Northern Lights vs White Widow sets an indica against a sativa-leaning hybrid, both built from landraces and both made famous by the Dutch seed trade. Northern Lights comes from Afghani and Thai stock and is labeled indica on every listing we carry. White Widow is a Brazilian sativa crossed with a South Indian indica, about 60/40. On our shelf the practical difference is this: all ten Northern Lights vapes are cannabis oil, while five of the eight White Widow listings are hemp-derived.
| Northern Lights | White Widow | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Indica | Sativa-leaning hybrid |
| Lineage | Afghani × Thai landraces | Brazilian sativa landrace × South Indian indica |
| US searches a month | 18,100 | 14,800 |
| Vapes we list | 10 | 8 |
| Tested THC, our listings | 79.3%–90.0% | 83.0%–89.2% |
| Median tested THC | 87.9% (7 results) | 88.0% (3 results) |
| Price | $9–$35 | $19.99–$39.99 |
| Brands | Cheech & Chong, Lume Cannabis Co., MFused, Perpetual, Select and 3 more | Fernway, STIIIZY, TRĒ House |
Two strains made from landraces
Neither is a cross of two named cultivars, which is what dates them. Leafly, SeedFinder and the seed companies we checked trace Northern Lights to Afghani indica and Thai landrace genetics. Two accounts place its start with a small group of growers around Seattle in the late 1970s or early 1980s, and ILGM credits Sensi Seeds with refining it. AllBud calls it a pure indica, and Leafly lists NL as the short name.
White Widow is described by Leafly, Dutch Passion and others as a Brazilian sativa landrace crossed with a resin-heavy indica from southern India, which Royal Queen Seeds places in Kerala. Leafly puts the result at 60% sativa and 40% indica.
What they went on to build
Northern Lights is an ancestor of strains that don’t carry its name. Jack Herer was built from a Haze crossed with Northern Lights #5 and Shiva Skunk, and Super Silver Haze, the parent of Super Lemon Haze, includes Northern Lights #5 as well. White Widow’s best-known child on our shelves is Berry White, Blueberry × White Widow.
What our listings show
Northern Lights is the better-documented of the two: 7 of its 10 listings publish a batch result, with a median of 87.9%. Perpetual’s distillate cart tested highest at 90.0%, and Lume Cannabis Co. has the cheapest, a 1 g cart for $9. STIIIZY sells it as a live resin pod.
White Widow is the strain on our shelf where the product type matters most. 5 of its 8 listings come from TRĒ House and are hemp-derived: THC-P and THC-O carts and pens and a liquid budder disposable. They carry the name, but their cannabinoid mix isn’t the delta-9 THC of a cannabis oil. The other three are conventional: STIIIZY’s live resin pod and disposable, the latter at 89.2%, and a Fernway distillate cart at 83.0%.
Which to choose
- Northern Lights if you want range, low prices and a label every brand agrees on.
- White Widow if you want a sativa-leaning classic, in which case the STIIIZY live resin versions are the ones to look at.
- Either way, check whether a listing is a cannabis vape or a hemp-derived one. With White Widow it’s more often the second.
Both strain pages start from weedpen.us.org.
Northern Lights and White Widow questions
Is Northern Lights or White Widow stronger?
They test about the same here: a median of 87.9% for Northern Lights and 88.0% for White Widow, the latter from only three results.
Is White Widow a sativa or indica?
A sativa-leaning hybrid, 60/40 by Leafly’s figure. Most of our listings label it hybrid.
Is Northern Lights an indica?
Yes. AllBud calls it a pure indica, and every Northern Lights listing we carry is labeled indica.
What is the closest strain to Northern Lights?
Among strains we carry, Granddaddy Purple is the other old indica with a label brands agree on. Jack Herer is a descendant but leans sativa.
Are all White Widow vapes THC vapes?
No. Five of the eight we list are hemp-derived products from TRĒ House. The STIIIZY and Fernway listings are cannabis vapes.
Sources and method
- Leafly, AllBud, SeedFinder, ILGM, Dutch Passion and Royal Queen Seeds entries, as cited on our strain pages
- Weed Pen catalogue: 10 Northern Lights and 8 White Widow listings
Catalogue figures are counts, medians and ranges over the listings on this site on September 19, 2026. Tested THC is the maker’s own batch result as shown on each listing; we don’t run our own lab tests. Products are for adults 21 and over, and cannabis laws differ by state.