- A strain name is mostly two things: a family it belongs to and a flavor story. It is not a promise about strength or how you'll feel — that comes from the lab-tested label and the full terpene mix in the specific jar.
- Runtz = the candy branch, usually described as a Zkittlez × Gelato cross; think sweet, fruity, candy-shop aromas. On our shelf: Super Runtz x Sherbanger.
- Cookies = the Girl Scout Cookies (GSC) family out of the Bay Area — sweet, doughy, minty-earthy. On our shelf: Platinum Girl Scout Cookies.
- Gelato = the dessert/Sherbet branch of that same Cookies world — creamy, sweet, fruit-and-cream. On our shelf: Lemon Cherry Gelato.
- OG = the OG Kush lineage, the gassy-piney backbone of West Coast cannabis; the name is often decoded as "Ocean Grown" but the real origin is genuinely debated. On our shelf: MAC OG and Alien OG.
- Names come and go from the menu daily — check the live menu for what's actually in stock, and ask the team to match a family you like. 21+, NY licensed.
Stand in front of any New York cannabis menu and the same handful of words keep repeating: Runtz, Cookies, Gelato, OG. They're not random. Each one is the name of a *family* — a lineage of related strains — that got popular enough to become shorthand. Once you know what those four words mean, a wall of unfamiliar product names suddenly reads like a map: you can tell roughly what something will smell like, which family it's related to, and whether it's in the lane you usually enjoy. This is a plain-English tour of what those names actually tell you, anchored to a real product from each family on our Richmond Hill shelf.
One ground rule first, and it runs through the whole guide: a strain name tells you about heritage and aroma, not about strength or how it will affect *you*. "Runtz" doesn't mean strong; "OG" doesn't mean sleepy. Read these as flavor stories and family trees, not promises.
Why do so many strains share the same few names?
Because modern cannabis is built on a small number of wildly successful "parent" strains, and breeders keep crossing their favorites back into the same lines. When a strain gets famous, its name becomes a brand — so growers put it front and center and build new crosses on top of it. That's why you'll see a dozen variations on Runtz or OG across different farms: they're cousins riding the reputation of a name people already trust.
It also means a family name is a rough aroma bucket, not a guarantee. Two jars labeled "Gelato" from two different farms can smell and land differently, because the exact genetics, the growing, and the terpene profile all vary batch to batch. Use the name to get in the right neighborhood, then let your nose and the label do the fine-tuning — the same way we suggest in why THC percentage isn't everything.
What does "Runtz" mean?
Runtz is the candy family. The name is a nod to the fruity, sugary candy it's meant to taste like, and the strain is most often described as a cross of Zkittlez and Gelato — two sweet, dessert-leaning parents. It exploded in popularity in the late 2010s and became one of the defining names of modern "candy" cannabis, spawning a huge run of spin-offs: Pink Runtz, White Runtz, Blue Runtz, and countless "-untz" riffs.
What the name signals: expect sweet, fruity, candy-shop aromas — think tropical fruit, berry, and a sugary top note. If someone likes Runtz, they usually like loud, fun, dessert-forward smells rather than gassy or earthy ones.
What does "Cookies" mean?
Cookies is the Girl Scout Cookies family — usually written GSC. This is one of the most important names in modern cannabis: a Bay Area strain from the early 2010s that's commonly traced back to OG Kush crossed with a Durban line, and that went on to parent an entire dynasty of dessert strains (Gelato among them). When you see "Cookies," "GSC," "Thin Mint," or "Platinum Cookies," you're looking at this family.
What the name signals: a sweet, doughy, baked-goods aroma with a cool minty edge and an earthy backbone. It's the strain that arguably kicked off the whole "dessert" era of cannabis names, so it sits right at the crossroads of old-school and modern.
What does "Gelato" mean?
Gelato is the dessert-and-sherbet branch of the Cookies world. It's most often described as a cross of Sunset Sherbet and Thin Mint GSC, which makes it a close relative of the Cookies family above — same lineage, sweeter and creamier direction. Like Runtz, it became a launchpad for a whole numbered and flavored series: Gelato 33, Gelato 41, Bacio Gelato, and fruit-forward cuts like Lemon Cherry Gelato.
What the name signals: creamy, sweet, dessert-like aromas, often with a fruit note layered over that smooth "gelato" base. It overlaps with Runtz on the sweet-and-fruity spectrum — the family tree is why — but tends to read a little creamier and less strictly candy.
What does "OG" mean — and is it really "Ocean Grown"?
OG points to the OG Kush lineage, the gassy, piney backbone that a huge share of West Coast cannabis is built on. As for what the two letters stand for — that's cannabis's most-repeated origin story and also its least-settled. The popular version is "Ocean Grown," the idea being it started as a coastal California plant; you'll also hear "Original Gangster" and "Original." The honest answer is that nobody can prove which is true, so treat "Ocean Grown" as folklore, not fact.
What the name signals, regardless of the etymology: a gassy, fuel-and-pine, earthy-"kush" aroma — the savory, dank end of the spectrum rather than the candy end. OG is the counterweight to Runtz and Gelato on a menu: where those are sweet and dessert-y, OG is gas and pine. If you want that lane, our gassy & diesel flavor guide goes deeper.
How do these families relate to each other?
They're more tangled than they look. Two of the four — Cookies and Gelato — are directly related, since Gelato grew out of the GSC (Cookies) line. Runtz then leans on Gelato as a parent, so the candy family is a cousin of the dessert family. OG Kush sits underneath a lot of it as an ancestor (it's part of the story behind GSC itself). So the sweet side of the menu — Runtz, Cookies, Gelato — is essentially one big extended family, while OG represents the older, gassier line that helped seed it.
A quick way to hold it in your head:
- Runtz → candy / fruity-sweet (Zkittlez × Gelato)
- Cookies (GSC) → doughy-sweet, minty, earthy (the family founder)
- Gelato → creamy dessert, fruit-and-cream (Sherbet × Thin Mint GSC)
- OG → gassy, piney, earthy "kush" (the OG Kush line)
None of that decides how a given jar will affect you — that's still down to the specific batch, its cannabinoids and terpenes, and you. And remember these are *lineage stories* breeders tell; exact family trees get murky fast, so we hedge them on purpose.
How should I use a strain name when I shop?
- Read it as a flavor and family cue, not a strength or effect cue. "Runtz" tells you sweet-candy; it doesn't tell you how strong the jar is or how your night will go.
- Match the family to the lane you like. Sweet and fruity? Look at Runtz and Gelato. Doughy-sweet? Cookies. Gas and pine? OG.
- Trust your nose over the name. If a jar's open to smell, that's the most honest preview you'll get — more honest than the label's family name.
- Read the actual label for strength. The lab-tested THC figure is the only real read on potency; a famous family name changes it not at all.
- Ask the team. Tell whoever's at the counter which family you enjoy, and they'll point you to what fits today's shelf — including a close cousin if your first pick sold out.
Where to shop these families in Queens
Cannabis Cowboy is a licensed adult-use dispensary on Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill, Queens (NY OCM-RETL-24-000068), serving Ozone Park, South Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Jamaica and Kew Gardens. Every product comes through New York's regulated, lab-tested supply chain, and New York's 13% cannabis excise tax is already built into the shelf price. The specific Runtz, Cookies, Gelato and OG cuts named above were in stock as of September 2026, but a menu changes daily — browse the live menu to see what's on the shelf right now, or walk in with a valid 21+ photo ID and tell the team which family you're after.