Gorilla Glue and Master Kush: same terpene, different lineage, different producers

• Profile. Both strains are led by caryophyllene, so their leading terpene does not distinguish them.
• Availability. No producer supplies both, so the availability of each depends on a different delivery.
• Origin. The lineage of one is established, the other is not, so we cannot compare them by origin.
• What this table does not say. It does not include the declared content as a single number or price. Which strain is suitable for whom is determined by the attending physician, not by the comparison of features.

How do these two strains really differ?

By origin and supplier. Gorilla Glue has three parents described in a public breeder entry, while Master Kush has no established origin at all. Seven producers serve both names in Poland, and none supply both at the same time. The leading terpene is the same in both, so the aroma profile is not what distinguishes them.

The lineage of Gorilla Glue leads to three lines: Chem’s Sister, Sour Dubb, and Chocolate Diesel. These were recorded in a public entry by breeders from GG Strains (Lone Watty and Joesy Whales) under the name Original Glue. The name changed after a settlement in 2017 with the glue manufacturer of the same trademark, so breeding catalogs today refer to it as Original Glue or GG4, while Polish registration names remain as they were.

Master Kush stands on the other side of this boundary. The pedigree graph of this service records its parents as unestablished, and this is not a gap in data collection. Catalog descriptions circulate in at least two versions that contradict each other: one derives the strain from a cross of two unnamed landraces from the Hindu Kush mountains, the other from a cross of Hindu Kush with Skunk number one. When named sources provide conflicting versions, the editorial team leaves the origin unestablished rather than choosing the more convenient one.

They are also separated by the pharmacy shelf. Gorilla Glue is supplied by CanPoland, Four 20 Pharma, PhytoPur Bio, and Suprobion, while Master Kush is supplied by S-LAB, Synoptis Pharma, and Tilray. These collections have no common element, although both strains are available in pharmacies simultaneously. They also differ in the scale of the supplier: S-LAB offers 38 strains, Tilray 14, and Synoptis Pharma 13, while the four suppliers of Gorilla Glue have a total of 14 catalog entries, which is less than S-LAB alone.

The declared content does not reflect this difference. The ranges of both strains overlap by more than three-quarters of their width, so choosing based on the number from the registration name practically gives the same range. They are described more broadly on separate pages: the profile of Gorilla Glue and the profile of Master Kush.

What connects them?

The leading terpene and most of the composition are common, but there is no common parent. Caryophyllene leads in both profiles, and seven compounds listed for Gorilla Glue are included in the eight listed for Master Kush. The pedigree graph does not connect these two names at any point.

The list of compounds for one strain is a subset of the other. Gorilla Glue has seven names: bisabolol, humulene, caryophyllene, limonene, linalool, myrcene, and pinene. Master Kush has the same seven plus nerolidol. The entire difference comes down to one compound, which comes from the record of one database. The set of aromas attributed to both strains is also common: earthy, spicy, and peppery.

However, the common leading terpene is not a sign of kinship here, as it leads most often of all in this comparison. Caryophyllene is at the forefront of the profile of thirty out of eighty-five cultivars, which is over one-third. Among the fifteen comparisons in this series, pairs with the same leading terpene on both sides are two, and this is one of them. The leading terpene thus separates thirteen other pairs, and this one does not separate at all.

In the pedigree graph, both names have an empty list of siblings, but for different reasons. Gorilla Glue has described parents and appears on the parent side with three names from this comparison: Mac Monkey (Blue Monkey), Balasa (Gorilla Girl), and Zookies. Master Kush does not appear on the parent side with any. However, offspring are not siblings, and an empty list with a known lineage can be a correct result, not a gap to be filled.

Finally, they are connected by their position in the pharmacy market. Both have four entries in this comparison with a median equal to one, so both belong to the best-stocked names in Polish pharmacies. Both are dispensed by prescription in the Rpw category.

How do the terpene profile records differ in sources?

By the number of sources and their consistency. For Gorilla Glue, two Polish databases differ in composition, so the profile of this strain is disputed. For Master Kush, the composition is provided by one source, budcare.pl, and there is nothing to compare it with. These are two separate types of uncertainty that should not be confused.

The discrepancy for Gorilla Glue can be named precisely. Bisabolol and humulene appear in the record of only one of the two databases, while the other is silent about them. Further, there is a sharper difference: for the same entry, Four 20 Pharma, one database opens the list with myrcene, while the other places caryophyllene far ahead of it. This is not about two batches of raw material, but about two descriptions of the same registration entry.

For Master Kush, the problem is different. Four registration entries for this strain are described by the same database, while the other does not describe it at all, so there is no comparison of two independent records. The composition from one source is not false because of this, but it has not been confirmed by anything other than itself. Three of these four entries list exactly the same set of eight compounds, while the fourth, from Synoptis Pharma, lists three fewer. This same database also separates both strains by aroma: Gorilla Glue returns diesel and pine notes, while Master Kush has camphor.

We do not provide percentage shares for the names of compounds, and this pair shows why. Nine registration entries for both strains in the budcare.pl database give percentage shares from 64 to 98 percent, with a median of 83 and a range of 34 points. None reach one hundred, so the rest of the profile has not been described, and the denominator remains unknown and different in each entry. The percentage itself, given without information on what it refers to, sounds like the result of a laboratory measurement, although it is only a share in an undisclosed whole.

Where do the declared ranges for both strains come from?

From several separate registration entries, not from the ranges of one producer. Each pharmacy entry carries its own declared value with an allowable deviation, and the range assigned to a strain is the sum of all such entries. The width of the range thus indicates the number of suppliers, not the strength of the plant itself.

Gorilla Glue today stands in four positions with a stated deviation, and only their sum gives a THC content range of 18.0-26.4%. Four different declared values come from four different producers, so this spread is not explained by the tolerance of any of them individually. The fifth entry, from CanPoland, does not provide a deviation at all and does not enter the range.

Master Kush has four entries and three producers, but only two different declared values, so the range of 16.2-24.2% arises from combining two declarations, not from one stretched tolerance. Three entries declare a higher value, one a lower, and it is that one that pulls the lower end down.

In the context of the entire comparison, both ranges appear quite differently. Among sixty-nine strains with an assigned range, none has a wider range than Gorilla Glue, and only this one exceeds eight points. The range of Master Kush has eight points exactly, but it carries fifteen strains at once in this comparison, so it does not indicate anything by itself.

The common part of both ranges covers more than three-quarters of each, so the number from the registration name weakly separates this pair. Availability changes from month to month, as individual entries come into circulation and disappear independently of each other. The current state of the pharmacy shelf is led by the list of available strains, updated separately from this text.

How long do both strains take to take effect and how long does it last?

The same, as the route of administration determines the course, not the name of the cultivar. No separate pharmacokinetic study has been published for either of these two strains, so no difference in the course can be demonstrated between them. The numbers in the paragraph below belong to the route of administration, not to Gorilla Glue or Master Kush.

The route of administration determines the course more than the strain itself. After vaporization, the substance passes from the lungs to the blood almost immediately, so the first sensations appear after a few minutes, the intensity increases for another ten to thirty minutes, and the whole effect lasts for two to four hours. After ingestion, the raw material first passes through the intestine and liver, so the first sensations are waited for from half an hour to two, and the episode lasts six, sometimes eight hours. This is where the most common mistake in oral administration comes from: those who think nothing is happening after thirty minutes and take another dose will receive both doses at once. The above ranges describe the route of administration, not this strain; no pharmacokinetic study for a single cultivar has been published.

Thus, comparing the duration of effects between these two names has no basis: none of the available sources has measured them separately, and the difference between entries of the same cultivar can be greater than the difference between cultivars. Both strains are dispensed by prescription, and the method of administration is determined by the attending physician, not by the description of the strain or the supplier’s material.

What is known and what is not known about the effects of both strains?

Nothing is known from studies about either of them separately. There is no clinical work that has tested Gorilla Glue or Master Kush as a cultivar. What can be cited pertains to a single compound present in both profiles, not to either of these two plants or, even more so, their dried flowers.

The evidence base of this service assigns the same set of two works on caryophyllene to each side of the pair. This is not a coincidence: since the leading terpene is the same on both sides, the cited works do not separate either. The statement about the boundary of this evidence is recorded for both strains identically in terms of wording and applies to both sides of the pair equally:

Neither of the two studies tested caryophyllene on humans or in inhaled form from dried material; both works concern oral or systemic administration in mice in pain and inflammation models, not sleep or mood.

The difference between the sides of the pair does not lie in the evidence, but in how certain the premise is. For Master Kush, even within one source, four entries of the same strain do not agree on the leading compound: in three it is caryophyllene, in the fourth it is myrcene. For Gorilla Glue, two databases diverge. In both cases, transferring the conclusion from work on a pure compound to dried flower would be a leap over two gaps at once.

Separately, one must keep what comes from commercial descriptions and patient reports. Catalogs attribute relaxing effects to both strains, and Gorilla Glue also balanced effects, but these are descriptive labels from the database, not measurement results. Neither says what the strain will do to a specific patient.

What exactly was demonstrated in the two studies on caryophyllene?

Binding to the CB2 receptor in mice and pain relief in a rodent model. Both works were conducted on animals or cells, both administered a pure compound, and neither studied dried material. Below is what each demonstrated, along with the study model and identifier.

First work: Gertsch et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 2008 (PMID:18574142). (E)-caryophyllene selectively bound to the CB2 receptor (Ki = 155 nM) and inhibited carrageenan-induced paw swelling in wild-type mice, but not in CB2 receptor-deficient mice (Cnr2-/-), indicating a CB2-dependent mechanism; the study did not include any anxiety tests. The study model is mouse (in vivo) and test tube (receptor binding, human cells).

Second work: Klauke et al., European Neuropsychopharmacology, 2014 (PMID:24210682). Oral caryophyllene reduced late inflammatory pain in mice in the formalin test in a CB2 receptor-dependent manner, with no effect on the early phase; in a neuropathic pain model, it alleviated thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia without developing tolerance with chronic administration. The study model is rodent (mouse).

The distance between these results and the pharmacy shelf is worth naming directly. Mice received an isolated compound in a dose set by the researcher, while the patient inhales a mixture in which the same compound constitutes an unknown part. The work on the receptor does not imply anything about which of the two compared strains a physician should choose.

What adverse effects have been reported for each of these two strains?

Separately, nothing has been reported for either that could be counted. Adverse event registries are kept for products with a batch number, not for the name of the cultivar, so there is no and will not be a comparison separating events for Gorilla Glue and Master Kush.

Reports of adverse effects are collected for medicinal products with a batch number, not for the strain name, so the following pertains to cannabis flower as a group of raw materials. The most frequently reported effects are dry mouth, red eyes, and increased heart rate. Less commonly described are dizziness upon rapid standing, daytime drowsiness, and transient worsening of short-term memory, as well as anxiety that increases with dosage. A separate issue is medications taken concurrently, especially sedatives and those affecting coagulation: their assessment requires knowledge of the entire list of preparations, not the description of the plant. We do not provide the frequency of these symptoms numerically, as public compilations for cannabis flower in Poland do not separate them by individual products.

This pair also encounters a calculation trap. Gorilla Glue has four entries on the shelf from four suppliers, Master Kush has four from three, and the sales volume of each is unknown. If reports were counted separately for both names, their number would primarily indicate the number of packages issued. The difference in the number of reports is not a difference in safety until the denominator is known.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Gorilla Glue and Master Kush related?

No. Gorilla Glue has three parents in the pedigree graph, while Master Kush has no established origin, so a common ancestor cannot be indicated or excluded. Both also have an empty list of siblings.

Which of these two strains is stronger?

The upper end of the declared range is higher for Gorilla Glue, but both ranges were created from the combination of several registration entries from different producers and overlap by more than three-quarters of their width. Comparing strength on this basis is misleading.

Why do you not provide percentage shares of the profile components?

Because the denominator is unknown. Nine registration entries for this pair give percentage shares from 64 to 98 percent, so numbers from different descriptions are not comparable to each other or to anything else.

Does the term Kush in the name say anything about the strain’s origin?

No. In this comparison, the term Kush is carried by ten cultivars: five with established lineage and five without it. Master Kush belongs to the latter group, so the name is not a genetic clue here.

Do the studies on caryophyllene pertain to these two strains?

No. Both cited works administered a pure compound to animals, not dried material to patients, and neither tested either Gorilla Glue or Master Kush.

How do we know that the profile of Gorilla Glue is disputed?

From the comparison of two Polish databases. One lists bisabolol and humulene for this strain, the other is silent about them, and for the same entry, Four 20 Pharma, both place a different compound at the top of the list.

Cannabis flower is a pharmaceutical raw material dispensed by prescription in the Rpw category. The material is informational in nature and does not replace medical advice or the decision of the attending physician. The editorial text was prepared by the editorial team of ubucha.pl.