Fernway “mango” terpene infused joints

Packaged 03/12/2025

Purchased 05/14/2025

5x 0.5 g pre-rolled joints, $35

These are a flavor-chemistry fail.

Those of us who are familiar with the Mass Cannabis scene have noted the high-end “features” that distinguish Fernway pre-rolls from the rest. The sleek box containing a weighty black jar and the slick branded mouthpieces are clear efforts at distinction.

If only the product could have stacked up to the hype. The elegant mango artwork on the box didn’t prepare me for the smell within. When I opened the jar, out wafted a smell of fruity vomit. In addition to oversweet fumes which communicated generic “froot” there was a powerful funk of butyric acid, a characteristic component of throw-up. Some poor flavor designer was trying to approximate the complexity of a mango and hit way off the mark, with tragic consequences.

The label says these contain flower from the strain “Glue Dream” cultivated at Trifecta Farms, an operation in Brimfield that seems to do a lot of wholesaling to brands such as Fernway. The flower was ground too fine, and dosed too heavily with flavors, for me to comment more on its apparent quality.

The metal tips are neat, but they don’t confer any special benefit. One might expect that the screen on the flower-end of the mouthpiece would prevent “Scooby snacks;” however, one would be mistaken. The cute little silicone plugs in the tips of these mouthpieces served the sole function of ensuring they come pre-filled with fine flakes of flavored flower.

I managed to smoke a couple of these, but I never finished one. They smelled worse than they tasted, but I still didn’t enjoy them. The sweet, fruity flavors of these don’t appear to come from terpenes at all, in my opinion. These must contain “natural and artificial flavors,” usually mixtures of aldehydes, esters, and phenols in addition to some terpenoid compounds. They did get me high, though.

We tested the flower in one of these joints using the LightLab3 HS from Orange Photonics. We found levels of cannabinoids that were broadly consistent with the label. However, the vendor’s website presented as THC% a number that was actually the THCA%, which is a bit misleading. We also encountered something we’ve seen before: Our test measured a substantial level of a minor cannabinoid, in this case CBCA, that wasn’t reported on the label.

I can’t recommend this product to anybody, no matter how desperate.