Breeder Cuts, Keeper Cuts, and Instagram Hype… Oh My!

[Desert Dan]

Are the days of true elite cuts gone? It seems like everyday a new cut is hyped as an elite… “Breeders” posting on instagram about this and that keeper before anything is chopped, dried, or smoked!

The cream used to rise to the top based on the merit of the smoke and the opinions of the community…

Sure, some of the newer things are pretty and nice but what has truly made waves in the past decade besides Cookies, Glue, and more recently Zkittles?

Maybe the paradigm has shifted and most varieties largely available today would have been legit keepers 5-10 years ago?

Would love to hear some thoughts and opinions on the matter.

-DD

 

[goingrey]

Everything I can think of is a Cookies hybrid. Which is an OG hybrid. And so are most things people are growing from seed. Maybe that's the issue, hard to be elite when every random seed pop has similar cannabinoid/terpene content.

 

[exoticrobotic]

I've been smoking street weed for the last 8 months.

Cookies, skittles, bubblegum, amnesia bubblegum, ice cream, gelato, shitato etc etc

It's all been a bag of shite.

Dunno what the cuts are like.

 

[Desert Dan]

Everything I can think of is a Cookies hybrid. Which is an OG hybrid. And so are most things people are growing from seed. Maybe that's the issue, hard to be elite when every random seed pop has similar cannabinoid/terpene content.

Limited gene pool we are swimming in these days definitely has something to do with it! Cookie x gelato x sherb and every variation of that possible

-DD

 

[exoticrobotic]

Actually i smoked some nice stuff called Rozay.

Dunno if it was from cut or what.

 

[exoticrobotic]

The weed scene has gone all hooch and bacardi breezer over the last 10 years.

All fruit n pebbles crunchy nut sugar puffs.

 

[Chunkypigs]

Are the days of true elite cuts gone? It seems like everyday a new cut is hyped as an elite… “Breeders” posting on instagram about this and that keeper before anything is chopped, dried, or smoked!

The cream used to rise to the top based on the merit of the smoke and the opinions of the community…

Sure, some of the newer things are pretty and nice but what has truly made waves in the past decade besides Cookies, Glue, and more recently Zkittles?

Maybe the paradigm has shifted and most varieties largely available today would have been legit keepers 5-10 years ago?

Would love to hear some thoughts and opinions on the matter.

-DD

back in the day it would take years for cuts like GG#4 to make their way around outside of Cali and it was an agreement among elite growers about which cuts were "elite".

now it's IG, Media, and Industry "influencers" deciding what's elite and trying to convince you before the product has been passed around and evaluated.

since the first state went "legal" 11 years ago I've watched weed quality drop.

I will go furthur back and say it began dropping as soon as THC and then later terpene tests became common and weed began being selected bu test numbers instead of effects.

since young men make up the bulk of heavy smokers we have a new generation of enthusiasts who are only smoking the new boof evaluated by numbers instead of experienced smokers.

it's only going to get worse from here, I really thought that legalization might make quality better but it has only made the growers and clone vendors focus more on profits and yield and move away from quality.

I just swapped for a bunch of new hype gear and now I will spend some time and see which have a place next to my favorites.

the strains that I grabbed recently that came with some quality flowers and are really great have been the LCG, Cheetah Piss, and Rainbow Sherbet 11.

I got a big pile of flowers from growers all over now to work through and 30-ish new strains to try so I am enjoying the part of legalization that has loosened up other growers lately and made them less scared of sharing and shipping clones.

we have to remember that weed has always been about making money and taxing those at the bottom of the chain, that part is only gonna get worse IMO.

 

[Desert Dan]

@Chunkypigs

Always great to hear you chime in brotha! Your opinion is a valued one…

Do you think you could have won the icmag cup, way back when, if you subbed your ogkb2.0 with any of the new hype cuts? Maybe any cookie cut could have won since it was so new at the time?

-DD

 

[revegeta666]

back in the day it would take years for cuts like GG#4 to make their way around outside of Cali and it was an agreement among elite growers about which cuts were "elite".

now it's IG, Media, and Industry "influencers" deciding what's elite and trying to convince you before the product has been passed around and evaluated.

since the first state went "legal" 11 years ago I've watched weed quality drop.

I will go furthur back and say it began dropping as soon as THC and then later terpene tests became common and weed began being selected bu test numbers instead of effects.

since young men make up the bulk of heavy smokers we have a new generation of enthusiasts who are only smoking the new boof evaluated by numbers instead of experienced smokers.

it's only going to get worse from here, I really thought that legalization might make quality better but it has only made the growers and clone vendors focus more on profits and yield and move away from quality.

I just swapped for a bunch of new hype gear and now I will spend some time and see which have a place next to my favorites.

the strains that I grabbed recently that came with some quality flowers and are really great have been the Double OG Chem, Cheetah Piss, and Rainbow Sherbet 11.

I got a big pile of flowers from growers all over now to work through and 30-ish new strains to try so I am enjoying the part of legalization that has loosened up other growers lately and made them less scared of sharing and shipping clones.

we have to remember that weed has always been about making money and taxing those at the bottom of the chain, that part is only gonna get worse IMO.

Edit - changed my mind I didn't know he was talking about OG Kush lmao

 

[JKD]

I was expecting legalisation to mimic the alcohol industry.
Lots of cheap stuff attractive to kids.
Lots of cheap stuff for the frequent, heavy users.
A lesser amount of high quality you pay through the nose for for the aficionado.

 

[Chunkypigs]

@Chunkypigs

Always great to hear you chime in brotha! Your opinion is a valued one…

Do you think you could have won the icmag cup, way back when, if you subbed your ogkb2.0 with any of the new hype cuts? Maybe any cookie cut could have won since it was so new at the time?

-DD

I don't know what might have won, I was the grower, not the judge there. 2.0 was my favorite cookie but now I smoke more Wedding Cake and Mac 1 and I think they could win there assuming they were grown well but most people don't grow well.

watch live streaming of the emerald cup judging sometime, many strains that have folks very excited to look at and smell get tossed in the trash as soon as one person takes a hit and has their throat fried...

all the new hype shit isn't the same IME, some of it is dandy, most of it is plenty strong for the average smoker, lots of it tastes very flavorful compared to weed from 10 years ago. I just smoked the trop cherry for the first time today, it's tasty, pretty, but I did mow the joint down and then reach for something stronger. probably few people who don't find the new "exotics" strong enough.

 

[bigtacofarmer]

I find the word exotic to be misused a lot.

 

[exoticrobotic]

OI

 

[exoticrobotic]

very excited to look at and smell get tossed in the trash as soon as one person takes a hit and has their throat fried...

All stalks with no heads?

Or too many cal/mag cystolith hairs?

Or not flushed?

Not many seem to take much pride in their work anymore.

 

[Desert Dan]

I don't know what might have won, I was the grower, not the judge there. 2.0 was my favorite cookie but now I smoke more Wedding Cake and Mac 1 and I think they could win there assuming they were grown well but most people don't grow well.

watch live streaming of the emerald cup judging sometime, many strains that have folks very excited to look at and smell get tossed in the trash as soon as one person takes a hit and has their throat fried...

all the new hype shit isn't the same IME, some of it is dandy, most of it is plenty strong for the average smoker, lots of it tastes very flavorful compared to weed from 10 years ago. I just smoked the trop cherry for the first time today, it's tasty, pretty, but I did mow the joint down and then reach for something stronger. probably few people who don't find the new "exotics" strong enough.

I was surprised by the potency of “the real” wedding cake cut once I got ahold of it… Definitely a head spinner compared to samples I’ve had in the past!

-DD

 

[Redrum92]

The level of noise has just been dramatically increased. There are 10x as many growers and 100x as many breeders as 15 years ago, and I would imagine another 10x/100x for another 15 years previous, too.

Just looking at it from a statistics point of view, anything is going to get lost in that volume of noise. It's probably not so much that true elite keepers aren't being discovered/made, it's that they are hidden in a list with 500 other strains also claiming to be "elite" enough to be around in 20 years.

I guess that's my long winded way of agreeing that the Instagram hype phenomenon has not been good for anybody but the people doing the hyping.

And while hype sucks, the number of both good and bad strains increases every year. Just gotta look for the silver haze.. I mean silver lining

 

[exoticrobotic]

I guess that's my long winded way of agreeing that the Instagram hype phenomenon has not been good for anybody but the people doing the hyping.

Along with legalisation Its also a generational thing. I see the exact same issue in all walks of life.

Painters, Builders, IT developers...Weed...No skillz no pride..Great photos but nothing in real life

It's that 5% again..

Maybe in a few years it might sort itself out...I doubt it though as most people dont even know what good weed is.

I've been smoking daily for 30 years and in all that time i can count the true elites i've had on 1 hand.

Better off growing your own from seeds

 

[Desert Dan]

Well at least half of the top 10 from emerald cup outdoor was OG or OG hybrids, including the 92 OG… That is reaffirming. Shout out to Rebel Grown for many wins with his Double OG Chem!

-DD

 

[Chunkypigs]

Well at least half of the top 10 from emerald cup outdoor was OG or OG hybrids, including the 92 OG… That is reaffirming. Shout out to Rebel Grown for many wins with his Double OG Chem!

-DD

Where did you see the '92 OG in the awards this year? is it in a hybrid?

2023 Award Winners - The Emerald Cup

theemeraldcup.com

big shout out to Dan, super stoked to have a few of his keepers from different lines to run this season.

The Double OG Chem is super fire...

 

[CannaT]

Its reality if its propper grown,well dialed in, nothing is close to OG kush....high,taste,smell,yild....it have everything.
And it is potent as hell.

Still didn't find anything that come close overall to OG.