Cinderella 99

Lineage & Genetics

Cross: Princess x P.94 male (Princess cubed with Shiva Skunk)

Princess is the true seed-mother, a clone grown from one of roughly ten seeds found in a two-gram Sensi-branded cello pack of Jack Herer bud bought at the Sensi Smile coffeeshop in Amsterdam. The breeder describes her as compact, short and non-stretching yet clearly sativa-dominant, finishing in 50 days under 12/12, with outrageous resin, a pineapple scent carrying an 'evil' rotting-meat undertone, a Haze-like trippy and paranoia-prone high, and never a hint of hermaphroditism after two years of cloning; her only structural weakness was branches that flopped over under heavy buds and needed support in the final two weeks. MrSoul pointed readers to the 'Yellow Cab' centerfold in the May 1998 High Times as an image of her, a single-source and unverified detail. Two sister females came out of the same bud, Genius (mother of the Apollo lines) and Cafe Girl. Jack Herer is Princess's presumed mother, described by MrSoul as an unstable strain bred from an unequal combination of Skunk #1, Northern Lights #5 and Haze, and expanded by SeedFinder, marked 'probably', as (Northern Lights #5 x Haze) x (Skunk #1 x Haze); her pollen donor is unknown. Shiva Skunk (Sensi Seeds, listed by SeedFinder as Northern Lights #5 x Skunk #1) was chosen as a heavy-yielding, dense, resinous plant to strengthen Princess's branches, and MrSoul records that the Shiva-heavy P.50 generation was mellow, single-cola and unstable and that the Shiva traits were deliberately bred back out. The intermediate cubing generations, as the breeder describes them: P.50 gave heavy single-cola plants with a mellow high and a sweet fruity scent, unstable enough to show a ten-day spread in maturation across twenty seedlings; P.75 brought back Princess-like flower clusters and a more tropical pineapple aroma, splitting into a short dense potent phenotype and a tall huge less potent one, with a balanced body and mind effect and citrus flavor; P.88, released as Cinderella 88, was fast, with frosty buds in seven weeks, dense nuggets tasting of wild berries, distinctly orange pistils, and a cerebral, paralyzing high. Selected males from each generation were crossed back to Princess, and the final P.94 male x Princess cross is Cinderella 99.

Terpene Profile

Aroma: Sweet tropical fruit led by pineapple, with a funky undertone that the breeder never tried to hide. MrSoul wrote that Princess smells very much like pineapple both during flowering and when dried, with an 'evil' note like rotting meat, and the 2017 text describes a heavenly aroma of tropical fruit and rotten meat that is not at all skunky, adding that someone walking past the flower room might mistake it for tropical flowers; the official history calls it a pronounced pineapple scent. An early breeder growing note says a scent of tropical fruit and berries begins to fill the room at three weeks of 12/12 and just keeps getting more overpowering until they are done. A grower's version is blunter: very sweet and tangy, zesty fresh pineapples with skunk piss, and a carbon scrubber that has a hard time covering it. Leafly's consumer aggregate lists citrus, grapefruit and flowery. Pineapple and grapefruit are the two classic phenotype descriptors, and Gypsy Nirvana's release notes and Female Seeds' separate line both describe the same two phenotypes.

Flavor: Very fruity, in the breeder's words, and connoisseur quality when cured. The pineapple carries through from the flowering room into the dried and cured bud, with citrus and grapefruit the alternate phenotype expression; the P.75 generation was described as citrus-flavored and P.88 as tasting of wild berries, which gives a sense of the flavor range inside the line. Leafly's top flavors are citrus, grapefruit and flowery. Some cuts keep the funky, rotten-meat or skunk-piss undertone behind the fruit.

Effects & Experience

Onset: A creeper that builds over about ten minutes, per the breeder.

Racy, cerebral and genuinely strong. MrSoul called it trip weed with a speedy, scary high and wrote that two hits of Princess will induce your body to tremble involuntarily and your heart to race and paranoid thoughts, very much like Haze; he described the Cinderella 88 and 99 buzz as very cerebral, with the jitters as the only body effect, suited to activity rather than the sofa. Consumers agree on the direction: Leafly's 1,204 ratings list energetic, uplifted and focused as the top effects and anxious, paranoid and dry mouth as the top negatives. A THCFarmer grower describes it as very racy and capable of causing confusion, with paranoia as a side effect, before a more colorful, blissful, happy, fun high sets in. The anxiety and paranoia risk at higher doses is real and well documented, so starting low is the sensible approach.

Duration: No breeder duration figure exists. One THCFarmer grower reports the racy phase giving way after a couple of hours to a milder, happier high, which suggests a multi-hour experience, but that is a single account.

Grower's Notes

History & Origin

Rick Campanella, better known as MrSoul, began breeding in 1986 to 1987 while working as a nuclear engineer, and became the American distributor for the Super Sativa Seed Club in 1987. In 1996 by the breeder's current dating, or 1997 by his June 2000 post, he grew out seeds found in a Sensi-branded pack of Jack Herer bud from Amsterdam and kept three females: Princess, Genius and Cafe Girl. Brothers Grimm Seeds, a two-person partnership of MrSoul and Sly, was founded in 1996 and distributed through the Canadian reseller Heaven's Stairway. After cubing Princess through P.50, P.75, P.88 (released as Cinderella 88) and P.94, the original Cinderella 99 seeds were made in 1999, and the breeder's product page says the strain has captivated growers since its debut that year. MrSoul published 'A Cinderella Story' online in June 2000, traced by Overgrow members to the CannabisWorld forums. Brothers Grimm shut down in 2002 over security concerns and MrSoul moved to Europe; original stock was depleted and C99 reached cult holy-grail status. In 2015 he retrieved the Princess clone and saved seed and relaunched in Colorado with Duke Diamond, and in 2016 the re-released C99 seeds, made by selecting a new P94-generation male and pollinating Princess exactly as in 1999, went on sale. Feminized C99 production also began in 2016 by the breeder's account, or 2017 per a distributor quoting breeder copy; the feminized version, Cinderella XX, is Princess crossed with a selected resin-heavy C99 female used as the pollen donor. The official history page was published in 2023. Campanella is now joined by his wife Laura Campanella, 'MrsSoul', who is CEO and co-owner of the revived company. One further cross belongs in the record with a caveat: Killer Queen, Vic High's G13 and Hash Plant clone crossed with a C99 male, is listed in the Brothers Grimm catalog, but only one source was found for that formula, so it is unverified.

Notable Crosses

Strains bred using Cinderella 99 as a parent:

Frequently Asked Questions