By 2012, Girl Scout Cookies had become one of the most recognizable cannabis names in California. Its popularity also created confusion about its origins, with fake products and competing genetic claims circulating throughout the Bay Area.
San Francisco, 2012: The Hemp Center
The original account places the conversation in San Francisco in 2012, at The Hemp Center. The location was the original home base of Cookies SF. Berner, Jigga and Kenny Powerzz came together to address the growing confusion surrounding Girl Scout Cookies. According to the original account, fake Cookies bags were appearing throughout the Bay Area. The popularity of the name had created a market for imitation products and competing claims about the strain's origins. The three participants wanted the original creators to explain the genetics themselves.
Fake Cookies Everywhere
Berner opened the discussion by addressing the number of imitation products circulating. He described the situation: "fake cookies everywhere — fake gucci, fake lv, even fake fortune cookies." His point was that the Cookies name had become recognizable enough for people to imitate it across different products. The problem was not limited to cannabis flower. The original account describes counterfeit luxury-inspired products and fake Cookies packaging appearing throughout the Bay Area. Berner's response was to let the people responsible for the original genetics explain the actual story.
The Cherry Pie Myth
One of the central questions involved Cherry Pie. Berner asked Jigga whether Girl Scout Cookies came from Cherry Pie. Jigga corrected the claim. According to the conversation, Cherry Pie was a cousin of Girl Scout Cookies, not one of its parents. Both varieties shared F1 Durban in their genetic background. However, Cherry Pie's other parent was an unknown purple — not Granddaddy Purple, despite the common confusion. This distinction mattered because Cherry Pie was frequently presented as the parent of GSC. Jigga's explanation separated the two genetic stories. The varieties were related, but Cherry Pie was not the direct parent described in the original GSC formula.
The Real Recipe: F1 Durban × OG Kush
Jigga explained the original Girl Scout Cookies lineage: F1 Durban × OG Kush. This was the central genetic claim of the conversation. The two parents contributed different characteristics. According to the original account: F1 Durban brought the sweet Durban funk. OG Kush contributed gas and potency. The combination produced the genetic foundation associated with Girl Scout Cookies. The conversation was intended to correct the alternative Cherry Pie explanation and establish the original parent combination.
Kenny Powerzz Does the Math
Kenny Powerzz reinforced the explanation for the people watching. He summarized the combination: "f1 durban plus florida og equals girl scout cookies, baby." His statement provided another direct explanation of the breeding formula. The caption identifies Florida OG as the OG component in his explanation. This distinction is important because the original conversation was not simply referring to an unspecified OG Kush. The discussion specifically connected the parental line to Florida.
What Made F1 Durban Special?
Berner wanted to clarify that the Durban parent was not simply ordinary Durban Poison. He asked: "not just regular durban poison, right?" Jigga confirmed: "right. the f1 durban is a special cut. that's the key to that thin-mint taste." The special F1 Durban cut, according to the original account, was the key to the Thin Mint flavor that became associated with Girl Scout Cookies.
Berner's Role: Branding, Not Breeding
The original account also clarifies Berner's role. Berner was associated with branding and marketing rather than breeding the original genetics. Jigga and Kenny Powerzz were the creators explaining the genetics. This distinction helps separate the commercial identity of Cookies from the breeding history of Girl Scout Cookies itself.
The Last Word: Better to the Table
Berner closed the conversation with a statement about the original Cookies identity: "we got the real deal in san francisco. since day one, we bring better to the table." The statement reinforced the purpose of the meeting. The original creators were addressing counterfeit products and competing origin stories by explaining the genetics directly. The Hemp Center conversation became an important historical record of how the original team described the strain.
Legacy: The Original Cookies Formula
The 2012 Hemp Center conversation established several important distinctions. Girl Scout Cookies came from F1 Durban × OG Kush, according to Jigga. Cherry Pie was a cousin rather than a parent, sharing F1 Durban but also containing an unknown purple. The special F1 Durban cut was identified as the key to the Thin Mint flavor. Kenny Powerzz clarified the Florida OG connection, while Berner's role was described as branding and marketing rather than breeding. The original account preserves the conversation because it documents the creators explaining the genetics themselves, at a time when counterfeit Cookies products and competing origin stories were spreading throughout the Bay Area.
Sources
nuggnotes. "Legendary Moments in Cannabis History: The Real Girl Scout Cookies Recipe Revealed." Instagram, 2 Nov. 2025, https://www.instagram.com/p/DQkZFGNkqjs/.
The original Instagram post behind this article.
"Cookies Crush." Cannabis Now, 2020, https://cannabisnow.com/cookies-crush/?amp=1.
Jigga's own extended account, and the strongest support for the draft's core claim: "Girl Scout Cookies — is a cross between F1 Durban and Florida OG," with the Florida OG (originally just called "Kush") passed to Jigga by an LA-based contractor friend. It confirms Berner as the public face/promoter and Jigga as the breeder, Kenny Powers as a longtime holder of exotic genetics in their circle, and GSC's minty nose. However, it contradicts the draft on Cherry Pie's makeup: Jigga calls Cherry Pie "a cross of F1 Durban with some crazy unknown purple" and says people wrongly confuse that purple with Granddaddy Purple — it is older and "more than likely a Purple Urkle phenotype" (see FLAG below).
"The Strains That Made Cookies." Weedmaps News, 10 Sept. 2021, https://weedmaps.com/news/2021/09/the-strains-that-made-cookies/.
A second Jigga interview: his F1 Durban Poison "would go on to become the genetic backbone of the wildly popular GSC strain family"; Cherry Pie (2003–2004) and Cookies spawned as sibling projects out of the same Sunset District house on Noriega and 25th Avenue; Jigga recounts the "Thin Mint Cookies" naming moment; and the Gary Payton section describes YLife as "a Cherry Pie x GSC," treating Cherry Pie and GSC as distinct, related strains — all supporting the draft's "cousin, not parent" framing.
"Cannabis Strain Highlight: Cookie Fam Certified GSC (f.k.a. Girl Scout Cookies)." Leafly, 26 Mar. 2015, https://www.leafly.ca/news/strains-products/strain-highlight-cookie-fam-certified-gsc.
Leafly's lineage account matches the draft's formula in structure: GSC genetics "explained as a mix of Durban Poison with influence from Cookie Fam's secret F1 strain," then "bred with OG Kush" — i.e., F1 Durban × OG Kush, though Leafly does not name the F1 or the Florida origin. It lists Cherry Pie as a separate Cookie Fam creation, not a GSC parent, and confirms the counterfeit problem the draft describes (Cookie Fam certifying harvests with a hologram sticker because most "GSC" on menus was bag seed or knock-offs).
"Girl Scout Cookies Strain." Herbies Seeds, n.d., https://herbiesheadshop.com/uk/catalog/girl-scout-cookies-strain?in_availability%5B0%5D=in_stock.
States plainly that the Cookie Fam bred GSC "by crossing an OG Kush from Florida with their own F1 Durban Poison" — independent secondary support for the draft's exact formula, including the Florida OG detail and Kenny Powerzz's "florida og" summary; it does not present Cherry Pie as a parent.
"How to Build a Global Flower Brand: Q&A with Cookies Co-Founder Berner." MJBizDaily, 21 Sept. 2021, https://mjbizdaily.com/news/how-rapper-berner-built-a-major-marijuana-brand-cookies/277522/.
Berner confirms in his own words that Cookies "kind of stems from the Hemp Center Days (where Berner worked as a budtender in San Francisco)," supporting the draft's Hemp Center setting in general — but neither this nor any other opened source documents a specific 2012 Hemp Center conversation among Berner, Jigga and Kenny Powerzz or any of the draft's quoted lines (see FLAG below).
"Girl Scout Cookies Auto Strain History." 2Fast4Buds, 17 Nov. 2018, https://2fast4buds.com/news/girl-scout-cookies-auto-strain-history.
Included as the clearest example of the competing framing the draft argues against: retelling a forum story attributed to "Jigga415," it concludes GSC is "an exclusive combination of Cherry Pie, OG Kush, and Durban Poison," folding Cherry Pie into GSC's makeup. This is a secondary seed-bank retelling, and against Jigga's direct accounts in Cannabis Now and Weedmaps the wider record supports the draft's framing: GSC = F1 Durban × Florida OG Kush, and Cherry Pie is a separate F1 Durban cross — a cousin, not a parent.
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