Cannabis is creeping further and further into mainstream culture. Just check out any of the other stories posted on Flavorwire today for evidence — it’s no longer solely the realm of the weird and the wasted.
One particularly esoteric element of cannabis culture is the ancestry of different breeds, or strains, of the cannabis sativa and cannabis indica plants. When cannabis is used as medicine, the different qualities — from the psychoactive to the neurological — of each strain is considered. Each strain has its own unique flavors and qualities, making the strain of cannabis you’re enjoying more important than just a marketing ploy.
But this list here isn’t nearly as serious. Scroll through for a handful of instances in which specific strains of cannabis have entered into — or drawn from — pop culture’s lexicon.
Happy 4/20.
Girl Scout Cookies
A match made in heaven — and drenched in irony. Girl Scout cookies, the beloved range of sweet treats ideal for stoned snacking, is produced and sold by assumedly innocent young girls. But the strain named after those cookies is no joke — its potency and flavor have made it one of the most popular strains in its home state of California, and elsewhere. The Girl Scouts of the United States of America might not think highly of the association, but it seems at least some of its members are taking a more capitalistic approach.
Pineapple Express
The big-budget stoner buddy comedy/goofball action flick that helped solidify Seth Rogen as a movie star (lol) revolved around a potent and elusive strain called Pineapple Express. The villain Ted Jones, played by Gary Cole, was able to track down a witness to a murder after a single drag from a discarded doobie. IRL, Pineapple Express is a flavorful sativa made from Trainwreck and Hawaiian strains — if your nose is as keen as Ted Jones’, you may just be able to sniff it out.
Charlotte’s Web
A play on the E.B. White novel (and subsequent films), this strain’s namesake is Charlotte Figi, a five-year-old girl plagued by epileptic seizures. Her parents found success treating it with a low-THC, high-CBD strain of cannabis developed by the Stanley Brothers; the subsequent media attention has influenced state medical marijuana laws.
Mr. Nice Guy
Seminal stoner flick Half-Baked has proven itself to be a a prominent entry into cannabis canon, with its representations of trying to buy and sell pot in New York City. In the Half-Baked NYC, Mr. Nice Guy — the brand under which Thurgood Jenkins and Co. sold the government-grown ganja they were stealing — quickly became the most popular strain in the city. In the hard-boiled, IRL NYC, the strain rode the movie’s popularity as a re-branding of the older Mr. Nice.
G13
Kevin Spacey’s Lester Burnham, the disaffected suburban dad in Sam Mendes’ American Beauty, copped his weed from his daughter’s emo boyfriend in an attempt to reclaim his groove. As part of his sales pitch, the teen tells him about his top grade, a government-grown product, G-13. It might be impossible to verify its origin, but plenty of shops are happy to sell you some.
Redman, Chuck Deezy, and Method Man in “How High”
Ivory
In one of the more creative (and ludicrous) premises for a stoner movie, How High sees Method Man’s Silas, a botany student, develop a strain fertilized by his brainiac friend Ivory’s ashes. When he and Redman’s Jamal smoke it before a test, he appears as an apparition and gives them all the right answers, catapulting them into Harvard, and ensuing hijinks. If only.
Honorable mention: Grandma’s Boy
This stoner classic isn’t necessarily about any one strain, but deserves special mention for the comedic timing (and depravity) of the marijuana strains name-dropped (Brown Bomber, Bling, Bling Bling, Incredible Hulk, Green Monster). None are actually real, but when you see the effects of Frankenstein first-hand, you might wish it was (probably not).