Cannabis To Get Through The Pandemic, The tRump Attack On Democracy, And To Celebrate The Holidays...

December 08, 2020

Runtz checks each box and tears up the scorecard. (Photos by Kandid Kush for Leafly)

Just what the doctor ordered to get through the pandemic, trump's lies and conspiracy theories, as well as to put a glow around the Holiday Season.

Enjoy!!

Leafly- America’s smokers have spoken: Runtz is the United States’ 2020 Leafly Strain of the Year! All across the nation, this fresh hybrid won over the masses with its gorgeous trichomes, phenomenal aroma, and potent effects.

As the lovechild of two other award-winning strains, Runtz consistently rose in popularity and acclaim since it debuted in December 2017. It claims the throne after Leafly’s independent review process that includes search trends, product availability, awards, and expert analysis.

Let’s dig into what makes 2020 the year of Runtz!

In order to give Runtz our 2020 title, we must start at the most important part: the experience of it.

In southern Humboldt County, CA, longtime cannabis cultivator Jason Gellman is the founder of Ridgeline Farms–which took an Emerald Cup in 2019 for Runtz. He’ll always grow a greenhouse of the cultivar, he said.

“Growing this day and age, you look for three things: You want the look, you want the smell, and you want the taste,” says Gellman.

Runtz checks each box and tears up the scorecard.

Gellman refers to the smell of Runtz as something “like no other strain I’ve ever grown,” and describes its aroma as a syrupy berry cream with plenty of gassy notes. The color? Purple and pink in the summer, with shades that go as deep as black-purple in the fall.

“With Runtz, it looks amazing, it smells like candy, grapes, and gas, and you smoke it and it tastes just like it smells, which is [actually] kind of unusual,” he says.

The sedative effects of this hybrid lean more toward an indica, with a flavor similar to Gelato, according to LitHouse, a family-owned coastal cannabis operation in Mendocino County, California. It comes with a heavy body high and strong chill vibes. It doesn’t jolt you with too much THC; rather, it wraps you in a thick, relaxing aroma.

It’s hard to track Runtz’s roots and hammer down its exact lineage, but it’s widely considered to be a cross between Gelato and Zkittlez. Gelato won Leafly’s Strain of the Year in 2018—a deliciously sweet, creamy blend of Thin Mint GSC and Sherbert.

Runtz’s other parent, Zkittlez, is a mouthwatering hybrid darling reportedly created by breeding Grape Ape and Grapefruit.

If the lineage rumors are true, it’s clear that someone took the best of the decade-old Cookies craze and added the exotic, new award winner Zkittlez to catch the world’s attention.

“Zkittlez cleaned up the Emerald Cup [in 2018] and then what won last year? Runtz,” says Gellman.

According to the international lifestyle brand Cookies, the original Runtz genetics focused on its purple candy taste, bag appeal, aroma, and flavor. The expertly engineered strain—combined with Cookies’ masterful marketing push—became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“I knew Runtz would work,” says Berner, rapper, entrepreneur, and co-founder of the Cookies brand. “One of the owners, Ray, came up around me and understands the recipe that made Cookies what it is. [Runtz crew co-leader Rapper Yung] LB put in lots of time on the road and in the studios, where campaigning and hard work, dedication, and solid marketing created a crazy wave.”

The impact of Runtz

“It’s not different than Alexander Wang droppin’ a shirt. Or Supreme. We’re like that of the weed. If you want cheap weed, you can go get you a $5 Footlong, you can go smoke some Blue Dream, some Green Crack. If you want to eat Ruth’s Chris [Steak House], you can go get some Cookies, Gelato, Lemoncello, and Runtz; things of that flavor. There’s levels of it. And we do not discriminate, it’s just setting the tone. It’s just like going shopping for clothes.”
—Yung LB

With just three years on the market, Runtz reached phenomenal heights. But a great cultivar is nothing without consumer awareness and large-scale cultivation to fill millions of smoky bowls. Runtz’s story illustrates that winning combo.

According to Cookies, Runtz came from the Runtz crew of “Ray, Nick, and Yung LB” by 2017. These three original “Cookies Boyz” had always hyped the Cookies brand.

“LB, Ray, and Nick used the recipe Berner spoke about to build their own platform to launch Runtz,” says the company Cookies. “The credibility the Runtz crew had, due to their connection with Berner, helped to give them a foothold in cannabis, entertainment, and fashion.”

Indeed, Long Beach-based rapper Yung LB first debuted the hype strain at the highly influential Emerald Cup in Santa Rosa, CA, in December 2017. The California trademark was filed in early 2018. The name “Runtz” is a nod to the plant’s yield, nug size, and its Zkittlez roots.

Much more BELOW the FOLD.