Marijuanna old and new

[Satyaban]

I have thinking about how current day hybrid weed compares to weed when I first started in 1969. I started with what we called "commercial" and it must have been good enough because I kept at it. Soon after came the exotics from Colombia, Jamaica, and places like that. Those special weeds looked, smelled, felt, and tasted different, it was all buds. I don't think GSC, GG#4, or others have better highs. So I think to myself after doing a little study. The "They" say that weed from the past is not as potent as what is produced today, how do they know? Has any bud brought from Colombia been lab tested, if so what was the result? I am the type who looks for Sativa in the highest percentage, but am I right?
I have read and heard about the terpenes and what is being said about their importance to taste, feel, and smell, but what about the high? How important are they, I have to say that I believe body chemistry has much to do with it as well as a host of other things like environment.
I would be a amenable to believing what is said about terpenes but it is the for profit industry that is doing all the talking.
If the best weeds from the 70s, prior to the Humboldt explosion, got me as fine a high as 35% weed does now, why is that? Do the terpenes make the difference, what were the terpenes in Colombia buds before Cocaine wrecked growers?
I am ready to rethink this.

[DW2]

Howdy Satyaban. I too started back in the late 60's, when a 'lid' was an ounce, and you didn't but it if there weren't no seeds. One thing to consider is that smell, and taste are very strong 'stimulants' to the human mind, bring back memories and also releasing endorphins (the feeling of pleasure is from the endorphins). I have been growing my 'dirt weed' (from seeds that I have saved over the past years) and have been pleased with the results. I can't remember just how good or bad they all were (just hoping that I kept the best ones! LOL!) Anyway, a good question and point.

[Satyaban]

Wow, what a disappointment, I thought this would keep me busy. I guess the subject has been talked out elsewhere.

[alltatup]

Satyaban, I think it's a good topic, but the main point is a bit moot because we THC etc. levels weren't tested in the 60s. Personally, my experiences in the past six years are better than in all previous decades because what I grow is so superior to what I ever bought in my life. I do remember some excellent hash in the 60s, but I don't remember the high--just the aroma. I remember quite a lot of mediocre weed from the 70s: too dry, too seedy, too handled. I never realized how much of an art it is to flush, dry and cure bud correctly till I began doing it myself.


The scientific revolution has been going on since Raphael Mechoulam began studying Cannabis in the 70s and discovered the endocannabinoid system in humans. Just not too many people cared back then, whereas now, the information is appreciated by many more people. I love the new science and technology, but I despise the cannacapitalists with all the cheap crap and scams they put out to draw in customers. I've been taken for a ride a time or two, but CAVEAT EMPTOR: let the buyer beware. One has to be careful and do one's research and eliminate the bullshit.

imho, the quality of the high depends on so many factors, including things like empty or full tummy and who I'm with. Some folks will totally ruin a high, like psychic vampires: they drain all that's good out of it.

[90Gizmo]

There was never anything in the early 70's that was below my standards. Now I have to keep a little book (like some of my friends used tasting wines) to record which strains I like better than others. I'm not saying I'd turn down a toke but I'm happy to have choices when back then I didn't. Frankly, I rarely get the head spinning highs that were common back then. I mostly attribute that to me being a different me.

[Satyaban]

I hear you and that is the way I was. Of course there was trash around especially after paraquat but for the most part it was good. If it wasn't good on a regular basis I never would have continued buying it but for the sake of this conversation I am talking about the best from the past with the best of today. I am still chasing the high I had in 1968 on the boardwalk of an ocean resort town, where everyone I looked like people I knew and I was calling their names and sayin Hi. I also had a case of the lam blams as well. That was from a weed a merchant marine friend brought from the far east cruise.

[Satyaban]

Part of what got me started on this topic is a person on TV who said that the weed in Colorado in the seventies was 2%, which I thought was a silly thing to say as an over generalization without a foundation. If anyone thinks I am claiming things were better in the seventies doesn't understand what I am trying to say. I will say that I think the highs from today's weed is equal to the effects of the best weed in the past, but the quality across the board beats the past hands down. Dispensaries now sell smoke that only came around rarely in the past 7 days a week.
Being old and many years of being a knuckle head I have passed over a bunch of the new hype that has been taking over in the culture/business in the past 5 years are so and let the smoke do the talking. Fuck the complexities and keep it shallow was my credo. I very much wanted to not be sucked up into the marijuana hype and stuck with tried and true sativa dominant and highest THC.

WHAT ABOUT TERPENES?
I mentioned them in my OP concerning flavor and the other physical attributes, but what about adding to the quality of the euphoria itself? I think the psychic effects are much more complex than just putting THC into the system and as alltatup said environment and who you are with all adds to it. So what about terpenes, are they good for the peripherals of taste, smell etc or are the also important to the psychic effects.
Personally I like sticky buds as opposed to the dryer buds that turn to dust between thumb and forefinger. Is it a fair trade off to sacrifice a point or 2 of THC for more terpenes.

[alltatup]

Any bud that turns to dust like that has been ruined and isn't worth smoking in my opinion. A big problem is folks not knowing or caring how they treat cannabis: I used to purchase from a guy who had a huge bag of buds open in his room, all the lights on, pit bulls around, cigarette smokers, etc. Treated his bud like shit.

[Puglover1]

The one and only time I felt like 'back then' was when I got a pre-roll called Humboldt Wildfire. Went back, they've not gotten any product from that supplier since. I bought a Delta cart and a terp tank cart once, when used with my regular (Mag? Gelato?) cart it was a good, nicer high, I just don't have the funds to do that again right now. I'm not at all happy with all the hybrids. I want my Wild Thai, and being a 2020 High Times IL Cannabis Cup winner I have not seen Mag Landrace on a menu in quite a long time. That doesn't make sense to me. I still have 3-4 jars in the pantry, it's just odd, IMO. I think two thoughts: being alone getting high isn't the same experience. Smoking three little pieces of high % bud in a chillum to get high uses much less weed than a joint. I don't know if I could/would finish an average-size joint made with 35% bud.

[Satyaban]

My runnin buddy, if a 73 year old man has a runnin buddy, liked to buy joints, but unrolls them to smoke in a bong. He does it to save money but I think the product is a little inferior to the bud as they are made from shake and trim. I agree with you about the smoking of the joints, 1 being too much.
I read or heard in the not too recent past that buds retain their potency for years with a modicum of care, but the curing is critical. I understand that the cup winning strains are cured for 6 months or more. I am unfortunate in that I have chronic nerve pain in my neck and that has changed my habits quite a bit. I now reach for relief upon waking and often the vape is right there at hand to maintain a baseline. I used to not consume anything until late in the day in case I had to act responsibly to daily events but no more.

[Puglover1]

I get ya. I try to wait until supper/evening or later. Not sure if I'd get more or less done if I started earlier, it's my knees, most constant pain. I have everything to make a half batch of 1:1 gummies and a gram of Super Glu rso to make a different ratio full batch. Saving a little of each to make a small jar of balm, helps my knees a lot. Thick and strong, it absorbs and works well and the dogs can't lick it off. I need to start setting my phone for gum drop dosing, I always think of them too late for my liking.

[3Berries]

How do you think compression of the cured bud for storing affects things? I tend to think it eliminates a lot of oxygen in my jar. And I keep them in a freezer after cured. It takes me a couple months to get them where I 'm ready for the freezer. But I stuff the jar as full as I can get it when it's ready.

[HellenBeer]

Yeah, Back then a "5 finger " lid was $10! then we started hearing about things like Panama Red, Acapulco Gold and Humbold started to produce better stuff than Mexican dirt weed. We used to bury our baggies with Orange peels for greater effect.

[Satyaban]

Right, I was happy just to find weed sometimes, but for the most part grass was grass and I was satisfied just to have it. Now if it isn't just so like that I don't want it. I am going to the store tomorrow and maybe I'll get a piece of something lower rated with my order to test it. Maybe something lower test with higher terps.

[Satyaban]

Aside from my usuals I bought an eighth of Cookie Face which had a thc % of 21 but the clerk said it was high in terps to test. It only cost $25 and it completely acceptable to me but I have smoked more of in than say Poochie Love. I will say more on the smoke's high later. This an attempt to give these new dimensions a try, maybe for all these years these terpenes do make a difference in the euphoria but we ignored them until science stepped in. When the robots behind the counters all seemed to be trained in the same place I placed all the terpene talk in the medical hype, I didn't need convincing.

[alltatup]

You know what I hate? Phony-ass customer service by robots. I hate that shit.