Leafly Buzz: The 12 Hottest Cannabis Strains to Smoke in 2025
Crazy, exotic candy flavors. Dramatic, glittery looks. Knockout effects.
The culture's next hot cannabis strains are ready for your taste buds.
Every January, the flower column Leafly Buzz expands its scope from the West Coast to predict the next U.S. winners in the new year.
Leafly Buzz's 12 hot strains to smoke in 2025 bring together the all-stars of the garden and the pocket. They are refinements and remixes of our most popular hit strain families such as Z, Sherbert, OG Kush, Cookies, Runtz and more.
Sugar gas? Naturally. Smells like Jell-O? Yes, please. Evidence of reupholstered vinyl? We're ready to play. So let's get started.
Zoap
Thanks to its (OG Kush x Z) x Sherbert roots, Zoap continues to impress both smokers and budtenders. This indica hybrid bred by Deo Farms, first tested in 2021, will keep people giggly, relaxed and hungry. The best bags add the chemical lye note to rainbow sherbert flavors like apricot and apple. Breeders such as Doja, Lumpy's and Alien Labs sell it in the California market. Zoap appears to have escaped into the wild and found his way to the medical market in Mississippi. Will the Zoap wave peak in 2025? Only the sales and awards will tell.
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Cap Junky
Guaranteed to blow your mind, Cap Junky continues to storm into 2025 thanks to the powerhouse breeders behind it: Capulator and Seed Junky Genetics. Cap Junky marries every grower's champion: Alien Cookies x Kush Mints #11. Entirely covered in resin, its effect is hybrid and powerful, “right between the eyes, deep in the head,” reviews say. The smell exceeds all expectations – some report mango yogurt, others taste like apricot, apple and mint.
Gello Shotz
As we approach 2025 in our eternal quest for heat, Gello Shotz from Seed Junky Genetics needs to appear on every terp lover's radar. The wild family tree combines a cross between Z and Animal Cookies Bx2 with the same strain crossed with Leafly Strain of the Year 2023 Permanent Marker. Across the lineage you can see a trio of varieties that have left their mark on history. Original Z is probably the most legendary hashish strain of all time. Animal Cookies was the dessert weed with the biggest impact at the peak of the wave. And permanent marker is here to stay! The best expression for Gello Shotz offers a little Z-Terp with the effect of permanent marker. – Jimi Devine
Blue Nerds
Lemon Cherry Gelato remains undefeated, but an update comes in the form of up-and-coming Blue Nerds. Breeder Global Genetics blended LCG with the Original Z for this hit hybrid that exudes apple, blueberry and apricot notes. Different breeders at different times seemed to have settled on this name, but whatever the cross, the Blue Nerds wave just keeps building.
Candy smoke
Candy Fumez from Bloom Seed Co sizzles in the Z x Sherbanger genetic hype zone. New to the database in 2023, this indica hybrid that smells of berries, blueberries and chemicals leaves people focused, creative and happy. Grown to elite levels by Green Dawg in California. See also: Sherbangers.
Dante's Inferno
Embrace your horny side. Super dramatic, dark, icy weed wins in this hard charger – Dante's Inferno, a cross between Oreoz x Devil Driver. Coming from the candy aisle, this indica hybrid offers ammonia, pepper, and tea notes. Reviewers first rated Dante's Inferno in 2022 and it comes from Clearwater Genetics and Tiki Madman.
Cadillac Rainbow
Michigan is aiming for pole position with this Pure Michigan x Runtz cross. Cadillac Rainbow from 3rd Coast Genetics offers a counterpoint to the “candy gas” trend with grass that smells like restored vinyl upholstery (diesel, ammonia and earthy). Cadillac Rainbow looks like an indica hybrid Escalade.
Cadillac Rainbow looks like an indica hybrid Escalade.
Glitter bomb
Compound Genetics' 2022 cross of Grape Gas #10 x OGKB Blueberry Headband continues to reach new heights across the country. It grows great indoors, in greenhouses and outdoors and has incredible size and elegance. Nothing can stop Grape Gas alone or in other strains like GastroPop and Blueberry Caviar (below). The indica hybrid offers notes of pear, plum and blueberry and leaves you with a tingly, giggly and relaxed feeling.
Pink lemonade
On the East Coast and Canada, Pink Lemonade from 34 Street Seed Co follows the trend toward more sativa-dominant hashish strains. The Genetics: Pink Kush x Lemon Skunk, and while these may seem old hat in the world of high yields and modern flavors, the dense and resinous buds move with the times. The flavor dances on the palate, evoking nostalgia for Crystal Light pink lemonade powder, and the enveloping flavor is impressive no matter how you smoke it. This highly stimulating, cerebral strain flowers in just 8 weeks and grows well both indoors and outdoors. We believe Alberta has set growers up for fruitful harvests. –Max Blick
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Moroccan peaches
A peach ring candy wave is coming! Developed by Californian company Purple City Genetics for a hashish collection, Moroccan Peaches represents big, jammy peach preserves with secondary notes of orange and fuel. Moroccan Peaches combines the original peach released in Spain, Barbara Bud, with something Lemon Tree Skorange (a combination of old-school California classics, Lemon Tree, Cali-O and OG Kush). The hash masters at Arcata Fire took home multiple awards for Moroccan Peaches Rosin at the 2024 Emerald Cup. Purple City Genetics crossed two versions of its Barbara Bud – the Spanish Barbara and the Peaches – to create a range of other fruity bangers in 2025 to create, including Peach Panther and Marrakech. –Ellen Holland
John Connor
Light it if you want to live. John Connor from Team Elite Genetics in California offers a superb smoke worthy of these strange times. The new flavor first hit California shelves in January 2025. It's an underdog, a dark horse if you will. And it's the perfect strain to accompany the other apocalyptic riders of 2025. If your world is on fire, you might as well smoke the best weed possible. Its seductively complex flavor profile presents sour gasoline with hints of coffee and sweet cream. A strong indica, John Connor has a calming and calming effect. It combines the best of its parent strains: the award-winning Styrofoam Cup #2 and Sh3rb3t from Team Elite. Its purple, light green and white flowers covered in trichomes are respectably fragrant. You're going to need John Connor to survive this year. – Lindsey Bartlett
Blueberry caviar
Rounding out our dozen: blueberry caviar, bred by California's most successful grower Ridgeline Farms for weed mogul Berner's Cookies brand. Blueberry Caviar satisfies the toughest critics. It's extremely purple, big, sparkly and loud – and that's how you get into the winner's circle in today's flavor hunt. The juicy blueberry aroma emanates from the bag, resulting in a delightful, indelible taste with cool indica hybrid effects that never upset. Jason from Ridgeline calls it “my new favorite,” and if you find a bag this year, it might become yours, too.
We have to stop at 12, but we know there are more great things to surprise us in the midst of the golden age of ganja.
Here are a few more varieties to keep an eye on in 2025. And submit your own below:
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