Who is Qualifire Farmz?
If you attended the Errl Cup 2020, Qualifire Farmz may ring a bell. Not because they had a booth and were giving out dabs and letting people rip bongs, but because even without a booth and this being their first cup they walked away with not one or two, or even three awards, but four. Qualifire Farmz entered their first cup under the patient class and left with two cups and two medals. The two 1st place cups they won were for Patient Class Best Flower Indica with their amazing Skywalker OG, and Patient Class Best Flower Hybrid with their sweet uplifting Green Crack. They also placed 2nd for Patient Class Best Non-Solvent with their Skywalker Gorilla Widow Rosin with Diamonds. The 4th award being the bronze medal was awarded to them for placing 3rd in the category of Patient Class Best Flower Sativa with their Jack The Ripper.
I attended the event along with the rest of The Cannabis Cactus team. Although I was busy helping run our booth and competing in Errl Wars, by the time I left, I myself was asking who is Qualifire Farmz? To come in unheard of with no booth setup and win two 1st place cups, a 2nd and 3rd place medal was just crazy! Who were these people and how can I try some of this now award winning medicine? Everyone knows success doesn’t happen overnight. Coming in and winning this many awards on a first time entry in The Errl Cup definitely took some hard work and dedication. I did some digging and reached out to Qualifire Farmz and spoke with Steven, the Cannabis Cultivation Expert and founder of Qualifire Farmz who did in fact confirm it had been a long road. A fifteen year journey that led what he told me was the best day of his life January 11th Errl Cup 2020.
Of course, we all know cannabis is a wonderful plant. I love it, you love it. I’m writing about it and your reading about it, so here we are. But to grow great cannabis that patients love, love enough that it was judged by patients and it placed in every category that it was entered in is more than just liking cannabis. To grow a medicine and win that many awards takes a true passion. For Steve, he has a relationship with his plants. Steve said “…at the end of the day, I have a relationship with these plants, I take care of them and they take care of me.” He started out with a not so great upbringing, going through CPS custody, going to school, worked regular odd and end jobs. He did okay, as good as anyone could under these circumstances.
Steve finished high school and went on to try college. This is when he found out that his older brother stole his identity and was convicted of a felony under Steven’s name, making it impossible to receive financial aid for college tuition because they thought he lied on his application. He was able to get his brother to go to court and admit to stealing Steven’s identity and was placed on six years probation. When this happened, Steven received a clerk’s certificate to present to employers to show that even though he was convicted as a felon this was not his fault and was due to his identity being stolen.
Still, it was hard finding a job and the jobs he did find seemed to be a dead end. He asked himself where he would be in 10 years and thought that things were not looking too bright. This trouble and his love for cannabis made him start growing and he became pretty good at it. With having a CPS upbringing and not really having a role model, Steven made a friend who saw he had a green thumb, believed in him, and was willing to invest in him. And, so it began. His friend invested $15,000 to help get him started 15 years ago and Qualifire Farmz was born. Since then, Qualifire Farmz has grown into a small network of caregivers in Tucson, AZ.
One of the first cuts he picked up was actually the Jack The Ripper that placed 3rd in the Errl Cup. This cut is over 14 years old and has been growing strong ever since. Their 1st place winner Green Crack is also a cut that is at least 10 years old from Steve D’Angelo shop in San Francisco. Steve described the cup winning Skywalker OG as one of their newer ladies and said they have many other strains and are always playing around with something new. Everything they grow is completely organic and free of pesticides and powder mildew or any other chemicals.
I personally had the honor of trying both 1st place winners, the Green Crack and Sywalker OG. The Green Crack was amazing, full of sweet terps with a light hint of citrus like a clementine. The effects were very clear, energetic and uplifting. Steven was surprised this strain placed 1st in the Hybrid class but after trying it, I have to say the award is well deserved. The Skywalker OG was absolutely phenomenal. Completely covered in trichomes, the buds were very sticky with strong pine gas terps immediately smacking you in the face. No matter how you choose to medicate with this strain… glass, paper or blunt, the terpenes still definitely come in strong with a more earthy flavor. Although I did not have the pleasure of trying the Jack The Ripper, Steven did bring a couple more strains. One was Plushberry, a cross between Black Cherry Soda and Space Queen that is an indica-dominant strain which tasted absolutely amazing, like fresh berries with a hint of grape. There was also the Phantom Cookie, these buds were smaller and tighter but like the Skywalker completely covered in trichomes. With more of an earthy sweet taste, the effects of this one were strong with a euphoric high, but still a relaxing haze to go along with it. The Phantom Cookies and Skywalker are Steve’s personal favorites.
After sitting around, smoking a couple Plushberry joints dipped in Plushberry Rosin and rolled in Plushberry Kief that Steven brought up, I figured I would ask what could patients expect to see in the future from Qualifire Farmz. Steven assured me that he will not stop trying to improve his products and his methods and will most definitely be at the 710 Cup with some new things in store for the patients. This time, with a booth so we can all meet them and try their wonderful products. One thing that he hopes to gain from winning these awards and attending these Errl Cup events is to try to get an offsite dispensary license to provide more medicine to patients. With Qualifire Farmz being a small network of caregivers, they are confined to 250 SQ FT. and 48 plants. Steven feels that if he was backed by a dispensary or a company that would give him the opportunity to grow for them, he can give them some of the best quality meds in AZ. All in all, I was curious, so I dug. In my digging, I found out who Qualifire Farmz was. A small network of caregivers down in Tucson who grow some amazing meds. Honestly, some of the best and tastiest meds I have had in awhile. The Plushberry consistently tests between 3 and 5 percent terpenes, which is insane for flower. The Green Crack and Skywalker OG definitely earned those cups, the quality was amazing. I look forward to attending the 710 Cup where I will definitely be hitting the Qualifire Farmz booth. With a slogan like the quality is fire, they definitely live up to it. I hope to see you all there supporting Steve and his team hitting bongs and taking dabs. I’m sure they will have some amazing Dry Sift Rosin and tasty flowers for us all to try. So Patients and other vendors go say high take a dab and tell them Cannabis Cactus sent you.
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