Today, the business website Benzinga gave us all a nice compliment—Leafly took home an award for best consumer platform as part of the annual Benzinga Cannabis Awards.
Thanks, Benzinga, for calling us the “Best Cannabis Tech Platform: B2C.” We’re proud to serve the millions-strong Leafly Nation. We’re working every day on the 6,000-strain database, our 11,000-plus articles, the thousands of store menus you shop, and so much more.
Yoko Miyashita, CEO of Leafly, shouted out how slick it is on Leafly in 2023. Look up a strain, shop it nearby, put it in the cart, and even get it delivered. What a time to be alive.
“We are proud to have built and been recognized for a platform that provides an easy, end-to-end shopping experience from discovery to checkout; one that empowers both consumers at every experience level and retailers in neighborhoods nationwide.”
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How to order weed delivery online with Leafly
Cooler stuff on the way
When Leafly started in 2010, zero states had legalized weed. Now there’s 23 of them. Just this week, Leafly became even better —with online ordering live and available in New York. Here are the stores that have ordering enabled, as of press time.
New ones come online regularly. This year, living that weed life got even easier with the addition of Leafly on Uber Eats in Canada.
And we’re not done. We’re accelerating our work on cool stuff to help you on your weed discovery journey.
Like what? Well, we’re adding 1,000 new strains to the database this year, an increase of 20% in year 12 of the company. Plus, more accurate strain photos on top strains.
Benzinga’s CEO Jason Raznick loves how we connect with our canna-fam.
“Leafly does this at the highest level by providing users with invaluable insights, research, and more,” he said.
Look for those insights in the monthly columns Leafly Buzz, and Leafly HighLight, and upcoming Strains of Harvest in October, and Strain of the Year 2023 in December.
Budtenders chose on Leafly
(Leafly)
Speaking of family, our national Leafly Strain of the Year 2023 this year includes a first-ever Budtenders’ Choice Awards for top cultivars and flower brands in over 12 legal states.
Budtenders can take our 1-minute survey of the best strain and flower brands in their state. Survey respondents get entered to win a $1,000 check from Leafly. We announce the three budtenders who get a fat check on International Budtender Day on Oct. 20.
We got a lot more cookin’ for our readers, growers, budtenders, and stores. Just this week we turned on our new API so any shop can plug into the Leafly grid.
The future keeps happening in California first—this time with world-class weed in the most mainstream setting of all: The state fair.
In late June, the California State Fair started notifying the winners of its Cannabis Awards, organized by Embarc. The medal holders on the podium represent the peak of the craft of cannabis flowers, extracts, and edibles in 2024.
The best part: You get to go out and smoke ‘em.
This year the state fair adds an on-site smoking section for the first time, as well as a place to buy the weed. Past fairs lacked full-service amenities—but nobody puts Mary Jane in the corner. She’s front and center now.
Even better, you can shop the state’s 1,000-plus stores and delivery services for the winning brand today. Like, right now. Remember: winning batches of weed are like sunsets—you get one chance and it’s gone forever. So savor them.
Here’s how to get all the good-good before it’s all gone.
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LANTZ vape pen
Ridgeline Farms + Arcata Fire
Arcata Fire + Ridgeline LANTZ all-in-one pen. (Courtesy Arcata Fire)
The best of Emerald Triangle flower, and extract skills unite in this gold medal vape pen. Ridgeline Farms has dominated the Emerald Cup with their Ridgeline Runtz, and in-house cross LANTZ. Arcata Fire has set the bar for extracts out of Eureka.
No surprise that this small-batch, top-shelf brand stays hard to find statewide—whether it’s on Leafly, a competitor, store websites and beyond. The best stuff sells itself. Your best bet is to get to the California State Fair weed mall and smoke zone for some direction.
Also, Arcata Fire sells the Gold Medalist vapes plus three more bangers in person on 7/10 in San Francisco, CA at Moe Greens dispensary and lounge at 5 p.m. So RSVP for SF Hash Week day 1, organized by your humble editor.
Emerald Spirit Botanicals – Pink Boost Goddess outdoor full sun; via Solful. (David Downs/Leafly)
Get this high-THCV, floral, sativa from Eureka Sky, Solful, and 7 Stars in the Bay Area. In San Diego, hit up California Holistics for the “Farm Cut” of it, and keep it like a farmer would, with the protective sugar leaves still on. Look for Pink Boost Goddess.
Piescream
Snowtill
Piescream at SF Weed Week 2024. (David Downs/Leafly)
The best stuff is often comes in batches of less than 10 pounds, or 1,000 jars. That rarity is part of the fun of weed connoisseurship. San Francisco-based Snowtill an indoor soil grower who came up from the traditional market validated his hype with a California State Fair medal this June.
Snowtill got a Gold Medal for highest-testing terpene Pinene for the strain Piescream, bred by Mean Gene from Mendocino, and hunted by Skunktek. It’s Wedding Pie x (Cherry Limeade x Gelato 33).
Hashburger. From the GMO family. Indica hybrid. (Ryan Herron/Leafly)
North Bay, CA indoor soil growers Moon Valley took home a second year’s Silver for THCA with their Leafly favorite strain Hash Burger. Savory terps for the win. Moon Valley is small-batch and sells fast. But shop for other Hashburgers around you.
Rank Rose
Coco Farms Antioch
A new one for us, Rank Rose, comes from Coco Farms in Antioch, CA, and you can buy it directly from them. Rank Rose took a Gold Medal, and comes from Pacific Reserve nursery, bred by Massive Creations. It’s a super-rare, potent balanced THC:CBD strain.
OK—that’s five leads on the best weed in the biggest, most important weed state in the world. New York, the ball is in your court. Invite us to the Coney Island Cannabis Awards.
Riff OG
Ember Valley
Shasta, CA based large-scale indoor grower Ember Valley took home Silver for the gassiest strain in the state—that is, the one with the most of the essential oil caryophyllene. We see Ember Valley on sale on Leafly from Herb in LA, as well as Bay Care, and 7 Stars in the Bay Area. You can go buy Riff OG at Purple Star, or Off the Charts in San Francisco this afternoon.
Bred by Prolific Coast Seeds. Riff OG combines two OG Kushes—(Fire OG x Scott’s OG) x PCS1.
About the California Cannabis Awards
The Cal State Fair cannabis awards took entries through May 20 and used industry expert judges with the group Budist. SC Labs did the flower testing, as in year’s past. There are 16 categories.
More than 1000 Gold and Silver Medals go to the top two winners in each Chemotype and Product Category.
Nine “Best of California” Golden Bear Trophies go to the overall winner in each Category.
Specialty Awards include Unique Medals for rare and distinctive cannabinoid/terpene profiles in Flower categories.
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“Budist provided a panel of cannabis experts to objectively assess the quality and craftsmanship of each new product entry, as well as, determine the Golden Bear winners for all 9 categories.”
We’ll post the full winners list when it comes out, and more direction to the heaters.
