Modern pot dosen't taste as good.

[jwm]

I agree...I've been back into it for years now after taking a long break. The smoke of today isn't as tasty, imo, and for me, as part of the whole experience, taste is extremely important. I'll even go as far as to say that I'd sacrifice potency for taste/aroma. That's why now, as opposed to the late 60's early 70's when I relied on my connection to secure product, I grow my own...I only wish I'd had the forsight to hang on to some of the beans that came loaded in those tasty columbian nugs...

 

[Pinball Wizard]

I agree...I've been back into it for years now after taking a long break. The smoke of today isn't as tasty, imo, and for me, as part of the whole experience, taste is extremely important. I'll even go as far as to say that I'd sacrifice potency for taste/aroma. That's why now, as opposed to the late 60's early 70's when I relied on my connection to secure product, I grow my own...I only wish I'd had the forsight to hang on to some of the beans that came loaded in those tasty columbian nugs...

I agree. When I think of all the seeds I burned up back in the 60's...I could cry. Some of them could have been G-13's...I wasn't that far away?

the concept of growing my own?...was an alien concept, then

 

[Alienate420]

Nonsense.

 

[motaloca]

I've heard the Yunnan stuff 2000 B.C. was the shit.
I think you just remember the first real dank stuff you smoked. For me the mid to late 80's skunk nr 1 is till now the tastiest, happiest, trippiest stuff I've ever smoked.
Would have liked to smoke some Colombian, Thai, Panaman, Waui shit in the 70's, but I was born just then.
peace .smoke on.

 

[Alienate420]

Ridiculous topic on the face of it, since flavor preference is totally subjective. This seems to be nothing more than another 'geriatric pecker contest', where old people make vague, unsupported (and unsupportable) claims of how much better things used to be in order to gain status in the eyes of people who don't have the perspective to know better. Alternatively, old people like to whine about how much harder they had it. "We did it better and we were tougher!"

I'm 42 years old. I know better. I had Columbian Gold, Panama Red etc. Most of it, as has been said, came fairly well cured, which isn't a common thing at all for 'modern weed'. That and flavor preference is the only damned difference and if you are complaining you can't finding good tasting weed, you're just unlucky...and a whiner. Modern, well cured weed comes in a rainbow of flavors, potentially, and it really comes down to the particular plant. I can grow out 10 seeds of SSH and get spice, lime, lemon and floral flavors out of any of the plants, in any combination, and some of them taste lousy and some are great. I keep the great tasting ones and clone them. Lack of genetic stability is a good thing, in terms of flavor profiles.

 

[K.J]

Skip, you have it almost right. Thanks for your post.

Land race farmers of yesterday did select from large populations. They did not select ONE plant or even a FEW from the population, they selected many plants. This kept cannabis genetics strong and viable.
Cannabis is an outcrossing species;something that is LOST in the translation to most modern day pot enthusiasts. Its actually the most important aspect people should be taking into account when they choose to engage cannabis in a breeding program, and most people dont even know WTF youre talking about when you say cannabis is an outcrosser.
Species that evolve as wind-blown outcrossers REQUIRE genetic diversity to maintain population health as well as individual health. There are practices and breeding methods that should be followed to maintain genetic diversity while steering a population toward the goal. This is not done in ONE cross or TWO. This is not done by growing out 12,000 plants and then choosing a mere 2 to carry on the population.

It is my understanding from talking to people who have seen these so-called seed breeding ops in Holland and other Euro locales that the seed operations they photograph of big greenhouses of plants are nothing more than a commercial POT factory with some seedmaking on the side. The word is that they are not doing the kind of work required to make real seedline improvements. And WHY WOULD THEY? Why grow thousands of plants over many years only to produce one single variety? Today's seed buyers dont know the difference between an unstable polyhybrid and a real F1 Hybrid anyway.
You could literally off your bagseeds for 150 a pack in this unregulated free-for-all of a seed industry, and youd have happy pot growers the world over..just like we have now. You dont have to make a strain to sell potseeds. you just have to make seeds.
And it is well understood now, how they find a select plant to enter in the HighTime Cannabis Cup, then sell unstable polyhybrid siblings with the SAME VARIETY NAME, but with very little chances of recovering a Cup winning plant from a seed purchase. This is because they will not do years of recurrent selection, when one cross in the greenhouse, and a good advertisement wows the typical seed buyer.
Shit, amateur breeding scenarios are even worse. They select the best of 3-5 plants at best, and this is what WE allow. totally assinine!

The real bottom line is that we should start seeing things a little more long-term, and by that I mean longer than the 3 weeks it takes to mature some hack seeds.
Landraces are polluted and no longer pure;all the variety we had 50 years ago is now related by descent and suffering inbreeding;modern cannabis plant breeders just want instant gratification , they generally do not care about genetic conservation and do not understand what they are doing. They dont even get it that they are not going to make any seedline improvements without doing it right.
We have to stop this trend of mass genetic erosion before we have lost the potential for seedline improvements in the future.

I, for one, absolutely agree with the content (most of it anyway), if not always the tone, of VanXant's argument. I too believe breeders should be much more knowledgeable and exact about what they do, in order to preserve the vast diversity of cannabis genetics. Carry on...

 

[TheBudFather]

My dad smokes.... all his life.... i sometimes bring a few nice J's up for him.... but he recons the weed he grew as a youngster tasted allot better than the skunks im giving him.... He talks about a skunk called Brand X (i cant find it anywhere) he said it was nicknamed Nuke, as 1 joint would blow him and all his mates away.. he says it was so sticky, it seemed soaking wet.... and hes no lightweight when it comes to smoking weed... when my dad 1st caught me smoking (his homegrown) weed...... the only thing he asked, was 'if im going to smoke it, smoke it pure.... no tobacco'. so 13 years on im still smoking Pure skunk... everyday.

 

[Mr. Greengenes]

I'm going to have to agree with much of VanXant is saying too, but I think if anyone should be pissed off here, it would be me because I actually have saved strains for many years. But, the assertation that small breeders can't grow out and select from large pools is incorrect. I've made selections from seedbatches numbering in the hundreds quite a few times. The technique is simple, you just plant in waves and save clones of the best until you've looked at enough plants. Four waves of 40 seedlings can be done in one year, and you're looking at 160 plants.

BUT! Looking at, and applying selective pressure to, large seedbatches is NOT the end all of breeding. Sometimes there are seedbatches I wan't to grow out many of, sometimes I don't need to. It completely depends on how that seedbatch was bred and what the variation contained in it is. Besides, a highly select plant that differs from it's sisters by many traits, is much less likely to throw similar progeny. It just looks like a great plant, but most of the time it won't breed like you want it to. Remember, I'm not talking theory here, I'm drawing on 41 years of breeding experience.

As to the OP, I think that's a pretty interesting subject. I have a strain that I made from an Afghani Hashweed female crossed with a Jamaican Lambsbreath male sometime in the mid 70's. Old guys love this strain. I always hear, "wow, I haven't smelled/smoked anything like that since the 70's". I agree with VanXant that there's been wild and irresponsible hybridizing going on left and right. In my opinion, it's somewhat narrowed the genepool. That's why I rarely find any clones or seeds from outside sources that interest me much. I'm spoiled here in my garden.

 

[Tennessee]

MR. , this is why in my edited excerpt of my post I went out of my way to congratulate and encourage breeders like you ----

we MUST encourage the spread of very diverse genes(as well as attempt to save the "original cut" whether that be a sustained cutting, or my idea of saving the DNA until jurrassic park style ressurections are possible

- I only mentioned that the LARGER picture of commercial seedbanks with "dutch genetics" drowning out the market in our near future-that is the potential problem-"western greed"

breeders like YOU, NEED to secure these valuable lines from years ago, someday you guys will be dead and my generation will lose it without your meticulous details and reports, and more importantly genes!

 

[eglider]

Anyone saving that great landrace "Oklahoma ditchweed"?

 

[Pot Pimp]

Back in the day, Colombian gold was my absolute favorite. I loved the fragrance, the smoothness of the smoke and the awesome heady high. A close second was the Jamaican. The reason you (and me) like those strains better than the ones today is because they were pure sativa's. The indica's are great for growing but for the smell and high, I totally prefer the sativa.

 

[bud toker]

Its been a while since I smelled that distinctive aroma of old school Colombian gold, but I can remember it smelled great, In 1979 & 80 it was common around my local.what happened to that bud that turned ya inside out with anxiety and paranoia ? I'm guessing it was sativa and most folks now days grow hybrids or just indica.

 

[BudBag]

Anyone saving that great landrace "Oklahoma ditchweed"?

 

[popdog]

old school smoldschool

old school smoldschool

Hey man get a new connect because what you are describing is not top shelf. I have smoked out many of old school smokers that will tell tales of this and that blah blah, then I blaze some new millenium super dank that tastes like candy, smells from a mile away, and then all I hear is how great it is and if they can get some. Needless to say, the acapolco gold stories arent brought up anymore. I think that these old schoolers were getting pure sativas, that of course got them way higher that todays smoke. Grow a quality pure sativa indoors today and tell me what is the tastiest. Back on topic of taste not potency its all about strain, care, and handling like stated above. Ak 47 (serious)which stemmed from old school sativas like your used to is a very tasty strain which im sure would please you.Don't settle for that bull your puffin. peace

 

[Hughesy]

NO Tobacco. Try the Panama. try CinderellaxPanama. Try em all. this Non-sense.
If this were true then imagine what the real old Pot was like B.C.
The Best Pot you can get come from your own skilled self.
Fresh is Best.
Naturally.

 

[dcdlux]

im a bham local, its true some do tumble it, alot gets tumbled during drying also, you can make bubble with alot of it. CRAZY

 

[haze crazy]

I"m fond of that old school sweet expand-in-your-lungs Colombian Gold too. I remember buying Mexy regs for $200-220 a kilo wrapped in green paper and tied with hemp cord. The dealer would nearly always open one and shove a lid or so of gold bud inside for sampling purposes. (even back the the gold was at least twice the price) I don't know if he really thought he was fooling anyone, but as soon as I got back, I would tear open the brick and keep the gold for my own stash and flog the rest.

Anyway ...the old story was with the gold is they would take just the trimmed buds and cure them in banana leaves, wrapping them tightly to compress. I think they might have then put them in the sun for a while after that. No doubt they used a haze- sativa type plant. I've been thinking about giving it a try next time I find some haze. May then I could sell some banana leaves on seedbay! LMAO I miss that taste, I think I'll experiment a bit oneday...

 

[haze crazy]

One more thing, that old school Colombian was grown in organic dirt. All natural... No hydroponics, just some rainwater and natives working the land to feed their families

 

[mean mr.mustard]

Some of us have been trying for years to breed simply for taste and high... I think you need some seeds

 

[gongageek]

I smoked in the 70's, 90's & today and overall I wouldn't trade today’s bud for anything from the past, but in my opinion to really be considered top grade bud it needs to be grown in high quality soil (sorry hydro guys dirt is the ticket for taste), fed organic fertilizers, and flushed at least for two weeks prior to harvest. If the herb has been taken care it will astound even the pickiest smoker.

That said however I do from time to time find myself longing for that wonderful 70's Thai Stick. Damn those were the days!