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Sour Diesel strain: what the lab panels show
Sour Diesel is widely told as a 1990s New York strain, credited to a grower known as AJ and usually given as Chemdawg crossed with Super Skunk. Among the products on the Las Vegas superstore's shelf that carry a lab panel, Sour Diesel comes as one flower, two infused pre-rolls and one concentrate from RARE and Stiiizy.
What it is
In High Times' 2016 history of the Chemdawg line, it began as an accidental cross: a Chemdawg plant pollinated by stray pollen from another plant, and AJ named the result Diesel. Which plant is disputed: Super Skunk in most strain listings, a plant called DNL in that history, and Skunk #1 or Northern Lights in other accounts. It spread in New York in the 1990s, and has also been called East Coast Sour Diesel.
High Times ranked it third in its 2014 list of the greatest strains of all time. Sour Jack, its cross with Jack Herer, has its own guide. All of that is the circulated history, not a lab fact.
What is on our shelf now
Among the products on the Las Vegas superstore's shelf that carry a lab panel, Sour Diesel comes as one flower, two infused pre-rolls and one concentrate from RARE and Stiiizy. The flower tests 25.6% THC, the infused pre-rolls test 3.3% to 29.5% THC and the concentrate tests 68.6% THC. Concentrates are extracts, so their THC reads far higher than plain flower's. Caryophyllene and myrcene each lead two of its four panels (in the terpene guide's words: caryophyllene, warm and peppery, clove and black pepper; myrcene, earthy and musky, with ripe mango). Our per-batch grade, set by each panel rather than by the name, calls the batches on our shelf indica or indica-hybrid.
| Product | Format | THC | Leading terpenes | Our grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RARE Sour Diesel 3.5g Prepack | Flower | 25.6% | myrcene 0.54%, caryophyllene 0.41%, limonene 0.40% | Indica |
| Stiiizy 40's Sour Diesel .5g Infused Preroll 4pk | Infused pre-roll | 29.5% | caryophyllene 0.69%, linalool 0.47%, limonene 0.42% | Indica-Hybrid |
| Stiiizy 40's Sour Diesel .5g Infused Blunt 4pk | Infused pre-roll | 3.3% | caryophyllene 0.77%, linalool 0.53%, humulene 0.41% | Indica |
| RARE HEADSTASH Sour Diesel 1g Live Rosin | Concentrate | 68.6% | myrcene 3.14%, limonene 1.86%, caryophyllene 1.40% | Indica |
From our latest menu update. The grade is the five-class spectrum, read from each batch's own panel; the product page always shows the current batch. Search Sour Diesel on the live menu.
What that means for you
A name this famous is grown by many hands, and its parentage was never settled, so two products called Sour Diesel can differ. Read the panel, then the grade: the five-class spectrum sets each batch by its own terpenes rather than by the name.
Questions people ask about Sour Diesel
Is Sour Diesel indica or sativa?
Sour Diesel is described as a hybrid or as sativa-dominant, depending on the listing. That is its reputation, not a lab fact. Our per-batch grade, set by each panel rather than by the name, calls the batches on our shelf indica or indica-hybrid.
How strong is Sour Diesel?
The flower tests 25.6% THC, the infused pre-rolls test 3.3% to 29.5% THC and the concentrate tests 68.6% THC. Concentrates are extracts, so their THC reads far higher than plain flower's. THC is a batch figure, not a property of the name, so the next batch can differ.
What does Sour Diesel smell and taste like?
Caryophyllene and myrcene each lead two of its four panels (in the terpene guide's words: caryophyllene, warm and peppery, clove and black pepper; myrcene, earthy and musky, with ripe mango). Terpenes are a large part of a strain's smell and flavor, which is why we read the panel rather than the name; sulfur compounds a terpene panel does not measure add the skunky note some strains carry.
What effects does Sour Diesel have?
Effects vary from person to person and from batch to batch, so we do not promise any. What a panel tells you is the chemistry: which terpenes lead, and the grade it earns on the five-class spectrum, shown in this page's shelf table for each batch whose panel carries them.
Why is it called Sour Diesel?
AJ, the grower usually credited with it, called it Diesel; by one account friends in Albany added the Sour, and another story, told as hearsay, says the Sour is for the business relationships it soured as cuts changed hands.
Where can I buy Sour Diesel in Las Vegas?
At Planet 13's Las Vegas superstore, where today's shelf includes one flower, two infused pre-rolls and one concentrate of it with a lab panel. The shelf changes batch to batch, so search the live menu before you visit.
Lab figures, when a batch is on our shelf, come from its panel and change batch to batch; the product page always shows the current panel. Effects vary by person; nothing here is medical advice. For use only by adults 21 and older.