Get your grinders and bongs ready for a really delicious list. Putting the best OG Kushes of all time took us back in time and made us excited for the future.
Pivotal pot from a generation ago help define the dispensary menus you see today. In the mid-’90s, some super-dank, super-strong weed made it from Florida to Hollywood, Los Angeles, and changed the game. Credit goes to Matt ‘Bubba’ Berger and Josh Del Rosso.
Del Rosso tells Leafly: “It was just called ‘Kush’ back then before we added the ‘OG’ to it around ’98-’99. … It was the strongest shit that had hit the scene, ever. … That crazy loud, lemony, skunky gas was filling up the entire house or the car or wherever we went with it.”
Today, countless hundreds of strains have roots in OG Kush. Breeders have taken different facets of OG in different directions: one rips your face off, while another deletes insomnia. So which ones are the top 12 of all time?
Leafly looked at current popularity across the US, plus the impact each varietal had on breeding and the culture. This is where we landed—for now.
#12 Face Off OG
Face Off OG is Archive Seeds’ Fletch selection of OG Kush to breed with. You don’t see Face Off OG alone in the wild, but it powers big winners like Animal Face, Blue Face, and Leafly Strain of the Year Dosidos. Face Off OG has at least 10 generations of crosses descended from it, according to its genealogy on Seedfinder.
#11 Double OG Chem
Call it the new kid on the block. Double OG Chem is the youngest iteration of OG Kush on this list, but it’s earned its place through a growing legacy of wins at the Emerald Cup, word of mouth, and ubiquity. Crossing OG Chem x OG Sour F4 creates a perfect terp storm of fuel, chem, and funk, plus a floral surprise; the serenity of OG gets a vivacious, energetic boost.
#10 Godfather OG
Two types of OG Kush combined to make the third most popular OG Kush on Leafly in 2024—Godfather OG. A reported cross of XXX OG and Alpha OG—Godfather OG is super sedative. “I have severe insomnia, and this is hands down the best sleep med I’ve experienced,” reports one reviewer. Lab samples labeled Godfather OG have averaged out to the same three top terpenes as OG Kush.
#9 Larry OG
As soon as the original OG Kush touched down in California, growers across the state pounced to put their spin on it. Larry OG, also known as Lemon Larry, comes from the eponymous Larry crossing two of our top-4 strains, OG Kush x SFV OG, in Orange County. Larry OG puts the citrus terps before the pine, along with balanced effects between lost in the couch and buzzing around. One reviewer said it felt “like a light radiating down my skin and removing all of my stress.” Besides some cup wins of its own, Larry OG has spawned dozens of crosses among seven generations, including as a parent of Purple Punch.
#8 WiFi OG
A perusal on Leafly shows that Wifi OG is available in all corners, from its native California to Michigan and even Ontario, Canada. Whether you call it Wifi OG or White Fire, OG Raskal’s breeding result is the same; Fire OG x The White creates a spongy plant led by limonene and nerolidol terps that hits the head and the body. WiFi OG ranks No. 147 in menu popularity in the US out of more than 9,000 strains.
#7 Fire OG
If you want to make a better OG—just cross two OGs. Fire OG is a cross of OG Kush x SFV OG that often seemed to come with more red pistils (or “hairs”). The effects hit dead in the middle of the road—a great hybrid. Humboldt Seed Company CEO Nathaniel Pennington said, “We loved Fire OG and made Emerald Fire OG out of it.” Today, it’s No. 117 in US menu popularity.
#6 Alien OG
Alien OG is another NorCal banger. Tahoe OG crossed with Alien Kush means big, ET-green buds with heavy pine tree terps. There are plenty of Alien OG progeny strains keeping this branch of Kush alive and well. It’s ranked No. 145 in US menu popularity.
#5 Tahoe OG
NorCal can’t let SoCal have all the fun with OG’s legacy, and the Tahoe OG pheno proves it. This is OG Kush at its best: big, verdant buds, sticky as heck, and rank with earthy, forest terps. Tahoe OG won a modest share of awards in the 2010s, but it remains alive for true OG heads and for breeders who need a heavy-hitting OG to spawn new iterations.
#4 King Louis OG
King Louis OG is charging hard in 2024, partially thanks to OG Louis the XIII the “Creator of LouieTheXIII.” A cross of OG Kush x LA Confidential—it’s super-sedative. It’s ranked No. 137 nationally in store presence, and joined more than 300 additional store menus over the last year.
#3 SFV OG
Short for San Fernando Valley OG Kush—SFV OG is the lighter-green, smaller-nugged, more energetic OG Kush. People really pick up on the pine, and lemon on SFV OG. “Like inhaling Pine-Sol. Love this taste. Sticky buds.” SFV OG is associated with Swerve and The Cali Connection—who helped popularize OG Kush in the ‘90s.
#2: Skywalker OG
Second place in the top OG Kushes of all time goes to Skywalker OG. We think of Skywalker OG as more sedative than regular OG thanks to its mix of (Blueberry x Mazar) and OG Kush. Others say it is merely a variation of classic OG Kush—which might be true. Our first reviews of it date to the origin of Leafy back in 2011. People take it for stress, pain, and anxiety. A current top hit with Skywalker OG deep down in it is Super Boof. (Noted descendants: 501st OG, Hardcore OG, Falcon Heavy)
#1 OG Kush
A lot of people think the original OG Kush from the ’90s remains the best version of it. OG Kush ranks 11th among all 9,000 strains in the Leafly database—higher than any of its successors. When we think of real OG Kush we think of dark, green, smaller-sized buds that are resinous and pungent with notes of fuel, lemon, and pine. OG Kush always hits hard no matter how many times you smoke it—with a hybrid indica effect that’s best for after-work relaxation.
Josh Del Rosso affirms, “The best OG I ever had was the first. That was 1996.”
Rebel Grown Seeds’ Dan Pomerantz agreed after he first smoked it in 2010. “The best OG Kush I ever had was the real one, the original. It was the loudest best best-tasting OG I’ve had. It’s the original mom I used in my Double OG Sour seed line.”
Humboldt Seed Co’s Ben Lind concurs as well, “It wasn’t the prettiest weed—it would never make it in today’s market, but it reeked and it would just get you the same high each time. It was a really predictable high. You never got a tolerance to it. You could smoke it for a year and still get blazed. And it was called OG Kush.”
Lindsey Renner, founder and CEO of Native Humboldt, has been cultivating OG Kush since 2008, and her current cut dates back to 1999. As a Native woman who incorporates indigenous growing practices on her farm, Renner believes that “plants have spirits. What I’ve noticed about OG is that it has a really strong spirit. It’s like a grandfather that’s been around forever. It carries knowledge. It’s been a driving force in this entire movement.”
OG Kush has a much farther reach than just the coasts. The Missouri-based House of Kush is bringing intact genetics to multiple inland states. Founder Reggie Harris says the allure for OG Kush comes from more than just THC. “People know what makes them feel good, and OG Kush has medicinal qualities that keep people coming back,” he says.
