Catalogue entry · lab-tested · every claim cited
Chemdawg, also spelled Chemdog, is a hybrid that grew from 13 seeds traced to the Grateful Dead’s June 1991 shows in Indiana.1,2 Its parents are unknown, its surviving cuts are passed on as clones, and its family includes Sour Diesel, GG4 and Stardawg.3,4,5,6 It tests at a median total THC of 22.94% across 668 state lab tests of Chemdawg flower, with the middle half of results between 19.25% and 25.37%.7 CBD is negligible: none of the 546 tests that reported CBD reached 1%.7
Chemdawg is a hybrid of unknown parents grown from 13 bag seeds in 1991. Its cuts are sibling clones; Sour Diesel, GG4, Stardawg and GMO descend from them.
Plate IIChemdawg tests at 22.94% median THC (19.25%–25.37%) in 668 state lab results, led by β-caryophyllene. Chem 91 and Chem D labels run higher than plain ones.
Plate IIILeafly users call Chemdawg euphoric, relaxed and tingly and rate it mostly energizing; AllBud adds a sleepy body high. Downsides: dry mouth, dry eyes, dizzy.
Plate IVChemdawg clones flower in 63–70 days, stretch hard and reek of diesel; seeds take 8–10 weeks. Breeder specs, mold and odor warnings, and which seeds are real.
Plate VChemdawg flower was listed by 79 stores near Los Angeles on Weedmaps on Oct 3, 2026. Store counts and eighth prices for 27 US markets.
Plate VIFrom 13 seeds mailed to a Massachusetts Deadhead in 1991 to Sour Diesel, the OG Kush legend and a 32% Cannabis Cup record: the sourced history of Chemdawg.
A hybrid. Leafly and Weedmaps file it as a hybrid and AllBud calls it 55% indica, while the cuts pull both ways: Leafly lists Chem’s Sister as a sativa and says Chem 91 usually leans sativa, and the seed versions from Humboldt Seed Organization and Green House are 60% and 70% indica. Leafly rates its effects mostly energizing.4,8,9,10,13,14,15
A hybrid of unknown parentage that a Massachusetts grower known as Chemdog raised from 13 bag seeds in 1991; the original cuts survive only as clones. It is best known through its children: Sour Diesel is traced to the Chem 91 cut, GG4 to Chem’s Sister, Stardawg to Chem 4 and GMO Cookies to Chem D.1,3,4,5,6,11
Above average. Leafly rates its THC higher than average, and across 668 state lab tests the median total THC was 22.94%, with 29.5% of tests at 25% or more and one in ten above 28.70%.7,13 Flower labeled with a cut name tested higher than plain “Chemdawg” labels: Chem D 24.73% (54 tests), Chem 91 23.87% (341 tests) and Chem 4 22.67% (51 tests), against 19.15% (208 tests) for plain labels.7
Diesel and chemicals first. Leafly users list chemical, diesel and pungent flavors; on Weedmaps, 36% of flavor reports say earthy, 34% woody and 30% diesel, behind an aroma of pungent earth, diesel, pine and citrus. The cuts differ: Chem 91 runs to lemony pine and skunk, Chem D to diesel, earth and pepper, and Chem 4 to a citrus or Pine-Sol nose.4,13,16,17,18
Yes. Chemdog is the breeder’s spelling and a registered apparel trademark; Leafly says the strain is officially named Chemdog, and Leaf Magazines credits Top Dawg Seeds with switching to “Dawg” for its own lines. Weedmaps and Wikidata treat Chemdog and Chem 91 as one entry; Leafly keeps separate pages.2,4,10,13,19,20
Greg “Chemdog” Krzanowski, a Western Massachusetts grower who germinated the original seeds in 1991 and now grows Chem 91, Chem D and other cuts as Director of Cultivation for Canna Provisions’ Smash Hits brand. In 2025 he co-founded Arcana, a heritage-genetics collective in Shelton, Washington.21,22,23,24
Full lab data: by year, by state, terpenes and the downloadable dataset →
Chemdawg’s standing rests on influence rather than sales charts. High Times ranks Chem Dog fifth on its list of the 25 greatest strains of all time and says it has mothered more Cup-winning strains than any other strain this century, and Leafly includes Chemdog in its 100 best strains of all time.25,26
The strain itself is missing from the big sales lists. Headset’s 2020 strain report does not mention it (its descendant GG4 ranked 13th in sales and third by brand count), Leafly’s 2025 best-sellers list leaves it out, and in The Marijuana Herald’s September 2026 list of each state’s top seller no Chem-named strain led any of the 23 adult-use states. Its descendants did: Sour Diesel in Illinois, I-95 (a Stardawg child) in Vermont and Mule Fuel (a GMO Cookies child) in Connecticut.6,27,28,29,30
Where it does win is close to home. Chem D was Massachusetts’ pick in Leafly’s Budtenders’ Choice awards in 2023 (listed as “Chem D (the) OG”, grown by Happy Valley) and 2024 (credited to Chemdog, whose Smash Hits brand was also named the state’s best flower brand).31,32 Its Grateful Dead roots keep it in circulation: Mickey Hart’s brand Mind Your Head launched in 2019 with Chemdog pre-rolls, and Leafly lists a Chemdog flower under the Garcia family’s Garcia Hand Picked brand.33,34,35 AllBud says it is most popular on the West Coast, in Nevada and in Colorado.8
| Market | Stores | Menu items | Median eighth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles, CA | 79 | 97 | $14.70 (n=58) |
| New York, NY | 39 | 54 | $32.00 (n=19) |
| Detroit, MI | 34 | 39 | $10.00 (n=10) |
| Phoenix, AZ | 22 | 22 | $50.00 (n=21) |
| Oklahoma City, OK | 15 | 20 | $14.50 (n=10) |
| Albuquerque, NM | 12 | 13 | $20.00 (n=11) |
Stores within 50 miles listing Chemdawg flower on Weedmaps, Oct 3, 2026.36
Chemdawg
Four sibling cuts, one unknown parent pair, a very large family: the full genetics page →
