Leafly Buzz: 13 top cannabis strains of August 2023

Labor Day or not—summer just keeps simmering along on the West Coast. 

Up in the cannabis heartland of Humboldt County, the summer light dep crop moves out to stores, while the full-sun plants launch their flowers.

This month’s Leafy Buzz comes straight from a major Eureka, CA pot contest—the Transbay Challenge IV. There, we judged 18 flowers over six hours and came away with armfuls of buds to review.

Here are the cheat codes to the best bongloads of August. Here’s another edition of Leafly Buzz.

Data grinder

Moonbow

⬆ 2%

Moonbow brightens this fall—up 2% in traffic on Leafly, thanks to the amazing slew of Moonbow cuts found out west. Archive Seeds’ cross of Z x Dosidos makes for a much more dank, full-bodied, and less finicky Z. Our fresh nugs from Archive Portland had a lot of the prickly grandfather Face Off OG behind the pretty purple buds. This strong indica hybrid worked great with a walk among the towering redwoods, or gaming with the homies.

Headband

⬆ 2.7%

Classic OG Kush x Sour Diesel edges up nearly 3% this month thanks to its must-have diesel and lemon pungence, and its hybrid sativa effects. Despite its age, phenomenal cuts of Headband still circulate and show how the old stuff bangs just as hard as the new flavors. Get your 3,000 steps in, or take a cool river plunge on Headband.

Lamb’s Bread

⬇ 12%

We check in with another classic, iconic strain, sighted again in the Humboldt heartland: Lamb’s Bread. What sativa is it made from? Who exactly bred it? We may never truly know. But since the ’80s this Bob Marley-approved cultivar has powered barbecues, games of soccer, jam sessions, and gardening. 

Purple Urkle

⬆ 24%

What’s going on with Purple Urkle, West Coast? Strain page views are up 24% month over month, amid fresh sightings of Purple Urkle in the wild. Purple Urkle has been in the Leafly database since the beginning, in 2010, and is thought to be a type of Mendo Purps with a grape, berry, plum taste. It’ll leave you sleepy, happy, and so relaxed you don’t care if it’s the real Urkle or a re-name. (The real Urkle is out there, though.)

New in the Leafly strain database

Canna Country’s ‘The 26’

Multiple sources spoke in hushed tones of this must-see new cultivar from the farm Canna Country in the Emerald Triangle. We’re still learning more about it, but ‘The 26’ as it’s called is reportedly Forbidden Fruit x the breeder’s own Cherimoya. The 26 already distinguished itself at The Emerald Cup, and it reportedly scores the highest in the state for the terpene ocimene. It’s purple with notes of citrus, flower blossoms, and candy. Reggie Weedman reportedly bred the #26 with Ted Blair, owner of Canna Country.

Cartel Cut

There’s a new big OG Kush phenotype around Humboldt—the Cartel Cut. Growers So Hum Royal handed us a fistful of it at the Old Town Farmers Market in Eureka on Aug. 26. Meanwhile, bulk grower Xotic Flavorz produces hundreds of pounds of dried bud per week including the Cartel Cut. It’s got OG’s spikey, green look and piney, hashy, OG smell. Everyone knows what to do with OGs—roll them up in fat joints and get blazed on some indica hybrid chillaxation.

Sherb Haze

The modern blockbuster Sunset Sherbert and the 1980s classic Haze—how have these two never hooked up? Moon Made Farms’ Tina Gordon handed us a pouch of this perfect cross, fresh from the curing room for her summer deps. Sherb Haze puts Sherbert’s creamy berry body underneath Haze’s bright, sugary, grassy top note. You can wake and bake with it, and smoke it in the afternoon, or party with it to stay up late. Grab Moon Made for flowers that are Sun+Earth Certified, sungrown, and aligned with Mother Earth.

Mom’s Spaghetti

The hype flower brand Clout King of California and Michigan sells this unique, super-modern cross of GMO Rootbeer x Carbon Fiber. Mom’s Spaghetti looks ample and stunning, and smells of smooth fuel with notes of cinnamon and nutmeg. Indica hybrids like this work best with a relaxing hobby, like chewing through “The Lord of the Rings” books, or binging “Real Housewives.”

Picks of the dispensaries

New on shelves

Sake Bomb by Bombatta, CA

All the flavors of the moment make Sake Bomb the star it’s born to be: Runtz, Gushers, and Lemon Cherry Gelato combine, and mix with Zkittlez and Kush Mints. Of course, this is flame. The new brand Bombatta uses these dope glass jars with the grinder built into the top. But a grinder is only as good as what goes into it. The Sake Bomb felt like the grand finale in an explosive launch for Bombatta flavors. You get a deep, syrupy, berry, cherry, tropical smell and taste, and this chill hybrid indica effect that melts away the stress of a road trip. Great camping medicine.

Burning up the charts

Z by Alien Labs, CA

Grab one of the last jars while you still can—Alien Labs’ summer batches of Z check all the boxes. Years into the strain’s release, Z continues to gobble up market share, like the omicron variant of weed. Look on the podium of any contest this year and it’s a fair bet that Z, or a child of Z, stands up there. Royal Budline’s Z again bested nearly all comers at the Transbay Challenge IV qualifier in Eureka, CA. Aug. 26. Alien Labs’ Z smells and tastes tart, syrupy, gassy, rich, and ideal. The potent hybrid induces a vivid, neon head change that made “Oppenheimer” on IMAX even more badass.

Best-sellers

Ballin out

MAC Flurry by Lyfted, CA

Breeder Capulator’s MAC1 is so good and multi-faceted, brands can just keep re-releasing it under different names and it’ll sell on the top shelf. Modesto, CA brand Lyfted’s indoor-grown MAC Flurry shows why we keep returning to the MAC. It’s sleeted and complex-smelling with butter, vanilla, and citrus notes that reference gogurt. A MAC took the elite Ego Clash contest in Humboldt last year, and you can bet that you’ll see it win some more.

Ballin’ on a budget

Sherbanger #22 by 530, CA

The Sherbanger #22 strain continues to make noise this month since it broke out last October. Many, many seeds and clones of this cross of Sherbert and Headbanger have spread across the country, and the results are awesome. Large-scale farm ‘530’ on the Central Coast grows a fire cut of Sherbanger 22 that’s less than $40 out the door and good to the last nug. We love when you pour OG Kush’s gassy, lemon and pine on Sherbert’s creamy berry. Roll up a fat hash hole guilt-free with this value-priced flower.

High Note

Peanut Butter Breath rosin syrup, by Arcata Fire, CA

Probably the winningest street in all of hash-making exists in the sleepy little town of Arcata, CA. One of the manufacturers there, Arcata Fire, swept the entire Emerald Cup rosin carts category, winning first, second, and third place. So we got elated to receive a Peanut Butter Breath rosin syrup disposable cart from Arcata Fire themselves over the weekend. They hand-fill each high-grade pen with clarified, cold-cured 100% live rosin, made from fresh-frozen buds and solventless extraction. Bred by Thug Pug in Michigan, PB Breath crosses Dosidos to Mendo Breath, and Arcata Fire’s rosin syrup pen ports that peak flower experience over to a vape. It hits deep, rich, savory, sweet, and nutty, with zero artificial, harsh, or foul notes. Disposables are so handy on road trips, after long plane flights, or when the nosy neighbor kids are hanging around.

And that’s what’s buzzing on my desk for Leafly Buzz this August. Sign up for the newsletter to never miss a Buzz. We got one more fire flower report in September, and then our annual Strains of Harvest. Peace.

Growers, breeders, brands, stores—got buzz for Leafly? We’re all ears. Email us.