Exotic Genetix is the Washington seed company of a breeder known simply as Exotic Mike, who launched it in 2008 after handing out his first crosses for free around a Tacoma hydroponics store. Cookies and Cream, Tina and Grease Monkey made the name. In 2026 the company still drops feminized and regular seed collections like Manic Mondaze, and its genetics have reached Canadian shelves through Cannara Biotech.
Free seeds from a Tacoma hydro shop
Mike was studying computer networking engineering after years of painting cars when cannabis took over. After getting a Washington medical card, he put a $5,000 student loan check into his first grow room and started breeding about a year later.
He also traded time at a Tacoma hydroponics store for garden gear. There he watched customers fight pests and mildew that rode in on contaminated clones, and his answer was clean seed. "I started out doing this for myself and friends," he told Leafly, and the friends kept asking for more.
The first three crosses, Supernatural, Essence and Flurple, went out free for more than a year, until demand outgrew the giveaway and Exotic Genetix became a business. Supernatural later took second place at Seattle's first Cannabis Cup.
Starfighter and Cookies and Cream
The line that broke Exotic open started at an auction. Mike was a member of THC Farms when it auctioned off a strain called Starfighter, and he came away with it. Crossed with GSC, Starfighter produced Cookies and Cream, which was named a winner in the hybrid category at the 2013 Denver Cannabis Cup.
Starfighter kept paying off. Kimbo Kush, a Blackberry Kush x Starfighter cross, came out after Cookies and Cream. The dessert names stuck around, too: Mint Chocolate Chip was built from SinMint Cookies and Green Ribbon.
Tina, Grease Monkey and the 2017 Harvest Cup
Tina came from seeds a friend handed Mike unlabeled; he grew them into a plant called Constantine and crossed it with an in-house Yoda. Mike calls Tina colorful, potent and heavy on jet fuel, "the mother of all Kushes." Grease Monkey, in his words, is one of his most popular strains and the one he is best known for.
The 2017 High Times SoCal Harvest Cup was Exotic's big night. Tina won first in indica flower, Cookies & Cream took first in hybrid flower and a Milk & Cookies dry sift rosin placed third in non-solvent hash.
How Mike breeds
Mike treats breeding as an art form: people either like your style or they don't. His rule for anyone serious is to make something of your own first, and early on he chased frost above almost everything else. His twist on a cross, he says, is what makes it glisten.
On pests he is blunt: in a controlled indoor environment, there is no excuse for them. He also watches how his seeds behave. On Rainbow Chip, he found the feminized seeds cracked harder than the regulars.
By 2018 the finished-flower side had licensed homes as well. In Washington, Green & Gold Brands exclusively ran Exotic Genetix products, and a separate program out of Long Beach handled California.
The drop model in 2026
The shop runs on themed drops, with a backstock section for packs from earlier releases. Recent lines include Manic Mondaze, released in September 2026, plus Cherry Bang Bang, Baker's Dozen Reloaded, Grape Jubilee, Gary Poppins, OMFG, Cereal Milk, Red Runtz Reloaded and Scotty 2 Hotty. Packs come feminized and regular, including F2 lines like Rainbow Chip F2.
Some drops are built for pheno hunters. There is an I Love Pheno Hunts box set, a Build A Box option for mixing packs, and unreleased six-pack sets: the Cherry Bang Bang Unreleased six-pack starts at $450, with single strains at $100. Older favorites such as Grease Monkey, Rainbow Chip and Strawberries & Cream keep collections of their own.
Falcon-9 in other gardens
Falcon-9 reaches past its own collection. It sits in Black Patronus (RS-11 x Falcon-9), Neon Sunshine (Zkittlez x Falcon-9) and Plasma Gas (KushCo OG x Falcon-9).
All three show up as finished flower from Long Beach living-soil grow No Till Kings, which sells in California with Exotic Genetix credited as breeder. Neon Sunshine also crossed the border into Cannara's Canadian lineup.
Exotic genetics on Canadian shelves
In August 2022, Cannara Biotech signed an exclusive brand partnership and license to sell Exotic Genetix products across Canada, with Mike consulting on genetics, growing methods and marketing. Cannara introduced him as a breeder, cultivator and hash maker with 50 awards, and Mike said he had been waiting a long time to bring the brand north. The launch strains were Gelato Mint, Power Sherb, Galactic Runtz, CBD Runtz and Slapz.
The genetics run through Cannara's Tribal brand. By March 2025 Tribal was selling Exotic cultivars including Gelato Mint, Cuban Linx, Power Sherb, Terple, Galactic Rntz, Triple Burger, Drip Station, Jigglers, Bubble Up and Neon Sunshine, with Bubble Up and Neon Sunshine also pressed into fresh frozen hash rosin.
CBD Runtz sells under Cannara's Orchid CBD label, and the Ontario Cannabis Store carries Tribal's Bubble Up live resin cartridge, a cross of Zoap and Deluxe credited to Exotic Genetix and produced by Cannara Biotech in Quebec.
For adults 21 and over.