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:

Short days and long nights – autumn can bring your spirits down – but these Oreo cookie hacks with bring back the smile to your face!

Fall is here, wet rainy days and long nights can damper your joy. But the good news is you can make autumn awesome with the best Oreo cookie hacks.  They are a favorite found in almost every place treats are available. Sold in more than 100 countries around the globe, over 60 billion cookies are sold each year. In the US alone with more than 20 billion of those cookies sold annually. The Oreo was developed by the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) in March 1912 in New York City. The first batch was sold to a grocer in Hoboken, New Jersey, for $1.85 for 9.25 of the tasty treats.

RELATED: Fauxreos: Can You Spot The Fake Oreo Flavors?

Not only are they good, they keep it fresh by releasing short term flavors. They have included white peach oolong, sour patch kids, space dunk, Cadbury Oreo Creme and more.  Served best with milk, Baileys, or just alone…they are a treat for all ages.  And here are the ways to take them to the next level.

Oreo Brownie

To make an Oreo brownie, simply place 5 Oreos in a food processor and pulverize. Place crumbs in a dish and add 1 tsp. sugar, about 1/8 tsp of baking powder, 1/4 c. milk and microwave on high for one minute. Top with ice cream, whipped cream, sprinkles, whatever. Delicious! Here’s another recipe:

Cookie Bowls

All you need is a 1 (14.3-oz) package of Oreos,  1 egg, and 2 Tbsp melted butter. Refinery29 has a handy tutorial you can watch while eating the second package of Oreos you bought “for emergencies.”

Oreo S’mores

Place a roasted marshmallow atop the Oreo filling that’s already in there and you just created magic.

PB&J Cookie Sandwich

Remove the bottom chocolate cookie from a Berry Creme Oreo, and the top cookie from a PB Creme Oreo and smoosh them together, creating a Peanut Butter & Jelly hybrid. Or, slather real peanut butter inside a Berry Creme Oreo. Also works well with a Strawberry Shortcake Oreo. Or, you know, a plain Oreo.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Spread marshmallow fluff on the insides of a lemon flavored Oreo (Lemon or Lemon Twist).

Cinnamon Buns

Make your own Cinnamon Bun Oreos by twisting a Golden Oreo in half and sprinkling cinnamon on the filling. Or there’s this dab move.

Oreo “Nice Cream”

Add some frozen bananas and some Oreos to a food processor and blend until it reaches soft-serve consistency. You just made the world’s easiest non-dairy ice cream. To  make a milkshake, just add your favorite plant-based milk.

Fall is here, and America’s millions of CBD and hemp cannabinoid consumers still face an elusive expanse of rules and regulations that change as rapidly as the autumn leaves. 

• 90 new state bills would regulate hemp
• Cookies scores a University of Southern California deal
• And Cann’s 2mg Grapefruit Rosemary is delicious

Looking to make sense of the chaos? Leafly has you covered. Read on for your monthly news roundup of all things CBD, delta-8, THCA, and other hemp molecules.

Top CBD, delta-8 news of September

In a dramatic first for the hemp industry, the multinational brand Cookies has entered into a multi-year sponsorship deal with a university sports team. Beginning this season, Cookies will be an official sponsor for the University of Southern California Trojans football, as well as USC’s men and women’s basketball. According to a press release, “on-site tailgate experiences” will occur at select events; your good is as good as ours what that will look like. 

CBD and hemp legal news

In 2024 alone, US states have introduced 90 bills to regulate hemp. Yikes! The Libertarian-minded crew at the Reason Foundation recently dropped a proposal to streamline and standardize the US hemp industry. You can read it here.

California

Californians are “panic buying” thousands of dollars of CBD and other hemp products in advance of Governor Gavin Newsom (D)’s anticipated emergency ban on all hemp products containing trace amounts of THC in the Golden State. 

Missouri

Drama continues to unfold in Missouri, where Governor Mike Parson hopes to ban intoxicating hemp products. On September 18, the state health department rebuffed Parson’s plan. Hemp sales are back on, for the time being.

Texas

The Texas Supreme Court will consider whether to outlaw delta-8 sales in an upcoming case. According to the Texas Hemp Industries Association, the state’s hemp business is worth $8.1 billion, and delta-8 makes up a $6.8 billion piece of that pie.

US Federal

A US Circuit Court ruled on September 4 that the super-potent hemp-derived cannabinoid THC-O (aka THC-O acetate) qualifies as hemp, per language in the 2018 Farm Bill. The ruling puts the Court at odds with the DEA, who argue that THC-O does not meet the definition of hemp, and thus remains federally illegal. But since SupCo struck down the Chevron Doctrine this year, circuit courts no longer need to rely on a federal agency’s opinion to issue a ruling. We’ll see what happens next.

On October 15, the US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of a truck driver named Douglas Horn who failed a drug test after consuming a CBD product that allegedly did not contain any THC. Horn subsequently lost his job. He hopes to sue the manufacturers of the CBD product, Dixie X.. 

On September 4, the FDA sent a warning letter to a North Carolina-based skincare company called Root Bioscience Brands. The letter alleges that the company made medical claims about its CBD and other cannabinoid products that it does not have qualification to do, since CBD is not an approved drug. The company complied.

This one’s weird: Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (R) is suing Meta (the parent company of Facebook). Huckabee alleges the company ran fake ads suggesting that he’s endorsing a CBD product. 

We love Cann’s 2 mg tonics!

We interrupt our news broadcast to offer a quick review on one of our favorite hemp-derived beverages Leafly HQ: Cann’s 2 THC mg Grapefruit Rosemary tonic. Packaged in a cute mini-can, this zippy beverage delivers a bouquet of subtle flavors and a clean, mellow buzz that helps it stand out among the competition. Cann’s products look classy, taste great and don’t launch you into a sugar rush (or subsequent nosedive).

CBD and hemp science news

Heads up, Leafly Nation. As we reported earlier this month, a new study shows that contrary to a widely-held belief, CBD can actually enhance cannabis’ psychoactive effects, not diminish them. 

Suppository success! A survey-based study found that Foria’s CBD suppositories reduced menstrual pain and discomfort for nearly four-fifths of all participants. 

Oregon State University has received $5 million to study the potential uses of industrial hemp.

CBD and hemp industry news

Big ups, CBD! According to a new report from InsightAce Analytic, the CBD ingredient market (aka products that include CBD as an ingredient) could more than double by 2031. The report estimates that CBD saw $2.42 billion in revenue in 2023, and that the figure could reach $6.77 billion by 2031.

The first CBD lozenge has landed in Canada, thanks to a collaboration between Aurora Cannabis and Vectura Fertin Pharma. Bon appetit.

Woodstock for hemp sippers is here: The inaugural Pacific Hemp Beverage Summit is going down on October 11, 2024 in Bend, Oregon. You can find more info about the event here.

And that’s it for Leafly’s monthly novel cannabinoids news roundup. As always, it’s the Wild West out there. We’ll see you next month to report on the latest.