Jimi DevineI hope everyone is being socially distant and smoking their joints to the face. Regardless of this isolation during what was meant to be the longest 4/20 celebration ever, there is still plenty of great pot out there. Coronavirus has not derailed California cannabis and in celebration of that here is an array of fantastic weed you can enjoy throughout our ongoing communal misery!
Runtz
Ridgeline Runtz – 2019 Emerald Cup Champion – Courtesy of Ridgeline Farms
Now that Runtz is a truly generational talent, it would be absolutely offensive to not include it on a list commemorating the best strains of 4/20/20, the month-long 4/20 celebration that never came to be. Regardless, Runtz is the absolute pinnacle of fine cannabis right now according to many. While the first generation was plenty to rap about, offshoots are starting to get wild too. It’s likely poor Billy in Ohio is probably smoking some mislabeled Gelato #33 — here in California you can get the real deal. The Cookie Fam’s various cuts are the standard for many folks, but the Emerald Cup winners up at Ridgeline Farms in Humboldt County make a solid argument about their place at the top of the mountain. The Runtz cross I’m keeping an eye out for is Jet Runzlato from Compound Genetics, who we featured in our garden glance last week.
OZ Kush
A keystone in one of the most award-winning genetics lineages of all time, 3rd Gen Family and Dying Breed Seeds’ OZ Kush is becoming one of the most accessible cuts from the Mendocino legends, alongside the Watermelon Zkittelz, Peach Ringz and the original Blueberry Muffins — accept no substitutes. But despite all the hype that just exploded in the last sentence, OZ Kush remains timeless. The original OZ Kush dropped in December of 2015, it was the first Zkittelz hybrid along with the Hotlix. Eventually, Caliva got their hands on a pack of ZCubed, OZ Kush x Zkittlez, and found a Cannabis Cup winner in one pack of seeds. That’s the kind of enthusiasm level OZ Kush and the rest of 3rd Gen’s lineup command. If you want to try some OZ Kush locally, keep an eye out for the Wonderbrett version all over town.
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Creme De Menthe
Creme de Menthe – Courtesy of Alien Labs
Sometimes weed has a less storied means of finding its way to cannabis enthusiasts. Creme De Menthe certainly falls into that category. According to the Alien Labs team, people give them random seeds all the time. In this case, the seeds came from a bag with the part of the original genetic line rubbed off, so they know it’s Kush Mints x something, and Kush Mints is generally banging. In addition to that, it’s proved a fantastic ingredient in some wild pot over the last few years. When Alien Labs premiered the new strain at the most recent edition of industry trade show Hall of Flowers up north in Wine Country, it was among a handful of strains that really stole the show.
Napalm x Cookies Gary Payton Collab
Just in time for 4/20, Napalm and Cookies live resin loaded seven-gram blunt collaborations in a grenade jar hitting the masses. There are a few flavors to get people talking, but the one we expect to move the fastest is the Gary Payton. The San Francisco-bred heater brings together some of the most famous Cookie Fam genetics, Snowman and the Y. Such a proper blend for an NBA legend. L.A. Weekly talked exclusively with Napalm’s founder and CEO Xzibit about how the collaboration between Cookies came to be this week. After noting they’d be dropping Cereal Milk and London Poundcake in addition to the Gary Payton, he said he’d been working on this particular project about a year, and with Napalm in general for much of the last decade. But don’t sleep on this one, there will only be a few hundred of each collaboration available at Cookies stores up and down the state. “It’s really great to be aligned with such prominent, dominant, players in the industry,” Xzibit said, “I think it’s a testament to the respect people had for what I’ve done in the cannabis industry already. And I never wanted these brands to be about Xzibit, quite the contrary.” Keep an eye for Napalm’s usual lineup with Wonderbrett and a few other options hitting shelves in the not too distant future.
Grease Bucket
Grease Bucket Rosin – Photo by The Village
A few months back we had the privilege of visiting California’s freshest booming pot scene in Sacramento, where we grabbed some Peruvian fare with The Village, who is also half of one of the world’s premier seed companies, Symbiotic Genetics. After talking about all the hits he had in recent years and the new Banana Punch feminized line, he eventually dropped the Grease Bucket rosin on the table. What I saw was just as competitive as most of the solventless I looked at during Emerald Cup judging. I judged BHO but spent 20 minutes going over the other entries during dinner. The Grease Bucket rosin was reminiscent of someone pouring gas in a slushy cup then shooting it up my nose with an oversized Mcdonalds straw from the mid-2000s. Needless to say, it was pretty awesome. It almost felt like its parent’s Banana Punch #9 and GMO was born on a metaphysical plane where their terpene profiles were meant to crashing into each other.
Hot Cakes
Hot Cakes – Courtesy of The Jungle Boys
Last but not least, The Jungle Boys have a lot of serious heat going on at the moment. And while many are rightly fixated on their new lineup of TK crosses, we love the SFVTK, we wanted to give some love to one of their other vibrant flavors of the moment. When we visited TLC a few weeks back, the Hot Cakes jumped out the jar at us when we went to give it a peek. The Strawberry Shortcake x Wedding Cake pairing is definitely something special. If you’re heading over to TLC to grab some gas for your holiday Quarantine sesh we highly recommend scooping some Hot Cakes for dessert, you will not be disappointed.
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