Leafly Buzz: 13 top cannabis strains of March

The month before 4/20 saw no calm before the storm, Leafly Nation.

The US cannabis industry decamped to Barcelona, Spain, and raged for two weeks around the 25,000-person Spannabis festival. All the big names dropped seeds. Jars of live rosin got passed around like ambrosia at a stoner bacchanalia.

Back on the West Coast, a winter wave of heat included Duck Sauce in LA, Mitten Cake Batter in Oregon, and Apple Butter in Washington.

Each month, Leafly rounds up what’s worth smoking on the West Coast. We grow, shop, smoke samples, and parse search traffic to create your cheat code to the best bong loads of the month. Here’s March’s Leafly Buzz.

Banana OG

⬆ 11.3% (in monthly search interest)

This famous, classic, banana-tinged OG Kush, Banana OG moved up 11.3% on the West Coast this winter. It’s the softer, more approachable, tropical OG, with calming, hybrid-indica effects that people use for stress and anxiety. Make sure to smell the jar to check for that authentic, yet ephemeral banana note.

Modified Grapes

⬆ 33.5%

The western US continues to plant and sell lots of this GMO x Purple Punch cross. The love of purple, grape-smelling weed also drove Grand Daddy Purple back into the top 10 out west. Now a commodity crop—Modified Grapes should grow plentiful this Spring. Very calming hybrid-indica effects that reviewers report can help with anxiety, stress, or pain.

Apples ‘n Bananas

⬆ 14%

Breeders keep hybridizing this Blue Power x Gelatti strain from the Cookies brand because of its great stonefruit tropical notes and mega-potent, surprisingly energetic effects. Branded and sold by Cookies in multiple states, clones and seeds of Apples & Bananas also grow in many great gardens. 

Permanent Marker

⬆ 21.6%

Seed Junky Genetics’ Jealousy line, including Permanent Marker, has become a global trend—we bought some for $30 per gram in Barcelona this month. Sweet, strong marker fumes, dark color, and strong, tingly, talkative, arousing hybrid effect make this a 90-point strain. Branded and sold by Doja Pak in California.

New in the Leafly Database

Zortzi

Explosive tropical rainbow fruit flavor and divine, dinnertime hybrid effects helped Zortzi win the 2023 Ego Clash Barcelona for flower. It’s so cool to see the rugged region of Spain’s Basque Country contributing to the global Z wave that started in Mendocino County, CA. Breeder Bask Triangle Farms crossed Z to Ortzadar. “Ortzadar” is the Basque word for ‘rainbow’, and crosses Z x Cookies and Cream.

11:11

The brand Wizard Trees builds on its RS11 work with 11:11—that’s RS#11 x RS#11. This LA-born strain sold out first at Spannabis, and we’re stoked for more candy gas goodness from this line built off OZ Kush x Sunset Sherbert.

Challah Bread

DNA Genetics’ sold-out cross of Baker’s Delight x Kosher Kush, Challah Bread, comes to gardens near you. Consumers want “gas, but new,” said DNA Genetics CEO Rezwan Khan, just like Hollywood sequels try to offer “the same, but new.” Cookies, Sorbet, and OG Kush all fuse in this mostly indica strain. Twist some up and portal into the new “Mandalorian” season, or “John Wick: Chapter 4.”

The Bird

Humboldt Seed Co and Sensi Seeds announced a collaboration, called Breeding Grounds, with two automatic cultivars and two feminized ones. Among them, The Bird packs in a slew of epic and successful weed genes. It’s a cross of OG Kush x Humboldt Dream x Gelato #33 (dubbed Larry Bird). Expect compact growth and high yields from these green, purple, and icy buds that reek of gasoline, skunk, & funky breath.

New on shelves

Duck Sauce from Teds Budz, CA

LA’s best legal plug, Teds Budz, brings some of the most sought-after heat from cultivators in Northern California to SoCal where fans eagerly await their next drops. Teds Budz’ new Duck Sauce was pheno-hunted in collaboration with the self-proclaimed “Duck Sauce God” himself, hip hop artist Eastside Eggroll. Duck Sauce comes in a transparent mylar bag that riffs on a traditional packet of duck sauce. The genetics are clearly stated—Platinum Zkittlez x Gelato #41—and you can see the buds within the bag. 

These dense buds look like an amalgam of forest, sage, fern, moss, and deep Sacramento green. Dark, twine-colored pistils inconspicuously wind their way across the surface snaking through an abundance of glistening, egg-cream-colored trichomes. It produces a candy-like scent with a sweet, creamy backing, and a dry pull on the joint to match. On smoking, the inhale has a sugary sweet, citrus quality that morphs into a candy gas on the exhale, with an orange-esque finish. The head change brings a very chill, long-lasting effect, one that puts a bit of weight on your shoulders and makes you want to take a seat. But isn’t overly sedative, and would pair fantastically with a day off and a new video game. If you’re a Zkittlez or candy-gas fan, you’ll love this Duck Sauce from Teds Budz.

Burning up the charts

Apple Butter by Torus, WA

Washington-based Torus’ Apple Butter is a musky dank flower with a picturesque balance of deep hues coated with a heavy frosting of shimmering trichomes. This cut specifically is Phenotype #2 of their Jet Fuel Gelato x Apples & Bananas hybrid, featured in Torus’ Prototype series. The Prototype line allows everyone to judge the different varieties Torus is trialing. That way you can share your feedback and let them know which phenotypes stand out the most and should stay in rotation. 

Apple Butter’s sugared buds create a unique mix of skunky flavor that gets sharp and gassy when it is broken down, and a subtle buttery-sweet apple aroma that gives way to a flowery finish. Apple Butter #2 is a keeper thanks to its quality cure and smooth flavors. (Shop Torus flower on Leafly.)

Best-sellers

Ballin out

Mitten Cake Batter by Louis Vuchron, OR

Seed Junky Genetics has created dozens of crowd-pleasing profiles, but the decadent, dessert-leaning expressions always seem to take the cake. Oregon cultivator Louis Vuchron showcases these icing-sweet flavors with their supreme Mitten Cake Batter. This cross of Mitten Cake x Kush Mints doubles up on fresh and cooling mint notes with an added wallop of sweet gas and sugar cookie dough. The effect is just as impressive—a quick joint works as a pronounced but functional mood lifter.

Ballin’ on a budget

Cabrona by Humo, CA

A solid, classic OG Kush aroma and power comes from the strain Cabrona by Humo—a Mexican American and woman-led and operated greenhouse brand in Salinas, CA. Cabrona is a cross of Cannarado’s Daily Driver (Sundae Driver x Cookies and Cream) and Phinest’s Chem D (OG Kush x Sour D). Humo’s regular flower aims to sell for $27 to $32 per eighth ounce in Cali—that’s good value. (See also: Banana Cooler from Rimrock Farms’ 2022 full-sun run in Calaveras, CA.)

Grapefruit MTN live rosin by Premier Cannabis, WA

Washington’s Premier Cannabis has beautiful, award-winning fresh press live rosin. One dab of the stringy, honey-like rosin, and it’s easy to see why it won Best Rosin at last month’s NW Leaf Bowl. So-called ‘fresh press’ live rosin is fresh, as opposed to ‘cold-cure’ live rosin, which changes color and consistency as it matures and stabilizes in a fridge. This fresh press live rosin is surprisingly easy to serve up and stays incredibly stable, maintaining its translucent gooeyness longer than it takes to dab through the entire gram. 

The Grapefruit MTN strain live rosin has sharp citrus flavors that coat your mouth with sour, ruby-red grapefruit and finish with a smooth skunkiness. The combination of flavors is like a grapefruit version of Trop Cookies, packing a steady punch of citrus flavor rs you’ll want more of.

And that’s it for March’s Leafly Buzz. Never miss the latest heat—download the Leafly App (Android, iOS) and turn on notifications to scoop those flavors first. 

Freelancers West Coast Weed Reviews (LA), Ryan Herron (OR), and Will Hyde (WA) contributed to this report.

You can contact Leafly Buzz by emailing david.downs@leafly.com