Pubdate: Wed, 03 Jun 2015 Source: East Bay Express (CA) Column: Legalization Nation Copyright: 2015 East Bay Express Contact: http://posting.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/SubmitLetter/Page Website: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1131 Author: David Downs THE BEST MARIJUANA STRAINS OF SUMMER 2015 Ask Legalization Nation about mouth-watering sativas for the long summer days - and Cookies before bed. We got your buzzfeed right here. Yeah, yeah - "earth-shaking developments in cannabis policy and medicine." That's all nice and good, sir. Please point me to the kind bud. Le Chronoisseur, Oakland We're glad, LC, that you can appreciate the duality of a life-saving botanical that's also a sensual pleasure for responsible adults. Here's what's on our short list heading into summer: Jilly Bean Summer is a time for tropical-fruit-tasting, energetic, and potent sativas, and it'll be tough to top the mouth-watering, grapefruit citrus aroma, and electric effect of Jilly Bean. It's TGA Genetics' cross of Orange Velvet, Romulan, and Cindy99. Easy to find. Hard to perfect. Amazing cuts spotted at Oakland Organics (705 Broadway). Tangie This trending, citrus-y sativa is DNA Seeds' California Orange mixed with a cross of Skunk #1 and an unknown. It's also a five-time Cup winner. Spotted at Phytologie Oakland (8440 Enterprise Way). Tahoe Chem The July 4 weekend will mark the final series of Grateful Dead concerts of all time - in Chicago. The culture that the band nurtured, however, will never die. CRAFT Collective in Berkeley (BayAreaCraft.org) has access to some original Tahoe Chem from Chemdawg. This world-record-strength, fuel-smelling sativa hybrid came out of a mythic Dead show and launched two of the biggest strains in weed history - OG Kush and Sour Diesel. Red Congolese Red Congolese is an award-winning, exotic-looking, sweet-spicy, earthy, racy sativa originally sourced in tropical Africa and now grown in the Bay Area. Spotted at BPCC in Berkeley (2950 Telegraph Ave.) and at Oakland's Harborside Health Center (1840 Embarcadero) and Magnolia Wellness (161 Adeline St.). Pincher's Creek One more tart, tasty sativa bears mentioning - Pincher's Creek. It's also the more marketable name for the exceptionally palatable, less racy phenotype, Green Crack. It explodes with sweet, fruit flavor, and is coated with potent trichomes. A specialty of CBCB (3033 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley). Sherbet Cookies has escaped from the lab! Once a closely held, indica hybrid cross of Jacksonville Kush, NorCal-adapted Durban, and the secret F1 - - Girl Scout Cookies genes have spread throughout the world. Its children take home Cannabis Cups regularly. Among them is the trending Sherbet - a creamier, strawberry take on GSC. Recently spotted at BPG (2366 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley). Overlord OG A Cookie kerfuffle has broken out across the bay. Cookies SF and rival The Cookie Co 415 are just miles apart on Mission Street, with dueling genetics. The latest salvo is Cookies SF's Overlord OG - a punishingly stoney pheno of OG Kush that has a narrow edge over The Cookie Co 415's exclusive Khalifa Kush. In this food fight, the customer wins. The 415 Summer nights are much more scrumptious with Cookies 'round bedtime. The 415 is part of a new wave of Cookie crosses mixing Oakland staple Cadillac Purple with SF-native Girl Scout Cookies. It's a Bay Area super-strain that smells of grape, dark berry, mint, and incense, with the some of the most flavorful smoke or vapor in cannabis. Remember, "indica = 'in da couch.'" Spotted at Telegraph Health Center (3003 Telegraph Ave., Oakland). 3-Point Purple Purple Heart Patient Center (415 4th St.) in Oakland's Jack London district is honoring the Warriors' first NBA Finals in forty years with 3-Point Purple - a platinum cut of Grand Daddy Purple (presumably). The Bay Area has been perfecting the purple strain of cannabis for decades. Buying purps from Purple Heart in the heart of Oakland? That's just a clutch move. Gorilla Glue #4 Get your mitts on this trending strain from the OG family. Gorilla Glue #4 is a max-potency, mostly sativa hybrid so named for its copious resin, which locks up a trimmer's scissors in record time. Chemsis, Sour Dubb, and Chocolate Diesel are all thrown into the genetic blender here, and the result won first place in the 2014 Los Angeles Cannabis Cup. Spotted at Oakland's Blum (578 W. Grand Ave.) and Harborside Health Center. Honorable Mentions AbsoluteXtracts Vape Pen Cartridge It's weed of the future. The lab-tested, highly reputable AbsoluteXtracts Vape Pen Cartridge pairs with an e-cigarette battery to offer hyper-clean, tightly titrated doses of whole plant THC. Check dispensary listings. Freddie Hott Sauce 420 Easily the most practical summer barbecue edible of all time. Used judiciously, this spicy habanero red hot sauce packs a naughty, sub-psychoactive dose of cannabinoids. Check dispensary menus. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom