OG Kush CBD: the history, and what the name really tells you

The most common story places the birth of OG Kush in Florida around 1991. A grower there is said to have crossed a Chemdawg with a plant from a Kush line. These lines take their name from the Hindu Kush, the mountain range between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The plant is said to have reached Los Angeles in the mid-1990s, where it took the name OG Kush.

None of these steps rests on a dated document. The variety spread as cuttings, hand to hand, with no seed company or catalogue. So there is no original seed to analyse and no certified pedigree.

The meaning of "OG" is just as unclear. One reading is "Ocean Grown", grown near the ocean in California. Another is "Original Gangster", a nod to the Los Angeles hip-hop scene. No primary source allows a choice. Lemon Haze has a similar history, passed on orally before it entered the catalogues.

The trade credits OG Kush with many descendants: Girl Scout Cookies, Headband and Skywalker OG, among others. These pedigrees are declared by breeders. None has been checked by a published genetic analysis.

Researchers have tested these trade names. In 2019, a team at the University of Northern Colorado genotyped 122 samples of 30 strains bought from dispensaries in Colorado, California and Washington State. Only 4 strains out of 30 were genetically consistent from one outlet to another. Setting aside one or two outlier samples raised that to 11, then 15.

The same team looked at OG Kush in 2022. It analysed eight samples sold under that name in Colorado, using ten genetic markers. Two samples were identical (relatedness of 1.00) and two others nearly so (0.91). The remaining pairs ranged from 0.06, meaning no apparent link, to 0.75. A panel of assessors then smelled four of these flowers. The closely related samples smelled alike: earthy, herbal, woody. The genetic outlier smelled more cheesy and woody, and less like tea.

The indica or sativa label, often attached to OG Kush, holds up no better. A study published in 2021 in Nature Plants compared more than 100 samples genotyped at more than 100,000 markers. Samples labelled "indica" and "sativa" were indistinguishable at genome scale. Our article on indica and sativa explains the finding.

Common descriptions of OG Kush name three terpenes. Myrcene gives the earthy note, limonene the lemony top note, beta-caryophyllene the peppery, resinous side. Our guide to terpenes presents each of these molecules.

This profile has never been measured on a reference sample, because none exists. Market data give a rough idea. A study published in 2022 in PLOS ONE analysed 42,843 commercial samples with their terpenes, across six US states. It identifies three broad chemical families: caryophyllene and limonene, myrcene and pinene, terpinolene and myrcene. The authors note that trade names match these families poorly. One exception: every "Dogwalker OG" sample, a strain from the same name family, fell into the caryophyllene and limonene group.

These terpenes are sometimes credited with a role in the plant's effects, through an "entourage effect" with cannabinoids. It is a hypothesis still under debate, not an established fact.

An "OG Kush CBD" is not an OG Kush with the THC removed. It is a hemp plant selected to echo its aroma profile while staying under the legal threshold. That threshold is set by the decree of 30 December 2021: no more than 0.30% Δ⁹-THC, for varieties listed in the official catalogues. Our article on the legal THC level explains where that figure comes from. CBD does not produce the high of THC.

The trade name tells you no more in the CBD version. Our own catalogue is an example. Here is the terpene highlighted on the page of four flowers whose name contains "OG", as of 23 September 2026.

Same suffix, four different dominant profiles. A name signals a claimed family, not a composition.

Four checks are worth more than the name:

1. The batch certificate of analysis. Δ⁹-THC is measured harvest by harvest, not variety by variety. Our guide to reading a certificate of analysis lists the lines to look at.
2. The terpene profile, if published. It is what describes the smell and taste.
3. The harvest date. Terpenes are volatile and evaporate over the months.
4. Consistency between name and description. An "OG" sold as fruity and sweet has little in common with the profile described above.

Our CBD flower selection gives the aroma profile of each variety, and our comparison of five Kush strains places OG among its cousins.