Cultivar Review: Banana Taffy by That Kid from Chelsea

Banana Taffy (Gastro Pop pheno #4)- @thatkidfromchelsea2.0 Nose: Fruity, fuel, musty, bananas, sour, tart, burnt rubber Inhale: Fruity, musty, tart, floral, sweet cheese, gassy Exhale: Musty, gassy, tart, fruity, piney, gassy Lineage/Genetics 🧬: Grape Gas x Apples n’ Bananas Bred by: Thatkidfromchelsea Grown by: Thatkidfromchelsea Terpene Profile: Unknown

Banana Taffy Cannabis Cultivar (Strain) Review

Hey what’s up everyone? Hope everyone is enjoying summer including the heat wave we’ve seen lately. Even though this review won’t be covering any beach days or hiking trails, the cultivar I will be diving into today is one of those quintessential ones if you’re partaking in the activities previously mentioned. A little over a month back, I finally ran into Thatkidfromchelsea and decided to pick up some locally-grown heat from him. One of those included a Gastro Pop pheno #4, aka Banana Taffy, he’s been running solid for an over a year now which I have yet to tried. If you’re familiar with his work, then you know his staple cultivar, T-Scottie has made some shockwaves amongst local enthusiasts around the Boston area. The Gastro Pop phenos he went through last year had some interesting finds too, which included this Banana Taffy I recently picked up from him. While I have been able to try other phenos of his from the Gastro Pop hunt (most memorably the Blueberry Waffles), my taste buds at this particular time persuaded me to try the Banana Taffy. Personally, any cultivar containing bananas doesn’t always hit home although, from what I’ve seen from the offerings in this pheno hunt, I was down to see what the hype was about as Thatkidfromchelsea had deemed this a keeper. Let’s waste no more time and get into the facts! When I proceeded to spark the Banana Taffy in an Element paper, the initial inhales are electrically fruity, forming an almost perfect concoction of both grapes and bananas. This also included a thick cloud of mustiness through each pull that tended to dry out the fruity flavor. Nonetheless, both parents from the lineage could be felt early and often. The exhales presented a more mustier taste than on the inhale, following through on the fruity taste of bananas. A steady dose of fuel terps came into play right about a fourth of the way through. Up to this point, the pulls were moderately gassy even though they didn’t do enough damage to provoke me to cough. As I got a little ways into the sesh I noticed the floral taste early turning a bit sour, ultimately being washed away by a sweeter, banana-peel back end. The fruity notes continued to pound my palette as the grapes from early had sour notes to them. I feel like the banana taste was sweet which, in turn, leveled out this cultivars overall taste making it a rather smooth smoke in the early stages. The burn the Banana Taffy was ok where, in certain cases, the joint would go out due to the resin build-up in it. This resulted in a lighter-to-dark gray ash with a fairly hefty terp drip that graced the perimeter of the joint. Heading into the second half of the sesh the fuel terps on the backend of each pull began to pick up. The fruitiness felt from the first half of the sesh is, more or less, paralleled. Although, at this point, some of the pulls were considerably harsher than others, the taste of grapes and bananas amongst the fuel notes remained prime. As opposed to the sour notes earlier, the fruity taste on both the inhale and exhale were a lot sweeter, allowing me to hone in on a distinct, banana chip-like taste. It also felt as if I was pulling in light notes of bubblegum and candy at times later in the sesh. Personally, I felt like the smoke the Banana Taffy provided was decent, and probably better than I expect given my disdain for banana-flavor cultivars. I think overall the terp profile was buzzing on this one while the smoke could’ve been dialed in just a bit more. When I received the Banana Taffy from Thatkidfromchelsea, it came packaged in a good, old-fashioned ziplock bag, which I’ve come to known as his trademark style for presenting cultivars. The first impressions I received regarding the nose on this cultivar was a combination of sourly tart berries and bananas. The fruity elements from both the Apples n Bananas as well as the Grape gas were on display when the nug was in solid form. As I took the humongous, awkwardly-shaped nugs out of the bag and held them closer to my nose I gained a sense for that fruity fuel odor this cultivar delectably gave off. Personally, I thought each one looked flamboyant and were presented fresh to consume. Lighter to darker green colors along with noticeable patches of violets under a mask of trichomes made for a swipe appearance to the Banana Taffy. There were certain times, when looking at this cultivar, that the violet and trichromes formed to reflect a blare of light. While in hand, the nugs felt soft but managed to tickle my palms when moving them around. Once I broke a couple open, I honed in on an intense odor of fruit and fuel. Aromas of burnt rubber and grapes were highly noticeable during this stage whereas the backend tended to have a sweet, apple sauce-like smell. The soft, crisp exterior made it a synch to break the buds down by hand, resulting in a very good yield. After doing so, the fuel smell amplified even more as the smell of bananas and grapes became increasingly more tart. The dry pull on the joint was more sweet than what was presented in the nose, ultimately giving off a fuel-like taste of bananas and grapes. The medicinal effects that ensued from the Banana Taffy were initially energetic and spiritually lifting. I always noticed within the first half hour from the onset of effects that my thoughts would become supercharged, making it easier to think and problem-solve quicker. While this cultivar did provide adequate body effects early on, there was no denying how impressionable the heady effects were. Throughout the early stages I also noticed that my creativity within my thought process becoming enhanced. This made being around people and engaging in social activities quite feasible, and fun. I personally found the Banana Taffy going great with being outdoors. I received this right after Memorial Day, around the time when the weather was picking up, which made the experience from the medicinal effects all the more worth while. Additionally, the medicinal effects provided from this cultivar managed bolster my current mood as well bring my self-confidence to another level. About an hour into the effects is when the body effects hit their peak. During this time I realized extremely smooth, slow-melting pain relief effects. This hit particularly well in my back and shoulders, working its way down to my legs periodically. This balanced out the steadfast cerebral effects while producing a sudden comfort that made it ideal for any type of post-exercise activity. In my opinion, the only area in which the medicinal effects fell flat was duration. When it was all said and done, I only felt the effects in play for an hour and half at max. Nonetheless, despite this one setback I did think the effects, while present, were superb that left me lingering for even more. After having a chance to try the Gastro Pop #4, also known as Banana Taffy, I thought it had very likeable qualities although I didn’t find it as impressive some of the previous offerings I’ve had the chance to try from Thatkidfromchelsea. The first impressions of the Banana Taffy proved to be solid. The appearance of this cultivar was gorgeous whereas the nose proved to be true to its lineage. Anyone with a knack for fruity terps will not think twice on trying this as notes from both the Apples n’ Bananas and Grape Gas intertwined seamlessly. Personally, I felt like the smoke on this one drew some mixed reactions. The terp profile honed in on all the notes the nose had to offer which, in turn, made the flavor impactful at certain times while smoking this. However, there were instances where the smoke was a bit too harsh which took away from the overall experience especially in the later stages. I did believe the medicinal effects that followed rebounded some of the shortcomings I saw with the smoke. The balanced effects between both the body and mind made it an ideal daytime smoke. All in all, I didn’t think the Banana Taffy was as impressionable as in Kid from Chelsea’s arsenal such as the T-Scottie or the Blueberry Waffles. With that being said, I still thought this was a solid smoke that suited me well when I was looking for something more robust and fruity. I wanted to thank Kid from Chelsea for getting this into my hands. He is testing a bunch of new phenos as we speak so I’m sure I’ll have a couple up in the near future.