Every two or three years, an exciting new variety of Medical Marijuana arrives on the scene to shake up the status quo.
A recent variety to enter this elite group is the famous "Girl Scout Cookies," A poly-hybrid strain, containing some of the best genetics available in the world, it is a feat of genetic engineering.
Containing aspects from the dank, candy-flavored Granddaddy Purple, beefed up with old-school Sativa genetics, the "Cookies" brings together a pleasing triad of differing flavors. Including the legendary OG Kush, touches all bases, in an amazing hybrid that has taken the Cannabis world by storm.
The beautiful "GSC" flowers impart a complicated mix of flavors when smoked or vaporized. Present are Cookie Thin Mint flavors (hence the name), chocolate candy, diesel fuel, lemon and more nuances. In total, a very complex bouquet and taste when allowed to fully mature on the plant.
Visually, the myriad colors inherited from the Grand Daddy Purple part of the genetics are complete Eye-Candy. "Grandaddy Purps" imparts a rainbow color-field with gold, red, green, purple, and all the hues in between. The look of the flowers is, in itself, a good reason to love the Grand Daddy Purple. Some say that the GDP grown correctly, possesses maybe the most beautiful flowers available ever.
The poly-hybrid from a Medical standpoint is helpful for many ailments. One can obtain pain relief, appetite augmentation, sleep, focus, ADHD, PTSD, Fibromyalgia, inflammation disorders, as well as many others.
Breaking down the genetic makeup of this very popular "It" strain reveals the rare clone-only "Cherry Pie" cutting crossed with the unique OG Kush.
The "Cherry Pie" is Durban Poison (Skunk #1 x South African Durban Sativa) crossed with The Graddaddy Purple (a clone-only Cutting of note from California). The Cherry Pie was then crossed with the incredibly narcotic sativa-dominant hybrid, a previous "It" strain in its' own right, known as OG Kush. Or sometimes as "Chemdog." The OG adds a dieselly-mothball-pine-lemon combination that is very sharp. Many folks consider the OG Kush to be the best Bud in the world, with good reason. It is the ultimate crowd-pleaser. OG Kush has won, and will continue to win Cannabis Competitions worldwide. An incredible "triad" is represented by this hybrid.
As the dominant part of the Poly-Hybrid, the Grand Daddy Purple is the most resognizable aspect of this cross. 
Dissecting the Grand Daddy Purps genetics shows a plant built from an amazing mix of Purple Erkle and Sensi Seeds Big Bud. The Erkle on it's own has an excellent "purple grapey dankness" taste, and a sleepy relaxing effect. In the growroom, the Purple Erkle can turn out almost black, if temperatures are low enough. Possessing
thick golden hairs, or "Pistils," it is disarmingly beautiful, but a horrible yielder. Thus, the addition of the beefy, but not-super-flavorful Big Bud, to increase bud production. The Big Bud does not add much flowering time to the quick-flowering Erkle. 
The unmistakable sativa aspect in the Girl Scout Cookie Cut comes from the Dutch Passion Seed Company's "Durban Poison." This genetic is a sativa/indica cross from the 70's, comprising a South African "Durban Sativa" Landrace and the ubiquitous indica breeding tool, "Skunk #1." It was very popular as a seedpack for decades, but has truly re-appeared of late. Durban Poison has a hazy, "sativery" flavor, and can take a longer time to flower than many indicas - albeit short for an equatorial variety.
The Durban, being a rare, relatively quick flowering Sativa "landrace," was attractive to the original breeders. The inimitable Ed Rosenthal traveled the world, looking for genetics, secured the seeds, got them home, and worked the line with the help of his old partner Mel Frank. As two of the most important people in the world of cannabis, they taught more people to grow Medical Marijuana than Youtube ever will.
OG Kush, as approximately one-third of the cross, is perhaps the most unique and memorable strain to ever hit the Cannabis world. It brings a very unique piney, fuel-ly, old-school dank flavor and smell which is unmatched. Rock-hard buds with exploded calyxes, the buds sometimes appear seeded, but are not. Like the Grand Daddy, the OG is a treat to look at as well, but a different look. Providing an incredible, soaring narcotic high, the OG Kush / Chemdog can be too much for some.
A low-yielding strain, with a tendency toward attracting fungal diseases, the price of " The Kush " used to be astronomically high. The Growers worked very hard to get these difficult plants to market. Sung about in Rap Music, many were taken aback at the initial appearance of the strain, as the narcotic effect from the OG bud is like no other. Contrary to popular belief, OG is Sativa-dominant, not an Indica. Enervating, and a happy high, it is very strong, A strain not for the lightweight ! This fantastic strain adds a strong punch to an already diverse effects package in the Cherry Pie. 
At the onset of the Girl Scout Cookie craze - in 2011 - it was possible to get the real thing. And special it was. One San Francisco / Geary Street Cannabis Club had seemingly almost exclusive proprietary rights to this unique genetic for years. The cutting was held close within "Berner's Group." A rapper from SoCal, who found an excellent phenotype that turned the Medical Marijuana community of the Bay Area in Northern California on its' collective ear.
Then the greed factor creeped in.
In these early days of "Wild West Cookie Hysteria," growers began to harvest the plants a week or more too early to get to cash-out and a quick re-plant. This practice produces substandard Medical Marijuana, but adds almost one whole crop to the Growers' year. Unfortunately, the quality of the GSC went down in the clubs of San Francisco, where the Cut first appeared. Many copycat versions appeared as well. Because this genetic requires a full flowering cycle to show its' colors and develop the full medicinal effect and flavor spectrum that it is capable of, it became challenging to find a good representation of a once great strain. The recommended flowering time of 63-67 days was not unusually long, but could be shaved by almost 10 days by Growers under pressure.
Although the original Berner's Cut of the Girl Scout Cookie Strain is still out there, discerning it from the many other versions of the GSC available now is not possible without growing it out. At the present time, finding the original would be almost impossible. Even in the early years of the GSC, it was elusive at best.
As can be expected, seed-breeders quickly began rising to the occasion at the onset of Cookie-Madness. As of this writing, there now are several companies offering a version of "The Cookies." From a growing perspective - finding the quality contained within a seedpack is a major task, and a labor of love. Whether similar to the Original Clone-only Cut of GSC or not, there may be excellent phenotypes contained within the seedpacks well worth pursuing. It depends on the genetics that the Seed Breeder used to develop the seeds.
To discover "Gold" in a pack of beans is a 9-10 month process, or a 4 month task for clones,. The Grower dedicates a certain amount of floor space to a new project, to the detriment of an already producing flowering crop. There are opportunity costs to discovering new phenotypes from seed, from a usable space perspective.
Loss of genetics occurs when people find the odd seed in a sack or jar of buds, and grow it out. Usually, naming the resulting plant "Girl Scout Cookies." Since the original GSC is a clone-only, however, and never changes, this addition to the gene pool can dilute the original genetics. If clones are released as GSC, then the gene pool is forever changed. The reality is that to pop (germinate) a seed opens up the possibility of finding any number of representations of what is contained within the hybrid. The odds of ending up with the exact ratio of Cherry Pie to OG Kush that the original "Cookies" cut had are very slight, with all the variables within the genetics.
Equally wise, is to find a Master Grower, and let them grow it. Then purchase it as a treat at your local "registered" Medical Marijuana dispensary.
Remember to Vote this year, regardless of your stand.
The next Strain Knowledge piece will discuss the very latest "It" strain from 2014, known as "Gorilla Glue #4," which is taking awards worldwide as we speak.
c K. Aaron / Icysurfer Worldwide Medical Marijuana Consulting 2014
Recent Comments