Sherbanger #22 Strain
Sherbanger strain, and specifically the celebrated #22 cut, is an indica-leaning hybrid bred by Boston Roots Seed Co from a cross of Sunset Sherbet and Headbanger, and one of the defining East Coast strains of the modern era. The number in the name is the story: the seeds were made in Massachusetts and sent west, where NorCal’s Garden hunted the line and pulled a single standout phenotype, selection #22, whose profile spread fast once the cut got out.
Sherbanger arrived in 2019, at a moment the breeder describes as new genetics hitting a wall, and it broke through on the strength of an aroma he sums up as blueberry muffin mixed with nose-singeing fuel.
Sunset Sherbet brings the creamy, berry-dessert sweetness. Headbanger, Karma Genetics’ gas monster, brings the raw sour-diesel intensity. Together they created a must-have profile that the modern menu is still chasing.
The Sherbanger #22 strain tests between 21% and 24% THC, and it opens brighter than its reputation suggests. A giggly, euphoric lift arrives first, cerebral, easy, even social. Then the Headbanger side collects its due.
A heavy, full-body relaxation builds steadily underneath, loosening muscles and pulling the session toward the couch, until the sedated, sleepy finish that makes this a true end-of-day strain. That arc, laughter first and body-lock later, is the #22 signature. It is best programmed for evenings, wind-downs, and nights where the landing is the destination.
The terpene profile is where the legend lives. Caryophyllene leads and delivers the spicy, gassy backbone, humulene grounds the berry top notes with an earthy, hoppy undertone, and the third dominant terpene varies by batch and by lab. On the nose: sweet blueberry muffin up front, bakery-adjacent and unmistakable, cut through with sharp, sour fuel and OG funk.
On the palate, it is a smooth, berry-sweet inhale that turns gassy and spiced on the exhale, with an earthy linger that stays. Visually, #22 shows why extractors love it. Dense, stocky, resin-drenched buds in deep green with purple hues frost up early and heavily, with trichomes that made this cut a favorite for hash and rosin work.
For consumers looking for a strain that pairs a famous terpene profile with a euphoric open and a heavyweight finish, the Sherbanger #22 strain is built for exactly that. Curious where these genetics went next? Edo G is our in-house pheno-hunted Headband x Sherbanger cross, the daytime-leaning branch of this family tree.
Bred by: Boston Roots Seed Co
Selected by: NorCal’s Garden (#22 phenotype)
Lineage: Sunset Sherbet x Headbanger
Classification: Indica
THC: 21–24%
Effects: Heavy, Sedated, Sleepy
Terpenes: Berry, Spicy, Earthy
Best for: Nighttime use, sleep support, deep relaxation, stress relief
Why “#22”: The NorCal Selection Story
The #22 in Sherbanger #22 is a phenotype number. Boston Roots made the seeds in Massachusetts and sent them to Northern California, where NorCal’s Garden grew the line out and selected plant number 22, the single standout that became the cut the industry now knows.
John, the breeder behind Boston Roots Seed Co, has told the story himself. In an interview with Honeysuckle Magazine he laid out the sequence plainly: seeds made in Massachusetts, sent out to Northern California, grown there, and then, in his words, “He found it, and then it got out.”
Timing did the rest. Sherbanger landed in 2019, at a point John describes as genetics hitting a wall, when the market had gone quiet on new profiles. Blueberry muffin cut with nose-singeing fuel was not something the shelf was offering.
Phenotype hunting is the unglamorous work behind almost every famous cut. A breeder crosses two parents and gets a population of siblings, each expressing the genetics a little differently. Someone has to grow them out, smell them, run them, and decide which one earns a permanent spot in the garden.
NorCal’s Garden did that work on this line. Plant 22 came out of the hunt with a terpene expression the rest of the run did not have, and once clones left the garden, the cut spread through serious grow rooms on both coasts. That is why the number is attached to the name, and why it has stayed attached.
We take pheno-hunting seriously for the same reason. Our own Edo G selection came out of a Boston Roots cross that we hunted in our own rooms until we found the plant worth running, which is the same process that produced #22 several years earlier.
Lineage & Genetics
Sherbanger is Sunset Sherbet crossed with Headbanger. Sunset Sherbet contributes creamy, berry-dessert sweetness out of the Girl Scout Cookies family, and Headbanger, bred by Karma Genetics from Sour Diesel and Biker Kush, contributes the sour diesel gas.
- Sunset Sherbet, also spelled Sunset Sherbert, is the sweet side of the equation. It is where the berry, the cream, and the soft dessert quality come from. It is also why the first impression of #22 reads bakery rather than fuel.
- Headbanger is the other half and the louder one. Karma Genetics built it from Sour Diesel and Biker Kush, which is about as direct a route to sour gas as modern breeding offers. That parentage is why a strain with sherbet in its family tree still singes the nose.
Gas-forward genetics run through a lot of what we grow. Hollywood Hairband reaches a similar sour, gassy register from a different Headband line, and running the two back to back is a fast way to hear what that side of the family contributes to a cross.
The Sherbanger Family
Sherbanger has become a foundational parent. Boston Roots released 33 Sherbanger, a Gelato 33 cross, alongside Sherbanger F2, and a wider wave of banger-named hybrids followed. At Rugged Roots the family branch is Edo G, our pheno-hunted Headband x Sherbanger selection.
A strain becomes a building block when breeders keep reaching for it, and this one gets reached for constantly.
- 33 Sherbanger: Gelato 33 crossed onto Sherbanger. A Boston Roots release that pushes the dessert side further while keeping the gas underneath it.
- Sherbanger F2: the line bred back into itself, which is how breeders stabilize traits and open up a fresh population of phenotypes to hunt.
- The banger wave: Sherbanger’s success turned sweet-plus-gas into a naming convention, and banger-suffixed crosses have kept appearing from multiple breeders since.
- Edo G: our in-house branch. Boston Roots made the Headband x Sherbanger cross and Rugged Roots hunted the phenotype, landing on a sativa-leaning selection at 23% to 25% THC with sweet, piney, creamy terpenes and a motivated, focused, creative character. It is the daytime answer to #22’s evening.
The Boston Roots relationship runs past this one strain. Maple Drip, an OGKB 2.1 x Black Maple indica-leaning hybrid testing 24% to 32%, is another Boston Roots cross we pheno-hunted and put into rotation, which is why the breeder turns up more than once across our strain library.
On the sweet side of the tree, Sherb Cream Pie approaches dessert terpenes from the Sherb line without the fuel, which makes it a useful contrast if the gas in #22 is more than you want on a given night.
The Blueberry Muffin and Fuel Profile
Sherbanger #22 smells like blueberry muffin meeting raw fuel. Sweet, bakery-adjacent berry hits first, then sharp sour diesel and OG funk cut straight through it. On the palate, the inhale stays berry-sweet and the exhale turns gassy, spiced, and earthy.
Open a jar and the sweetness arrives first. It is not candy sweetness and it is not generic berry. It reads baked, closer to a muffin still warm than to fresh fruit, and that specific quality is what people remember weeks later. Then the fuel comes up underneath. Sour, sharp, faintly solvent, with the OG funk Headbanger carries. A citrus note turns up too, sitting between the berry and the gas.
On the palate the sequence repeats. The inhale is smooth and berry-forward, the exhale turns gassy and spiced, and an earthy note lingers well after the flavor fades.
Appearance matches the nose. Buds are dense and stocky, deep green with purple running through them, and the resin coverage comes in early and heavy. That resin load is exactly why extractors keep reaching for this cut for hash and rosin.
Terpene Breakdown
Caryophyllene anchors the Sherbanger #22 terpene profile and drives the spicy, gassy backbone. Humulene adds the earthy, hoppy undertone that keeps the berry from reading as candy. Terpenes are the reason two strains with the same THC number can feel nothing alike.
- Caryophyllene: the peppery, spicy, gas-adjacent backbone. It does most of the work behind the fuel side of this profile, and it is the one terpene every reference on this strain agrees on.
- Humulene: hoppy and woody, the grounding note that stops the berry sweetness from floating off on its own.
- Limonene or myrcene: the contested third. Limonene reads bright and citrus-forward and would help explain the euphoric, giggly opening. Myrcene reads earthy and musky and points instead toward the heavy back half.
Terpene content also shifts batch to batch with cultivation and cure. Every batch is grown in our own rooms under LED in coco, cured in controlled conditions, hand-trimmed, and independently tested for potency and purity.
Aroma, Flavor & Appearance
Aroma: Sherbanger #22 strain opens with a sweet berry aroma layered with spicy and earthy undertones. The scent is bold, pungent, and grounded.
Flavor: On the inhale, the flavor is sweet and berry-forward with a smooth texture. The exhale introduces a spicy, earthy finish that lingers and adds depth.
Appearance: The buds are dense and well-structured, featuring deep green tones with purple hues throughout. A thick coating of frosty trichomes gives the flower a sticky, resin-rich appearance.
Is Sherbanger Indica or Sativa?
Sherbanger is an indica-leaning hybrid. Base Sherbanger, grown from seed, is a balanced hybrid, roughly 50/50, testing around 20% to 22% THC. The #22 phenotype leans further toward the body, a cerebral body-lock hybrid, which captures both halves at once.
Individual experience varies with tolerance, dose, and setting, and nothing here is a promise of a particular outcome. If you are deciding between this and something lighter, our budtenders can walk you through the indica-leaning lineup and the balanced hybrids side by side.
Effects & Experience
The Sherbanger #22 experience runs in two acts. A giggly, euphoric, cerebral lift arrives first and can feel social. Full-body relaxation then builds underneath it and settles into the heavy, sedated finish that suits the end of the day.
The opening is often described as light and talkative. Laughter comes easily, the head feels clear rather than foggy, and the early minutes read closer to a bright hybrid than to a nightcap.
Commonly reported effects of Sherbanger skew toward relaxed, happy, talkative, creative, and sociable, and sedation does not appear in them at all. The heaviness belongs to the #22 phenotype and to the back half of the session, not to the strain as a whole.
The second act is where the Headbanger side shows up. Muscles loosen, the body gets heavy, and attention narrows toward wherever you happen to be sitting.
By the back half the session has chosen a direction, and the direction is downward. That is where the sedated, sleepy reputation comes from, and it is accurate as far as it goes.
Effects vary from person to person and are not guaranteed. Tolerance, dose, format, and the batch itself all move the experience, and none of this is medical advice.
Recommended For
Sherbanger #22 suits evening sessions, unhurried nights, and consumers who want a euphoric opening before a heavy landing. It also suits extract fans, since the resin load that made this cut a hash and rosin favorite carries straight through into concentrates.
Who it fits, plainly:
- Evening and end-of-day sessions, where a sedated finish is the point rather than a problem.
- Consumers who like gas but not without sweetness, or who like dessert terpenes but find them one-note on their own.
- Anyone building a rotation that covers both ends of the day. Run Edo G early and #22 late and you are working two branches of the same family tree.
- Hash and rosin enthusiasts, given how early and how heavily this cut frosts.
Who might want something else: newer consumers still finding their tolerance, and anyone who needs to stay productive for the rest of the evening. Tell a budtender where you are starting from and they will point you somewhere that fits better.
Where to Buy Sherbanger #22 in Maine
Sherbanger #22 is available at Rugged Roots Trading Post locations across Maine and on our online menu. Availability rotates, so check the live menu for current stock, available formats, and the batch potency and terpene numbers for what is actually on the shelf.
Everything on that shelf starts in our own rooms.
Rugged Roots has been a Maine seed-to-sale operation since 2018. Flower is grown in-house under LED in coco, cured in controlled rooms, and hand-trimmed before it ever reaches a jar, and every batch is third-party tested for potency and purity.
Browse the Rugged Roots menu to see whether #22 is in stock right now and in which formats. The lineup rotates through more than 35 cultivars at a time, so a strain can move off the menu and come back.
Find your closest Trading Post location for hours and directions before you head out, and bring valid ID.
Cannabis sold here is for adult recreational use inside Maine only. You must be 21 or older to purchase, and product cannot be taken across state lines. The Maine Office of Cannabis Policy publishes the rules that govern adult-use sales in the state.
Frequently Asked Questions
All You Need to Know About the Sherbanger #22 Strain
What strain is Sherbanger #22?
Sherbanger #22 is an indica cannabis strain bred by Boston Roots Seed Co. Its genetic lineage combines Sunset Sherbet and Headbanger, resulting in a flavorful strain known for its berry, spicy, and earthy terpene profile.
Who bred Sherbanger #22?
Sherbanger #22 was bred by Boston Roots Seed Co, a cannabis breeder known for producing terpene-rich, high-quality cultivars.
How strong is Sherbanger #22?
Sherbanger #22 strain tests between 21–24% THC, placing it in the moderate-to-high potency range. It delivers a strong, relaxing experience.
What does Sherbanger #22 taste like?
Sherbanger #22 features a sweet berry flavor with spicy and earthy undertones. The inhale is smooth and fruity, while the exhale adds depth and warmth.
Is Sherbanger #22 good for sleep?
Yes. Sherbanger #22 is known for its heavy, sedating effects, making it a strong option for nighttime use and sleep support.
Where can I find Sherbanger #22 in Maine?
Sherbanger #22 is available at Rugged Roots Trading Post, where a curated selection of premium cannabis products is offered. Check the online menu for availability or visit a nearby location.
What are the terpenes in Sherbanger #22?
The terpene profile of Sherbanger #22 is built around caryophyllene, myrcene, and humulene. These terpenes contribute to its berry, spicy, and earthy flavor as well as its sedating effects.
What is Sherbanger #22 strain known for?
Sherbanger #22 strain is known for its bold terpene profile, heavy body effects, and strong sedating qualities. It stands out as a cannabis strain that delivers deep relaxation and full-body calm.
How does Sherbanger #22 compare to Sunset Sherbet?
Sherbanger #22 shares the sweet berry qualities of Sunset Sherbet but introduces added spice, earthiness, and heavier effects through its Headbanger lineage. The result is a more sedating experience.
Is Sherbanger #22 an indica or sativa?
Sherbanger #22 is an indica cannabis strain. The overall experience leans heavily toward sedation and nighttime use.