How to read this history
Trace the Kush family back and you hit anecdotes quickly. The research is current as of 11 September 2026 and covers 16 cultivars: Afghani, Biker Kush, Blucci OG, Bubba Kush, Hell's Angel OG, Hindu Kush, Josh D F2, Josh D OG, Kush Mints, LA Confidential, Northern Lights, OG Kiss, OG Kush, Smooch, SFV OG and Triangle Kush.
Sources reviewed: trade media (Leafly, Cannigma, LA Weekly, Forbes, Leaf Magazines, Cannabis Business Times), breeder and seedbank databases (SeedFinder.eu, PhenoDB.eu, DNA Genetics, Karma Genetics, The Cali Connection, Sensi Seeds, Grounded Genetics), grower forums (ICMag, Overgrow.com, THCFarmer, Rollitup, Reddit) and direct or quoted interviews with the main players (Josh Del Rosso, Matt "Bubba" Berger, Aaron Yarkoni, Seattle Greg, Marty Calabrese). Around 180 individual sources were examined. Sources that could not be opened directly (HTTP 403/429 blocks on some forum posts) were used only as snippet hints and are marked accordingly.
The dividing line is simple, and it is held throughout:
- Documented means: statements confirmed independently several times, official breeder statements, or direct interview quotes from the main players, with a source link.
- Folklore means: single anecdotes that cannot be cross-checked, anonymous witnesses, or marketing narratives. Culturally widespread, but not backed up.
Ground rule for the whole family
The breeding history of the Kush family is mostly oral tradition and rests on clone passing across decades of prohibition. Every branching below the landrace level rests at least partly on oral tradition and is not genetically verified.
The roots: two landraces
Afghani and Hindu Kush are the genetic base of almost the entire family. Nearly every later OG or Kush line in this selection leads back, documented or legendary, to one of these two landraces. Both reached the West along the "Hippie Trail" in the 1960s/70s and were commercially stabilized from the 1980s by Sensi Seeds and The Seed Bank respectively.
Afghani
Afghani (also "Afghani #1") is not a bred variety but a landrace from the mountain and highland regions of Afghanistan (Hindu Kush range, the area around Mazar-i-Sharif, Kandahar). Local farmers selected it for centuries for hashish production.13 There is no individual breeder in the strict sense. The commercially stabilized version "Afghani #1" has been maintained since the 1980s by Sensi Seeds (Amsterdam, founder Ben Dronkers).1 CannaGenie additionally names Sacred Seeds/Sam "Skunkman" Selezny as a possible early Californian supplier from 1980, which is not independently verified.3
SeedFinder.eu lists Afghani as a pure landrace with no crossing parents.5 No High Times Cannabis Cup wins are documented for the landrace itself, only for Afghani hybrids such as Skunk #1.
The smuggler story
The widespread story that Western travelers deliberately picked the most resinous plants in remote Afghan valleys and carried them personally to the West is plausible and has been repeated independently many times. It has never been tied to concrete names or dates.
Hindu Kush
Also a pure Indica landrace, named after the Hindu Kush mountain range on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, traditionally grown for charas and hashish.2 Again there is no individual originator. The stabilized Sensi Seeds version has been kept in its own gene pool since the 1980s, without crossing to other named varieties.67
Anecdotes from 1973
Stories about individual "counterculture growers" who supposedly first received Afghan seeds in 1973 are unsourced and nameless.4 The exact smuggling routes of Hindu Kush genetics into Western breeding programs are not documented with primary sources anywhere.
No Cup wins were found for Hindu Kush itself. Descendants such as Master Kush reportedly won Cannabis Cups in 1992/1993 according to a secondary source. That was not independently checked against an official results list and remains open.
The founding generation: cult clones of the 1980s and 90s
Northern Lights: two phases, two sets of names
Northern Lights did not arise as a landrace but as a bred variety in the Seattle/Pacific Northwest area, in the late 1970s/early 1980s, and was developed further in Amsterdam from 1985. The breeding dates to roughly 1979 to 1984.
- US phase: A detailed Overgrow.com research thread rests on statements by a man called "Seattle Greg".8 Around 1979 he received four seeds of an Afghan "Purest Indica" and bred the NL series (NL#1 to 11) from them. NL#5 was produced by a coworker named "Herbie Nelson". A direct forum quote from Seattle Greg confirms this.9 Competing commercial sources (Dark Coast Seed, Katsu Seeds) instead name an anonymous "The Indian" as originator.24 These name versions contradict each other but agree on the core narrative.
- Dutch phase: Neville "Nevil" Schoenmakers (The Seed Bank, predecessor of Sensi Seeds) received the NL genetics in 1985, stabilized them and identified NL#5 × Haze as the winning combination. After Nevil's arrest in 1990, Ben Dronkers took over the company (later Sensi Seeds).810
Documented parentage: Afghani and Thai/Sativa landraces. By Seattle Greg's own account, NL#5 = 50% Afghani × 50% "Hawaiian" Sativa, although he himself calls the origin of that Sativa uncertain, probably more northern Mexican.9
Open points on Northern Lights
No agreement on the number of phenotypes (8, 9 or 11). The "The Indian" myth is not tied to primary witnesses. The claim that in 1990 a pure reproduction of NL#5 stood just before market launch is explicitly marked "unsourced" by the Overgrow.com research itself.8
Cup record: well documented
Northern Lights and its crosses are among the most decorated varieties in Cannabis Cup history. 1988: 1st place "Mostly Indica" (NL#5 × Skunk #1, later Shiva Skunk). 1989: 1st place "Pure Indica Cup". In 1990 The Seed Bank won every main category (NL#5 × Haze 1st "Mostly Sativa", NL#5 pure 1st "Pure Indica", NL#5 × Skunk 1st "Mostly Indica"). 1993: 1st place "Seed Company". Further placings in 2002, 2003, 2014, 2015 and 2017. The Sensi Seeds tally was cross-checked against cannabiscupwinners.com.1112
OG Kush: agreement on place, dispute over parents
By the consistent core account, OG Kush comes from Florida, early to mid 1990s, and arrived in Los Angeles from 1996. The origin of the Florida mother plant itself is the most contested question of the entire family.
Matt "Bubba" Berger brought cuttings from Florida to LA in 1996. Josh Del Rosso ("Josh D") cultivated and spread the surviving Kush cutting under the name "OG Kush".1315 Other distributors: Brett Feldman ("Wonderbrett"), Kevin Jodrey, "Mandelbrot" (Emerald Triangle, from about 2004/05), Swerve (Cali Connection) and DNA Genetics (Kosher Kush, 2006). Depending on the source, the Florida mother plant is dated to 1990 to 1993, the transport to LA to 1996, the spread in the Bay Area to 1997 and in Humboldt/Emerald Triangle to about 2004 to 2005.
OG Kush remains a clone-only strain to this day, with no official original seed line.19
Four competing origin versions
| Version | Core claim | Source | Reliability |
|---|---|---|---|
| A: Josh D/Berger | 1996: about 15 Florida cuttings. 5 became Bubba Kush, 5 became "KY", 1 surviving Kush cutting became OG Kush. | Direct interviews with both main players 1315 | High for the LA part from 1996. Florida prehistory open. |
| B: "Emerald Triangle × Hindu Kush" | Around 1990 in Pompano Beach, Florida, a Hindu Kush test plant (from Nevil's catalog) accidentally pollinated an "Emerald Triangle" crop. | Anonymous witness "OTK" 16. Matches SeedFinder.eu 19. | Medium |
| C: "Ocean Grown" / Chemdawg × (Lemon Thai × Old World Paki Kush) | 1993 Sierra Nevada Chemdawg cut, crossed with Lemon Thai × Paki Kush in Sunset Beach. Explains "OG" as "Ocean Grown". | Cannigma, also Leafly and DNA Genetics 171418 | Low to medium. Contradicts Josh D's own reading of the name. |
| D: Matt Berger's own account | Northern Lights × Kush = the original "Bubba". That crossed with "Krippy"/"Supernaut" gave the later OG Kush genetics. | Quoted interview via Cannigma 17 | Medium (primary statement, but only indirectly accessible) |
What is consensus and what is not
Consensus: Florida origin, and the transport to LA by Berger and Del Rosso in 1996. No consensus: the exact Florida parentage and the meaning of the abbreviation "OG". Josh D explicitly rejects "Ocean Grown" and explains it as "the original/the authentic".
The pure original cut has no documented Cup wins; it was never entered as a seedbank variety. Its direct descendant Kosher Kush (DNA Genetics)20 won "Best Indica" in 2010 and 2011 and "Best Strain" in 2011 at the High Times Cannabis Cup, and according to Leafly "Best Indica" again in 2015. There is a small discrepancy regarding 2012, which stays marked as open.1418
Bubba Kush: the accident with two mothers
The mother plant find is placed in New Orleans/Gainesville, Florida (early 1990s). The actual cross happened in 1996/97 in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. The breeder is Matt "Bubba" Berger, who calls himself one of the "6 original godfathers of the OG Kush".2123 Bubba Kush is clone-only with no official first release. "Pre-'98 Bubba Kush" denotes the cut before commercial copies.
According to Berger's own interview (2026, Cannigma), the mother plant came from Northern Lights seeds ("Fat Larry", Tulane University) that were accidentally pollinated by an unnamed Kush plant from a bag of "Supernaut" weed.21 Leafly phrases it as "Northern Lights (Bubba's select pheno) × OG Kush (accidental pollination)". Berger himself stresses that the Kush side was not yet called "OG Kush" at the time of the cross.22 The chronology (1993 or "early nineties" for acquiring the seeds, 1996 or 1997 for the pollination accident) varies slightly between sources.
Alternative theories
OG Kush × Bubblegum, as well as the often-mentioned phenotypic similarities to Master Kush, Blue Cheese, Skywalker OG and White Widow, are explicitly unproven comparisons, not evidence of descent.
Cup results exist, but for different phenotypes from different suppliers, not all traceable to the same cut: 2008 High Times Cannabis Cup Indica entry (Green House Seeds), 2010 3rd place Indica Cup NorCal, 2010 1st place Treating Yourself Medical Cup, 2012 High Times Medical Cannabis Cup Denver 2nd place CBD Award (Pre-'98 Bubba Kush, The Clinic), 2013 3rd place IC 420 Growers Cup, 2015 3rd place People's Choice, US Cannabis Cup Denver.
Triangle Kush: Florida's triangle, California's argument
The name refers to the growing triangle of Jacksonville–Miami–Tampa. Marty "TK" Calabrese (today "Origins TK"/"Origins TK Selects") is named in several sources as involved in its creation. Triangle Kush is clone-only. Jungle Boys work with the cut and backcross lines today.33 Hindu Kush seeds came to the USA from Amsterdam (Nevil Schoenmakers' seed bank) in 1989; the accidental pollination followed in 1991.
Parentage: three independent sources
Emerald Triangle (unknown Florida origin) × Hindu Kush (import from Amsterdam). A Hindu Kush plant turned hermaphrodite and pollinated an Emerald Triangle mother plant standing in the same grow room.333435
The thin spot: Emerald Triangle itself
SeedFinder.eu itself writes that "Emerald Triangle" is a variety of unknown origin, whose creation is placed in Florida only "according to cannabis folklore". So the parentage is already unconfirmed at the mother. The exact place (a Boca Raton grow house vs. a central Florida facility of "the Governor" vs. a bagseed bag sold to "Craig") also varies by source.33
From the same seed batch: Triangle Kush and OG Kush?
Several sources (originstk.com, Greenpoint Seeds, a YouTube interview) claim that both Triangle Kush and OG Kush came out of the same "magical" seed batch.3536 That directly contradicts the Berger/Del Rosso version of OG Kush (version A) and is not genetically verified. Grower forums (ICMag, "The real TRIANGLE KUSH") openly discuss that there is no reliable way to tell a "real" Triangle Kush cut from imitations.37
Cup results: 2013 IC 420 Growers Cup, 1st place Indica (Clone Only Strains). THC Design advertises itself as "2x High Times Cannabis Cup Winner" with several further prizes. This self-promotion hangs in the air without a linked primary source and is rated low to medium reliability.
Hell's Angel OG: a clone without an author
A clone-only cult phenotype from the Southern Californian underground (Orange County/LA area), not a formally bred seedbank variety. SeedFinder.eu explicitly lists it as "Unknown or Legendary".38 Karma Genetics received its clone in 2009 from Orange County and used it for its own backcrosses. Community sources date the clone's origin to the late 1990s/early 2000s (low reliability). Only the acquisition by Karma Genetics in 2009 is solid.
Parentage only as a guess
SeedFinder.eu gives, as a presumption ("probably"): OG Kush × Blackberry, consistent with AskGrowers and several genealogy trees of derived crosses.38
The Hells Angels legend
The legend behind the name, that the clone came from a grow operation of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, is relativized by the sources themselves ("Hells Angels are known for making speed and not weed so this story may not be true", 420dotcom.com).41 A second legend, that a grower handed the clone over to the Hells Angels as restitution, is likewise unsourced.
Cup wins under this name: none documented. What is documented instead is a trademark dispute: in 2014 the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation sent a cease-and-desist letter to a dispensary in San Diego over the use of the name, after which the name changed in many places to "Hell's OG".42
Californian OG selections of the 2000s
LA Confidential
The variety comes from California (Los Angeles); it was finished and stabilized by DNA Genetics in Amsterdam, after the founders moved there from LA in 2003. According to Aaron "Yarkoni" Yarkoni himself, in a 2015 interview, he made the cross personally.25 It arose in the early 2000s, with a first Cup placing in 2004.
The best-documented case in the research
Parentage consistent across several independent sources: OG LA Affie × Afghani (95% Indica/5% Sativa).2627 What remains undocumented is the origin of the "OG LA Affie" mother clone itself: who found it and where exactly is not backed by any name or date.
Cup record: 2004 3rd place Indica Cup, 2005 2nd place Indica Cup, 2005 1st place IC420 Breeders Cup, 2006 High Times "Strain of the Year", 2007 1st place Kush Cup Las Vegas, 2008 1st place Indica, 2009 2nd place Bio Highlife Cup (cannabiscupwinners.com). Cannapedia gives slightly simplified or deviating years; the more granular cannabiscupwinners.com list is considered more reliable.28
SFV OG (San Fernando Valley OG)
San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles. The breeder is Edward "Swerve" Clarizio, founder of The Cali Connection (2008). Important: SFV OG (pure clone selection) and SFV OG Kush (the seed version crossed with Afghani) are two different, often confused products.31 The clone was already circulating in the early/mid 2000s; SFV OG Kush appeared as a seed product in 2008. The Cali Connection itself describes SFV OG Kush as "San Fernando Valley OG × Afghani, worked to IBL".30 The pure SFV OG clone is regarded as an OG Kush phenotype with no documented parent cross.
Tahoe, Orange County, San Fernando Valley
According to the breeder's promotional text, the original clone was "originally from Tahoe" and reached the San Fernando Valley via Orange County. That origin story is unsourced marketing prose with no names or dates. ICMag forums discuss, controversially and without resolution, how SFV OG, Tahoe OG and Larry OG are related ("Tahoe is the potency, SFV is the Sat dom, Larry is well… Larry").29
Cup results, confirmed directly via the official awards page: 2012 High Times Cannabis Cup Amsterdam, 3rd place Best Indica (SFV OG Kush) and 2012 High Times Medical Cup Denver, 1st place (SFV OG, Pink House).32
Karma Genetics and the OG backcross
Biker Kush
A Dutch breeding cross by Karma Genetics, based on an HA-OG clone the breeder received from Orange County in 2009. The breeding protocol is fully documented on SeedFinder.eu.3940 V1.0 came out before 2013, V2.0 with a 2013 release year (period roughly 2011 to 2013).
Documented parentage: HA-OG × (HA-OG × SFV OG Kush BX2) for V1.0, and for V2.0 a second backcross: HA-OG × (HA-OG × (HA-OG × SFV OG Kush BX2)). According to Karma Genetics, SFV OG Kush BX2 comes from an early Cali Connection release. This formula is reproduced consistently by several seedbanks (Breeders Collective, Cannapot, PureSativa).39
One opinion
A forum comment on 420dotcom.com offers the personal view that Biker Kush is ultimately just a renaming of an almost pure HA-OG line. That is an unsourced forum opinion, not a fact.41
Cup result: 1st place Rosin Ganja Time Cup, Spain, 2015, documented consistently on several seedbank product pages.
Josh D OG (Karma Genetics version)
Here there is a considerable risk of confusion. There are two different products with the same name, "Josh D OG":
- Karma Genetics' feminized "Josh D OG" seeds. By its own product description a cross of Triangle Kush × San Fernando Valley OG × Hells Angels OG.46 So a tribute cross of three already established OG cult clones, not the original Florida cut.
- "Josh D OG" by Josh D Seeds (Josh Del Rosso's own brand). According to PhenoDB.eu, listed with the lineage SFV OG × Triangle Kush × Hells Angels OG × The White. A very similar but not identical formula (plus "The White").47
Both versions agree that "Josh D OG" as a seed product is a combination of Triangle Kush, SFV OG and Hell's Angel OG. They are not identical to the unnamed, original 1996 Florida clone that Josh Del Rosso personally cultivates as a mother plant. None of the sources states this distinction explicitly. The Karma version presumably arose in the mid 2010s as part of Karma Genetics' HA-OG/SFV-OG backcross program; the year is not precisely dated. No Cup wins were found under this name.
Josh D's own revival program (2020s)
In the original, historical sense "Josh D OG" is simply the name for the OG Kush cut that Josh Del Rosso has personally cultivated since 1996. Not a cross, but the handed-down original clone. Today Josh D runs Josh D Farms (Santa Barbara) and Josh D Kustom Shop/Josh D Seeds, through which he markets both the original cut ("OGKS") and new breeding projects.4350
Josh D F2
The F2 generation (second filial generation from inbreeding/selfing) of the Josh D OG line. The breeder is not Josh D himself but the Berlin seed project "OGs Are Not Dead" (OAND), founded in 2026 according to PhenoDB.eu, with a first release at the "Mary Jane 2026" trade fair in Berlin.4547 The relationship between OAND and Josh D himself (official cooperation or independent use) is not documented. OAND is not mentioned on Josh D's own website.
Documented parentage: Josh D OG × Josh D OG (inbreeding of two Josh D OG phenotypes), per the breeder's description aimed at "preserving" the genetic diversity, not as a new cross. Release year 2026 at the earliest, a brand-new release at the time of research. Cup results: none documented.
Is it the 1996 original?
Whether the Josh D OG mother plants used for the F2 are actually identical to the historical 1996 original rests solely on brand name and marketing statement ("Preservation genetics… The purest form. IBL from the legendary Josh D line") and cannot be verified independently.
The Smooch
The starting hypothesis did not hold
The assumption that Smooch is a cross of Mendo Breath × Kush Mints by Seed Junky Genetics could not be confirmed in any source. Despite targeted searches through Leafly, AllBud, SeedFinder.eu, Weedmaps, Reddit and trade media, not a single piece of evidence for this combination turned up.
What is documented: "The Smooch" is the central male breeding line in Josh D's current OG Kush revival program. According to a trade article in Leaf Magazines/Leaf Nation (August 2025), it arose from the pollen of a Josh D OG male (selected by Firekeeper Farms and Strait A Genetics), with which Josh D pollinated his own OG Kush females.44 The official Josh D website confirms: The Smooch = OG Kush × Josh D OG.43 Release year 2024/2025, part of a "four years in the making" project (start about 2021). Cup results: none documented.
Risk of confusion: there are independent, unrelated products with a similar name, namely the dispensary brand "Smooch Cannabis" (edibles) and a standalone variety "Cooter Smooch" by Kindway Farms. Both are not identical to Josh D's breeding line.
OG Kiss
Here too: starting hypothesis not confirmed
An origin from "OG Kush × Girl Scout Cookies" or an attribution to Symbiotic Genetics/Compound Genetics could not be confirmed in any source checked.
Documented: OG Kiss is part of Josh D's current (2024/2025) breeding program. According to the official Josh D website: OG Kiss = "The Original OG Kush OGKS" × Smooch (OG Kush × Josh D OG).43 The formula is confirmed consistently by dispensary product pages (Klutch Cannabis: "OG Kush × The Smooch"), Leaf Magazines, GrowDiaries and a Reddit grow report.484449 Breeder: Josh D (Josh Del Rosso)/Josh D Kustom Shop. Release year 2025, "four years in the making" according to a trade article (project start about 2021), with around 1,000 seed packs sold, one of the larger releases of the program.
Marketing, not genetics
The claim that OG Kiss "recreate[s] the original OG Kush" or is a "testament to the lineage that built modern cannabis" comes straight from Josh D/Klutch marketing copy. That is a subjective promotional statement, not an independently verified genetic fact. Whether the "OGKS" cut used as a parent really is the authentic original 1996 clone rests solely on Josh D's own word.
Cup wins specifically for OG Kiss: none documented. Josh D as a farmer/brand has several Emerald Cup placings in general (among them 2019, with other varieties).
In sum: since about 2021 Josh Del Rosso has built his own, internally consistent breeding ecosystem. "The Smooch" is the central male breeding line, with which he systematically produces new crosses (OG Kiss, "Bonded by Bud", "Turtle's Key Club", "Head Rush", "Kali Sour Kiss" and others). It is a modern, well-documented breeding program by one of the historical main OG Kush players, clearly distinct from the older, less documented Karma Genetics "Josh D OG" product.
The modern hybrid generation
Kush Mints
A modern, high-potency hybrid from Southern California, created in the late 2010s and originally spread as cuttings only. The breeder is Seed Junky Genetics, specifically the breeder "JBeezy" (Anthony Hart).53 No exact year is documented; "Strain of the Year 2021" according to Respect My Region.54
Correcting the starting hypothesis: Bubba Kush × Animal Mints
The assumption "Bling Mints × Animal Mints" could not be confirmed in any of the many sources checked. What is documented consistently and widely (Leafly, SeedFinder.eu, PhenoDB.eu, AllBud, several trade media) is instead: Bubba Kush × Animal Mints. Confirmed verbatim by the official Seed Junky Genetics description on SeedFinder.eu: "Breeders over at Seed Junky Genetics harnessed Bubba Kush and Animal Mints to create a balanced indica/sativa cultivar."5152
Which phenotypes exactly?
The exact origin of the Animal Mints and Bubba Kush phenotypes used is not backed with primary documents. An independent reproduction ("Kush Mints by Apeorigin") uses the same parent combination under a different propagator.
"Strain of the Year 2021" is an editorial community award, not a juried Cup. A claim of "1st Place Highest THC at Spannabis 2023" presumably refers to a third-party seed product (Blimburn Seeds) and is rated low reliability. No entry found in the official High Times strain archive.
Blucci OG
A very young, deliberate new breeding by Grounded Genetics (Barcelona, formerly London). Not a historical Californian Kush clone but a modern cross joining an older OG line with the breeder's own "Blucci" house genetics. According to a secondary source the breeder ("Uptown Supply Co SL", Barcelona) has "more than 15 years of experience" and an "ICMag Cup" award (variety: Zerberry).58
Public announcement on 14 December 2025 via LinkedIn, sales start early January 2026, described as "super limited".56 At the time of research (September 2026) it is a variety only a few months old, barely tested in the grower community.
Documented parentage: the official formula (LinkedIn and product page agree) is (SFV OG × Triangle Kush BX2) × Blucci.5556 "Blucci" itself is given on Leafly as ((Blue Sherbert × [Gelato 41 × Sherbert BX1]) × RS11).57
Blucci OG shows by example how classic OG/Kush heritage (SFV OG, Triangle Kush) gets fused with modern Cookies/Gelato genetics ("Blucci"), a pattern widespread in today's breeding scene. No circulating legends were found for Blucci OG itself; the variety is presumably too new to have developed community myths. Cup results for Blucci OG: none documented. The breeder is generally associated with an "ICMag Cup" win (a different variety).
The family tree as a whole: six levels
The 16 cultivars add up to a layered picture. The levels are graded by how solid the footing is:
- Level 0: landracesAfghanistan/Pakistan landraces (Afghani, Hindu Kush) form the pure Indica foundation of practically the entire family. A documented starting point, but itself undatable. In the West from the 1960s/70s, commercially stabilized from the 1980s by Sensi Seeds/The Seed Bank.
- Level 1: 1980sFrom Afghani genetics (plus a presumed Sativa admixture), Northern Lights arises in the US Pacific Northwest, developed in Amsterdam by Nevil Schoenmakers into the most decorated Cup variety to this day. Documented.
- Level 2: early to mid 1990sThe Florida root of the OG complex, mostly legendary. Depending on the version, from an unnamed bagseed Kush plant (Berger/Del Rosso) or an accidental Hindu Kush × Emerald Triangle pollination (Origins TK version), the original genetics arise that travel to California as OG Kush, Bubba Kush and Triangle Kush. The three varieties share a common but not clearly reconstructable Florida origin. The versions contradict each other in details but agree on place and period. Independently of this, the clone Hell's Angel OG (presumably OG Kush × Blackberry) emerges in the Southern Californian underground, its origin still considered "unknown/legendary".
- Level 3: 2000sCalifornian OG selection and crossing, documented. From OG Kush phenotypes and Afghani landraces come the IBL crosses LA Confidential (OG LA Affie × Afghani, DNA Genetics) and SFV OG / SFV OG Kush (San Fernando Valley OG × Afghani, The Cali Connection/Swerve).
- Level 4: early to mid 2010sA Dutch backcross program based on the OG cult clones, documented. Karma Genetics systematically combines Hell's Angel OG with SFV OG Kush to make Biker Kush. In a version of its own, to be told apart from Josh D's original cut, Triangle Kush × SFV OG × Hell's Angel OG yields a variety that is likewise called "Josh D OG" (name confusion with the historical original clone).
- Level 5: 2020sJosh Del Rosso's own revival program, documented. From about 2021 his original cut (OGKS) is crossed with a selected Josh D OG male to make "The Smooch", which in turn serves as the central breeding line for OG Kiss (OG Kush × The Smooch) and a dozen further new crosses. In parallel and independently, presumably without direct cooperation, the Berlin project "OGs Are Not Dead" produces the pure inbred line Josh D F2 (Josh D OG × Josh D OG) to preserve the genetics.
- Level 6: late 2010s/2020sFusion with the modern Cookies/Mints genetic line, documented. Independently of the Josh D branch, Seed Junky Genetics develops Kush Mints from Bubba Kush × Animal Mints, which has itself become a building block of modern hybrids. Grounded Genetics joins classic OG/Triangle Kush heritage (SFV OG × Triangle Kush BX2) with the Cookies/Gelato line "Blucci" into Blucci OG (2025/2026).
The big picture: the Kush family shows the typical pattern of North American cannabis breeding history. It runs from indisputably real but undated Asian landraces, through a "gray zone" of orally transmitted, partly contradictory clone-passing legends in the decades of prohibition (Northern Lights, OG Kush, Bubba Kush, Triangle Kush, Hell's Angel OG), to increasingly transparently documented, seedbank-based IBL and backcross programs (LA Confidential, SFV OG, Biker Kush), and finally to fully traceable modern breeding projects communicated publicly by the breeders themselves (Josh D's Smooch/OG Kiss program, Kush Mints, Blucci OG).
For practically every variety of the "middle generation" (1990s to 2000s) there are at least two contradicting origin stories that are not genetically verified. That is not a research gap but a structural feature of the breeding culture of that era. Presenting a single version as the sole truth would be wrong: each stays labeled "documented" or "legendary".
Four pitfalls
- Name confusion "Josh D OG". At least two different products carry this name (Karma Genetics: Triangle Kush × SFV OG × HA-OG. Josh D Seeds: SFV OG × Triangle Kush × HA-OG × The White). Both are also clearly to be told apart from the unnamed original 1996 clone.
- Three common assumptions could not be confirmed. "Kush Mints = Bling Mints × Animal Mints", "OG Kiss = OG Kush × Girl Scout Cookies/Symbiotic Genetics" and "Smooch = Mendo Breath × Kush Mints (Seed Junky Genetics)" could not be confirmed. The documented versions are: Bubba Kush × Animal Mints; OG Kush × The Smooch, Josh D; OG Kush × Josh D OG, Josh D.
- Josh D F2. Origin with a very new small Berlin breeder (OGs Are Not Dead, 2026), with no confirmed link to Josh D himself.
- Blucci OG. An extremely young variety (December 2025/January 2026), barely backed by grower experience or Cup results.
Sources
Numbers match the superscript markers in the text.
Hell's OG (opens in a new tab)
Source on the 2014 trademark dispute
Method and limits
The basis is research current as of 11 September 2026 across roughly 180 individual sources, of which the most important per cultivar are listed here. Some forum posts could not be viewed directly because of HTTP 403/429 blocks and were used only as snippet hints. Almost everything below the landrace level rests on oral tradition and clone passing, not on breeding records or genetic tests. Where an assumption could not be confirmed, the text says so explicitly.
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