How a $2,000 GSC cutting, a group of Bay Area growers and the ICMag community helped turn Forum Cookies into one of the most recognizable cuts in cannabis history.
Before Forum, There Was Girl Scout Cookies
The history of Forum Cookies begins within the larger and often disputed story of Girl Scout Cookies (GSC).
Competing origin accounts have connected the broader Cookies family to genetics including F1 Durban (also called Purple Pain), OG Kush, Cherry Pie, Cherry Kush, Cherry Pie Kush and Ethiopia.
Those names appear across different accounts, but they do not establish one verified pedigree.
Forum Cookies’ exact genetic origins remain unconfirmed.
What makes its story distinctive is not simply where the plant came from, but how a particular cutting escaped a closely guarded circle and spread through an online community.
So, Where Did the Forum Cut Come From?
According to a firsthand account from Red Jay, he traced a sought-after GSC cutting to Complete, a grow store in Emeryville, California.
The store’s owner, Nick, connected him with someone who had access to the plant.
Red Jay had been searching for the genetics with his friend P, hoping to obtain a cutting of the increasingly desirable Cookies variety.
But the plant’s earlier history was already unclear.
Some accounts suggested it originated from bagseed, while others described it as an S1, meaning a self-pollinated descendant.
Neither explanation has been conclusively established.
The $2,000 Unrooted Cutting
Red Jay says he paid $2,000 for a single unrooted GSC cutting.
That price reflected how valuable access to certain Cookies genetics had become.
He and P brought the cutting back to their warehouse, successfully rooted it and began producing backup clones.
One of those early clones went to Abja, also known as Ghost, a grower connected to the online cannabis community.
That transfer would become one of the most important moments in Forum Cookies history.
The Raid That Changed Their Plans
According to Red Jay, the original warehouse operation was disrupted by law-enforcement activity nearby.
A police raid in the surrounding area reportedly brought increased attention to their location.
Concerned about the risks, Red Jay and his partner abandoned the warehouse.
They had reportedly flowered the plant only once before leaving.
The account of the nearby raid has not been independently verified, but the earlier decision to make backup clones proved important.
The cutting had already reached Abja before the operation ended.
How Did Forum Cookies Spread?
Abja became a central figure in the cutting’s wider distribution.
According to Red Jay, Abja shared the plant with Prop, Crunch and other growers connected to ICMag, an influential online cannabis forum.
Another grower later recalled attending a barbecue at Abja’s house where the cutting circulated among members of the community.
These accounts describe a network of personal relationships rather than a formal seed release.
Growers shared clones, compared their plants and discussed the genetics online.
Forum Cookies was not bred by an internet forum. It became famous because of the growers who used one.
Why Was It Called the Forum Cut?
By 2013, growers were publicly discussing a GSC selection known as the Forum cut.
The name reflected its circulation through the ICMag community.
As more growers received the cutting, Forum became a way to distinguish that particular selection from other Cookies varieties moving through California.
Some believed the plant was an S1 of Thin Mint Cookies.
Others questioned whether it was directly connected to the original Cookie Fam genetics.
The debates never produced a universally verified answer.
But the clone developed a recognizable identity of its own.
The Fight Over Authentic Cookies
Forum Cookies emerged during a period when access to elite GSC genetics was heavily contested.
Voices associated with Cookie Fam questioned the authenticity of outside Cookies cuts, sometimes characterizing them as bagseed selections or impostors.
Growers within the Forum circle defended their plant.
They pointed to a chain of custody running through Abja and the growers who received it from him.
The disagreement exposed a larger problem in cannabis history.
A clone can have a documented distribution history without having a fully verified breeding history.
Forum’s circulation became increasingly recognizable, even while its deeper genetic identity remained disputed.
The Plant Behind the Reputation
Forum Cookies gained attention for its distinctive appearance.
Growers praised its heavily frosted flowers, dark foliage, purple petioles and striking bag appeal.
The plant offered the visual characteristics many consumers associated with premium Cookies.
But cultivating it was not always easy.
Growers also complained about excessive stretch, small flowers and disappointing yields.
Forum could produce visually impressive cannabis without delivering the commercial performance some growers wanted.
Despite those limitations, demand for the clone continued.
From ICMag to Grow Rooms Everywhere
As the cutting spread beyond Abja’s original circle, more breeders began working with it.
Some used Forum in new crosses.
Others reversed the clone to produce feminized pollen and develop additional seed lines.
The growing popularity also created problems.
Mislabeled clones, imitations and disputed versions began circulating under the Forum Cookies name.
As access increased, proving that a particular plant descended from the recognized Forum cut became more difficult.
The same distribution network that helped make Forum famous also complicated its preservation history.
Legacy
Forum Cookies helped move Girl Scout Cookies beyond a guarded Bay Area circle and into the hands of growers across the cannabis community.
Red Jay’s account traces the story through a $2,000 unrooted cutting, a warehouse in the Bay Area and an early transfer to Abja.
From there, the plant traveled through Prop, Crunch and other ICMag growers, eventually becoming a recognizable selection in its own right.
Its exact genetic origins remain disputed, and the surviving accounts do not conclusively settle whether it came from bagseed, an S1 or another source.
But its distribution history demonstrates something important about the underground cannabis era.
Before genetics became widely commercialized, access often depended on relationships, trust and growers willing to share what they held.
Forum Cookies’ legacy was not just the flower. It was access.
Sources
Red Jay. Firsthand account in text messages posted to ICMag by stoney917, 11 Mar. 2023. Red Jay recounts hearing about the GSC cut, going through Nick at Complete (grow store) in Emeryville, paying $2,000 for one unrooted cutting, rooting and backing it up at the warehouse, kicking a cut to Abja, flowering it once before a nearby raid forced them to abandon the spot, and Abja passing cuttings to Prop, Crunch and a handful of the ICMag crew — “That became what’s called the Forum Cut.”
stoney917. Posts #11 and #13, ICMag, 11 Mar. 2023. Corroborates that Red bought the cut and gave it to Abja, who gave it to the ICMag circle (yesprop, prophet, deezy, Krunchbubble, hydrosun) at a barbecue at Abja’s house, and that Red decided to get the cut after overhearing stoney917 and yesprop talking about Cookies.
JetLife175. Post #4, ICMag, 11 Mar. 2023. “Forum cut originated right here on ICMag. Hence why it’s called the forum.” Credits Yes4prop215 as the first to bring the cut out to the public.
Weedmaps. “Forum Cookies (aka GSC Forum Cut)” strain page. Describes Forum Cookies as a widely shared, carefully selected cut of Girl Scout Cookies, said to come from Emeryville, California, and shared in its early days among the original team at ICMag; flavor and effects similar to Thin Mint, with a savory profile over sweet citrus and gas. Weedmaps lists its parents as Durban Poison × Cherry Kush — one of the conflicting pedigrees in circulation.
Downs, David. “Just Desserts: The Cookies and Cakes Family Genealogy.” Leafly, 15 Apr. 2021. Mr. Sherbinski’s account, as told by Jigga, that GSC was made by crossing F1 Durb to Flo Rida OG, and Cherry Pie by crossing F1 Durb to Granddaddy Purple; includes Ghost of ABF Genetics recalling first trying GSC around 2008 and tracking down the cut, and Ghost’s view that Cookies became what it is because the cut got out widely.
Simunek, Chris. “Inside Girl Scout Cookies.” High Times, 18 Feb. 2014. Jigga told High Times the “Durb” in GSC was Durban Poison — which conflicts with Sherbinski’s account to Leafly that Durb was not Durban Poison, illustrating why the pedigree remains disputed.
“Who’s Got the Real Cookies?” Cannabis Now, Issue 20 (published online 3 Feb. 2017). Jigga: “Everybody thinks they got the real one, but the truth is we never let it out to no one,” and admits decoy origin stories were put out; records the competing Cherry Pie Kush account, Cookies clones selling for as much as $1,000 a stem in 2012, and GSC’s low yields.
SeedFinder. “GSC Forum Cut (Clone Only Strains)” strain information, lineage and hybrids. Records the Forum cut as Girl Scout Cookies, probably Thin Mint GSC, from OG Kush (South Florida) × F1 Durban, and catalogs the many hybrids and S1/reversed lines breeders built on the Forum cut.
Leafly. “Forum Cut Cookies” strain information. Lists Forum Cut Cookies as one of the original cuttings of GSC, a type of OG Kush crossed with F1 Durb by breeder Jigga, with dense purple buds covered in trichomes.
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