Gassiest of 2023 Awards - Best Flower
By Gas & Middies
🌸 Flower is the bread & butter of this website.
Over 2023, I’ve smoked hundreds of strains from dozens of brands.
Whether it was fresh deli-style or pre-packaged mylars, I was searching for gas!
I sifted through middies like it was my day job.
The best-of-the-best were the best looking, best smelling, & most importantly best tasting.
These were the strains that I’ve picked up multiple times or that I couldn’t stop thinking about this past year.
Ending in a curated list of the best things smoking in 2023.
Drumroll please 🥁
Best Flower
Runner Up: Lightsky Farms - Miracle Alien Cookies (MAC)
Miracle Alien Cookies otherwise known as MAC grown by Lightsky Farms, is one of the best smelling flower speciments I’ve come accross.
The jar stayed glued to my nose. The breakdown of the flower was near mythical.
I literally dubbed the term “angel feathers” to describe the breakdown of this particular flower. It’s that good.
And the taste is phenomenal. It’s the closest you’ll come to smoking a cookie.
I’ve had this in pre-pack form as well as deli-style and either way, it doesn’t disappoint.
MAC is one of my favorite cultivars, and Lightsky Farms produces my favorite version of it.
Viva la MAC!
Runner Up: BowHouse - Pink Runtz
Pick any strain from BowHouse and you’re bound to get some 🔥, but Pink Runtz might be their trademark strain!
For the price, you can’t get much better than these chemical, candy beauties.
My nugs were always big & frosty.
The taste was loud & memorable, just how I like it.
I’ve bought this strain multiple times from BowHouse and it remains a mainstay in my personal stash.
Pink Runtz from BowHouse is cheap, consistent, and tasty.
I’d recommend it to anyone.
10th Place: Tip Top Crop - Z-Lato
If you like Runtz, you probably like Z-Lato.
This strain is one of Tip Top Crop’s most consistent strains & possibly their most well known.
It’s got candy. And it’s got gas. A tried and true combo.
Staying different enough from Runtz to stand on it’s own two feet.
I’ve called it Runtz’s Italian cousin and I stand by that.
Don’t sleep on this one!
9th Place (Tie): Pressure Pack - Billie Jean/Zombie Hunter
It might be a cop out, but I’m calling this one a tie.
Both Billie Jean & Zombie Hunter from Pressure Pack were standout strains in 2023.
They were both limited edition collaborations and they both brought heat.
Pressure Pack really seems to shine during their collaboration drops.
Each of these brought something different, but similiarities could easily be drawn between them.
Hopefully this sets the tone with what Pressure Pack will be coming with in 2024.
8th Place: Premier Cannabis Farms - Private Reserve OG
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: Premier Cannabis Farms are the current kings of OG in Michigan.
Private Reserve OG might be their most royal subject.
It brings that earthy, sweet, gas that we love from OG, but it has it’s own 517 Premier flair.
They bring a unique style in their OG strains, but I’m here for it.
Premier Cannabis Farms knows this strain is good, because they seem to mix it in a lot of their crosses.
There’s just something about Private Reserver OG, that makes you feel like a VIP.
Premier Cannabis Farms is on to something with this one.
7th Place: Grown Rogue - Blue Runtz
Blue Runtz from Grown Rogue might have been one of my most consistent buys of 2023.
Whenever I saw it deli-style, I picked up at least an eighth.
It’s that good & that consistent.
I’ve come to just expect those sweet, blue raspberry terps in every batch.
Blue Runtz is about as close to Ole Faithful as I’ve found.
It seems to be a fan favorite in Grown Rogue’s lineup and for good reason.
This is some of the best quality flower you can get for around $20.
When it comes to Blue Runtz, paint your face blue and join the Blew Man Crew!
6th Place: Growing Pains - Zyrup
With Growing Pains is hard to pick a favorite strain.
They drop a lot & it’s all heat.
But Zyrup might be their most iconic.
We all love sweet candy terps, but Zyrup takes that and adds depth (quite literally) with a syrupy mouthfeel.
The “smack your lips together” type of terps.
This is the strain that put me on to Growing Pains.
If you haven’t yet, sip on some Zyrup!
5th Place: Mitten Canna Co. - Obama Runtz
I love polarizing terps!
Obama Runtz from Mitten Canna Co., is a strain I love while I know others may hate.
The sickingly sweet, fruity candy terps are there from the Runtz. But Obama brings that chemical funk to the party!
It’s super unique but admittingly possibly an acquired taste.
For a strain with a crazy origin, Obama Runtz lives up to it’s hype.
I have no idea what’s crossed with the presumably Runtz, but I’m for it.
This weed will have you either ironically or unironically saying “thanks Obama”!
4th Place: Gus’s Real Exotics - Stoned Island
Stoned Island might be the strain that puts most people on to Gus’s Real Exotics.
The strain has an almost cult-like following.
Gus does a lot of limited drops, but I’m pretty sure Stoned Island will be a mainstay in their lineup.
While the color of the bag might change, the flower inside stays consistent.
The flavors are unique yet familiar, and always fire.
Stoned Island has it all.
And it will have you looking like Tom Hanks in Castaway, talking to a volleyball!
3rd Place: Seed Junky - Gello Shotz
Gello Shotz from Seed Junky is a strain I haven’t gotten a chance to review (yet!).
But I can assure that I was steadily smoking this strain throughout 2023.
Seed Junky are legends in the genetics space and quietly brought heat all year.
Gello Shotz is my favorite strain in their current lineup.
It brings fruity flavors that aren’t your typical Runtz.
And it brings waaay more gas to the equation.
The combination is a win in my book and one of the most addicting flavors I’ve come accross.
2nd PLace: Backpack Boyz - Scottie Pippen (#33)
This one might be controversial but I couldn’t stop thinking about Scottie Pippen by BackPack Boyz.
I bought this on a whim and was pleasantly surpised at just how good this was.
The smell & flavor on this one was one of the most complicated, yet tasty combos in memory.
I’ve only had one eighth of this strain, but it left a big enough impression on me to include it here.
Scotty Pippen is near perfection in my book.
2nd only to (Jordan) and:
1st Place: Hytek - Permanent Marker
Hytek ended 2023 with a bang!
Almost every drop they had got better and better, but to me peaked with their Permanent Marker.
They released Permanent Marker (& Zoap) in special half ounce, miron baller jars.
While a half ounce is a big commitment to try a strain, I’m glad I picked this up!
Permanent Marker is the strain of 2023 and Hytek to me, created the best iteration of it in Michigan.
In those miron jars, were some of the biggest, darkest, stankiest Permanent Marker available in this market.
We all know the flavor of perm is intense, but Hytek’s terps stay until the last puff.
Like a sharpie just leaking out over your tongue.
While Hytek has re-released this strain outside of the miron and inside of a mylar, I’d argue the first release was the best.
If you were able to get some of that first drop, you had some of the best smoke in the state!