Crazy, exotic candy flavors. Dramatic, blingy looks. Knockout effects.

The next hot cannabis strains of the culture stand ready for your taste buds.

Every January, the Leafly Buzz flower column widens its lens from the West Coast to predict the next winners across the US for the new year.

Leafly Buzz’s 12 hot strains to smoke in 2025 collects the all-stars of the garden and the bag. They’re refinements and remixes of our favorite hit strain families like Z, Sherbert, OG Kush, Cookies, Runtz, and more.

Candy gas? Of course. Smells of Jello? Yes, please. Hints of newly upholstered vinyl? We’re game. So let’s get to it.

Zoap

Zoap keeps winning with smokers and budtenders alike thanks to its (OG Kush x Z) x Sherbert roots. First reviewed in 2021, people get giggly, relaxed, and hungry with this indica hybrid bred by Deo Farms. The best bags add that chemical lye note to rainbow sherbert flavors including apricot and apple. Growers like Doja, Lumpy’s, and Alien Labs sell it in the California market. Zoap seems to have escaped into the wild and made its way as far as the Mississippi medical market. Will 2025 see the Zoap wave fully crest? Only the sales and awards will tell.

Cap Junky

Guaranteed to flatten you, Cap Junky keeps charging into 2025 thanks to the powerhouse breeders behind it: Capulator and Seed Junky Genetics. Cap Junky marries each breeder’s champion: Alien Cookies x Kush Mints #11. Completely sleeted with resin, its effects hit hybrid, and strong, “right between the eyes, deep in the head,” reviews say. The smell defies expectations—with some reporting mango yogurt and others tasting apricot, apple, and mint.

Gello Shotz

As we enter deeper into 2025 on our eternal quest for the heat, Gello Shotz from Seed Junky Genetics must appear on the radar of anyone who loves terps. The wild pedigree pairs a cross of Z and Animal Cookies Bx2 with the same strain crossed to Leafly Strain of the Year 2023 Permanent Marker. Across the lineage, you see a trio of strains that have left their mark on history. Original Z is arguably the most legendary hash strain of all time. Animal Cookies was the highest-impact dessert weed at the peak of the wave. And Permanent Marker is here to stay! The best-case expression for Gello Shotz offers a bit of the Z terp with the impact of Permanent Marker. —Jimi Devine

Blue Nerds

Lemon Cherry Gelato stays undefeated, but an update comes in the form of the surging strain Blue Nerds. The breeder Global Genetics mixed LCG with the Original Z for this hit hybrid, which emits apple, blueberry and apricot notes. Different growers at different times seemed to have settled on this name, but whatever the cross, a Blue Nerds wave keeps building.

Candy Fumez

Bloom Seed Co’s Candy Fumez sizzles in the genetic hype zone of Z x Sherbanger. New in the database since 2023, this berry, blueberry, chemical-smelling hybrid indica leaves folks focused, creative, and happy. Grown to elite levels by Green Dawg in California. See also: Sherbanger.

Dante’s Inferno

Embrace your dank side. Super-dramatic, dark icy weed wins in this hard charger—Dante’s Inferno, a cross of Oreoz x Devil Driver. Step out of the candy aisle, this hybrid indica offers ammonia, pepper, and tea notes. Reviewers first scored Dante’s Inferno in 2022, and it comes from Clearwater Genetics and Tiki Madman.

Cadillac Rainbow

Michigan throttles into the pole position with this cross of Pure Michigan x Runtz. Cadillac Rainbow from 3rd Coast Genetics offers a counterpoint to the “candy-gas” craze with weed that smells like re-stored vinyl upholstery (diesel, ammonia, and earthy.) Cadillac Rainbow hits like an indica hybrid Escalade.

Glitter Bomb

Compound Genetics’ 2022 cross of Grape Gas #10 x OGKB Blueberry Headband keeps surging to new heights nationally. It grows great indoors, in greenhouses, and outside, with crazy size and bling. Nothing can stop Grape Gas on its own, or in other strains including GastroPop and Blueberry Caviar (below). The indica hybrid offers notes of pear, plum, and blueberry and will leave you tingly, giggly, and relaxed.

Pink Lemonade

Over on the East Coast and in Canada, Pink Lemonade by 34 Street Seed Co follows the trend of more sativa-leaning hash strains. The genetics: Pink Kush x Lemon Skunk, and while those seem old hat in the world of high yields and modern flavors, the dense and resinous nugs keep up with the times. The flavor dances on the palate and waxes nostalgic for pink lemonade Crystal Light powder, and the mouth-coating taste hits no matter how you smoke it. These highly stimulating, cerebral variety flowers in only 8 weeks, and grows well indoors and outdoors, and we think Alberta has positioned growers for fruitful harvests. —Max Blick

Moroccan Peaches

A peach ring candy wave arrives! Created by California’s Purple City Genetics for a hash collection, Moroccan Peaches expresses big, jammy peach preserves with secondary notes of orange and fuel. Moroccan Peaches marries the original peach that blasted off in Spain, Barbara Bud, with some Lemon Tree Skorange (combining old-school California classics, Lemon Tree, Cali-O, and OG Kush.) The hash masters at Arcata Fire took home multiple awards for Moroccan Peaches rosin at the 2024 Emerald Cup. Purple City Genetics crossed two versions of its Barbara Bud—Spanish Barbara and Peaches—to create a bunch of other fruity bangers to hunt in 2025, including Peach Panther and Marrakech. —Ellen Holland

John Connor

Light it up if you want to live. John Connor from Team Elite Genetics in California offers an outstanding smoke—worthy of these strange times. The new flavor first hit California shelves in January 2025. It’s an underdog, a dark horse if you will. And it’s the perfect cultivar to accompany 2025’s other horsemen of the apocalypse. If your world is aflame, you might as well smoke the best weed possible. Its seductively layered flavor profile showcases sour, petrol, with hints of coffee and sweet cream. As a potent indica, John Connor’s effects tranquilize and comfort. It encapsulates the best of its parent cultivars: Team Elite’s award-winning Styrofoam Cup #2 and Sh3rb3t. Its purple, light green, and white trichome-covered nugs smell respectably loud. You’ll need John Connor to survive this year. —Lindsey Bartlett

Blueberry Caviar

Rounding out our dozen: Blueberry Caviar bred by California’s winningest grower Ridgeline Farms for weed mogul Berner’s Cookies brand. Blueberry Caviar satisfies the toughest critics. It’s extremely purple, large, glittering, and roaring loud—which is how you get to the winner’s circle in today’s flavor chase. The dank blueberry aroma lunges out of the bag and translates to a lovely, indelible taste, with chill indica hybrid effects that never agitate. Ridgeline’s Jason calls it “my new favorite,” and if you can find a bag this year—it may become yours as well.

We must stop at 12, but we know even more greatness will surprise us amid ganja’s golden age.

Here are a few more strains to watch in 2025. Plus—submit your own below:

By now the shock has likely worn off—Seed Junky didn’t go three for three in Strain of the Year wins?!?! It feels unnecessary to say that Seed Junky and his strain empire will be just fine (and he makes plenty of appearances here.) The crown goes to lowkey California-based breeder Blockhead’s Blockberry aka Superboof, a playful strain that broke the gassy cream and candy profile streak of past SOTY winners for something more tangy, more rooted in fruit than fuel. 

As editor David Downs reports in our 2024 Strain of the Year announcement, Super Boof descends from two strains that weed snobs have long underestimated: Tangie and Purple Punch. Looks like some apologies are in order! Or, if you’d still rather laugh at the Boof bandwagon, we deduced these six alternatives provide similar effects and flavor experiences.  

7th runner-up—Sherbanger

If Gelato is the muse of rap songs, Sherbanger better suits a house beat. The electro-house duo Havoc on World created their song, Sherbanger, in perfect harmony with what the strain offers. It has Sherbet’s sweet notes, but it also blooms with Headbanger’s kushy, sour aroma. This is a great strain before a night on the dance floor, one that keeps your nerves at bay but gives you the guts to bust out all your best moves. Sherbanger is in nearly 1,000 stores on Leafly, but that is only half of Super Boof.

6th runner-up—Gastropop

Another Compound Genetics winner evokes sweetness over savory terps. Gastro Pop descends from strains Apples & Bananas x Grape Gas, making it a cousin to Superboof with a crazy extended family. Apples & Bananas itself comes from braiding in old legacy strains like GDP with newer hitters like Gelatti and Blue Power; paired with Grape Gas, it runs the flavor spectrum of sweet berry, diesel fumes, and creamy.

5th runner-up—Cap Junky

Has anyone seen Gladiator II? If so, imagine if Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal got to team up and breed weed strains fit for an emperor instead of killing each other. That’s Cap Junky—a cross of Alien Cookies x Kush Mints #11, but also a cross of the talents of Capulator and Seed Junky, two canna-coliseum champions. Cap Junky evokes that same Super Boof playfulness, with a palate that favors a more menthol and earthy experience. Cap Junky is in nearly as many stores as Super Boof, but the experience is less versatile and more aggressive. 

4th runner-up—Zoap

When you need a palate cleanse, wash your mouth out with Zoap. The Bay Area’s Deo Farms crafted Zoap from many disparate parts, including OZ Kush and the Rainbow Sherbet, aka RS line of strain. Zoap captures the kind of soap you’d buy at a farmer’s market—floral, earthy, and sweet. It has also carved out a place at cups, nabbing spots in multiple Zalympix and Hash Bashes. Your brain needs Zoap like your body needs soap. Zoap had a great run this year, but it’s still not as prevalent as Super Boof, nor as well-liked by budtenders.

3rd runner-up—Lemon Cherry Gelato

Oh, LCG. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art as loud, and as sweet. This Backpackboyz creation takes a familiar cross, Sunset Sherbet x Thin Mint, but their spin on it reveals a visually-popping strain with strong tart citrus terps, plus Gelato’s signature euphoria. It has a trophy case full of reasons to try, including two High Times Cup wins, a handful of Farmer’s Cup wins, and placements on multiple best-of lists. It’s made its round across the country, appearing on dispensary menus from California to New York. We love LCG, but it was just not new enough to be Leafly Strain of the Year.

2nd runner-up—Tropical Slushie

Slushie, more specifically Tropical Slushie, comes from the not-very-tropical state of Colorado and its breeding don, Cannarado. Blending Snowman’s blizzard of trichomes with Papaya’s enigmatic fruitiness creates a strain sweet enough to sip on.

It’s new to our database, but it already has a reputation for complex terps and, surprisingly, an arousing effect. Slushie is in half as many clubs as Super Boof, and it hasn’t caught on with budtenders or the awards circuit—yet!

1st runner-up—Glitter Bomb

A glitter bomb requires vibrancy and surprise, so any strain named for it must also wow its audience. Compound Genetics’s complex breeding of OGKB Blueberry Headband x Grape Gas #10 creates both a prismatic plant, but also prismatic terps. Glitter Bomb catches the eye with its thick, opaque trichomes, and the nose with its sharp, petrol berry aromas. Still, Glitter Bomb is on 400 fewer menus than Super Boof, and lacked budtender or contest excitement.

Think we missed something great? Comment below with your Leafly Strain of the Year and be sure to tell us why.

This may be niche, Leafly Nation, but walk with me. There’s an old children’s rhyme I remember as a little girl that went “make new friends / but keep the old. One is silver / and the other’s gold.” It’s a nice mantra—don’t forget your old friends when you inevitably, in life, meet new people. 

I think the same should be said for weed. The 2020s have so far shown remarkable innovation and growth in the strains bred, grown, and sold across the country. But does that mean we should abandon the old faithfuls that got us through tough times, all those years ago? I say ‘No,’ and it seems like you do too, Leafly Nation, because our 2024 bestsellers look a lot like our 2023 bestsellers. Here’s the rundown.

Blue Dream

Blueberry x Haze

• Creative • Uplifted •Energetic
• Blueberry •Berry •Sweet
• THC 20% •CBD 0%

Listen, if you don’t want to keep seeing Blue Dream top the list, stop buying it! The Blueberry x Haze combination out of Santa Cruz, CA, may bore many cannasseurs, but it still offers whimsy to those willing to give it a chance. It still has tasty, skunky blueberry terps and the unique euphoria of the Haze family. Plus, it still offers patients an aid for both mood enhancement and some minor aches. 

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Apple Fritter

Sour Apple xAnimal Cookies

• Relaxed • Tingly •Giggly
• Apple •Cheese •Butter
• THC 24% •CBD 0%

Winner, winner, Apple Fritter. This Lumpy’s cross of  Sour Apple and Animal Cookies has climbed the ranks year after year, taking the coveted #2 spot on our list, plus some cup wins. Does it have what it takes to overthrow Blue Dream? Maybe. Leafly reviewers revere it for its palate of “sweet, but also has this funky, pungent dankness,” and effects that impart a “true, psychedelic happy euphoria.” Time will tell if this heady hybrid will reach the heights of #1. 

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Gelato

Sunset Sherbet x Thin Mint GSC

• Euphoric • Aroused •Happy
• Sweet • Vanilla • Mint
• THC 21% •CBD 0%

“I got gelato in the air / I got money everywhere” raps Young Dolph in his 2017 song Gelato. Gelato is a strain for winners—it’s played some role in nearly every Strain of the Year (including its own crown) we’ve ever anointed. But it’s not just the awards circuit that loves Gelato. People love it, year after year. It helps that many phenotypes exist to provide nuance to what started the “candy gas” trend. Check out the best dozen with our The 12 best Gelato crosses of all time.

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Wedding Cake

Triangle Kush x Animal Mints

• Relaxed • Hungry •Happy
• Vanilla •Pepper • Sweet
• THC 24% •CBD 0%

Even the snobbiest weed head can’t deny the allure of Wedding Cake—who doesn’t love cake? Wedding Cake has been on our most-sold and most-searched-for strains for years now, and the foot stays on the pedal. Since we dubbed it Strain of the Year in 2019, its legacy has increased exponentially with offshoots like Ice Cream Cake, Purple Push Pop, and E85 with cult followings of their own. As Matt Jackson writes in Top 12 Wedding Cake strains of all time, Wedding Cake has made its name due to its “prismatic, colorful buds and blend of vanilla, fuel, and doughy flavors.”

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Granddaddy Purple

Mendo Purps x Skunk x Afghanistan

• Relaxed • Hungry •Happy
• Dizzy •Dry Mouthiest
• THC 18% •CBD 0%

Purple will never die. While its heydays of popularity and access have long ended, plenty of consumers coast to coast still seek it and its strain progeny out. Jeffrey Oropeza of Oakland’s Dark Heart Nursery told us about GDP’s allure back in 2021, saying it “has always been held in high esteem due to its dark coloration and taste, but its effect is what makes it truly special…GDP just simply makes things stop hurting.” That combination of niche terps and pain management fits right in at the end of a tumultuous year. 

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Durban Poison

South African landrace

• Focused • Energetic •Uplifted
• Pine •Earthy • Sage
• THC 20% •CBD 0%

I’ve been writing these bestselling strains lists for a couple years now, and I’ve never seen so many sativas on the list. Durban Poison is the sole landrace strain here, and the most intensely uplifting and energizing pick of the bunch. Durban Poison comes from South Africa, and has been growing in American soil for decades. It has a unique peppercorn nose, so sharp and skunky that it nearly burns the nose. 

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Pineapple Express

Trainwreck x Hawaiian

• Energetic • Happy •Talkative
• Pineapple •Tropical•Mango
• THC 20% •CBG 1%

Let’s get it straight—the movie Pineapple Express predates the strain, and not vice versa. The onus is on the strain then, to match the zany, full-bellied laughs that come when watching Seth Rogen, James Franco, and a supporting cast of comedians get into increasingly dangerous (and thus hilarious) situations due to the weed that smells like God’s, well. Pineapple Express the real strain is Trainwreck x Hawaiian, a blend of tropical tang and turpentine.  A review from 2010 calls it “The dopest dope I’ve ever smoked,” and one from 2024 says it’s “the king of strains.

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Strawberry Cough

Strawberry Fields x Haze

• Uplifted • Energetic •Happy
• Strawberry •Sweet •Berry
• THC 19% •CBG 1%

Ring the alarm! Strawberry Cough has entered the chat. This strain, despite its many years in stores, still carries mystique. It’s not entirely clear who initially bred it, and its genetics may or may not be Strawberry Fields x Haze. Either way, it still intrigues consumers to this day, whether it’s to lift the fog of anxiety or enjoy its skunky berry terps. 

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