Top Ten Strains of the Year 2024

I have drawn this list of the Top Ten Strains of the year for 2024 from my own personal experience with these and other strains of cannabis flower. I am limited by residence, geography, time, space, and reason from trying all of the great strains in action from coast to coast of this U.S.A. let alone the rest of the world, all those other continents and their ancient living landraces. Without further ado, the Top Ten Strains of 2024.

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Number One: Chem Reserve by Vibe (Missouri)

I never even wrote up a strain review of Chem Reserve because if I was smoking it I was always too busy enjoying the buzz, doing kooky things, saying kooky things, thinking up crazy Halloween costumes (sheet people), or running my mouth about whatever crossed my mind. Vibe classifies Chem Reserve as a sativa. It’s a cross of a couple of Chemdawg strains. I was sitting on the eighth for at least half of the year before I even cracked it. It had kept well. The eighth was gone before I knew it, always a sign a strain is getting it done. This Chem Reserve woke me up to the Vibe brand, and has encouraged me to revisit Chemdawg crosses. I can’t say it had a memorable taste but it had me trying to convince my wife that we should, at the last minute, dress up as “sheet people” so that we could attend a Halloween party. The idea was that we just wrap ourselves in sheets, kind of like nomads of the desert. It sounded like a good idea at the time.

Number Two: Butterscotch Bacio by High Noon Cult (New Mexico)

I did write a review of this one, so I will first refer you there. This Scotch Bacio was a win for the flower of New Mexico. I’ve had good grams here and there from dispensaries in the Land of Enchantment, buying flower everywhere from Clovis to Albuquerque to Ruidoso. And by now I’ve bought eighths from a variety of growers offering cannabis for adult use in New Mexico. This jar of Scotch Bacio from High Noon Cult has been the best of New Mexico so far for me. This strain, along with another Bacio mentioned later, has me thinking I’m into Bacio strains, meaning I am on the lookout for strains built from Sunset Sherb and/or Gelato. These types of strains might often be marked as indica or indica-leaning but it’s the Burma via Pink Panties that shines through these types of crosses, dealing me first (admittedly) with a head rush that is probably best handled by an experienced smoker before settling into a euphoric, lifted, clear, inquisitive yet chill high that makes for an excellent sidekick as the late morning or early afternoon transitions to evening and night.

Number Three: Biskante by Alien Labs (Arizona)

I did write up Biskante earlier this year. This tasty, Gelonade-derived sativa was low-key enough to smoke earlier in the day and provided an espresso-like stimulant effect that had me happy to do odd jobs while staying with my in-laws in Tucson for a few days this summer. Biskante stood out not only for its orange pencil eraser-like flavor but also for its ability to deliver stimulating, sativa effects without first taking me down remonstration lane where my lingering fears and worries get to take a bite out of me before I get to the meadowlarking good part of the experience.

Number Four: Animal Face by Rythm (Illinois)

I’ve had Animal Face a few times now. Twice by Rythm and once by Fig Farms. I never have reviewed it, probably because it is some of the most potent bud I have smoked in recent times. Most of anything I’ve managed to write while smoking Animal Face is scribble. But not only is Animal Face potent, it’s tasty, too. It’s got that doughy, creamy flavor profile that I haven’t been able to assign to either wing of the strain’s parentage: Animal Mints and Face Off OG. Is that the prototypical kush-y flavor? Maybe so. The Rythm offering of Animal Face has been my favorite among the two on offer in Sauget, IL. I’m surprised this strain is not on more menus, e.g. in other states. No strain has knocked me for a bigger loop than Animal Face. If I had a rotation, and if it were available, I’d always keep some on hand for those times when I’m ready to face oblivion.

Number Five: Animal Mints by Seed & Strain (Illinois)

Two Animal entries in a row. I guess I’m a sucker for Animal Mints and anything therefrom derived. Animal Mints is a cross of Animal Cookies and SinMint Cookies. I see Animal Cookies for sale here and there. SinMint Cookies as a standalone strain seems to be lost to history. On the SinMint side of the lineage, you pull in the distant influence of The White and the Blueberry line, not to mention Sour Dubb. I’d love to smoke some straight-up SinMints someday (it’ll never happen). Animal Mints is probably a lighter version of Animal Face. It was a little minty and smoked so smoothly. I can remember sparking an Animal Mints joint on the balcony of my hotel room looking over the marina of Point Loma in San Diego in July. Was that heaven? I haven’t seen Seed & Strain offer it or much of anything else in Sauget since. They dropped a couple eighths earlier this month but I didn’t act soon enough and missed out on some Guava Bomb that sounded good. Seed & Strain grows some great weed. Their Peking Duck was my number one strain of the year in 2023 and their 3D was also top five last year. I wish they offered their flower more in southern IL.

Number Six: Timewreck by Abundant Organics (Arizona)

This was one of Abundant Organics’ so-called super eighths. Four-and-a-half grams of great bud. I was interested in Timewreck because it was a sativa and because it had Trainwreck in its most-interesting lineage. Not only is Trainwreck involved but Cindy 99, Jack Herer, Romulan, and Trinity. Whoa! I can remember smoking some Trinity back in the day. It was the second single-strain bud I ever smoked (Northern Lights was the first). It’s a sativa building-block kitchen sink. This bud had me energized and goofy. There was a bite but it was worth getting through to experience the Timewreck.

Number Seven: White Caviar by Sundro (Missouri)

This is one of those eighths from which I was not expecting much but from which I took much enjoyment. It was one of those eighths where I have a moment when I look at the jar and I ask myself, “Is that really all I have left?” I’m not sure why it’s called White Caviar because it is basically just WiFi OG, aka White Fire: The White crossed with Fire OG. What a pleasant smoke. But I wish Sundro would seal their jars. Not just apply an inner seal under the lid (like for Tylenol). But I want to know if someone has screwed off the lid. It could’ve been any bud in that jar of White Caviar from Sundro. I don’t like that. Seal it. Security seal and freshness seal, please. Sundro, your bud is too good not to seal properly. Soapbox session over. The Sundro jars, lack of seals aside, are quite nice. Taller and thinner, which makes a difference when space in my Pelican Brief is at a premium.

Number Eight: Bacio 91 by Fig Farms (Illinois)

I never had high hopes for Bacio 91. Fig Farms has been extremely hit-or-miss for me. But their eighths go for $25 a pop in Illinois, they offer a variety of them, and they have fun with their lineages. Bacio 91 is a cross of Sherbacio and LD-95. I hadn’t really gotten into the Sherbs by the time I had purchased this based on customer rating off of the Beyond/Hello menu in Sauget, IL. (I bought this at Goose Lake but frankly the medical MJ customer angle of the Goose Lake Beyond Hello makes that shop incredibly volatile in terms of customer service so at the time of this typing, I have sworn off Goose Lake and will only visit the Mississippi Ave/Pops location of Beyond Hello in Sauget, Illinois.) I just loved the simple, clean, pure high I got from smoking Bacio 91. I can remember sitting in my garage listening to a Red-Eyed vireo that was passing through this spring. I wrote a strange but interesting identity poem while buzzing on Bacio 91. And it was another one of those eighths that was down to crumbs before I knew it. For $25? Or, now that Beyond Hello is offering sales on Aeriz/Fig Farms (whereas before Aeriz and Cresco were never on sale, never part of the storewide sales, etc.) A person could buy Bacio 91 at 25% off storewide in Sauget, IL for $18.75. Before tax, sure, but IL taxes are not as high as they used to be. I recently added a jar of Bacio 91 to my inventory. I noticed that it came and went pretty quickly once it was on that menu. I am not the only one who likes the Bacio 91 from Fig Farms.

Number Nine: The Orchard Peach 1:1 Gummies from Camino (Illinois/Arizona)

I have been remiss on this blog in failing to mention cannabis edibles. I am a proponent of marijuana gummies. At the inception of legalization in Illinois, I bought mostly gummies. It was a while before I bought much flower. There wasn’t much flower on offer and it was mostly dessert strains that I didn’t think I had any interest in. Why would I want to smoke Wedding Cake? LOL, it was probably amazing. I love Wedding Cake, the weed. I missed the boat. Alas, alackaday, amor. I remember popping an Orchard Camino before making the drive back from this Farm I help look after in rural MO one day, rushing from one day to another, as we all do, even this gonzo lawyer poet trust fund rando dude who loves nothing more than to consume some form or other of marijuana and tell the world about it. I was listening to Chris Stapleton Radio on XM and his song “Traveler” came on. I wasn’t familiar with the song. I was turning from MO 63 onto MO 68 and it tore me up. I was feeling all the feels on this gummy and I just let it flow. What I love about these gummies is the CBD speed-brake. CBD competes at canniboid receptors with THC. So it doesn’t hit you all at once. It is more like time-release. In an earlier experience with this gummy, I had taken one one afternoon camping at Mark Twain in Missouri and I thought, “Hmmm. That kind of bombed. I was hoping to get high. I don’t feel much.” Patience, patience. These gummies unfold. They are beautiful, and magical, and essential.

Number Ten: Romulan Kush by Proper (Missouri)

I didn’t buy any of this myself but my buddy had some. I visited him earlier this week and we sparked a couple bowls of this flower from Proper. When it was fresh, it was piney, per my pal. Months after its opening I was lit on the first and then again on the second small bowl of it. I was talking, I was happy, I was with my buddy. We were watching whatever was on the TV, it didn’t matter. If I didn’t have a tricky drive in front of me, I would have waded in deeper. Proper has been hit-or-miss for me. Their Modified Rootbeer was on my Top Ten List for 2023. Talk about an eighth disappearing in a blink. Their Trophy Wife (basically Wedding Cake) was tasty as hell. Their Sherbanger messed me up one night. But looking at the lineage on many of their eighths just leaves me scratching my head. Their bud is well-cured, well-sealed, and always has that bag appeal. I wish they would try their hand at some more basic building-block strains. Romulan Kush might be just that. Romulan crossed with some version of OG Kush. I coulda smoked that shit all night. Here’s to 2024, and 2025, and bud still being legal if we don’t let these incoming clowns and cronies fuck it all back up.