Birds of Paradise is a strain I thoroughly enjoyed when I tried it in distillate form (review here) in early 2019. The tropical and fruity tastes, coupled with the balanced sativa effects, made for a memorable strain.

Naturally, when I saw the flower form become available at my recently opened local GrowHealthy, I had to try it to see how it compared to one of my favorite sativa distillates from last year.

Quick Facts:

Birds of Paradise (Sativa)

Price at time of review: $50/eighth 

Lineage: Kali Snapple x Blue Heron

Batch/Harvest Number: F-042220-BIRD-1

Cannabinoids

THC: 19.56%

CBD: 0.00%

Total Cannabinoids: 19.56%

Terpenes

Beta-Myrcene

Trans-Carophyllene

Alpha-Pinene

Ocimene

Appearance/Cure

This batch of Birds of Paradise is very visually appealing, with one of the thickest blankets of trichomes that I’ve seen. Various shades of medium green are accented with bits of deep violet, all speckled with medium orange pistils.

This flower is some of the driest I’ve gotten from GrowHealthy. Even then, it isn’t “crumble apart in your fingers dry”, but it is not the same quality as what I’ve come to expect from most of the other eighths.

The trim and everything else seems good. The flower’s grow and cure is still quality – just not the outstanding quality I usually see from this MMTC.

Appearance/Cure Rating: 5.50/10.00

Smell/Taste

After enjoying the tropical pineapple and fruit flavors of the distillate last year, I was really disappointed with this batch of Birds of Paradise flower. There is next to zero smell to speak of here. Many patients use “hay” to describe flower that doesn’t have a good smell, but I feel that has become overused, so I try to avoid it whenever possible. But.. this batch does smell somewhat like dry hay.

The only other flower I’ve ever gotten that had such a distinct lack of smell was Surterra’s Myakka Native flower that I got in late 2019.

I searched Reddit to see if any other patients had this issue with this Birds of Paradise flower, but couldn’t find anything conclusive, except for a few posts that alluded to their flower having a tropical fruity smell – like the distillate tasted.

Maybe I got an “off” batch? Please drop a comment below and let me know if you’ve gotten Birds of Paradise flower that had a strong or otherwise enjoyable smell. If enough evidence arises that shows this could be an outlier batch, I’ll try it again in the future and adjust the batch number and rating here if needed. I think the only way this flower could score lower in this category, is if it actually had a bad smell. Even that would be subjective, and arguably better than the total lack of smell I found here.

Unfortunately, the taste doesn’t do much to redeem the lack of smell (which the Myakka Native did.) The smoke isn’t harsh, but it strangely has almost no flavor. It just tastes like burnt plant material.

I’m really hoping this batch was just a bad one for the terpenes. There has to be something here, because the distillate tasted wonderful, and it uses cannabis-derived terpenes from this strain.

Again: Please let me know if your batch smelled/tasted good! I will update this section to more accurately reflect the “big picture” if so.

Smell/Taste Rating: 2.00/10.00

Effects/Medical Use

Where it lacked in the smell and taste when compared to the Birds of Paradise distillate, the flower does manage to match the effects. These are more mellow sativa effects, in my opinion.

Cerebral energy and a slight mood elevation are present for me, but I never seem to get that strong motivation or perception shift as I do with other sativas. Truthfully, Birds of Paradise feels much more like a sativa-dominant hybrid that preserves some of the “jolt” that many of us look for in sativa strains – this can especially be felt in higher doses.

Maybe it’s due to having tried dozens of other strains since my experience with the distillate, but the effects of the Birds of Paradise flower did not seem to stand out to me as much. It’s not that they are bad or lacking; they just don’t seem to have the same appreciable medicinal benefits as many of my favorite sativa strains do.

I’d still recommend this strain for use anywhere from the early morning to early afternoon; it’s not a strain I find useful for winding down or relaxing. This is more of a good fit for a lazy day at home or in nature.

Possibly good for treating:

• Depression and related anxiety
• Minor aches and pains
• Minor gastrointestinal issues
• General relaxation

I’m definitely no medical doctor, so please take the preceding conditions only as my own personal observations from using this strain and having experience with a multitude of different cannabis strains. Everybody is different, and every body reacts differently to various medications. 

Effects Rating: 5.00/10.00

Overall Rating: 4.16/10.00

Overall, I would best describe Birds of Paradise as a “fair” sativa strain from GrowHealthy.

I’m really hoping that I got a bad batch – I want to like this flower after enjoying the distillate so much. I think if I do end up trying it again, I will opt for the Littles, so the financial loss isn’t as great if it turns out that this is just an unimpressive strain. I’ve gotten bad batches of other strains before, only to find they were much better in future batches. Every variable makes a difference in the final product.

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