Award-winning cannabis journalist and best-selling author David Downs highlights the hottest flowers blazing up the charts in legal U.S. states for the start of fall. It’s his (mostly) monthly column, dubbed “Terp Sherpa.”
There’s a reason why more people are smoking weed daily than drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes: Weed is very tight!
This month’s collection of hot zaza in legal stores from shore to shore speaks for itself. We got fruity, we got gassy, we got creamy and we got dreamy. High Times’ Terp Sherpa column finna get you higher! Let’s go!
Giraffe P
Angel City Farmers, Jungle Boys (CA), Minntz (MI), EV Family Farms (NJ), Garden Society (NY)
Terp Sherpa must acknowledge the power of the P—Giraffe P that is. The strain swept the California Zalympix contest earlier this summer, winning Best Tasting and Best Overall, with both the industry and the popular vote in agreement. Then Giraffe drew long lines for a clone release of it in Berlin at Mary Jane, where Doja sold cuts of it for 500 euros a pop.
Giraffe P is a cross of Z x Animal Bx2 bred by Seed Junky Genetics. It’s thicc, icy, and dark with a loud, zesty, gassy smell and a tropical candy, and vanilla taste. Its potent indica-hybrid effects are perfect for chillin’, grillin’, and enjoying a movie or show.
You can find Giraffe P in dispensaries across the USA, from California’s Jungle Boys, and in Master Makers’ new infused joints. On the East Coast, you’ll find it in New Jersey from EV Family Farms, in New York from Garden Society, and in Michigan from Seed Junky affiliate Minntz. If you see Giraffe P, be sure to try a taste.
BBL2
Maine Trees (ME), Lifted (WA)
There’s a new ‘BBL’ you need to know, and it’s BBL2 from Maine Trees. This cross of Blueberry Banana and Blue Lobster just took second place in flower at Seattle’s Terp Warz, where it was grown by Lifted. The win comes after a second place finish in New York’s The Billy’s contest. It’s no surprise. Blue Lobster is built on the loud, potent Apples and Bananas, and the blingy, bulbous Eye Candy. Maine Trees took the work from Compound Genetics and Cipher and bred in their Blueberry Banana to boost the loudness. Now you have these dramatic-looking, dark purple, huge buds that are just reeking loud. Maine Trees keeps the BBL2 close, with just a few licensees nationwide, so don’t miss it when you see it.
Peach Tree
Aficionado Seeds (global), The Flowery (FL), Doja (MI, MA)
Peach season is upon us in cannabis. Aficionado Seeds is selling a Peach Tree clone for $20,000 that was developed by Flower Factory. It’s punch-you-in-the-face loud peach that one might assume came from sprayed-on terpenes. Nope! Aficionado Leo isn’t disclosing the lineage of their Peach Tree, but it’s spongy, sticky, hairy, green bud that need not win a beauty contest to have a long line of suitors. At the same time, iconic designer brand Doja has a Peach Tree that is Gelonade x P41 and is also making waves in Michigan, Massachusetts, and California. There’s no legal authority managing conflicting weed names, so the two will just have to coexist alongside others. We’re in the middle of a proper Peach Wave with the likes of California cloners Purple City Genetics pumping out Moroccan Peach crosses by the truckload. And we’re here for it. Millions of peaches, peaches for thee.
Grapefruit Starburst
Higher Ground Canna, Master Makers and Canyon Creek Family Farms (CA)
The best hash starts with the best, most suitable flower, and the one to watch is Higher Ground Canna’s Grapefruit Starburst. Grapefruit Starburst powered Master Makers’ Gold medal in the California State Fair Cannabis Awards in July, and then it scored second in the Hashathon Cup on L.A. in August. The breeder, Higher Ground Canna’s John, told Terp Sherpa, “the awards were only a matter of time.”
Grapefruit Starburst comes from two of his selections of Starburst #36 x Starburst #36 bred three generations deep. Starburst #36 itself comes from Starburst OG x KC#36. John was among the first to vertically integrate breeding for hash strains—from cultivation and processing all the way through sales in the California medical era. So he got further along than everyone else, faster.
Grapefruit Starburst is green bud with orange pistils, and a frosty, dense look and sandy, fat trichomes that are perfect for washing and making rosin. Canyon Creek Family Farms of Trinity County, CA. and 710 Labs are two of the growers who’ve crushed it with the Starburst #36 line. Grapefruit Starburst is one of my favorite dabs gifted to me at SF Hash Week 2026, with a taste and smell exactly like it sounds—it’s otherworldly, transportive and on a whole other level. It’s got a clear, hybrid, uplifting and creative effect that’s social, with a little body, but not too heavy.
Orange Tree
Greenline (CA)
This month we’re doing peaches, pineapple, grapefruit, blueberry, and yes, Orange Tree. A California delicacy worth seeking out, Orange Tree is an award-winning exclusive from indoor growers Greenline of Monterey, CA. It’s a cross of 24K Gold and Orange Valley OG, so while it reeks of orange, it’s got a fat, dank bottom that lingers in a room. The effects are hybrid, and good for chilling on the beach or hiking, or just smelling the orange tree oil on your fingers like a weirdo. Greenline grows Enviroclean and does its own butane hash blasting, so watch out for them to bring orangey BHO back; much to the chagrin of Tangie haters.
Pineapple Surprize
THC Design (CA)
It’s hard to get legit pineapple terps in weed. Pineapple Express can end up smelling thin, with a hint of hay. The team at THC Design, which grows alongside the brand Lolo in Northern California have pulled it off this summer with the debut of their Pineapple Surprize. California’s rigid rules for genetic sourcing preclude us from revealing the full origin story, but suffice to say, it’s real, vintage pineapple weed with a publicly reported lineage of Hawaiian sativa x Skunk #1. It’s green, full of the awesome terpene ocimene, and one to grab if you’re a sativa-lover longing for something more than Jack Herer. Smoke it and do some yoga or hop on that Peloton.
Hijinx
Fig Farms (CA)
Oakland, CA’s Fig Farms returns for a rare back-to-back appearance in Terp Sherpa because they’ve done their homework. On July 4, they invited me down to smell hundreds of phenos fresh from their R&D room. In nearby walk-in refrigerators sat huge totes of seeds going back decades. They’re popping vintage stuff, classics and certified bangers, finding keepers, and crossing them into their own lines to form new-new for their dedicated Cali fanbase. One of the ones that stuck with me was Hijinx, a gorgeous, gassy cross of their award-winning Animal Face and their crowd-pleasing Rapper Weed. Rapper Weed crosses RS11 x Lemon Cherry Gelato for a guaranteed hit. The Animal Face amps up the aggression—giving it a paint thinner meets kiwi fruit smell. Plus, just look at her. Fig Farms weed isn’t merely pretty; it’s Fig Pretty.
Fruit Loops
Voyage Bloom (MI)
Next, we zoom on over to Michigan to check in with their zaza mafia where we find the new Voyage Bloom strain Fruit Loops on a tear. It’s the breeder BeanFiendz’s exclusive cross of Rainbow Belts x Super Boof and it smells pretty much like it sounds: artificial fruit, vanilla and cereal. Voyage Bloom has stayed in the winner’s circle first with a Zalympix win for Slurmz (Gastro Pop x Red Bullz), and now four more wins for Fruit Loops—two in the Summer’s End Smokeout (People’s Choice, and Grower’s Choice), and two more in Ball+Blaze in March for Best Tasting and Best High. The effects hit hybrid, and are versatile with all your end of summer activities. I’d say ‘follow your nose’ but we don’t want that Kellogg’s smoke.
Red Eye
Seed Junky (U.S.)
It sucks that the U.S. legal weed market is so balkanized that smokers in one state are left out from the badassery in other markets. We wanted something playing across the country to big crowds like ‘The Odyssey’ in IMAX, so we called up Seed Junky Genetics in L.A., which is running their strains in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, and Michigan. Seed Junky Wes Vasquez said by far their best performer has been their Red Eye, which they are just pumping out at immaculate quality. Red Eye is Permanent Marker crossed to Lemon Cherry Gelato, two hitters that go great together. Yes, it’s in the Gelato wheelhouse, and, yes, that is the most popular terp for a reason. It’s the Matt Damon of terps! The masses like what they like, and vox populi, vox dei. This indica-hybrid is best for sitting back and unwinding whether it’s with some coloring books, or a record, or watching the sunset in a late empire.
Moonbutter
Tower Three (MA)
We end this month’s roundup in the puritan stomping ground of Massachusetts, where killjoys will attempt to re-criminalize weed this fall for the first time in the legalization era. Everyone should sign up to beat those haters like a gong. After you get on the volunteer list with Marijuana Policy Project, celebrate your civic engagement with some superb Moonbutter by Tower Three. They’re one of the state’s few organic-esque indoor living soil growers, and it shows in the rowdy terps. Moonbutter is such a cool, weird, regional strain. It’s a cross of Starkush and Butterwolf from the breeder TeamingWithTerps. Starkush has Nigerian Kush and Stardawg in it from Top Dawg Seeds—making it a stone-cold East Coast classic. Butterwolf brings together Swamp Boys Seeds’ Swamp Thing and Thug Pug’s Peanut Butter Breath. Yeyeah. It’s a fuel, pine, chem strain with notes of rosemary and rubber. It’s also a maximum indica, so when you get mad about the endless historical cycle of prohibition, you can at least chill out about it. Just be sure to get mad again and fuck prohibition—again—this fall.
What did we miss? Put us onto the next peak strain. Email Terp Sherpa today.
Editor’s note: High Times opposes Massachusetts Question 8. This column is a strain review and includes its author’s opinion on that measure.
