My birthday is coming up, but I won’t be asking for cake. I’m a pie guy and always have been. Yet despite my affinity for pies, I’ve never come across a grape pie. Growing up, I saw purple filling in cartoon pies, but those were always filled with blackberries…weren’t they?

Turns out Concord grape pies are actually a thing, baked mostly in western New York and parts of Pennsylvania during harvest season. But in progressive Denver, Grape Pie bakes you.

Fun fact: You can never have too much Sour Diesel. Don’t believe me? You’re about to read the word “diesel” so often that you’ll swear you were wearing a trucker hat.

I’m not saying you can never smoke too much weed — smoking is still bad, mmkay? — but if I had to puff one strain for the rest of my life, Sour Diesel would be a strong candidate. The popular sativa’s lasting, uplifting high and rubbery stank make it an easy choice for the novice and experienced alike, so naturally, the Diesel family tree has branched out to create to a number of different strains. But how many of them carry the genetics of three Diesels in one?

Like many other cannabis writers, I routinely express my interest in and love of terpenes, the compounds found in cannabis and other plants that are responsible for a plant’s (or strain’s) smell and flavor. Cannabis has them, hops have them, lavender has them, citrus fruits have them…see the connection? One of the most common and popular cannabis and hop terpenes, myrcene, is also relatively abundant in mangos. The high myrcene levels in both pot and mangos has made some cannabis consumers swear that eating the fruit after smoking enhances their high, while myrcene has also shown potential for aiding with pain relief and muscle relaxation when paired with THC. So give it up for mangos, fellow tokers. They’re here to help — with the munchies, at the very least.
So where are all the mango-named strains?

Dozens, if not hundreds, of strains carry the sweet, tangy flavor of mangos, yet only a few strains bear the fruit’s name. So I was happy to see a local pot shop carrying Mango Kush, one of the few established mango-inspired strains I could find, along with Mango and Mango Haze.

I’ve been trying to think of a satisfactory comparison for OG Kush, and the best I can come up with is Gatorade. It’s available everywhere, virtually everyone likes it, and it has tons of flavors. Are the classic OG, San Fan Fernando Valley OG and Tahoe OG the same strains? No, yet they’re all phenotypes of OG Kush, carrying similar but distinct characteristics that have created one of the most popular genetics webs in cannabis.

I always viewed Ghost OG as just another flavor in the popular OG line. If it were a Gatorade, Ghost OG would be something like melon: respected and well-liked, but not in our top five.