Permanent Marker by Connected: Strain of the Year Money, Three Years Later

Most strains that win a trophy get about eighteen months of shelf life before the market moves on to the next name. Permanent Marker took Leafly's Strain of the Year in 2023 — the year after Jealousy, its own parent, won the same award for the same breeder — and it's still refusing to leave. In Arizona right now, Connected's cut of it holds two separate spots in the state's top ten eighths, roughly $400K moved between them at full boutique pricing.

The cross is pure Seed Junky arithmetic: Biscotti S1 over a third-generation Jealousy cut over Sherb BX, JBeezy stacking three of his own dessert lines until something strange fell out. And strange is the right word — the nose that made this strain famous is a fresh-uncapped Sharpie, that soapy, floral, faintly chemical note sitting on top of grape candy, creamy berry, and gas. Nobody was breeding toward marker fumes on purpose. It just showed up, and it turned out to be the loudest calling card in years.

The smoke keeps the promise the jar makes. Sharpie-forward on the inhale, sweet candy on the way out, and then a high that starts euphoric and creative before the indica side folds you into deep body relaxation. Batches run 24 to 30% depending on the room, with limonene out front and linalool doing quiet work underneath — part of why the funk reads floral instead of just chemical.

What makes the Arizona version worth writing about is that it isn't a licensing-deal knockoff. Connected came into the state in November 2020, right behind Prop 207, and built its own 36,000-square-foot indoor facility in Phoenix rather than renting someone else's rooms. The same Sacramento operation that made its name phenotype-hunting designer cuts grows the Arizona jars itself, which is why the flower here doesn't smoke like a photocopy.

Distribution matches the sales line: Zen Leaf, Sol Flower, Trulieve, JARS, plus independents like Sticky Saguaro and The Flower Shop, stretching from Phoenix metro down to Tucson and out to Yuma county. Three years past its trophy, Permanent Marker has settled into something rarer than hype — it's just a fixture now, the exotic that became a staple without ever dropping its price.