Strains & products

Winners emerge from the haze of The Ego Clash Invitational 2023

Published on December 13, 2023 · Last updated December 14, 2023
Outdoor-grown LANTZ killin' it. A Runtz cross. (Photo by Redwood Country, courtesy Ridgeline Farms)
Outdoor-grown LANTZ killin' it. A Runtz cross. (Photo by Redwood Country, courtesy Ridgeline Farms)

Deep in a freezing cave, two hours north of San Francisco, many of the world’s best cannabis breeders, growers, and hashmakers gathered to sow the seeds of 2024’s cannabis hype-cycle and keep its eternal flame burning.

Near midnight on Sunday, Dec. 10, they succeeded.

Here’s who won The Ego Clash Invitational 2023—a private, invite-only global cannabis industry competition in Mendocino County, CA for: best indoor flower; best outdoor flower; best rosin; and best full-melt.

Now, look upon the flavors set to dominate the cannabis conversation into 2024.

Best indoor flower—Ego Clash 2023

Blue Lobster. (Courtesy of Maine Trees)
Blue Lobster. (Courtesy of Maine Trees)
StrainGrower
1st—Eddy’s LemonsAnudai Farms (A New Day)
2nd —Blue LobsterMaine Trees
3rd—ZkittlezTornado Terpzz

More than 30 growers entered the indoor flower competition. Entrants did a blind judging of each other’s work and awarded points. Among the entrants, pronounced lemon flavors and refined Gelato strains won the most points.

Eddy’s Lemons sounds like a reference to Eddy Lepp OG. Blue Lobster is a cross of Apples & Bananas x Eye Candy. Compound Genetics’ Chris Lynch—now at Cipher Genetics in Santa Cruz, CA—worked with Maine Trees of Maine to bring the Blue Lobster to the West Coast.

One Leafly reviewer noted: “It’s like some weirdly perfect combo of Sherb, Zkittles, and GDP. The GDP bringing some interesting grapey/blue raspberry notes.”

Also, Zkittlez stayed dominant with a 3rd place finish—capping another epic year from Hippie Hill’s King of Z Hill contest to Spannabis in Barcelona.

Winners received a custom Jerome Baker bong, custom glass joint tips from Rek Tipz, and undeniable bragging rights for life.

High as eagles balls: The Ego Clash barn and meadow from above. (David Downs/Leafly)
High as eagle balls: The Ego Clash barn and meadow from above. (David Downs/Leafly)

Best outdoor flower—Ego Clash 2023

StrainBrand
1st —LCGTerp Mansion
2nd—LANTZRidgeline Farms
3rd—Hawaiian Snow ConeXotic Flavorz

More than 40 flowers duked it out in the Ego Clash’s first outdoor competition. One of the most popular flavors on the market, Lemon Cherry Gelato, grown at large scale by Terp Mansion, scored a big first-place win. Humboldt County, CA dominated down the podium, too. Ridgeline Farms kept the Runtz craze going with a LANTZ win. And Xotic Flavorz ran Tiki Madman and Big Al’s Exotics’ hype new Hawaiian Snowcone outside to take third. All three strains have tons of crowd-appealing, sweet, syrupy, fruity, often creamy flavor with a potent finish. (As opposed to any terpinolene, myrcene strains, or linalool strains.)

Hawaiian Snowcone
Big Al’s exclusive Hawaiian Snowcone, bred by Tiki Madman. Hybrid indica. (David Downs/Leafly File Photo 2023)
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Best rosin—Ego Clash 2023

The Ego Clash hash judging section gets down. (David Downs/Leafly)
The Ego Clash hash judging section gets down. (David Downs/Leafly)
StrainBrand
1st—Optimus Lime #8Yeti Melts
2nd—Kamikaze and Z mixPure & Proper
3rd—Asian PearJah Botanist

Flavors of lime, tropical taffy, and pear emerged victorious in the battle for the best rosin. Yeti Melts bred their Optimus Lime in-house from Zeezy x Limeheads—so definitely expect some Z and lime notes in there.

Best full-melt—Ego Clash 2023

The terp cave fills with contestants for the awards ceremony Sunday night in Hopland, CA. (David Downs/Leafly)
The terp cave fills with contestants for the awards ceremony Sunday night in Hopland, CA. (David Downs/Leafly)
StrainBrand
1st—Ze BoofTrichome Tortoise
2nd—CDLA6 + Starburst OGPassion 4 Hashing
3rd—Guapa Empanada de PinaThe Real Cannabis Chris

A likely cross of Z and Super Boof appears to have won the hearts of full-melt judges this year. In second place, we saw another blend of two strains. And a pineapple dessert flavor took third.

We’ll have more winners, photos, and details as the haze lifts further and we learn more. Plus, come back in January for “The best seeds and clones to grow in 2024,” as well as “New Year, New Terps: Fresh flavors for 2024.”

The cannabis celeb Sour Wavez tests the 2023 flowers and reps his own jar. (David Downs/Leafly)
The cannabis celeb Sour Wavez tests the 2023 flowers and reps his own jar. (David Downs/Leafly)

Ego Clash is produced and hosted each year by Moonshine Melts, Dying Breed Seeds, and 3rd Gen Family Farm.

The Ego Clash 2023 Invitational sponsors

Jar Co.
West Coast Alchemy
Buddy’s Bodega NY
Cali Kosher
Xotic Flavorz
Dream
Archive PDX
Exotiks
Shuga Seeds
The Real Cannabis Chris
Bohemian Estate
Cookies Maywood
Helios Hash
The Bryantist
Natyre
Chilean Glass
Terpy BCN
Growers with Attitude
Ripple
Have Hash

OC Refinery
Gold Country Resin
Jahbotanist
CGO Lifestyle
Hidden Forest Farms
Turkey Bag Tom
Trichz
High Top Company
Rosin Evolution
Cozy Cubes
Sticky Fields
Evryone Smks Los Angeles
Collie Grown
Cre8
Pure and Proper
Puffco
Culture Select
Trichome Tortoise
Dream
Professor Sift

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David Downs
David Downs
Leafly Senior Editor David Downs is the former Cannabis Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. He's appeared on The Today Show, and written for Scientific American, The New York Times, WIRED, Rolling Stone, The Onion A/V Club, High Times, and many more outlets. He is a 2023 judge for The Emerald Cup, and has covered weed since 2009.
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