Gorilla Glue #4, sold by its originators as Original Glue or GG4, is a clone-only hybrid from Chem's Sister, Sour Dubb and Chocolate Diesel, credited to GG Strains LLC. It is defined by adhesive resin and a sour chem-and-diesel nose rather than any sweetness, and it holds first-place finishes at two 2014 High Times Cannabis Cups. The rename settled a trademark fight, not a genetics question.
Where It Comes From
GG4 came out of the American clone scene, and the origin is an accident. Breeder Joesy Whales, a former crane operator, returned to cultivation in 2009 and connected on the ICMag forum with growers trading elite cuts: Sour Dubb, Chem's Sister and Chocolate Diesel. Chem's Sister plants hermied and pollinated the room.
The seeds were kept instead of thrown out. Three females came out of that batch, labeled GG1, GG2 and GG4. The #4 is the selected phenotype that broke out, not a fourth parent and not a quality tier. Joesy died in 2020 at 66.
Then the name went to court. The Gorilla Glue adhesive company objected, and GG Strains moved the commercial identity to Original Glue while the market kept saying GG4. For search, Gorilla Glue is a live alias. For accuracy, Original Glue and GG4 identify the documented cut.
The Cross
GG Strains LLC is the originating breeder organization, and the genetics are Chem's Sister x Sour Dubb x Chocolate Diesel. Chem's Sister and Sour Dubb supply the chem and the sour funk, and Chocolate Diesel adds the darker, coffee-adjacent depth that keeps showing up in tasting notes.
Because GG4 moves as a cut rather than as seed, the plant you get depends on the clone line and the grower running it. Two cultivators with the same name on the label can hand you noticeably different flower, and neither is wrong. Ask which line they are running.
There is no sugar in this one. The profile is raw fuel, damp earth and chemical funk, with pungent, piney, earthy flavor and caryophyllene sitting at the top of the terpene list ahead of myrcene and limonene. The resin is the entire point: the name came from buds sticky enough to gum up trim scissors.
Well-expressed GG4 is heavily coated, though density, color and frost still vary with environment and handling. Potency claims run wide across the market, and any figure printed on a jar is that lot's lab result rather than a property of the cultivar.
What It Left Behind
The documented placements are first place at the 2014 High Times Cannabis Cup in Michigan, first place at the 2014 High Times Cannabis Cup in Los Angeles, and a 2015 High Times World Cup win in Jamaica. That run is what turned a forum accident into a national name.
The trademark dispute is the other half of the footprint, one of the few times a cannabis cultivar's commercial name was changed by outside legal pressure.
The High Rise Take
Gorilla Glue #4 is Original Glue: GG Strains' accidental Chem's Sister x Sour Dubb cross finished with Chocolate Diesel, with real 2014 Cannabis Cup receipts. Expect resin, sour earth, chem and diesel.
The usual arc is a fast mental shift followed by real body weight, which pushes it toward evenings and low-demand settings for most people. Ask which clone line your grower is actually running, start small with an unfamiliar jar, and never drive after consuming.