The types that made cookies

When it comes to cannabis culture and products, few names on the streets sound like cookies. Their genetics were used to create some of the most popular strains in the world; and as a lifestyle brand, it absolutely establishes cannabis in pop culture. With large blue buildings popping up in every legal city and state possible, cookies seems like the best example of what a McDonald’s of Cannabis will look like in the future. To discuss the strains that got her to this point, I stepped on a zoom with Jai Chang, better known as Jigga, Cookies co-founder, GSC breeder, and all-around grow expert for the cannabis juggernaut.

Cookies was founded by Berner and Jigga between 2011 and 2012, but long before they gained national recognition, Cookies was just a family of Bay Area breeders who created and dedicated themselves to a very special plant: The Original Girl Scout Cookies, now called GSC.

“Cookie Fam has a meaning. When you acknowledge that the plant is not working for you, you are working for the plant. All you have to do is hold it up, hold it with respect, use it as a tool to help you develop as a person. It is when you realize that you have given yourself up to her and that you are a guardian and servant of cannabis, ”Jigga said.

These are the varieties that made cookies.

1998-2000s: F1 Durban Poison

Jigga’s cannabis fan base began in his childhood home around 1995. His mother was a breeder, so by default he became one too. He used to leaf through High Times magazines and was intrigued by articles on all the different types of cannabis grown around the world. A light bulb went out in his head and Jigga immediately knew what to do in life.

Around ’98 when he graduated from high school and moved to a house in San Francisco with a childhood friend, he immediately began to grow. OG Kush, Purple Urkle and F1 Durban Poison were the first. “Before I even started growing, I was lucky enough to be around good grass. We had Kush before OG. And then Urkel, it was ‘Lila’. Before-grandfather, it was pure great-grandson. ”

Most importantly, Jai bred his famous F1 Durban Poison, which would later become the genetic backbone of the hugely popular GSC strain family.

2003-2004: cherry cake

In the early 2000s, Jigga worked for the San Francisco Department of Health, where he was sent to middle and high schools to give presentations on the HIV / AIDS epidemic, often with a speaker who lived with one of the terminal diseases.

On the side, he provided these speakers with cannabis to relieve their symptoms. “I was like this revolutionary kid who was the anti-government, we were our own little clinic. I worked with about 40-50 people living with an incurable disease, and at that time I was responsible for providing weed to all of them. That was my job. The feedback that I got from day to day: ‘Yeah, you don’t know how much your herb helps me with my appetite, my side effects or the harsh medication every day.’ ”

Cherry pie was one of those life-changing varieties for the patients, after all. “Looking back, it helped me see the health benefits and respect for the plant. Because people smoked these herbs that we were creating and went out of our way to tell us how much it helped them. “

2005-2007: Girl Scout Cookies

Most of us believe that cookies hit the market between 2011 and 2012, but Jigga told me they really have been around since the mid-2000s. “It was a time when you always had to have the next thing because everyone had the purps. We knew we wanted something, or the next evolution of Kushes, and that’s how the cookies and cherry pie came about. Cookies were one of the things that came out of our home on Noriega and on 25th Avenue [The Sunset District]. We knew immediately. The smell was unique, it had the brightest, densest buds and retained its taste. ”

About the origin of the name, Jigga said: “After we had made our new varieties, we liked to sit down and do a taste test among the homies. Girl Scout Cookies was one of those and we sat and tried to taste the name. We passed it around and [the name] just came to me. That’s Thin Mint Cookies, brother. It had this Earl Gray, this cozy pine, and it just stuck. From then on we switched and Bern literally passed it on to everyone. ”

Jigga described GSC’s influence on cannabis culture: “Once it was outside, Cookies immediately got the stamp of the street. It had this movement about it and it got into other people’s gardens. It swept the streets. It became the basis for so many other breeds and crossbreeds. “

2010-2012: Sherbert

In the 2010s, GSC cemented its place on Mount Rushmore of cannabis strains. Nothing was hotter. Immediately afterwards his many descendants came.

One of the most famous GSC children was Sherbert, who was bred by Mario Guzman, aka Mr. Sherbinski, under the direction of Jai. Jai introduced a unique one [Burmese Kush] Pollen in Mario’s garden and the resulting plants were the ancestors of what would one day become the Sherbert we all know and love.

2014-2017: ice

When it comes to some of the most influential strains in the weed world, Gelato is definitely on that list of GOATs. Its descendants absolutely dominate modern cannabis culture.

Gelato is said to have been pollinated in a Sacramento garden shared by Jai and Sherbinski. The pheno hunt took place in San Francisco. From Gelato came the famous phenotypes Gelato # 25, Gelato # 33, Gelato # 41, Gelato # 43 and Gelato # 45. About its effects, Jai said: “Culturally, Gelato has helped define the taste, smell and experience of cannabis from the streets to American businesses. ”

2018-2020: Runtz

In recent years, there has not been a strain more popular than Runtz in terms of name, search volume, and cultural influence. Although we all associate it directly with cookies, according to Leafly, it actually came from the Runtz crew / original Cookie Fam member Yung LB and the “Cookies Boyz” Nick and Ray.

Commenting on the fruity cross of Gelato and Zkittlez, Jigga said, “I didn’t breed Runtz, but my genetics created the unique and powerful strain. It is the gelato variety that is responsible for its distinctive look and taste with its unmistakable creamy, gaseous taste. “

2021: Gary Payton

Nowadays, Cookies is famous around the world for having more varieties that you can name on the fly. One that definitely stands out is Gary Payton, bred by Powerzzzup’s original Cookie Fam member Kenny Powers. It was launched in 2019 and has grown in popularity in recent years. “Once again, I can’t say I physically made this hybrid, but luckily some of the strains I’ve worked on are responsible for this wonderful creation. It started with the original Kush strain we called Florida Kush combined with the YLife strain, a Cherry Pie x GSC. Now we have one of the strongest and most colorful varieties that has ever existed. “

Selected image courtesy of Cookies