Skip to main content
Strain: Gorilla Glue #5
Parentage: Gorilla Glue #1 x Gorilla Glue #4
Breeder: GG Strains
Grower: Devil's Lettuce
Cannabinoid Content: 21.2% THC
If we're going to talk about Gorilla Glue #5, then we need to first talk about its proud parent Gorilla Glue #4. And to do that, we need to introduce a grower by the name of Josey Whales, who is widely recognized as the steward of modern cannabis's happiest accident.
One morning, Whales entered his flower room to discover male pollen sacks growing from a female Chem's Sister plant. He noticed that a nearby Sour Dubb plant had been dusted with pollen, and when the crop came down, he kept the seeds.
A year later, he tested out the happenstance genetics, but like their hermaphroditic father, the female offspring also produced male pollen sacks and an entire stadium grow grew to seed.
"I was pissed," writes Whales in a widely quoted forum post. "I got rid of all of it to a friend, marrdog."
Cutting his losses, Whales wanted nothing more to do with the experimental cross.
Luckily, his buddy Marrdog felt differently and took a gamble on the seeds, and what resulted changed cannabis forever: out of the four seeds germinated, three were viable females; and the plant labeled #4 was the "clear winner," as Whales puts it.
So they kept the strain around, growing larger and larger batches of #4 clones. Subsequently, Gorilla Glue, named for the strain's tendency to gunk up scissors during harvest, was born.
And the infant had legs, captivating the cannabis community overnight—winning numerous cup competitions and accruing an equally numerous collection of coveted industry accolades.
What's more, Gorilla Glue #4 lived up to the hype. Medical patients were won over by the strain's ability to treat pain without necessitating a nap. Connoisseurs flocked to the huge diesel aroma and potent-but-balanced hybrid high.
On the burgeoning dispensary circuit, a shop's inventory wasn't complete until a jar of GG4 held a spot on the shelf.
But the hype outpaced availability, and soon GG4 knockoffs and opportunistic crosses diluted the name in a hasty cash grab.
Nowadays, hundreds if not thousands of strains claiming a Glue lineage pepper the market. Some are great, others forgettable, and still more may have nothing to do with the original genetics.
The overall impact of iffy reliability was a reduced consumer confidence in Glue strains—a side effect of popularity that Whales and his Nevada-based breeding company GG Strains hope to eliminate with a more controlled approach to the release of their new and future strains, like Gorilla Glue #5.
A cross of GG1 and GG4, GG5 most resembles the family's Sour Dubb heritage, while upping the yield and potency of the #4.
From a consumer perspective, it's absolutely gorgeous weed. As grown by Portland-based cannabis manufacturer Devil's Lettuce, GG5 is all candied blues and greens to the eyes; diesel-soaked leather and burnt rubber to the nose. It's a fuel-strain lovers perfect pot.
The high is strong and long, centering and sleepy, stoning and blissful. Though this example of GG5 tests at a moderate 21.2% THC, the loud, terpinolene-dominant terpene profile ups the psychoactivity by cloudy leaps.
This tsunami strength translates to a less-social frame of mind, and seems more appropriate for meditation and introspection than hanging out with, well, anyone other than your TV. The reason being: GG5 tends to blunt emotional experiences and general reaction times, favoring a tranquil distance from mental highs and lows—which is great for when you're alone, but not for when you need to hold down your end of a conversation.
The upside here is that emotional distance can be exactly what a person needs to rationally approach whatever it is that life throws their way.
From a medical perspective, GG5 is most appropriate as a sedative and sleep aid—goodbye, insomnia!—but it doesn't seem to do much for pain like other heavy indicas of its class.
Compared to GG4, GG5 lacks the happy mental stimulation and sativa head space of its famed parent—opting for a more cohesive high that's very good at doing one thing: chilling a person out.
All things considered, GG5 is a must-try for fuel lovers and fans of the original GG4, and a great option for anyone looking for stress relief and help getting to bed at night.