Freddy’s Fuego in Washington State kills it — its flower is packed with flavor, potency, and smooth smoking experience that can make you say, “Alright yeah, that was worth the money.”
We recently spoke with Freddy’s Fuego’s founders Ben Davis and Tim Haggerty about the history of the company, and the strains that made them successful.
Freddy’s Fuego origin story
Freddy’s Fuego became officially licensed in 2013, but Davis has been growing weed since 2005. It began out of medical need. “I had a really bad sports injury and so I decided to start growing. Through growing and learning genetics, I saw there was a future for cannabis to go legal. Me and Tim linked up at the legal borderline and said, ‘let’s make this a staple in Washington.'”
Haggerty had a culinary background. He was a general manager of a wholesale food company in 2016 and brought his business acumen to pair with Davis’s cannabis cultivation expertise. It was a match made in heaven. In 2016, the duo built a facility in Poulsbo, Washington, and hit the ground running. The journey has included a Dope Cup win and multiple rounds of successful phenohunts. The future is bright for Ben, Tim, and the Freddy’s team.
These are the strains that made Freddy’s Fuego.
2016-2017: Purple Pie
Purple Pie was the first hitter that became a Freddy’s Fuego staple. “It’s a UW Purple and Cherry Pie cross. It had beautiful bag appeal and was really purple. I’d break up [Purple Pie nugs] just to smell it.”
Freddy’s went hard on Purple Pie for 3 – 4 years before retiring her.
2017-2018: LA Cookies
In 2017, Freddy’s dropped its LA Cookies. It was an immediate champion. In 2018, LA Cookies won Freddy’s Fuego the Seattle Dope Cup for Best Indoor Grown Indica. On how the win felt, Haggerty shared, “It’s good validation. Obviously, you’re biased towards your own company. Especially me coming from outside. I’m trying to be like, ‘is our shit this good? Should we be charging this much?’ To have some validation there, that was huge.”
LA Cookies is LA OG Kush crossed with Cookies and Cream. It was one of the first strains that Freddy’s Fuego ever phenohunted. “It was probably the greatest day of my life, man. It spun me. I didn’t think we were going to place. There were hundreds of people competing in that competition at that time. It was probably Seattle’s biggest turnout for the competition. When they called me and Tim’s name, I lost it. This is the validation for all of the hard work that we’ve done,” said Davis.
Find Freddy’s Fuego LA Cookies
2019: Larry Cake, Tropical Truffle
By now, Freddy’s was deep into the phenohunt game. The company was dropping heater after heater too. In 2019, during their big phenohunt, Davis and Haggerty found five keeper phenotypes of Ice Cream Cake. One of them was Larry Cake — it was a beautiful, super frosty flower, with a very dominant Gelato taste. “It still has that Wedding Cake potency, but it has really dominant terps from the Gelato #33.”
Larry Cake went on to become Freddy’s Fuego’s best-selling strain of all time. Another phenotype that was big for them during this time was Tropic Truffle. Both have become flagship strains for the brand.
Find Freddy’s Fuego Larry Cake
Find Freddy’s Fuego Tropical Truffle
2020: Sherb Crasher
Sherb Crasher is a cross of Sunset Sherbert and Wedding Crasher. About its taste, Davis said, “It has a grape sweetness to me. I think of a Grape Faygo mixed with grape nerds when I smoke it.”
Find Freddy’s Fuego Sherb Crasher
2021: Oreo Blizzy
In 2021, Freddy’s Fuego set a whole new standard of quality with its Oreo Blizzy. It is one of the best-tasting flowers that I have ever smoked, and it absolutely killed the game in Seattle. “Her colors, her terps, her potency, she checks every single box … The Oreo Blizzy reminds me of the second coming of Purple Pie. I love it,” said Haggerty.
Oreo Blizzy is Ice Cream Cake crossed with Sunset Sherbert.
Find Freddy’s Fuego Oreo Blizzy
2022: Specimen X
Freddy’s Fuego is currently in the middle of its fifth annual phenohunt. The next hopeful is a strain called Specimen X. It is a cross of Project 4516 and Devil Driver, bred by a Clearwater Genetics and Tiki Madman collaboration.
“We’ve only done one run of it, but it just looks fucking incredible. It’s got the bag appeal, it’s got the yield, it reeks like fuel and fruit, I love it. Everybody was like this will fucking crush,” Haggerty told me.
Dante Jordan
Danté Jordan is a freelance writer, video producer, and media consultant specializing in cannabis culture, strains, products, education, and everything else related to that lil’ green flower. Contact him at dantenetworks(at)gmail(dotcom), or dante_jordan on Instagram. His website is www.dantejordan.com.
