Kona Gold

yesum · Apr 26, 2018

I think it is Colombian Gold originally. I had Kona Gold back in '77 or so. Guy brought it back from Hawaii to California. Hawaiian was the top pot back then. I think more hype than substance, but buds from there were more seedless than most other imports.

Anyways, the Colombian Gold I grew and have now equals that Kona smoke for sure.

Had another Hawaiian in '85 that was tripped out and super potent.

ahortator · Apr 26, 2018

Not about Kona but Maui Wowie history...

https://belhistory.weebly.com/maui.html

RedDirtWarrior · Apr 26, 2018

yesum said:
I think it is Colombian Gold originally. I had Kona Gold back in '77 or so. Guy brought it back from Hawaii to California. Hawaiian was the top pot back then. I think more hype than substance, but buds from there were more seedless than most other imports.

Anyways, the Colombian Gold I grew and have now equals that Kona smoke for sure.

Had another Hawaiian in '85 that was tripped out and super potent.

cus back then they didnt have 10 choppers flying all over looking for plants.

Plus hawaii has the magic volcanic soil and mild weather. it really lets the plants express their genetic potential.

kushedy · Jul 8, 2018

oh you are back on icmag now! I wonder if you'll get called out here as well

MAHA KALA · Sep 11, 2021

I read that colombians were not doing well at Hawaii... and mexicans grew better. kona gold I have, has very similar terps to oaxacan, and it smokes like hawaiian, super nice! hawaiians from 80s are in own category imo.

Lolo94 · Sep 11, 2021

RedDirtWarrior said:
cus back then they didnt have 10 choppers flying all over looking for plants.

Plus hawaii has the magic volcanic soil and mild weather. it really lets the plants express their genetic potential.

They had plenty of choppers flying in 1985. Was in high school on the east side of big island. Remember it well.

Don't understand when people mention the magical volcanic soil. Most people grew in grow bags with pro mix and organic amendments in areas with alot of A'a or Pahoehoe lava (which was alot of the big island). Select areas around and closer to Volcano village had great organic soil, but they weren't prevalent. Most of the areas with good soil was ruined by the sugarcane industry. There were some areas around kipukas and some of the gulches that also had more organic soils but these areas were the minority. Sulfur from the volcano was also detrimental to downwind plants depending how close they were.

@hempy · Sep 12, 2021

I became friends with a Guy from Maui who knew the group some call the Hawaiian BOEL.

His family had a long history of growing cannabis now he told me a lot of interesting history about the cannabis seen there.

A lot of good cannabis genetics came back with returning military service men from Asia lots of Thai lines.

Most old Hawaiian lines are Thai hybrids.

The old pic of Kona Gold looks nothing like what some are calling Kona Gold today.

What i see in the old Kona Gold pic is a Thai Afghani hybrid.

MAHA KALA · Sep 12, 2021

some info from someone who really knows...

oldhaole said:
By the early 80's everybody was crossing their own strains. Some of us kept seeds, and kept the lines pure. Many of the old strains are gone. Lost, or crossed out of existance. A few live on.
.

so it is logical that Kona gold from 80s will look different than KG from 70s... thats clear. weed is in continual progress at Hawaii... and also because of different variety under same name:

oldhaole said:
Kona is a place. Many variations exist. Most Hawaiian growers breed for local conditions. So between grower to grower everything is different. Yet it will all be called Kona Gold. So you have a myriad of strains, grown under many different local conditions...remember we are a land of microclimates. Uniform we are not.

also one of the first sativas were oaxacans...

oldhaole said:
Late '70s Mango was all the rage. Seeds were brought from Oaxaca and crossed. One variation was called Bloodweed. Name comes fron pinkish sap when young plants are cut. We crossed White Widow with Bloodweed and got a strain we called Bloody Widow.

A lot of Hawaiian weed was built off those early strains. Mango was the first strain bred locally.

Back in '70's we simply didn't have plants that look like that here. Tongue in cheek, that shit hadn't even been invented yet. Back then weed was 100 an oz and big heavy Sativa trees were what we grew. That's all we had. The first truly decent Sativa strain that came around was Mango and your 1977 timeline fits. The first Indica strain that showed up here didn't pop up until the early '80's. Called the Dog it sure made a splash

but when I read description of Kona gold:

"When properly cured, Kona Gold’s flowers are unique in their lack of dank or skunky pungency. Instead, these buds smell surprisingly fresh and floral. There are also some fruity, tropical-tinged hints of pineapple and mango. When burnt in a pipe or a joint, Kona Gold gives off a surprisingly smooth smoke that’s generally easily tolerated. This smoke tastes floral and fruity on the exhale.

Kona Gold hits quickly, conferring a pressure and tightness around the eyelids and temples. This feeling is accompanied by an uptick in cerebral thinking -- smokers may notice their thoughts jumping from one the next, in free association. Although some may find this head-focused experience disorienting or overwhelming, in the right set and setting, it can be a great way to enhance focus on a variety of tasks. Kona Gold can help stimulate creativity in freeform brainstorm situations. Alternatively, it may help users to concentrate on finding analytical solutions

Overall, Kona Gold can inspire positivity, making any prior stressors seem temporary or irrelevant."

it is exactly what I have, according to description... and really it reminds me typical oaxacan terps...

@hempy · Sep 12, 2021

Blood is a Thai hybrid MAHA and a lot of the seed came back to the Hawaiian Islands with the returning Vietnam veterans.

The Main Guy in the Hawaiian BOEL was the Guy they called Mr Maui he was an ex Cali guy that went to Maui fell in love and stayed there.

That group also introduced Afgani genetic to the Islands.

The Mexican Mafia started to push into Hawaii in the 80s i believe and that was when the cannabis seen there changed and things become ugly.

willydread · Sep 12, 2021

I think (but it's just my point of view) it's, like oldahole told, it's just a name now, like maui wowie or lightin bolt...
If at the beginning there were strains with those names, starting from seeds brought by BOEL, hippies, surfers or locals, over time things have evolved keeping the same names .... For example if me, Hempy and Maha lived on one of those beautiful tropical islands (maybe), and we grow a great oaxaca strain,and we call it "pussy", and this weed gets popular among the people ... well, after a while Hempy adds a little Thai, Maha adds a Jamaican and I add a little hybrid Durban, and we keep calling the our weed "pussy", after decades we will have three different strains, but all three called pussy, and people wouldn't understand much about what the original real pussy is .....
From what little I've seen most of the Hawaiian weed contains Thai, Mexican and Afghani, but I know of old Jamaican or African based strains ....

@hempy · Sep 13, 2021

WillyDread it has all changed now most is dutched over there. But they had to adapt because the DEA came down hard on them as things changed once the Mexican mafia and i assume others showed up in the mid to late 80s.

We saw imported Hawaiian here all of it was sativa type cannabis .

They have 2 short and 1 long grow season there.

I was sent a few old local Maui lines i think 2 just from up country Maui. Most were heavy indica i crossed my friends uncles line he has had for decades to a Thai.

I was shown a pictures of a low flying DEA chopper harassing my friend while driving.

Some of the old sat lines are still about but few grow them because of the DEA harassment but now with legal medical hopefully many will start to grow them again.

If you look at the thread with the old cannabis pictures and articles in Icmag (cant remember its title) you will see all the old Hawaiian was Sativa you dont see that now.

MAHA KALA · Sep 21, 2021

willydread said:
I think (but it's just my point of view) it's, like oldahole told, it's just a name now, like maui wowie or lightin bolt...
If at the beginning there were strains with those names, starting from seeds brought by BOEL, hippies, surfers or locals, over time things have evolved keeping the same names .... For example if me, Hempy and Maha lived on one of those beautiful tropical islands (maybe), and we grow a great oaxaca strain,and we call it "pussy", and this weed gets popular among the people ... well, after a while Hempy adds a little Thai, Maha adds a Jamaican and I add a little hybrid Durban, and we keep calling the our weed "pussy", after decades we will have three different strains, but all three called pussy, and people wouldn't understand much about what the original real pussy is .....
From what little I've seen most of the Hawaiian weed contains Thai, Mexican and Afghani, but I know of old Jamaican or African based strains ....

you are right Willy. like oldhaole said, under one name many different varieties. and like was also said, mexican grew the best there, due to similar latitude... and yes, the weed is continual process at Hawaii. I know they grow trainwreck, cookies, blueberry or ogk, none of it is dutch gear LOL so they grow other gear too. they have own hybrids, like puna diesel or skunkdog...

I am sure they used thai too... as I have paki kush x chocolate thai from Hawaii... but like oldhaole said first sativas were mexican. cherry bomb from Mr. Greengenes is selection of "original maui waui" and he stated it was red oaxacan x ghani... I tend to believe to those who know something about it and are growing at Hawaii for decades and not to those who wish everything is thai for some weird reasons LOL and somebody who is so jealous and cant get over fact someone else has it..

also member samson4, true sativa lover says about hawaiian:

Samson4 said:
Puna Sativa, wider leaved then I had hoped for. Although, the smell, leave shape and lime color reminds me of mexican sativas.

so it seems like mexican x ghani. I am not first, neither last, who has such impression, of course if somebody doesn't know mexicans and never smoked Kona Gold, cant get such impression LOL logically.

Lolo94 · Sep 21, 2021

The strain name I would have liked to have seen was Halemaumau Red. Probably wouldn't have caught on with the tourists since it has too many syllables Would have been perfect for the old growers in Royal Gardens before the lava took it out. Would work for the Volcano area growers too.

romanoweed · Sep 21, 2021

Im pretty shure Cambodian beeing a part of "Golden Voice" should be accurate. How would someone come up with a wrong Labelling like this? as nobody knows what Cambodian is like, or atleast fewer people.
Just reffering to the "Golden Voice" Strain. Would been thousand times easyer to misslabel it as Thai or Mexican.

Just an example that probably alot Satties and Indicas were there.. Wich one is the Kona Gold..?

oldhaole · Sep 22, 2021

romanoweed said:
Im pretty shure Cambodian beeing a part of "Golden Voice" should be accurate. How would someone come up with a wrong Labelling like this? as nobody knows what Cambodian is like, or atleast fewer people.
Just reffering to the "Golden Voice" Strain. Would been thousand times easyer to misslabel it as Thai or Mexican.

Just an example that probably alot Satties and Indicas were there.. Wich one is the Kona Gold..?

Ahhh, Golden Voice. Too funny. I know that story, and it's a good one.

Golden Voice started as a sea can full of Thai sticks. It had been done before by others but instead of the direct route Thailand to Japan to Hawaii this went the other way. The long way. Around India, to South Africa then the canal to LA then Oahu and finally to Maui. It took more than a year, sitting in various yards waiting for a ship going in the direction it needed to go. It got lost somewhere along the way, and the people who placed the order thought it was found and confiscated. Around that time the direct way from Japan was also shut down, so there were no more big shipments of exported weed on the way.

Four months after everything goes down the container is delivered to the address. Dude was at work and wifey signed for it. He gets home and thinks it's all a set up and gets it taken to a different place where he can open it. He does and discovers that everything in the can had been horribly over dried, everything turned gold. Luckily he's on Maui where humidity is our middle name. He hired a bunch of people to remove the sticks and sold the whole container loose. So that's what Golden Voice is. Overdried Thai sticks minus the stick.

willydread · Sep 22, 2021

I am quite convinced that many Hawaiian varieties have a certain percentage of Southeast Asian genes, certainly Thai genetics were introduced in the 60s, but it is known that the BOEL boys invaded the islands with mex and immediately after afghani, I would say that we can everyone agrees on this, then if you ask anyone who has grown hawaiian sativa they will tell you that it is almost certainly thai / mex, but the bulk of the hawaiian genetics is mex / afghani / mex ... (I didn't invent it, just read and ask some oldtimer)...

Little OT:
Although not strictly linked to Hawaiian genetics, over the years I have learned about Mexican varieties introduced in Afghanistan in the 60s, Colombian genetics introduced in Morocco (along with Lebanese genetics) in the 70s ... The history of cannabis is all a migration ... :wave:

chewiesmoke · Mar 1, 2023

I got some Kona Gold from a private breeder on the big Island. It's very much an IBL, most of the plants remain very squat in stature, but have that classic old sativa shape.

OldGrowOG · Mar 1, 2023

Made a big trade for Kona Gold x Red Lebanese , they never arrived. Been looking for a Kona Gold, isn't Kona Gold actually Acapulco Gold x Hawaiian Sativa?

chewiesmoke · Mar 1, 2023

OldGrowOG said:
Made a big trade for Kona Gold x Red Lebanese , they never arrived. Been looking for a Kona Gold, isn't Kona Gold actually Acapulco Gold x Hawaiian Sativa?

It depends on who you ask... From what I've experienced if feels more Mexican related, but it's real different from the Maui I tried...

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