Candies, Z, OGs, and more from Leafly’s senior editor.

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With Zoap, Cadillac Rainbow, and Blueberry Caviar.

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Inside the chemical compound factories present within the trichomes of cannabis flowers, many elements contribute to the overall effects we feel when we smoke weed. One of those lesser-known elements is anthocyanins, a blue, red, or purple pigment found in many plants. 

Anthocyanins are within a class of cannabis compounds called flavonoids, which join in with terpenes to give cannabis its flavors and aromas. These particular types of flavonoids, anthocyanins, give plants purple or indigo color tones. Early research shows anthocyanins are powerful antioxidants and may benefit our health in several other ways, including enhancing night vision, reducing the proliferation of cancer cells, controlling body weight, and strengthening memory. While “eat the rainbow” is an expression designed to encourage incorporating more colorful fruits and vegetables into our diets, we advise you also to smoke the rainbow, starting with these vivid cannabis flowers. 

Blue Lobster

Bred by Cipher Genetics 

Selected by Maine Trees

Grown by Umma Sonoma 

Incredibly layered when it comes to its aroma—a floral dryer sheet that turns to a woodsy, slightly gassy aroma when ground—the only critical thing to say about Blue Lobster is that it’s not the best weed to smoke in the morning as it delivers an intensely potent stone. Blue Lobster is a cross of Apples and Bananas with Eye Candy, both from Compound Genetics. The new cultivar comes from the cannabis breeder behind Cipher Genetics, Chris Lynch, who described it as “Pixy Stix with candy gas.” 

Not yet available on the broader cannabis flower market as Cipher plans to drop seeds in a summer 2024 release, the Blue Lobster came to be through a collaboration between Lynch (who was formerly associated with Compound before starting his own brand) and Maine-based cultivator Maine Trees, which selected the award-winning phenotype to produce clone cuts. The collaboration with Maine Trees also explains the “lobster” part of this weed’s name, as Maine is famous for lobster. 

Blue Lobster gained notoriety by winning coast-to-coast flower accolades for grower Maine Trees, first at the 2023 East Coast Zalympix in New York City and then at the 2023 Ego Clash in Northern California. While it does take on a bluish tint in photos, my sample nugs, grown by Umma Sonoma, are light green and purple colored buds frosted over with trichomes. 

Blue Lobster’s aroma resembles the soft tar-like scent of railroad tracks in a forested coastal wilderness. This weed has a woody spice salted with fresh air from the sea and tastes like sweet cedar. 

“I follow my taste pattern, which seems to differentiate myself in that way, following what I think is the best flavors and looking for unique outliers, things that stand out from the rest,” Lynch said when asked how he differentiates his cannabis breeding work from others.

Lynch’s partner in business and love, Kate, explained that Cipher created Blue Lobster with “feminized seeds by reversing Blue Lobster and pollinating the best recipients.” She said it grows more conical under LEDs than HPS lights and described the terpene profile as “blueberry candy.” 

“Blue Lobster was super stacked with X-chromosome-only genetically female pollen when we reversed her; she’s one strong, healthy donor,” Kate said. “We will release these seeds in late summer after we’re done testing and phenotyping each cross.”

Canna Country #26

Bred and Grown by Canna Country Farm

The dark purple color of this cannabis is its most striking feature, but its uplifting tropical nose and smooth smoke also set this weed in a special class. Bred by Canna Country Farm, #26 is a cross of Forbidden Fruit with Cherimoya, and it’s packed with a rare terpene, ocimene. Ocimine is found in plants and fruits that have woodsy, sweet undertones, such as guavas and papayas.

Canna Country #26 smells very fruity, like mangoes before they’re peeled or a loquat turned orange in its ripeness and picked from the tallest branches in a neighborhood tree. Its taste is more earthy and woody, like sweet tobacco. 

“#26 grows like a jungle queen; she grows up to fall down and grow up again,” Canna Country’s Ted Blair said. “#26 was the tallest plant in the pheno hunt, reaching 12 feet tall and about 11 feet wide.”

Based in Humboldt County, Canna Country Farm created the #26 in 2017, and it won second place in the sungrown flower category at the 2021 Emerald Cup. Blair said its smell reminded him of a Burmese plant he grew guerilla-style as a young man. 

“As the plant was growing, she was green on green. Not until she started to flower did she reveal her true colors out of nowhere,” Blair said. Purple pistols and white hairs popping out of this green plant—it was unexpected.”

At Solful—a group of San Francisco Bay Area-based cannabis retail shops—the #26 is labeled “#26 Reserve” and includes an alternative name in round brackets like a song title, Ocimene Queen.

“It’s from their best native soil bed,” Solful co-founder and CEO Eli Melrod said of the #26 available at his shops. “They have a few different areas on their farm where they grow it, and so Reggie [Weedman] and Ted, the farmers, they found the plants of the #26 in that particular bed, and they only picked the top colas to go in that batch… it’s basically like the head stash batch.”

The journey with this weed starts with the unique color of the flowers—the dark purple, almost black of an eggplant or olive—but #26 follows through with a tasty, relaxing smoke that calls for a summer spent chasing sunshine.  

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One of the most influential marijuana breeders in the world has filed a lawsuit against a cannabis company, alleging that he lost his job there due to the fact that he suffers from Parkinson’s disease and required certain accommodations. 

Christopher Lynch filed the suit against Node Labs Inc. in a San Francisco court on Monday. 

The complaint details Lynch’s diagnosis of Parkinson’s in 2014, and his dealings with Node Labs. 

In 2017, Lynch “began work on the genetic development and breeding of Cannabis plants including, but not limited to ‘C. Sativa’ varieties,” according to the lawsuit. He ultimately formed Compound IP LLC, and trademarked the name, “Compound Genetics,” before entering into an agreement with Node Labs in 2019 to sell Compound IP LLC assets.

But by 2020, the relationship between Lynch and the company was deteriorating. According to the complaint, the defendants “were actively frustrating the purpose of the original Contract by refusing to provide [Lynch] with an accounting of the sales upon which [his] compensation was based.” 

“Further, [Node Labs] had failed to pay [Lynch] his sales bonus. Defendants continued to actively frustrate the purpose and intent of the original Contract throughout the remainder of his employment and beyond,” the complaint says.

“Throughout Plaintiff’s employment Defendants used Plaintiff’s standing in the genetic industry to bolster the NODE and COMPOUND brand. Although Plaintiff was not required by his employment agreement to do so, Defendants demanded that Plaintiff make appearances, participate in interviews, and market the brand using his name and likeness,” the complaint continues.

In the lawsuit, Lynch alleges that, in May 2021, Node Labs CEO Lauren Avenius “attempted to minimize [Lynch’s] importance and future role with the company by telling a key investor that Plaintiff had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.”

After months of alleged disagreements between the two sides, the complaint says that Lynch was fired in December a week after filing “a complaint against [Node Labs] with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.”

“At the time, [Lynch] was on medical leave and [Node Labs] had locked [him] out of the company email system,” according to the complaint.

Lynch, who has bred some of the most popular cannabis strains available and has teamed up with brands and celebrities, was profiled last week by Forbes.

“He’s the man behind some of the best-known strains on the market today including Pink Certz, Apples & Bananas, Khalifa Mints, Blueberry Banana, Fish Scale, Eye Candy, and more. Alchemizing new flavors using rare, hard-to-find genetics is his bread-and-buttter. Lynch’s strain Pink Certz won 2022 Strain of the Year from High Times. The year prior, High Times deemed Lynch one of the 100 most influential people in cannabis. Pink Certz also won First Place at the 2022 Transbay Challenge III.” Forbes said. 

“His success has been hard-fought. Lynch was diagnosed with Early Onset Parkinson’s in 2014 after he had brain surgery to remove a cerebellum cyst located inside the back of his head.”

“Life is precious, be grateful for what you have,” Lynch told Forbes. “Your life can change overnight. Don’t wait to pursue your dreams and goals.”

The profile details how Lynch got into cannabis after he “dropped out of high school his sophomore year and moved to Amsterdam in 2004 and Rotterdam in 2005.”

“During his time in Holland, Lynch immersed himself in the cannabis culture and learned a tremendous amount. He brought that knowledge back to Portland, Oregon, where he began his career growing medical marijuana,” the story said. 

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December was a wild one. From searching the streets of Bangkok for the heat, to the Harvest Ball’s premiere of the Dank Tank, to a whole lot of holiday parties, I’m exhausted. I usually try to take the back half of December to try and recover & prepare for the upcoming year, but it never really works out. This year was no exception. I don’t know why I still expect holidays to be relaxing.

But Thailand was wild! I’m working on a piece covering our adventure that you’ll all be able to read sometime next month, but the long and short of it is that the country has embraced legalization like I’ve never seen before. There are independent stands to buy weed in front of dispensaries, there are trucks selling weed like ice cream trucks on every block. I’m not going to pretend they’ve got the highest quality yet, but they’re throwing themselves at it, and I love to see it. There are a few picks from there leading the list this month for anyone looking to experience it. We’ve also got some gems I found while attending the Harvest Ball, which Jimi & I went to the day after we returned to the states. Talk about overbooking.

(Also P.S. sorry to everyone I saw that weekend. It was a whirlwind and I was still coming down from my plane drugs so I barely remember anything, but I’m sure I didn’t get enough time to properly hang with any of you. I won’t make that mistake again – I’m coming well rested all 2023 :))

Anyway, I was hoping to get two more of these out before the year ends as I just turned 33 last week and it felt symbolic, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Guess we’ll start off ‘23 with #33, which is my lucky number so we’ll say we’re starting on a high note. If there’s anything you think needs to be included, or you just want to talk about one of the picks I made in this or previous lists, hit me on Twitter and let’s hash it out!

Thai Stick

If you’ve been paying attention to the culture for awhile you’ve probably heard the legend of Thai sticks before. Some of the first Sativas proliferating the states, Thai sticks were basically Thailand’s version of brick weed back in the day. Packed and bound tightly around actual sticks and smuggled to all the corners of the world largely through the help of the military, they’re something of an urban legend today. When we landed in Thailand they were obviously the first thing we asked about, but it became clear that this was an elusive delicacy. In fact, most of the dispensary guys we asked said to let them know if we found it for their own consumption needs. While this might not be completely obvious by the looks of us, but we found it, and the guy who has been packing them for almost 60 years. I can’t give you information on how to find him, but I can tell you he’s out there, and so are modern sticks.

Dr. Dope’s Double Dawg

I try very hard to ensure I’m not duplicating picks that other journalists have already written about, and although Jimi already mentioned Dr. Dope’s Double Dawg in his 12 Strains of Christmas piece for LA Weekly I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the best weed we found at a dispensary in Bangkok. While the game out there is still fresh, and the climate makes it difficult to produce tops, this was some real authentically Thai-grown heat. You could actually see the trichomes on this one, which was not as common as you’d expect in the developing market. That said, Dr. Dope was also a fun and frankly classy spot to hang in, worth the stop if you’re in the area!

Plantopia

This is less of a product and more of a destination, but if you want a truly unique weed experience (especially in Thailand), you’ve got to hit up Plantopia ‘Weed City’ on Khao San Road. Basically a weed strip mall, this shopping center has a maze of dispensaries and consumption lounges for you to purchase or consume in, and a nice open air smoking patio for you to sesh with the clients of other shops. It’s wild how in Asia having 100 of the same type of stores right next to each other doesn’t seem to bother anyone, but it was surprising for me. That said, it’s a very unique place to hang – everyone gets their own flavor without compromise.

Kasta’s Nam Wah

At the party I’ll detail in the last entry on this list, a local friend from the internet pulled up with some of his underground grown to show us. I’ll be honest, this was the best weed I saw that (I believe) was actually grown in Thailand, though it wasn’t through a traditional dispensary experience. He said the farm is just getting set up, and that it’s called Kasta. The group also says the cut is called Nam Wah, which is a cross between Banana OG & Mimosa from Symbiotic Genetics. They do love their sativa’s on that side of the world! Also big shout out to Bbboss for pulling up on us at the party!

Trufflez – Wockesha

Let me start off by saying that Trufflez is taking the branding game to a new level with this one. The pleather stitched mylar was not something I ever expected to see, but it also feels like a better compromise than most of the fancy bag attempts we’ve seen lately. It feels classier than a mylar – and while I’m sure it’s more expensive I’m curious to see how weed will last in this pouch long term. I’m going to do some experiments with that on my own. That said about the marketing, the weed in the bag is actually up to par. In fact, all the samples I saw from Trufflez were what I would consider real top shelf flower.

Turtle Pie Co – Purple Sticky Rice

Anytime I see something new from Turtle I know it’s going to be something that’s going to hit in the streets, but their latest, Purple Sticky Rice is hitting on a whole new level. Redefining the ‘candy’ nose most expect from some purple dank, these were some of the sweetest nugs to ever hit my nostrils. And I’m not just including this because of the Asian nod, this one’s definitely a gelato relative and we all know how the market loves that! All I’ve seen so far are the tasters so I’m not entirely sure if this one’s hit the streets yet, but when you get a chance, definitely tap in.

Life is Not Grape – IDK/IDC

You’ve heard me rave about LING in the past so I don’t need to go into how great his production skills, or brand design, has been thus far. You already know that his flower is killing it all over the country, and that his hash collaborations and donuts are top tier. Well friends, have you tried his new Runtz x Gushers cross yet? Because let me tell you, I am writing home about it. With all the sweet firepower you expect from two of the most popular strains of the past decade, LING’s got something truly special on his hands with this one – do I even need to mention how god damn hard this branding is?

Spoomalack

I’m not entirely sure what’s going on with this one. I don’t know if he’s a brand, or if he’s just growing fire, but what I can assure you of is he’s definitely doing that. I met the new homie at Chronic Culture for the first time at their Kalya dinner (which was directly after Jimi & I got off the plane returning to the states) and every single cut he showed me was stellar, and fully rocked me upon deeper inspection (into my lungs). Not knowing if he’s a full brand, I’m not sure how available this flower is, but if you’re in the Bay and you hear someone talking about a cultivator with a weird name (I mean, what IS Spoomalack?), maybe it’s this homie. If it is, you’re in luck, young padawan. 

Flytrap’s Gumbo

These guys have been making a TON of noise down in Florida and I’ve been asked more about Gumbo than pretty much any other cultivar in recent history, so I’m pleased to report that it’s not just hype – the guys are doing something down there in the South East. I was fortunate enough to catch Superfly and El Tay on my trip back from the Bay (shout out to Jet Suite X, the trapper’s choice!), and they broke me off with some of their latest harvest and carte blanche, this is the best weed I’ve seen come out of Florida yet.

Sherbinski & Compound Genetics – Tribute

Felipe presented this to us in the Dank Tank Jimi and I hosted at the Harvest Ball and I’ve got to say, for a guy who has said countless times he’s over gelato, their new collaboration with the creator himself, Sherbinski, just rekindled my love. This Apples & Bananas x Gelato 41 cross smells and tastes exactly how you would expect, with a natural, yet couldn’t be more dialed in with additive terps if you tried flavor. You can smell the apples, the bananas, and that sweet candy finish Gelato’s known for. And it’s smokin’ too! While not quite as knock-you-out as a lot of Gelato varietals, this one’s a nice sunset smoke.

Bonus: Thai Lasagna

If you ever get the chance, you’ve got to try a Thai lasagna. I’ve been dreaming about these freakin’ things. When we went to visit Tropicanna, after sampling their wares the gang let us know they had prepared lunch if we were hungry. I had known one of the owners spent years living in Italy (you could tell, he had style); I didn’t realize he was half Italian. Not going to lie, I never expected to eat a lasagna and curry feast, but boy did we house it. It was the best hospitality we experienced in Thailand, in my opinion. There will be more on this in the ‘the Gang goes to Bangkok’ piece I’m working on, but for now just know I ate close to an entire lasagna by myself.

Nepotism Bonus: Phandee

I’m adding this as a nepotism bonus because Oliver, one of the proprietors of Phandee, was our guide for the Thailand trip, but I am not fronting when I say this was my favorite of the shops we saw in Bangkok. While the store itself isn’t all that big, it’s part of a larger footprint that also sells food, drinks and even booze, and has a great little patio in the middle so everyone can enjoy everything together. It’s not only a good setup, it also looks insane because the outside is wrapped in this rainbow translucent glass. Or plastic, I don’t know, but I know I like it. Oliver also hosted a party at the shop for us while we were there and I’ll be honest, I was not expecting anywhere near the type of turnout we got, or the amount of people who knew who we were. It was a great time and will surely be a check-in anytime I’m in the city.

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More than 60 trending marijuana varieties: auto-flowering, feminized, fresh Cookies, heritage OGs, modern Purps, and old school sativas.

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OK, 5 ounces, but it’s super-easy with this bougie kit.

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