Leafly's 9 best cannabis strains of 2021

The 2021 Best Cannabis Strain Contest, organized by Leafly, offers insight into trends in regulated markets. Drawing on its user data, the listing and rating site cannabis varieties awarded its 2021 prize to Dosidos and recognized eight other varieties that Americans love.

Leafly's Strain of the Year for 2021: Dosidos

The site's editorial team has selected the Dosidos best cannabis strain of the year for several reasons:

• With its deep purple leaves coated in a potent resin, Dosidos has raised the bar when it comes to visual appeal
• Its strong smell of diesel and its flavors
• The effects of Dosidos, which can take even some of the most tolerant smokers by surprise
• Farmers and breeders love him
• It became one of the 20 most-viewed strains on Leafly in 2021

The result of several crosses between Girl Scout Cookies and OG Kush, Dosidos continues the lineage of modern OG Kush strains. And with exciting descendants like Moonbow and Slurricane poised to carry on its legacy in 2022, Dosidos’s legacy is assured.

8 other award-winning varieties

In addition to Dosidos, Leafly has selected eight of the most popular strains in the United States in 2021.

GMO Cookies

A strong contender for “Strain of the Year,” this strain created by Mamiko Seeds is very popular. An indica-dominant hybrid resulting from a cross between GSC and Chemdawg, the GMO Cookies has a faint smell of gas and garlic. The acrid smoke has a spicy, musty undertone, a bit like a locker at your high school.

Peanut Butter Breath

The U.S. East Coast smoked a ton of Peanut Butter Breath in 2021. A cross between Dosidos and Mendo Breath (very popular in Florida this year!) developed by ThugPug Genetics, Peanut Butter Breath has a wonderful nutty and earthy flavor. PBB’s creamy, potent smoke delivers a stimulating high with a stone a pleasant physical sensation.

Cereal Milk

Varieties with dessert-inspired names, such as the Wedding Cake (the most sought-after flavor in the United States this year) and the Ice Cream Cake (a top seller, even in Ohio) continue to be very popular. The Cereal Milk stands alongside them. A Cookies hybrid, Cereal Milk has SGC on both sides—its parents are Y Life (SGC x Cherry Pie) and a sativa-dominant SGC strain called Snowman, which gives it a blanket of white trichomes.

Apple Fritter

L’Apple Fritter It has spread across the country from Northern California and is currently thriving in Michigan. The closely guarded genetics behind this Lumpy’s Flowers hybrid are said to be a cross between Animal Cookies and Sour Apple. This strain has a fruity tartness reminiscent of apple pie, with notes of sugar and earth when you grind a bud. The flavorful smoke is deliciously herbaceous.

Kush Mints

Seed Junky Genetics has created a ton of potent strains—Wedding Cake, Animal Cookies, and LA Kush Cake—and the Kush Mints is no exception. A cross between Animal Mints (the #1 strain from Florida in 2021) and Bubba Kush, Kush Mints has a deliciously sweet, minty flavor with an earthy undertone familiar to Kush enthusiasts.

London Pound Cake

Another delicious treat from the Cookie family, the London Pound Cake, also known as Pound Cake, has an interesting composition. A cross between Sunset Sherbert (GSC x Pink Panties) crossed with a potent, unidentified indica, London Pound Cake has a rich berry flavor accented with a hint of citrus. The GSC parent, which seems to be everywhere, gives this flower a robust quality with high THC levels and deeply relaxing effects.

Grease Monkey

The industry leaders, Exotic Genetix, have created the Grease Monkey by crossing GG4 with Cookies and Cream. GG4 was the best-selling strain in the United States in 2020, but it slipped to third place this year. Grease Monkey gets its sticky texture from Original Glue, with a high density of trichomes, while Cookies’n Cream stands out for its sweet, earthy notes and a hint of diesel.

MAC

The Miracle Alien Cookies alias MAC is a hybrid created by breeder Capulator about a decade ago. This strain is an amazing combination of genetics: the legendary Starfighter crossed with Colombian and Alien Cookies. Its dense, frosty buds have an intense citrus aroma with a hint of gas.