The story of Girl Scout Cookies, one of the Golden State’s most popular varieties of cannabis, begins with a hashtag.
Long before Instagram grew to become the popular social media platform we know and love, a California-based collective of cannabis growers looked to it to market a cultivar that stood apart from its counterparts.
Grower @Jigga415 took to the social media platform, and #CookieFam was born. It didn’t take long before the uplifting variety had risen to instafame, with dispensaries in California and beyond scrambling to get their hands on a cut of the highly desired phenotype.
Soon, even the Girl Scout Cookies of America had taken note of the popular variety; forcing growers to refer to it simply as ‘Cookies’ or GSC in the face of obvious copyright issues.
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The thing with a quick rise to fame is that it’s often followed by imitation—and according to Cookie Fam growers, dispensaries in North America are rife with wannabes.
The Healing Center‘s (6416 Main Street) forum-cut GSC comes direct from Vancouver-based grower Heavenly Daze, and is a phenotype of the original, which was first bred in the Bay Area of San Francisco. Heavenly Daze paid thousands for a cut of the sought-after variety, which can go for up to $3,200 per pound in Vancouver.
The indica-dominant hybrid (70-percent indica, 30-percent sativa) is a cross between the Cookie Fam’s secret variety of F1-influenced Durban Poison, and OG Kush. The multiple Cannabis Cup winner boasts a high THC content, ranging anywhere from 18 to 27 percent.
‘When you smoke an actual Cookies strain, you’ll know,’ dispensary owner Spensir tells the Straight.
‘It’s great for a heavy indica high, but it gives you a really nice cerebral boost… wait until you smoke it. You’ll see what we’re talking about.’
Cracking my jar of freshly acquired GSC, a pungent, slightly minty odour proceeds to fill my apartment, thanks to terpenes like linalool, myrcene, pinene, limonene, and caryophyllene.
The incredibly dense buds are hard like a marble, with orange hairs wound tightly around green calyxes and a mixture of purple and green leaves. As I split some of the buds into my grinder, a thin coating of shiny trichomes are exposed, leaving my fingers covered in a layer of dusty crystals. After I’ve ground it up, the slightly sticky flowers roll easily into a joint.
My first toke instantly reveals why this particular variety has earned its name: sweet, doughy, creamy notes at the forefront make way for a smooth, expressive finish and a plume of thick, white smoke.
After 30 seconds, I feel the knot of anxiety that occupied my gut for most of the day melt away. My mind is quiet, and an overwhelming sense of clarity takes over.
That clarity seems to correspond to my senses, too, as my normally near-sighted vision is undoubtedly heightened. I can make out signs in the distance that would usually require a squint.
As I approach the halfway point, resin leaks out of the joint’s filter. My muscles relax, as I mentally prepare myself for the day’s next task: an intermediate-level Brazilian jiu-jitsu class.
Feeling introverted but excited to sweat out the day, I proceeded to have one of my best classes in weeks.
With all preoccupying worry out of my mind, my body was free to do the work as I relied more on muscle memory and leverage than on strength. During sparring sessions with teammates, I closed my eyes with ease and was able to feel my way through multiple rounds of what felt like human chess.
In retrospect, I’ve indulged in flowers sold as Girl Scout Cookies before, but none came close to producing the calm, collected, and euphoric high that I experienced with Heavenly Daze’s GSC.
After a few follow-up sessions with this Cali-bred beauty, I’m convinced that the hype around this particular phenotype is real.
As a post-workout, it annihilated inflammation in my legs and arms, while bringing about a feeling of tranquility without knocking me out. As a wake-and-bake, its euphoric but calming properties were enough to get me excited for the day, without derailing my motivation, as some indica-dominant hybrids have been known to do.
Whether you’re in the throes of a stressful relationship, feeling held hostage by anxiety or depression, or simply bogged down by the monotony of your nine-to-five, GSC is sure to silence the chaos between your ears.
After all, there’s nothing like a couple of cookies to lift your mood.
