- My verdict
- Would buy again
- Type
- Extract
- Subtype
- Live rosin
- Strain / cultivar
- Gary Payton
- Package weight
- 2 g
- Label micron range
- 149–70u
- Total paid
- $100
- Tax
- Not recorded
- Acquisition
- purchased
- Where I bought it
- Verified Wave
- Price per gram
- $50.00/gCalculated from total paid and package weight; same tax basis.
- Would buy again?
- Yes
- Photographed
- September 12, 2026, the jar shown on this page
The jar
This is a 2-gram jar of Gary Payton live rosin from The Southern Press. I bought it at Verified Wave for $100. The lid carries the brand’s rope-border logo, and the label keeps it simple: 2g, Gary Payton, Live Rosin, 149–70u.
Live rosin means the plants were frozen fresh, washed into hash, and that hash was pressed with heat and pressure, with no solvent involved (more on what live rosin is). The 149–70u is the micron range: the screens the hash was collected between before it was pressed. Rosin makers usually treat that band as the best part of a wash, but the number alone doesn’t grade a jar (how to read hash grades). This one had to earn it in the jar.
Smells like Payton, tastes like Payton
The jar smelled incredible the moment I cracked it, and it smelled like Gary Payton. On the dab it tasted like Gary Payton too. What was in the jar is what came through the banger, and that’s exactly what I want from live rosin with a strain name on the label.
That sounds like a low bar. It isn’t. Plenty of jars smell great cold and then taste generic once they hit heat, or carry a name the nose doesn’t back up. This one passed both tests.
Color and texture were both on point. It’s a pale, creamy jar, and it looked as good as it smelled.
Solid, not crazy
The effects were solid, but nothing too crazy. This one is about the flavor, not about getting knocked flat. If you want the heaviest-hitting jar on the shelf, this isn’t it. If you want Gary Payton that actually tastes like Gary Payton, it is.
Beside the other jars
$100 for two grams works out to $50 a gram. For comparison, I paid $65 for a gram of Wooksauce OGZ × Giraffe Puzzy and about $90 a gram for both the PUA Diesel and the Platinum Barns Plumberry. Those are different producers, cultivars and formats, so it’s not a head-to-head. But this jar gave me the strain-true nose and flavor I’m paying for, at a price I don’t have to talk myself into.
Would I buy it again?
The Southern Press is Wizard Rosin’s budget brand, and on this jar it’s on point. I would absolutely buy from The Southern Press again. It’s a good bang for the buck, and it’s the jar I’d point someone to if they want to taste what Gary Payton is about without paying top-shelf money.
A little more context
Gary Payton is a cross of The Y and Snowman, bred by Kenny of Powerzzzup Genetics in partnership with Cookies. [GP01] [GP02] Leaf Magazine’s strain history says the breeders kept the 20th phenotype from their hunt. Because Gary Payton wore number 20, the crew named it after him, and Berner later licensed Payton’s name and likeness through mutual Bay Area friends. [GP02]
Outside descriptions of the cultivar center on gas and spice. Leaf Magazine calls the scent “strong and super gassy” and ties the profile to caryophyllene, with spicy, peppery and tart notes. [GP02] Leafly lists apricot, pepper and lavender as top flavors, with caryophyllene, limonene and linalool as the leading terpenes. [GP01] GreenState’s write-up names caryophyllene, limonene and pinene instead. [GP03] Those lists don’t fully agree, which is normal: terpene numbers belong to a batch, not to a name.
On effects, GreenState describes a happy, euphoric start that settles into calm, and warns that too much can bring on paranoia. Leafly calls its effects mostly calming. [GP03] [GP01] Leafly also reports that Gary Payton in hash form took first at the 2022 Errl Cup in Arizona, and lists a second place at the 2022 Emerald Cup. [GP01]
None of that is a description of my jar. The Southern Press doesn’t publish a terpene test for this batch that I could find, and I didn’t find an independent review of this exact product. When I say it smelled and tasted like Gary Payton, that’s my nose recognizing the cultivar, not a lab result.
One jar from one batch. Effects are personal and potency wasn’t tested. Tax wasn’t recorded separately from the $100 total. The Wizard Rosin connection is as I understand it, not independently confirmed here.
Sources & review notes
The main review comes from my own notes and photographs. Outside descriptions stay in the separately labeled section above; they aren’t additional tasting notes from me.
Outside reading
- [GP01] Gary Payton strain — Leafly
Lineage, breeder credit, reported flavors, terpenes, effects and competition results.
Aggregated strain-level description, partly drawn from user reviews. Not batch-specific and not about The Southern Press. Competition results are as reported by Leafly, not checked against the cups’ own records.
- [GP02] Behind the Strain: Gary Payton
Breeding history, the 20th-phenotype naming story, Berner’s licensing deal and an aroma description.
A strain history, not a review of any rosin. The aroma description is the author’s general account of the cultivar.
- [GP03] The Gary Payton strain is a weed slam dunk
Effects description, terpene summary and a caution about overconsumption.
About the flower, not live rosin, and not this producer. One reviewer’s account.
Outside reading checked in October 2026. Individual reviews are anecdotal; a shared strain name doesn’t prove a matching cut or batch. No outside photography is reused.