Revisiting Legacy Strains (Can you go home again?)

Like many I was blown away as a teen when I smoked Colombian Gold. I haven't smoked it in over 30 years. I just wonder what it's like to smoke old strains that you haven't smoked in years. Is it like you thought it would be or completely different. Did the experience meet expectations or leave you disappointed? Thai stick and Colombian Gold are the two strains that come to mind that I hope to revisit one day and just wanted to get feedback on the experience.

I'm also interested in this. I was thinking about getting some World of Seeds landraces seeds of like Columbian Gold & Afghan Kush but wasn't sure if they were actually worth it.

Any other old timers around with the requisite experience?

I tried this with skunk #1, having smoked it back in the 80's after the Reagan administration took out Noriega...thus ending most of the true Central and South American sativa imports. It wasn't the same, probably b/c whatever I grew up on wasn't from the same breeder as I grew out last year.

When have you ever "revisited" something from your child hood that came anywhere close to what you remembered?
Nostalgia is something else, you always end up disappointed. People want to say it is different now and not the same, yet in any other example of revisiting you end up realizing nostalgia played into it.

When you smoked hay on a regular basis and once every 6 months you would score a bag of female columbian gold/thai stick/panama red/ etc. it stuck out like night and day. Compared to today's strains, they dont stick out at all.

^^Good answer.

thetrickstergod said:

Like many I was blown away as a teen when I smoked Colombian Gold. I haven't smoked it in over 30 years. I just wonder what it's like to smoke old strains that you haven't smoked in years. Is it like you thought it would be or completely different. Did the experience meet expectations or leave you disappointed? Thai stick and Colombian Gold are the two strains that come to mind that I hope to revisit one day and just wanted to get feedback on the experience.

Click to expand...

Thai stick wasn't a strain. It was weed on a stick with opium on it.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_stick

Well the thai on a stick that I smoked was not dipped (or rubbed, or even snuggled) in opium, and yes I have smoked opium. From what I have read (and I believe everything on the internet ) the whole dipped/rubbed in opium meme is a myth when it comes to thai stick out of Thailand.

speaking of weed from years past, i once (and only once) bought some weed in the Philippines that was packed inside of a bamboo stalk...(and not wrapped around a stick)..and it was great weed, not sure if it was a creative supplier doing a one off or if there was a period in the late 70's when some exotics came packaged packed in bamboo.

PeyoteReligion said:

Thai stick wasn't a strain. It was weed on a stick with opium on it.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_stick

Click to expand...

I had plenty of Thai sticks back in the day
and I mean plenty!
You had your regular
Thai stick in L.A. and it came on a stick usually
at $10 a pop and you had your opiated
Thai stick that in reality was covered in hash oil
or just plant oil but it was not real opium and was
just a moniker.
These went for $10-$15 for a stick.
You had your loose Thai and your Chocolate Thai
also.

Out of Hawaii back in the day you had your Hawaiian,
Blue Hawaiian, Mowie Wowie, Puna Budder, Kona Gold
and Elephant Stick.
The E.S. came in 1/8 oz. sizes
that were about 2 1/2" long and round as a Half Dollar
coin at $25 a stick.
I've also had had Panama Red, Colombian, Colombian Red, Columbian Gold,
Panama Red, Oaxacian (forgot exact spelling), Laosian Devotion, Fallbrook etc.... Most going
for $50- $60 an Oz.
There was Sensimillia and Consimillia (meant with & without seeds).
When it came to Hash in L.A. it was mostly all Red or Blond Lebanese at $10 a gram
or $25-$30 an 1/8 Oz.
The Oil was Honey oil (i used to get 30 vials at a time) went for $25- $30 a vial.
The expansion in you lungs from a single hit would make you gag and cough
uncontrollably for 20 -30 minutes straight and got
you extremely high.
Hash oil that we got was black and not that good tasting nor had much of a high
at all and went for $5 a vial.

1980 brought us real Skunk (light florescent green and perfectly round buds) for
6 years before Skunk #1
came to be in '86 in L.A. Huge undeniable differences between Skunk and Skunk #1
with Skunk being the much better of the two strains. When Skunk #1
appeared Skunk disappeared for good to this day.

Since there are quite a few excellent strains nowadays that have origins
that came from Skunk #1 and not the real Skunk is a bummer. A bigger
bummer is that full Skunk disappeared never to return in it's pure form
or in any cross to date.

"86 also brought us Northern Lights #5 and G13 that were out of this world thus the beginning of a whole new exciting era in pot culture.
All the strains back in the day had a fantastic unique taste and high no doubt.

Milovan said:

What does wikipedia know anyhow?
I had plenty of Thai sticks back in the day
and I mean plenty! You had your regular
Thai stick in L.A. and it came on a stick usually
at $10 a pop and you had your opiated
Thai stick that in reality was covered in hash oil
or just plant oil but it was not real opium and was
just a moniker. These went for $10-$15 for a stick.
You had your loose Thai and your Chocolate Thai
also.

Out of Hawaii back in the day you had your Hawaiian,
Blue Hawaiian, Mowie Wowie, Puna Budder, Kona Gold
and Elephant Stick. The E.S. came in 1/8 oz. sizes
that were about 2 1/2" long and round as a Half Dollar
coin at $25 a stick.
I've also had had Panama Red, Colombian, Colombian Red, Columbian Gold,
Oaxacian (forgot exact spelling), Laosian Devotion, Fallbrook etc.... Most going
for $50- $60 an Oz.
There was Sensimillia and Consimillia (meant with & without seeds).
When it came to Hash in L.A. it was mostly all Red or Blond Lebanese at $10 a gram
or $25-$30 an 1/8 Oz.
The Oil was Honey oil (i used to get 30 vials at a time) went for $25- $30 a vial.
The expansion in you lungs from a single hit would make you gag and cough
uncontrollably for 20 -30 minutes straight and got
you extremely high.
Hash oil that we got was black and not that good tasting nor had much of a high
at all and went for $5 a vial.
1980 brought us real Skunk for 6 years before the much lesser Skunk #1
came to be in '86 in L.A. Huge undeniable differences between Skunk and Skunk #1 with
Skunk being the much better of the two strains. When the much lesser Skunk #1
appeared Skunk disappeared for good to this day.
Since there are quite a few excellent strains nowadays that have origins
that came from Skunk #1 and not the real Skunk is a bummer. A bigger
bummer is that full Skunk disappeared never to return in it's pure form
or in any cross to date.
"86 also brought us Northern Lights #5 and G13 that were out of this world thus the beginning of a whole
new exciting era in pot culture.
All the strains back in the day had a fantastic taste and high no doubt.

Click to expand...

I have never, ever found anything as close in smell or flavor to the original skunk...or the Panama red. I preferred those 2 strains to the overpriced Hawaii imports, even back then I was paying 250/zip...however I'm sure there was a substantial Navy mark-up. Servicemen were bringing it in vacuum sealed on-board vessels, then there was the land charge to bring it to the Midwest.

BTW, the real skunk back then supplied to my area was grown in Kentucky. No surprise there considering that's where one parent of herijuana was created.

http://en.seedfinder.eu/strain-info/Killer_New_Haven/Unknown_or_Legendary/

Sunbiz1 said:

I have never, ever found anything as close in smell or flavor to the original skunk...or the Panama red.

BTW, the real skunk back then supplied to my area was grown in Kentucky. No surprise there considering that's where one parent of herijuana was created.

Click to expand...

Friends and I always wondered where the real Skunk came
from back then. Now that I think of it, Kentucky sure sounds very familiar.
Thanks for this great info!

Sunbiz1 said:

I have never, ever found anything as close in smell or flavor to the original skunk...or the Panama red. I preferred those 2 strains to the overpriced Hawaii imports, even back then I was paying 250/zip...however I'm sure there was a substantial Navy mark-up. Servicemen were bringing it in vacuum sealed on-board vessels, then there was the land charge to bring it to the Midwest.

BTW, the real skunk back then supplied to my area was grown in Kentucky. No surprise there considering that's where one parent of herijuana was created.

http://en.seedfinder.eu/strain-info/Killer_New_Haven/Unknown_or_Legendary/

Click to expand...

Yep, people really overlook the things the middle section of America has done for cannibas. Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, etc. have provided much of America's cannibas and strains. For the past 40-50 years entire communities in these states have been dependant on MJ. The local police are well aware of it and know that the economy of the small towns depend on it. Without the cash crops they would fold.

Milovan said:

Same here on the original Skunk.

Friends and I always wondered where the real Skunk came
from back then. Thanks for this great info!

Click to expand...

I used to go camping in the Ozark Mountains around the Arkansas/Missouri border. There were areas that you could smell skunk for miles during the late 70's and early 80's.

althor said:

Yep, people really overlook the things the middle section of America has done for cannibas. Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, etc. have provided much of America's cannibas and strains. For the past 40-50 years entire communities in these states have been dependant on MJ. The local police are well aware of it and know that the economy of the small towns depend on it. Without the cash crops they would fold.

Click to expand...

The banning of industrial hemp was the cause of more than a few farmers converting to cannabis...at least the smart ones did.

Back then, I remember hearing about plenty of cannabis growing wild
in the mid States...one such strain was Roadside ruderalis.

Milovan said:

Very interesting posts Sunbiz1!
In the '70's as a teen, I also remember hearing about plenty of cannabis growing wild
in Kentucky etc...one such strain was Roadside ruderalis.

Click to expand...

I have vague recollections as well of hearing about this as a kid in the 70's in eastern Canada...recall being told it wasn't worth being smoked...

In the early seventies, I'm not sure we actually knew the strains. Regular weed meant you had to break out the 78 LP album and zig zag papers. Crush the weed in a little pile on one side of the album, tilt the album and use the flap on the rolling papers to sift out all the seeds. Nothing worse then an exploding doob.....Thai sticks and eventually sensimilla were much harder to get and we tended to classify weed more on the form it was delivered, more so than the actual strain. If we got any hash, it was as if we hit the lotto. Any claims by the seller as something being "Acupoco Gold" was really a moot point and met with skeptism anyway but hey, it was WEED!

Truth be told variety and potency is much better today, all nostalgia aside. For me, DJ shorts Flo reminds me of the smoke of yesteryear, with 3 to 4 times the potency and no seeds! Thank god because I don't think you could sift out seeds on an IPod!

The album cover reference brought back a lot of memories...mostly good...but it also brought back the memory of a whole lot of waiting...giving money to someone who knew someone..and you waited. And I never knew for certain how the wait would end..either in disappointment-the guy was out or not home...but more times than not it ended with weed on the album cover and seeds rolling off.

Oh god, don't remind me of the waiting and all the run-arounds! Shit still happens, sadly... :-/

thetrickstergod said:

The album cover reference brought back a lot of memories...mostly good...but it also brought back the memory of a whole lot of waiting...giving money to someone who knew someone..and you waited. And I never knew for certain how the wait would end..either in disappointment-the guy was out or not home...but more times than not it ended with weed on the album cover and seeds rolling off.

Click to expand...

That was how I spent my first 2 years of H.S, rolling seeds off a double-album.

Damn, wish I had saved some of those beans. Part of the issue with reproducing Central and South American stuff is environment, even more so with island strains. I have some Malawi gold seeds here, which I have never smoked and takes 20 weeks of flowering. I've had them for over a year b/c I want them outdoors...preferably in a mountain valley. Now how in the hell can I run a strain that takes until Christmas to finish outdoors in the US?...only in south Florida where the elevation is zero and too humid in Fall.

I'm stoned and babbling now...