventh plant they ran during that 100-seed hunt, but they also found strong, distinct expressions from the #54 pheno, the F2 cross, and later the #40 pheno.
According to Doja, the #18 pheno is a more “key lime” flavored smoke and was the original Rainbow Sherbert pheno that he’s been smoking personally for almost a decade in Sacramento. Wizard Trees and Doja have both stated that they like the RS-11 because of its even distribution of candy sweet and gassy fuel flavor. Blackleaf and Doja both asserted on the FSOTD podcast that the benchmark of fruity flavor in cannabis lay with Forbidden Fruit, Blueberry and Tangie, which are much more vaguely rotten-berry sweet rather than the distinct candy flavor you get from the Sherb and the Zkittlez genetics.
Review: Hindenburg
Hindenburg is confirmed by Doja to be a cross of Bixcotti x Helium (Zkittles by OG Eddy). The bud came in a retail sealed black mylar bag with a heat transfer label and authentication seal on the back. The label boasted 32% THC content, but I take that metric with a grain of salt because it’s not necessarily indicative of the overall experience. Opening the bag, I was met with the Doja exclusive print over iridescent mylar and some incredibly pungent, dense, tightly trimmed deep green and purple nugs.
Many California brands are chasing a wave of “candy gas” aroma and flavor, and this strain is no different. It mixes the sweet grapegruit-lime funk from Helium with the doughy-sweet and fuel notes from Bixcotti. On grind, the scent and flavor became even more pungent and distinct from the lime green blend. This strain arrived fresh (its packing date was 10/24), so it was covered in trichomes and easy to mold into a joint or bong slide. If you’ve ever watched one of Doja’s Instagram stories or YouTube videos, he always smokes joints with no less than a full pack of Doja weed, and the joints burn consistently almost bone white. This imported pack is no different, smoking quite smoothly. The flavor coming from a joint of Hindenburg is generally pretty sweet with a bit of fuel on the back. In my Volcano, the flavor notes were much more distinctive, with the sweetness from the Helium full force on the front end and a gassy mouth-coating aftertaste.
Review: Biscotti x Glue x OreoZ
After trying Doja Pak’s Bixcotti x Glue x OreoZ, I’d say that the strain is not perfect. I would place it on the enthusiast tier of cannabis rather than what I’d consider elite or connoisseur grade. There are a lot of things to like about the strain, such as a gorgeous nug structure, excellent freshness, exotic tinges of purple and a pungent scent filled with doughy and fuel-tinged notes. Unfortunately, the flavor and effect profile just didn’t land with me. My personal preference tends to stray more towards the sweet funk from OG crosses than the more earthy expression from Gorilla Glue, and Oreoz can have a bit of an overwhelming effect.
Additionally, this cross did not seem as stable as Doja’s Cherry Gelato or Darwin Farms’ Zerbert, which have much more dialed-in effect and flavor profiles. This is probably indicative of being a brand-new cross. Overall, I felt like the beginning effect was not proportionally potent to the burnout I felt after the comedown.