The history of Grease Monkey

Timeline

1. 1991Chemdog begins growing and spreading Chemdawg, the strain behind Chem’s Sister, one of GG4’s three parents.^2,6,7
2. 1996The Chem’s Sister phenotype, a sativa-dominant variation of Chemdawg, emerges.⁷
3. 2014Cookies and Cream, Exotic Genetix’s Starfighter × GSC cross, takes first place among hybrids at the Denver Cannabis Cup.³
4. 2014GG4 takes first place at the Michigan and Los Angeles Cannabis Cups.²
5. 2015GG4 takes first place at the High Times Jamaican World Cup.²
6. Aug 2016The earliest Grease Monkey flower result in our state lab data is dated Aug 24, 2016, from Massachusetts.⁸
7. Jun 2017A Grease Monkey entered by Maze Floriculture × Moxie Michigan places 4th among hybrid concentrates at the Midwest Cannabis Cup.⁹
8. Dec 2017High Times includes Grease Monkey, along with GMO Cookies, in its list of the 10 best strains of 2018.^4,10
9. 2021The busiest year in our lab data: 146 tests, 112 of them from Michigan.⁸
10. 2024Grease Bucket, a separate Garlic Cookies × Banana Punch strain that Weedmaps now files under the Grease Monkey name, places 4th among live resin cartridges at the Emerald Cup.^11,12
11. Oct 2026Exotic Genetix lists its Grease Monkey seeds as retired, and Seeds Here Now sells sealed packs from the original production run as a vault release with no restock.^13,14
12. Oct 4, 2026Weedmaps menus list Grease Monkey flower at 173 stores in 18 of the 27 markets we check.¹⁵

Why it spread

Extractors and breeders liked it. High Times’ 2017 entry singled out its large buds, bag appeal and high returns on both solvent and non-solvent extracts, and called its hash "insane"; the one cup placing we could verify came in a concentrate category; and Nirvana Seeds sells its version as incredible for hash makers and extract artists.^4,9,16

It also came from proven parents. GG4 and Cookies and Cream had both won Cannabis Cups in 2014, and four other breeders now list their own GG4 × Cookies & Cream under the Grease Monkey name, while Exotic Genetix has bred it on into Slapz, Apes in Space, Carmelita and Sweat Helmet.^{2,3,17,18,19,20,21}

The disputed parts of the story

• Identity: Weedmaps files Grease Monkey under Grease Bucket and calls its origins murky, citing SunMed Genetics’ Garlic Cookies × Banana Punch alongside the GG4 × Cookies & Cream versions; Leafly lists Grease Bucket as a separate strain (see genetics).^1,11,12
• Split: 50/50 by Exotic Genetix’s spec and Seeds Here Now; 70% indica by AllBud, Zamnesia and United Cannabis Seeds.^{5,14,22,23,24}
• Awards: Seeds Here Now cites "multiple Cannabis Cup wins" but names none; the placing we could verify is 4th among hybrid concentrates at the 2017 Midwest Cannabis Cup, for an entry by Maze Floriculture × Moxie Michigan.^9,14
• Date: none of the sources we opened gives a release year; our lab data first shows the strain in 2016.⁸