The best Bubba Kushs to smoke celebrating the strain’s 25th anniversary
Can you believe that? It’s been around 25 years since top strain Bubba Kush made its debut in LA thanks to breeder Josh D and rap group Cypress Hill. The origin of the strain is part of SoCal’s weed mythology. The Cypress Hill, B-Real and Kenji tours had a lot to do with Bubba’s popularization into mainstream weed culture. B-Real and Kenji discuss the decline and resurgence of the iconic strain.
1996 – The founding of Bubba Kush
Before 1996, clandestine breeders in Florida co-bred the OG Kush mother plant with a strain called “Bubba”. Many people point out that Triangle Kush is the closest thing to that originally. High Times editor Danny Danko later surmised that Chemdog was the parent of OG Kush and Sour Diesel.
In 1996, breeder Matt “Bubba Kush” Berger told his friend Josh Del Rosso that the weed in Florida was better than the weed in Los Angeles. Del Rosso challenges Berger to prove it. Berger brings some cuttings from Florida, but only one of the OG Kush clones survives. This cutting is the original clone only OG Kush plant rocking Southern California.
OG Kush made the rounds at the Cannarati in Los Angeles and ended up in the hands of Kenji Fujishima, a fellow breeder at Cypress Hill’s B-Real.
“Later in 1996 we were already smoking a little bit of Josh D’s OG,” Kenji said. “They had a small setup, it was like four, six lights or something in a Hollywood house. We got it randomly every few months. An eighth was $100 or so, and it was really hard to come by.”
Kenji helped B-Real grow and strain research using his bathroom as a grow location.
While OG Kush was taking off, Matt and Josh crossed another Florida import – “Bubba”.
Crossing OG and Bubba produced a handful of seeds, some of which went to Fujishima. Kenji helped B-Real grow and strain research using his bathroom as a grow location.
“Sometime around 1996, I would say it could have been mid to late 1996, we did it [seeds] from our mate Mike Rowan, who got it from Josh D,” said Kenji.
While searching for new variations of the plant in B-Real’s bathroom, Kenji and B-Real spotted one of the most distinctive cannabis plants they had ever encountered and for a time defined it. They named it Kush Bubba, also known as Bubba Kush.
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The creation of Bubba Kush inspired Cypress Hill’s classic weed anthem “Dr. “Greenthumb” – the song name was used for the indoor cannabis line by Kenji and B-Real over a decade later. The Insane brand represents her heritage and the broader heritage of OG Kush in Los Angeles, specifically in the San Fernando Valley and the Hollywood Hills.
1997 – Bubba Kush starts his own wave
At the time, Kenji and Josh D were each pursuing Bubba Kush separately. They hardly knew each other.
“The first plants of this Kush Bubba were probably late 1996, early 1997. This strain produced the ‘Dr.’ “Greenthumb” song and that was in 1998. I would like to say that the first works where we saw it – where it was actually produced – where people bought it from us was in 1997,” said Kenji.
“I didn’t really know Josh at the time, other than that he did. I probably only met him in 1997/1998. In 1996 we met and I saw the OG grow and stuff like that. But in terms of being friends and hanging out all the time, that all evolved over the later years,” Kenji said.
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Leafly reviewers report that good Bubba Kush can have a pungent, coffeey, earthy note. Its best terpenes are the powerful caryophyllene, pungent limonene, and powerful myrcene.
“The smell and especially the taste: It’s like a spicy, peppery sweetness, it’s hard to describe. The high is good, it’s as good as any other cannabis out there. The taste is unique and the nose is unique. And the look – it’s beautiful. It’s a pretty hardy strain when grown properly,” B-Real said.
Bubba Kush has been around from 1998 to present
The success of OG Kush always surpassed that of Bubba Kush in the 2000s. By 2010, OG Kushes gave rise to “exotics” like GSC, Kush Mints, and today’s The Original Z-crosses. Nonetheless, the strain endures and remains a touchstone to this day.
But B-Real says that even after 25 years there is still a lot of interest in this strain. Long-standing cultivators have never given up, and some continue to try to bring it back.
“The crazy thing about this strain is that over the years you have seen groups of breeders trying to bring it back amidst all the exotics that are out now and OG Kush is a prominent strain down south,” says B -Said Real.
“There’s just something about this Bubba that people love so much that nobody wanted to give it up. A lot of strains were left by the wayside when all these exotics showed up and especially when OG came to her. But it’s the only strain that people want to get back because there’s something unique about it,” B-Real said.
B-Real says Bubba Kush has never lost its influence on culture here in LA and beyond.
“There are exotics that might taste better, and the OG is stronger, but the elements that Bubba carries in terms of flavor and effect of the high are one of those old-school flavors I think, after those people are nostalgic.” B-Real said. “It’s such a popular strain. It’s not the best out there, but it’s definitely holding its weight and holding its own. From the attractiveness of the bag to the yield, farmers have always been amazed,” he said.
B-Real says he and Kenji would know instantly if they saw it today. It’s distinctive. He now sees a growing interest in the classic variety and its preservation.
“With so many options for these exotics, it kind of just went under, but now that people are looking for it, you’re seeing a resurgence,” B-Real said. “It’s great that it still stands the test of time, as great strains do. And it’s one of them.”
I would imagine people tissue culture it now so it never goes away.
B Real
B-Real anticipates that tissue culture will help preserve Bubba Kush’s legacy for the next 25 years.
“Thank you to those who kept it and who were able to pass it on to other breeders to keep it alive to this day. I would imagine people tissue culture it now so it never goes away. That’s the great thing about tissue culture, it can bring back strains like Bubba Kush,” said B-Real.
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