There are certain cultivars that transcend personal taste because they’re just that good. These lightning bolt varieties blow everyone away equally, going viral in the IRL networks of the weed world. Countless clones, copycats and knockoff names all come with the territory of this kind of success. Often, so do a ton of awards. The Double OG Chem by Rebel Grown, an off-grid farm in the Palo Verde appellation of Southern Humboldt, is one such flower. The mix of OG, Chem Dog and Sour Diesel is frosty, gassy and at 34 percent THC, very, very potent.
“I became passionate and interested in cannabis when I was very young,” says Dan Pomerantz, founder of Rebel Grown and creator of the Double OG Chem. Pomerantz got his start in cannabis cultivation by moving between his grows in Boston and Vermont, experimenting with genetics, organics and indoor and outdoor living soil. “The goal was always to try to reach and find something that’s more exciting and more special,” he says.
After heading out to California for the first time to work on a weed farm, Pomerantz fell in love with the hidden, magical world of the Emerald Triangle. By 2011, he found himself perfectly positioned to start his own brand, Ganja Rebel Seeds. He says it would become the first seed company to sell seeds in Humboldt County’s medical dispensaries.
“By the time I started a seed company, I had a lot of experience in the industry,” he says. “I was able to realize the challenges that these small growers have. They had all these amazing seed varieties, but the market changed, and they couldn’t sell them anymore. The purple trends had ended and for most people at that time, if you didn’t have OG Kush, you couldn’t sell your weed.”
Then, Pomerantz says he “showed up with a big collection of genetics from seeds that I got online, traded and had collected. I started breeding and everyone kind of laughed at me saying, ‘You realize you’re bringing sand to the beach here?’ But then what happened is they started growing them.”
Pomerantz turned marketable, hard-to-grow clones into seeds that loved to grow in the rich soil and Mediterranean microclimate of the Emerald Triangle.
During his first full season in Humboldt, Pomerantz worked for a farmer who recognized his passion for genetics and gave him access to a small greenhouse. “At the end of the year, there was this OG Chem. I had a few different females, and I took clones of the four best ones,” he says. “I gave them to every grower I knew. We all agreed that the #2 Double OG Chem was just the frostiest, most beautiful plant. And I knew it was special.”
He says he then distributed them to Kevin Jodrey at Wonderland Nursery, which was the only licensed cannabis nursery in the country at the time. Jodrey began selling tens of thousands of clones of that plant, creating its own submarket as an incredibly high-testing OG variety at a time when the market was saturated with mid-range OGs.
“It was right around when people started caring about THC,” Pomerantz says. “All the OG clones that were in California back then maxed out at 24, 25, maybe 26 percent if you grew it like crazy. And that was most of the OG in the commercial market, which was 90 percent of the market at the time. Every dispensary in LA had their entire menu filled with OGs.” And then suddenly Pomerantz says he had something different to offer: a gassy, frosty, white OG plant with 30 percent THC. Once Jodrey began selling the clones, thousands of people started growing it.
“It kind of created its own market,” Pomerantz says. “It’s been called Kush Dog, Twist OG; it’s got a bunch of names because, unfortunately, people change the name and don’t give credit where it’s due.”
Thankfully, competitions such as The Emerald Cup do give credit. “The Double OG Chem was a hybrid first made in 2011 by crossing the OG Chem into an OG Sour,” Pomerantz says. “There have been many years of selections to get it to where it is now. There’s no other genetics that have won three breeders’ cups. No other plant has won that many top first or second placings in the Emerald Cup. It’s also won fourth place multiple times and a lot of other top ten spots. Basically, it’s the most awarded cannabis flower in the Emerald Cup since 2016 or 2017, which is amazing.”
While Pomerantz is focusing on Rebel Grown’s expansion to Vermont, the farm’s day-to-day is run by his partners, Cully and Rachel.
“The awards that we win are really for our growers,” Pomerantz says. “It’s important to me to give a lot of props to them. I started a brand a long time ago and I’ve done some great genetics work that I’m proud of, but Cully and Rachel are carrying on not only the tradition of that neighborhood, but also the tradition of my approach of growing weeded with diversified organics. Cully and Rachel should get credit for being the best outdoor farmers in Humboldt County, not me.”
When it comes to what makes Rebel Grown and their award-winning cultivars so supremely special, Pomerantz chalks it up to their meticulous and locally centered growing practices. Almost 20 different organic soil amendments and the use of local microbes allow their plants infinite options to choose what they need to thrive. And of course, a positive attitude doesn’t hurt either.
“We constantly strive to keep improving because we know other people are improving, too,” he says. “And we want them to get better—we don’t see other farmers as competitors; we see them as allies. We want small farmers to win, succeed and grow the best weed they can. And we know that as they’re improving, we need to keep improving ourselves.”
Name: Double OG Chem
Breeder/Seed Bank: Rebel Grown
Genetics: OG Chem x (OG Sour) f3 (2/3rds OG Kush 1/3 Chemdog and some Sour Diesel influence)
Percent Indica/Sativa: Indica dominant hybrid
Type(S/H/I): Indica dominant hybrid
Smell/Flavors: Loud/GasFuel. Skunky and funky
Appearance: Light green, frosted out
Effects: Extremely potent yet balanced
Harvest Planning/Flower Time: 9-9.5 weeks, October 7-15, depending on cultivation variables
Growth: Vigorous
Average Cannabinoids: Has tested over 40 percent cannabinoids and over 34 percent THC.
Performance: Crushes in dep, fire indoor, but best is full-term outdoor from the Palo Verde Appellation Southern Humboldt
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