Was Marijuana Really Less Potent in the 1960s?

ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Having been a grower in the eighties and again now in the legal movement in Colorado, I can say that getting potent results nowadays is much less a matter of guesswork and trial and error.

I grew some pretty potent pot back in the day, but it took a long time to refine techniques and acquire good strains.

Now one can merely Google search for any number of grower's forums and get everything you need to know right at your fingertips.

Did ultimate potency change? Maybe a little. And don't forget, tolerance plays a big role in perceived potency.

Has AVERAGE potency increased? YOU BETCHA! Just ask the Mexican cartels trying to sell low quality pot in legal states- well, you can't, because they can't find a market here.
 
c ray

c ray

Well-Known Member
how was the hash back then? jamaican gum, red leb, nepali temple balls how would they compare today? and how about the backyard growers in the tropics who let their plants go full cycle under massive sun, was their weed weak compared to our indoor hydro?
 
lilroach

lilroach

Well-Known Member
The answer is "It depends".

Many of us back in the day smoked the leaves because we didn't know better....and somehow got high. In southern California brick-weed was the pot of the day....$100 kilos made up for quality with quantity (ounces cost $3 when buying a kilo).

If you knew the right people you could score some Panama Red, Columbia Gold, thai-stick, hashish, and Hawaiian weed. Those were as potent as what we have today. Sensi weed was more of a concept than a norm back then. Getting a bag of weed with no seeds in it was a novelty (most weed had about 100 seeds per ounce)....and went for the crazy price of $50 an ounce.

If anything, we have more strain choices than we did in the late 60's and early 70's, and now finding a seed in a bag of weed is a cherished find. I think the internet and sites like this have honed breeding skills and while THC percentages are equal to the high-end weed of the past, finding great weed is much easier than 45 years ago.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
c ray said:
how was the hash back then? jamaican gum, red leb, nepali temple balls how would they compare today? and how about the backyard growers in the tropics who let their plants go full cycle under massive sun, was their weed weak compared to our indoor hydro?
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Distribution channels back in the day were not up to the standard we're used to these days... putting it mildly.

My folks smoked plenty of weed around the world, because WE traveled THERE.

Memories cloud with the passage of time- and again, tolerance levels have/had a big impact on perceived potency.

It was potent and effective then, and it certainly is now. Quantifying this objectively is Mission Impossible. The best we can do now is to grow land race strains.

@homebrew420 has done quite a bit of this lately, hoping he can provide some insight?
 
VIANARCHRIS

VIANARCHRIS

Well-Known Member
c ray said:
how was the hash back then? jamaican gum, red leb, nepali temple balls how would they compare today? and how about the backyard growers in the tropics who let their plants go full cycle under massive sun, was their weed weak compared to our indoor hydro?
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It would be awesome to have a bag of weed from the seventies to compare with today. In the late 70's it was all outdoor from mexico, jamaica, etc. and I don't remember it being very good. We made oil with it usually. I didn't try hash till the early eighties...it was every bit as good then as it is now imo.
 
G

gb123

Well-Known Member
lilroach said:
The answer is "It depends".

Many of us back in the day smoked the leaves because we didn't know better....and somehow got high. In southern California brick-weed was the pot of the day....$100 kilos made up for quality with quantity (ounces cost $3 when buying a kilo).

If you knew the right people you could score some Panama Red, Columbia Gold, thai-stick, hashish, and Hawaiian weed. Those were as potent as what we have today. Sensi weed was more of a concept than a norm back then. Getting a bag of weed with no seeds in it was a novelty (most weed had about 100 seeds per ounce)....and went for the crazy price of $50 an ounce.

If anything, we have more strain choices than we did in the late 60's and early 70's, and now finding a seed in a bag of weed is a cherished find. I think the internet and sites like this have honed breeding skills and while THC percentages are equal to the high-end weed of the past, finding great weed is much easier than 45 years ago.
Click to expand...
we used to grab dumbs for 30
thai stick... :lol: We used to tie little buds to sticks with red thread!!!! ;)
(just playin)
Hash was all we smoked.
Funny how that changes over the years.
 
Sativied

Sativied

Well-Known Member
lilroach said:
Many of us back in the day
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lilroach said:
God....I've been smoking weed for almost 45 years.

Fuckshitpiss I'm getting old.
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Thanks, for making me feel young again. :D I've been smoking "weed" for only 23 years.


With possible exceptions the strains grown outdoors years ago don't produce the high THC% indoor strains (classic/dutch ibls and hybrids based on those) have been bred for.

However, with the ever narrowing genepool one could argue it's only the THC potency that increased. The cannabinoid profiles of most pollen chucks are (obviously, hopefully) far less complete. Genes for terpenes and ingredients we don't even fully understand yet have often been bred out already.
 
kDude

kDude

Well-Known Member
know what's funny?
i just got a stack of old hightimes from a friend who's demo'ing a house.. 1983-89
..and in one they posed the exact same question.

wonder if this question/BS fact will ever go away? (they actually said that it was infact more potent in the 19th century.. dunno where they got that from though ;))
wonder if it's just generations wanting to think they're stuff is the best ;) lol
 
Doobius1

Doobius1

Well-Known Member
In the early '80's I had some Lambreath sent to me from a Jamaican I worked with. Probably still the best smoke Ive tried.
Wait til Monsanto get their hands on it. Make your own seeds and save em.
I think its pretty arrogant to think we have taken a plant thats been around for thousands of years and made it better in the last 10. More propaganda from the sock puppets to feed their 'Harm the Children' agenda.
Is todays corn, wheat, soy better? just because they fucked with it doesnt make it better
 
OLD MOTHER SATIVA

OLD MOTHER SATIVA

Well-Known Member
in the 60-70's it was ALL Sativa grown outdoors..generally in country of origin

indica's are just not the same..

thai stick?
good lord…every indica pale's in comparision in my brain/soul…

as well it not fair to compare indica to sativa either

so generally 60's-70's etc =yeh way weaker

the best of the 60's 70's..imho nothing is near as good for me….unless right pheno of sativa grow well today..

but then again i repeat myself saying what is smoked now are indicas or crosses

loved lambsbread = awesome sativa but somehow tolerance came on fast
 
lilroach

lilroach

Well-Known Member
Sativied said:
Thanks, for making me feel young again. :D I've been smoking "weed" for only 23 years.


With possible exceptions the strains grown outdoors years ago don't produce the high THC% indoor strains (classic/dutch ibls and hybrids based on those) have been bred for.

However, with the ever narrowing genepool one could argue it's only the THC potency that increased. The cannabinoid profiles of most pollen chucks are (obviously, hopefully) far less complete. Genes for terpenes and ingredients we don't even fully understand yet have often been bred out already.
Click to expand...
I'm sure that the gene pools have been diluted from the "old school" high-end weed of the past, but I look at my Blue Dream, my Golden Goat, my Pineapple Express, my Ghost Train Haze, and my NYCD and say to myself "What we've done ain't all that bad" in regards to the zillion crosses we have to chose from these days.
 
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