Oh Boy! Now you've really got me going.
First of all, I do know what you are talking about with regards to tolerance. I had a strain once, that was mightily impressive. I put soo many dicks in the dirt with that stuff. It made your head swim. The problem was that if you smoked it more than once a week, it would seem pretty average.
I have had many other strains that were also very good where there was no noticeable tolerance build up at all. Every time we smoked it, it was killer good. I know that the weed of my youth was so good because I grew what may have been the best I ever smoked only ten years ago. Ten years is a relatively short time ago since I have been smoking for more than forty five years.
I think the situation with regards to my tolerance is exactly the opposite of what you are surmising. When I was much younger, and getting very potent Thai Sticks, Jamaican, and Colombians, I was smoking several times a day. During high school, I smoked two joints on the way to school, smoked two joints at lunch, and smoked two joints after dinner. That was when I had shitty pot. I'm exaggerating, but only slightly. If I had Thai Stick, it was more like two hits at each time of day.
Now that I am older, I smoke three hits about once every month or two. If it doesn't get me blasted, I throw that weed away. I don't tolerate the bland, average, or crappy weed anymore. It is a waste of my time and energy. I smoke to feel good and make me forget my pain, not to "relax". When you get old, relaxing is way too easy. Staying interested and thrilled is the hard part. I've only grown one killer good weed in ten years, and have only smoked other peoples killer weed about three times in the last ten years. Twenty years ago, I found really good weed at least once every year. Before that, I'd find great weed multiple times a year. I consider it a great tragedy that all the weed has become very average. You really don't know what you have been missing. The real problem may be that my standards have become more strict. It has to be at the level of what I grew up on, or it is too average for my tastes. I probably discount, or forget all the real shitty weed I was smoking when I was young. But I remember well enough to realize that the average quality has increased in the last few decades. Unfortunately, it is at the expense of having the very high quality weeds around.
Another possible "tolerance" type of situation that I sincerely believe in, is that couch-lock smokers are infused with a cannabinoid or other chemical in some weed that moderates the high somehow. Heavy use of couch-lock must prevent the full experience of THC. Daily smokers of couch-lock just don't seem to be able to distinguish the subtle differences of different kinds of highs. These subtle differences are not so subtle to me because I have smoked it all. When I was young, Indica was very rare, weed came to me from all over the world, and now Indica hybridized is well over 90% of what I can find, and is almost always domestic. I rarely smoke weed from other parts of the world. I think if I found a pure Indica, I would be pleasantly surprised, but of course it is far down on my list of priorities.
I have a young friend who is a very talented grower, but thinks most pot is very similar and it is all about taste and aroma with him. When I find something exceptional, I'm going to ask/plead with him to abstain for a week before trying to smoke the good stuff, and only smoke the good stuff for the next week after that. It is my belief that this will turn him into a trip weed aficionado. He will never be able to smoke weed again without a discerning eye for quality. This is going to be my little experiment with my couch-lock blood pollution theory.
I really yearn to share some truly great weed with all the doubters out there. I'm hoping that when it is legal, I'll be able to show as many people as possible, because I believe that educating people will change the market. Also, more people growing without commercial interests in mind will change the landscape.
Keep on Tripping,
ThaiBliss
