Mar. 2022 - California Leaf

THE ENLIGHTENED VOICE

#23 | M AR. 2022

CAL I F O R N I A

THE STRAINS ISSUE F RE E / L E A F M AGA Z I N E S . COM

INDEPENDENT CANNABIS JOURNALISM SINCE 2010

THE

ORIG

INAL

SLUSH - HYBRID

GREASE MONKEY - INDICA

PURPLE JELLATO - HYBRID

FLAVORS: Berry, Blueberry, Candy, Orange, Creamy, Fruity, Nutty, Sweet

FLAVORS: Vanilla, Gas

FLAVORS: Fruity, Grape, Herbal, Spicy

AROMAS: Sweet, Fruity

AROMAS: Sweet, Pungent, Gas

AROMAS: Sweet, Fruity, Spicy, Earthy

This strain produces a heavy head high that leaves you feeling cerebral and relaxed. In terms of flavor, this strain reportedly tastes like blue raspberry with notes of earthy undertones.

Exotic Genetix introduced a mother Gorilla Glue #4 to a Cookies & Cream father to create the rare hybrid called Grease Monkey. It’s reported to smell and taste like an earthy mix of vanilla and petroleum. Grease Monkey may deliver deep relaxation that can lead to sleepiness.

It’s got that strong Gelato #33 nose with the insane color of Purple Vapor.

These dark beauties taste as good as they look. Often chosen to treat conditions such as chronic pain, depression, muscle spasms, insomnia, and chronic stress.

SUNSET SHERBET x BLUE COOKIES

GORILLA GLUE #4 x COOKIES & CREAM

EFFECTS: Happy, Relaxing, Head High, Cerebral

PURPLE VAPOR x GELATO #33

EFFECTS: Body High, Cerebral, Relaxing, Uplifting

EFFECTS: Relaxing, Sleep Aid

DOMINANT TERPENES: ß-CARYOPHYLLENE, d-LIMONENE, LINALOOL, a-HUMULENE, ß-MYRCENE

DOMINANT TERPENES: ß-CARYOPHYLLENE, ß-MYRCENE, LINALOOL, d-LIMONENE, a-HUMULENE, ß-PINENEO, a-PINENE

VOVO - HYBRID

ASTRO MINTS - INDICA

THIN MINT COOKIES x SUNSET SHERBET

DOMINANT TERPENES: d-LIMONENE, ß-CARYOPHYLLENE, a-PINENE, a-HUMULENE, ß-PINENE, LINALOOL

LA KUSH CAKE - INDICA WEDDING CAKE x KUSH MINTS

TRIANGLE MINTS F1 x KUSH MINTS

FLAVORS: Creamy, Fruity, Nutty, Sweet, Herbal, Menthol, Mint, Spicy

FLAVORS: Cake Batter, Thin Mints, Creamy, Peppermint

FLAVORS: Creamy, Vanilla, Sweet, Mint, Citrus

AROMAS: Herbal, Spicy, Sweet, Fruity This Gelato #41 pheno is a favorite of many. The crosses are Sunset Sherbet and Thin Mint Cookies. It tests high in THC and offers a heavy, relaxing body high without clouding your mind. It may relieve anxiety, depression, mood swings, stress, arthritis, bipolar disorder, chronic pain, inflammation, insomnia, loss of appetite, migraines, muscle spasms, nausea, and PTSD. EFFECTS: Happy, Relaxing, Body High, Cerebral, Creative, Energizing

AROMAS: Vanilla, Creamy, Sweet, Citrus, Mint This indica strain is strong, heavy and sedative. With its creamy vanilla and fresh sugar background notes and hints of mint and citrus makes it a fan favorite. Great for relaxtion and may help with chronic pain.

EFFECTS: Body High, Cerebral, Euphoria, Happy, Hungry, Relaxing DOMINANT TERPENES: ß-MYRCENE, TERPINOLENE, a-PINENE, ß-CARYOPHYLLENE, ß-PINENE, ß-OCIMENE, d-LIMONENE, a-HUMULENE

DOMINANT TERPENES: ß-CARYOPHYLLENE, d-LIMONENE, LINALOOL, a-HUMULENE, ß-MYRCENE, ß-PINENE, a-PINENE, a-BISABOLOL

JUPITER JACK - SATIVA

BON BONS - HYBRID

AROMAS: Vanilla, Creamy, Earthy This cross of the popular Wedding Cake and Kush Mints comes from Liberty Health Sciences and Seed Junky Genetics. LA Kush Cake is an indica-dominant strain that smells like vanilla and has an earthy peppermint taste. It’s an easy, smooth hitter, and effects take awhile to come on. This is a beautiful flower, with green and purple buds covered in frosty trichomes. It’s great for relaxing and winding down at the end of the night without much else to do.

EFFECTS: Body High, Cerebral, Euphoria, Happy, Hungry, Relaxing DOMINANT TERPENES: ß-CARYOPHYLLENE, ß-MYRCENE, d-LIMONENE, LINALOOL, a-HUMULENE, ß-PINENE, a-BISABOLOL, PINENE, CARYOPHYLLENEOXIDE

SUPREME 41 - INDICA

JACK HERER

GELATO # 41 x TRIANGLE KUSH

FLAVORS: Herbal, Lemon, Pine, Spicy, Sweet, Woody

FLAVORS: Berry, Citrus, Lavender, Sweet, Woody, Lemon, Spicy

LARRY OG x GELATO #41

AROMAS: Earthy, Lemon, Spicy, Sweet, Woody

AROMAS: Sweet, Fruity, Spicy, Earthy, Citrus Seven Leaves spent several years identifying the perfect pheno from a bag of misc. seeds. This hybrid strain is a member of the Cookies family with Gelato #41 and Triangle Kush parents. Introducing “Bon Bons” this is a hard hitter and will leave you nicely relaxed and joyful while relieving aches and pains. May relieve chronic pains, fibromyalgia, headaches, inflammation , and insomnia.

EFFECTS: Creative, Euphoria, Focus, Happy, Relaxed, Body High, Cerebral, Long Lasting, Relaxing, Uplifting DOMINANT TERPENES: d-LIMONENE, ß-CARYOPHYLLENE, a-PINENE, a-HUMULENE, ß-PINENE, LINALOOL

FLAVORS: Gas, Fuel, Skunk, Creamy, Earthy

Jupiter Jack is a Jack Herer pheno and is the perfect daytime strain. Be prepared for a cerebral boost of energy while feeling relaxed in the body. The sativa high is happy, bubbly, and euphoric, that spurs energy and creativity.

AROMAS: Gas, Creamy, Earthy Combining Larry OG’s powerful properties with Gelato’s creamy berry and earthy terpenes give you this high THC variety. Powerful soaring high, relaxing but still allows you to focus. Great for those looking for a strong daytime smoke.

EFFECTS: Cerebral, Creative, Euphoria, Happy DOMINANT TERPENES: ß-MYRCENE, TERPINOLENE, a-PINENE, ß-CARYOPHYLLENE, ß-PINENE, ß-OCIMENE, d-LIMONENE, a-HUMULENE

EFFECTS: Body High, Cerebral, Euphoria, Happy, Hungry, Relaxing

BRUCE BANNER - SATIVA HYBRID

DOMINANT TERPENES: ß-CARYOPHYLLENE, d-LIMONENE, ß-MYRCENE, a-HUMULENE, LINALOOL, a-BISABOLOL

GÄZ - HYBRID

OG KUSH x STRAWBERRY DIESEL

RED ZLUSH - INDICA

FLAVORS: Herbal, Lemon, Pine, Spicy, Sweet, Woody

GRANDPA’S BREATH x MOTOR BREATH

AROMAS: Diesel, Earthy, Pungent, Strawberry, Sweet, Herbal, Spicy

GELATO #25 x ZKITTLEZ 2.0 FLAVORS: Fruity, Sweet, Woody, Fuel AROMAS: Sweet, Creamy, Gas, Earthy

The Red Zlush is a cross of Gelato #25 x Zkittlez 2.0. The effects produce an euphoric body high accompanied by strong feelings of relaxation. The effects are almost instantaneous. Consumers say the physical sensation comes on strong, but many find themselves still mentally agile enough to stay productive and creative. The Gelato origins of the Red Zlush gives it the fruity, dessert-like aroma then hits with the after scents of woody fuel nose that the Gelato #25 crossing brings. The cultivators at Seven Leaves say they enjoy seeing the strain produce buds that bloom in dark purple hues and are illuminated by firey orange hairs. The final visual is a unique bud forming structure that when hand trimmed to perfection is always a crowd pleaser on display.

This hard hitting sativa dominant hybrid is a cross of OG Kush and Strawberry Diesel. This strain will have you focused, creative and energetic. It may relieve and be effective for patients with chronic pain, depression, fatigue, loss of appetite, migraines, nausea, PTSD, stress, ADD/ADHD, headaches, hyperactivity, and mood swings.

EFFECTS: Creative, Energizing, Euphoria, Happy, Relaxing DOMINANT TERPENES: d-LIMONENE, ß-CAROPHYLLENE, LINALOOL, a-HUMULENE, ß-MYRCENE, ß-PINENE, a-PINENE

FLAVORS: Diesel, Skunky, Sour, Spicy AROMAS: Dark, Earthy, Herbal, Pungent, Skunky, Sour, Spicy Gäz is created through crossing the infamous Motor Breath x Grandpa’s Breath strains and is bred by Dungeon Vault Genetics. The aroma, flavor and effects of this hybrid makes it the perfect anytime strain. May leave you giggly, hungry, relaxing, sleepy, and uplifted. May help those with chronic pain, depression, insomnia, appetite loss, and stress.

EFFECTS: Energizing , Euphoria, Happy, Relaxing, Sleepy

ASTRO LATO - SATIVA

DOMINANT TERPENES: ß-MYRCENE, d-LIMONENE, a-HUMULENE, LINALOOL, TRANS-NEROLIDOL, a-BISABOLOL, ß-CARYOPHYLLENE

EFFECTS: Body High, Cerebral, Euphoria, Happy, Hungry, Relaxing

FLAVORS: Floral, Earthy, Spice, Herbal AROMAS: Spice, Earthy, Floral

WILLIES KUSH CAKE x GRAPE PIE

DOMINANT TERPENES: ß-CARYOPHYLLENE, LINALOOL, d-LIMONENE, ß-MYRCENE, a-HUMULENE, ß-PINENEO, ß-OCIMENE

ZRUNTZ - INDICA HYBRID ZKITTLEZ x GELATO x ZKITTLEZ

STREET HEAT - SATIVA

UNKNOWN

FLAVORS: Floral, Lavender, Citrus, Woody

Get ready to explore your creativity with this sativa! As soon as you exhale, the effects of Astro Lato will sink in, starting with a cerbral lift before spreading throughout the rest of your body in tingly waves of energy.

AROMAS: Floral, Lavender, Citrus, Tropical Street Heat packs a punch, with high THC cultivar, it will leave you feeling happy, euphoric, and relaxed

EFFECTS: Energetic, Uplifting, Creative, Cerebral

EFFECTS: Happy, Euphoric, Relaxing

DOMINANT TERPENES: ß-MYRCENE, TERPINOLENE, a-PINENE, ß-CARYOPHYLLENE, ß-PINENE, ß-OCIMENE, d-LIMONENE, a-HUMULENE

FLAVORS: Creamy, Fruity, Nutty, Earthy Fuel AROMAS: Creamy, Sweet, Fruit Laden Smoke ZRUNTZ is the incredible back cross of the super popular Runtz Strain. It’s made by crossing Zkittlez with Gelato and is loved for its incredibly fruity flavor profile. Now this creamy, smooth and fruit laden smoke is given extra flavoring by the additional crossing with her Zkittlez Lineage. This cross really brings out more of the Zkittlez terpene profiles and exemplifies the Gelato lineage bud structure and purple hues. This new Runtz cross could be the prodigy that overtakes her lineage in popularity in both flavor and beauty. This strain produces euphoric and uplifting effects with a noticeable after taste of smooth Gelato undertones that are known to be long lasting.

BLACK SLUSH - INDICA HYBRID OGKB x OG KUSH

PIGGY BANK - INDICA

TRIANGLE MINTS(mitten cake pheno) x KUSH MINTS x SFV OG FLAVORS: Vanilla, Sugar, Whipped Cream

FLAVORS: Earthy, Pungent, Sweet AROMAS: Herbal, Sweet, Earthy Strong body effects that leans toward sedative. Great for pain relief and relaxtion.

May relieve chronic pain, depression, fatigue, insomnia and stress.

AROMAS: Vanilla, Sweet, Creamy Piggy Bank is a hard hitting high THC cultivar power house. This cultivar can top out above 40% total cannabinoids. Suggested for night time use and not recommended for novice users.

EFFECTS: Body High, Cerebral, Euphoria, Happy, Hungry, Relaxing

EFFECTS: Body High, Happy, Relaxing, Sleepy, Calming

EFFECTS: Heavy, Sedative, Relaxing, Sleepy

DOMINANT TERPENES: d-LIMONENE, LINALOOL, ß-CARYOPHYLLENE, a-HUMULENE, ß-MYRCENE, ß-PINENE, a-PINENE, ß-OCIMENE

DOMINANT TERPENES: ß-CARYOPHYLLENE, ß-MYRCENWE, d-LIMONENE, LINALOOL, a-HUMULENE, ß-PINEBE, a-BISABOLOL, a-PINENE, CARYOPHYLLENEOXIDE

DOMINANT TERPENES: d-LIMONENE, ß-CARYOPHYLLENE, LINALOOL, a-HUMULENE, CIS-NEROLIDOL

Are you a retailer? We would love the opportunity to be on your shelves. Carry Seven Leaves Products.

Seven Leaves is carried by Herbl Distribution Services. Please contact us at carry@sevenleavesca.com or contact Herbl Distribution Services at www.herbl.com/contact/ www.sevenleavesca.com - www.sevenleavesstyle.com @sevenleaves_ca - https://weedmaps.com/brands/seven-leaves

THE TEAM AT SEVEN LEAVES LOOKS FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU.

THE STRAINS ISSUE

issue

#23

[

MARCH 2022

CAL I F O R N I A

feature

MODERN BREEDING STRAINS

BREEDER PROFILE

MAR. 2022

31 MZJILL GENETICS BREEDER PROFILE

34

GOING ON A PHENO HUNT COMPOUND GENETICS

MIKE ROSATI

30 RAYA BAMA / RUNTZ

HUMBOLDT SEED COMPANY

COURTESY

Humboldt Seed Company’s Nathaniel Pennington speaks with Leaf Nation’s Zack Ruskin on how the company is growing, evolving, and embedding their seed culture in some very unlikely places.

MIKE ROSATI

leafmagazines.com

20

MIKE ROSATI

6

9 10 12 14 16 20 22 24 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 36 38 40 42 43 44 46

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EDITOR’S NOTE NATIONAL NEWS LOCAL NEWS KHALIFA KUSH TORREY HOLISTIC REVIEW HUMBOLDT SEED COMPANY CONCEPTION NURSERIES STRAIN OF THE MONTH STRAINS 101 COMPOUND GENETICS RAY BAMA / RUNTZ MZJILL GENETICS SHERBINSKIS DUKE DIAMOND PHENO HUNTING MODERN BREEDING STRAINS THE HYPE AND THE HEAT CONCENTRATE OF THE MONTH EDIBLE OF THE MONTH COOKING WITH CANNABIS CANNTHROPOLOGY STONEY BALONEY

JUSTIN MCIVOR

GUIDE

ORDER NOW SCAN HERE FOR

1 FREE SEED

WITH YOUR ORDER

5 BRANDS . 500+ STRAINS . ONE STOP.

80% GERMINATION GUARANTEE & 24/7 LIVE SUPPORT! WWW.ROCKETSEEDS.COM

1-800-805-7835

E S TA B L I S H E D 2 0 1 0

T H E E N L I G H T E N E D VO I C E

N O RT H W E S T L E A F / O R EG O N L E A F / A L AS KA L E A F / M A RY L A N D L E A F / CA L I F O R N I A L E A F / N O RT H E AS T L E A F

A B O U T T H E C OV E R For this month’s sticky, delicious cover, we partnered with famed macro photographer Erik “Nugshots” Christiansen of Nugshots Lab. Known for his gorgeous still photography and his ability to display a 360-degree view of the world’s finest Cannabis products, Erik provided epic photos of three strains with diverse physical properties for our Strains Issue cover: Ridgeline Farms x Humboldt Seed Company Vanilla Cream Pie, Rolen Stone White Truffle, and Good Lyfe Farms x Humboldt Seed Company Hella Jelly.

Head online to watch our moving cover come to life!

PHOTOS by ERIK NUGSHOTS @ERIK.NUGSHOTS WES ABNEY C E O & F O U N D E R wes@leafmagazines.com

CONTRIBUTORS BOBBY BLACK, DESIGN + FEATURES JOSHUA BOULET, ILLUSTRATION TOM BOWERS, FEATURES JACKIE BRYANT, FEATURES MARY CARREON, REVIEWS ERIK NUGSHOTS, PHOTOS JIMI DEVINE, FEATURES EARLY, PRODUCTION EMILY EIZEN, PHOTOS STEVE ELLIOTT, NATIONAL NEWS SANDY HUFFAKER, PHOTOS KANDID KUSH, PHOTOS JUSTIN MCIVOR, PHOTOS BENJAMIN NEFF, PHOTOS MIKE RICKER, FEATURES MEGHAN RIDLEY, EDITING MIKE ROSATI, PHOTOS ZACK RUSKIN, FEATURES JAMIE VICTOR, DESIGN NATE WILLIAMS, REVIEWS

MIKE RICKER O P E R AT I N G PA R T N E R ricker@leafmagazines.com

TOM BOWERS C H I E F O P E R AT I N G O F F I C E R tom@leafmagazines.com DANIEL BERMAN C R E AT I V E D I R E C T O R daniel@leafmagazines.com

BOBBY BLACK STAT E C O N T E N T D I R E C T O R bobbyblack@leafmagazines.com NATE WILLIAMS STAT E S A L E S D I R E C T O R nate@leafmagazines.com (415) 717-6985 O’HARA SHIPE O N L I N E E D I T O R ohara@leafmagazines.com MEGHAN RIDLEY C O PY E D I T O R meghan@leafmagazines.com

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ABNEY

Editor’s Note Thanks for picking up the Strains Issue of the Leaf!

WE’VE COME a long way since the days of all Cannabis being weed, when the best weed ever was the pot we had in our pockets. I remember the struggle of simply trying to buy weed from a dealer who was honest and had tasty flower, which is what led me to buying and selling my own weed to friends in college. This inspired many stoned, youthful experiments to create flavors in the BC Bud we got by the pound – including dropping orange peels or apple slices into a turkey bag, along with a few tortillas to add moisture to the dried out herb.

9

In those early days, weed came in grades – not in strains – but occasionally a “flavor” profile would come along like Blueberry or Bubblegum that was the equivalent of finding gold in smokeable form. I’ll never forget when my plug handed me a couple ounces in a jar, for free, because he had accidentally spilled a bottle of artificial blueberry flavoring while intending to simply add a few drops. I tried so hard to smoke that weed and as pungent and artificial as it was, I gave up! Even back then I had standards for what I would smoke, and the blueberry experience was so bad that I avoided that flavor in candy and drinks for TODAY, THE TOP at least a year.

BREEDERS ARE It wasn’t until I began working with medical Cannabis in 2010 and publishing the Leaf that strains became a concept. The paradigm shift happened in the collectives (dispensaries) that would offer 10-20 types of Cannabis, and through smelling and feeling each bud, it became clear that strains were more than just names given to sell bud – but representative of flavor profiles, growing structure and style, and the effects that were unique to each jar. This experience was like a trip to Willy Wonka’s factory for me, and it turned me on to the amazing world of Cannabis genetics, breeders and the strains that have defined the growth of our industry.

LIKE ROCKSTARS AND THE STRAINS THEY PRODUCE ARE THE TOP HITS – WHICH CAN LEAD TO FAME AND GLORY AMONGST STONERS WORLDWIDE.

Today, the top breeders are like rockstars and the strains they produce are the top hits – which can lead to fame and glory amongst stoners worldwide. But back in the day, breeding was a risk only undertaken by the dedicated and fearless. After all, having the courage to pheno hunt when simple possession was a felony was a rare attribute to be found in the underground grow rooms and distribution networks. But innovation and a passion for flavors and the search for the best new weed has driven generations of growers, and it’s because of those early entrepreneurial plant scientists that we have a wide range of genetics being developed and grown around the planet.

In this regard, Cannabis is becoming like the wine industry, with select breeders (think labels/ vineyards) producing unique strains (like vintages/blends/varietals) that have demand around the globe – and a high value! And just like wine, Cannabis connoisseurs don’t want to smoke the same flavors every day, but instead chase new experiences and highs with unique flavors and attributes on a level that surpasses the wine or craft beer industry by far. Cannabis users love new strains and we have the breeders to thank for the countless hours and crop cycles that have led to our beautiful, diverse world of weed we enjoy today.

On that note, it is an honor to highlight the world of breeding and strains in this issue of the Leaf.

I hope it inspires you to try new strains and appreciate the breeders behind the scenes who put their blood, sweat and money on the line for our enjoyment.

-Wes Abney

Have a strain, product, or news tip that the California Leaf staff needs to know about? Email bobbyblack@LeafMagazines.com!

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WES

national news

weird

normalization

UNIFORMED COP CAUGHT SELLING WEED ON DUTY

COLORADO COULD PROHIBIT FIRING EMPLOYEES FOR CANNABIS USE

IF

a measure introduced at the statehouse in February by two Democratic lawmakers passes, Colorado would soon prohibit employers from firing workers because of their off-the-clock Cannabis use.

House Bill 1152 also requires employers to let their workers consume medicinal Cannabis while on the job.

The bill includes exceptions for workers whose jobs are in dangerous fields or require fine motor skills, such as operating heavy machinery.

“Marijuana is legal in Colorado,” said State Rep. Brianna Titone, a Democrat and sponsor of the bill. “And what people do in their spare time that doesn’t impact their work shouldn’t really be a problem for them. They should be able to enjoy the legal things that we have here in Colorado and not be penalized for it.”Titone is pitching the measure as a way for employers to find workers more easily in Colorado’s tight labor market.

G

10

eorgia Bureau of Investigation has arrested a Georgia police officer who they say sold marijuana while on duty, in uniform. Leon Mitchell, 32, worked for the Warwick Police Department near the southwest Georgia city of Albany. The GBI’S Southwestern Regional Drug Enforcement Office claimed undercover agents were able to buy weed from Mitchell in Worth and Lee counties. In what must have been a regular Kodak moment, drug agents arrested Officer Mitchell January 28 at the Police Department. Agents arrested Mitchell on two counts of sale/distribution AGENTS SAID THEY of marijuana and one count of posFOUND MARIJUANA, session with intent to distribute. For SCALES AND PLASTIC BAGS RIGHT INSIDE good measure, they piled on four THE CAR WHEN THEY counts of possession of a firearm SEARCHED HIS VEHICLE. during the commission of a felony, three counts of violation of oath of office and two counts of use of a communication device during the commission of a felony. Officers booked Mitchell into the Worth County Jail, where he remained after a judge denied him bail.

the south

MISSISSIPPI LEGALIZES MEDICAL CANNABIS

M

ississippi has legalized medical marijuana for people with debilitating conditions, NPR reports. The change comes 15 months after a healthy majority of voters approved a stronger version of the law on Election Day 2020. The National Conference of State Legislatures says 36 states and four territories already allow the medical use of Cannabis, making Mississippi the 37th state to do so as of Gov. Tate Reeves’ February signature. While it became law immediately, it could be months before the first Cannabis dispensaries open.

global

politics

THAILAND IS FIRST IN ASIA TO DECRIM WEED

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER RENEWS FEDERAL LEGALIZATION PUSH

leafmagazines.com

T

hailand has become the first country in Asia to approve the de facto decriminalization of marijuana. Unfortunately, law enforcement authorities have left a “gray area” around adult recreational use. Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced that the Narcotics Control Board had approved dropping Cannabis from the list of controlled drugs. The delisting will take effect 120 days after its publication in the government gazette. Thailand removed Cannabis – a plant species to which both marijuana and hemp belong – last December from the list of illegal drugs under the nation’s Narcotics Law. Police and lawyers said it was unclear if possession of Cannabis will still be an offense subject to arrest. Related laws mean production and possession of marijuana remain “regulated” for now. That, unfortunately, leaves the legal status of adult-use marijuana somewhat murky.

13

marijuana-related bills were filed in the Indiana Legislature’s 2022 session.

MAR. 2022

90% 400

of its Cannabis buyers come from Idaho, claims the city of Ontario, Ore.

untaxed marijuana greenhouses were recently busted in San Bernardino County, Calif.

S

enate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer renewed his calls for the federal legalization of marijuana, reports the New York Daily News. “Change has been urgently needed for a long time,” Schumer said, referencing the disproportionate impact Cannabis laws have had on Black communities. “The good news is we’re on the edge of getting change, because the opinions throughout America are changing. All across the country, states are legalizing,” Schumer “ AS MAJORITY LEADER, said. “All across the country, I CAN SET PRIORITIES. minds are changing.” He said he plans to introduce the bill in April.

THIS IS A PRIORITY.”

7.6k $2.22b $27b

pounds of untaxed, processed weed was recently seized in a Lake County, Calif. investigation.

worth of Cannabis was sold in Colorado in 2021, the 3rd-most in the nation.

is the estimated size of the legal U.S. marijuana market by 2026.

STORIES by STEVE ELLIOTT, AUTHOR OF THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF MARIJUANA

local news

CALIFORNIA

Lawmaker Seeks to Stiffen Penalties for Unlicensed Grows

Thanks to California’s voters approving Prop 64 back in 2016, it is now legal for any adult in the state to cultivate up to six Cannabis plants for personal use. But what happens when that law gets broken? At present, the crime is a misdemeanor

12

– but San Bernardino County lawmaker Thurston Smith thinks that’s not severe enough.

In contrast to the relatively minimal punitive limits of a misdemeanor (a fine of up to $1,000 and a maximum of one year of jail time), a felony version of this charge would bring with it the prospect of 18 to 36 months in prison, among other hardships.

That’s the future Smith, a Republican assembly member, apparently wants as he recently introduced Assembly Bill 1725, which would make it a felony to grow in excess of six Cannabis plants without a permit.

If the intended target is large scale offenders, the same punishments would equally apply to those who may literally be only one plant over the limit.

Currently, there is no indication that the Republicandrafted bill stands a reasonable chance of passing a state legislature packed with Democrats, but its mere existence does suggest future efforts on this front may very well be forthcoming.

Weedmaps’ Super Bowl Commercial Nixed By NBC During this year’s Super Bowl, advertisements for everything from alcohol to sports-betting enjoyed ample airtime. Not among the list of blockbuster commercials this year, however, was one pitched by the California Cannabis advertising and e-commerce platform Weedmaps.

Following in the footsteps of previous unsuccessful efforts to get a weed-related ad on television, this latest episode makes it clear that major networks are still unwilling to even consider airing a commercial that merely acknowledges Cannabis as something that exists.

“The answer was a hard no,” said Weedmaps Chief Operating Officer Juanjo Feijoo in an interview with Adweek. “They wouldn’t even entertain the conversation.”

In a press release, Weedmaps’ parent company WM Technology confirmed that

The Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians Open Dispensary

Gov. Newsom Acknowledges Peril for Cannabis Industry

When it comes to the beautiful sites of Yosemite and its surrounding areas, you can now add the sign for Tribal Nation Flower Co. and Indigenous Cannabis to the list. Incorporating elements of the region’s natural splendor, the large wooden sign also prominently features iconography specific to the tribal roots of the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, who opened Tribal Nation Flower Company in January.

leafmagazines.com

During a recent budget presentation, Gov. Gavin Newsom offered a bit of hope to those in the Cannabis industry desperate for tax relief. Responding to calls that high taxes and stiff

competition from a still-thriving illicit market have combined to leave many small, licensed operations on the brink of collapse, Newsom acknowledged in January that he had work to do.

“It is my goal to look at tax policy to stabilize the market,” he said. “And at the same time, it is also my goal to get these municipalities to wake up to the opportunities to get rid of the illegal market, the illicit market, and [to] provide support in a regulatory framework for the legal market.”

Promising words? Certainly, but in the absence of specifics, protests like ones recently staged by advocates at the California Capitol will assuredly continue.

At this juncture, it seems likely that it will require real action – if not an outright overhaul of California’s Cannabis regulatory framework – spearheaded

by Newsom and the State, to satisfy the mounting demands for change.

MAR. 2022

they had approached Super Bowl broadcaster NBC-TV last year with an ad aimed at addressing “the current advertising restrictions imposed “THE ANSWER on legal Cannabis WAS A HARD NO,” businesses and brands SAID WEEDMAPS CHIEF OPERATING for marketing their OFFICER JUANJO products and services.

FEIJOO. Acknowledged as the most-watched event of the year, any hopes of an ad airing during the Super Bowl which even references Cannabis – notably, Weedmaps’ canceled commercial did not, specifically, promote purchasing pot – will have to wait at least another season.

For those interested in seeing the clever 94-second spot which stars a character known as “‘Brock Ollie” (it’s a person dressed as a stalk of broccoli), the ad is now available to watch on YouTube.

WHEN TRIBAL NATION FLOWER COMPANY OPENED EARLIER THIS YEAR, IT BECAME THE FIFTH TRIBE-OWNED DISPENSARY IN THE STATE.

Located approximately 30 miles north of Fresno on Highway 41, the operation is currently under the management of Las Vegas company Honest Cannabis.

When Tribal Nation Flower Company opened earlier this year, it became the fifth tribe-owned dispensary in the state.

In contrast to their predecessors, however, Tribal Nation Flower Company has the benefit of being located next to major population bases in both Madera and Fresno County.

Another element that sets this business apart from competitors: All their products come from independent, “seed to sale” operations. This summer, Tribal National Flower Company plans to host food trucks and music performances, while they also continue to mull over the idea of adding a drive-thru window to their set-up. PHOTO BY JOHN WALKER/FRESNO BEE

STORIES by ZACK RUSKIN @ZACKRUSKIN for CALIFORNIA LEAF

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Khalifa Kush Comes to Cali It’s official: Khalifa Kush, the celebrity Cannabis brand from Grammy-winning hiphop artist Wiz Khalifa, has come to California. On January 28, Khalifa and his crew rolled into the Cookies store in Maywood, where they were greeted by a sea of cellphones and cheers from the crowd of music and marijuana enthusiasts there to celebrate the drop of his signature Cannabis line here in the Golden State.

AFTER APPEARING on the cover of LA Weekly just days earlier, the tattooed toker once again found himself in front of the cameras – this time posing with his products and fans, before heading behind the counter for a while to act as a special “guest budtender” for the day.

Khalifa followed that appearance up with another pop-in at the Melrose Cookies location the next day.

MAR. 2022

First launched back in 2014, Khalifa Berner gifted a cut of the strain Kush was previously only available in to him, then hooked him up with a Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. branding expert in Las Vegas to help But now, thanks to an exclusive get his company off the ground. contract with fellow rapper and Khalifa’s name has been marijuana mentor Berner, Khalifa’s practically synonymous with weed namesake line of flower and pre-rolls since the start of his career. The are available at Cookies dispensaries Pittsburgh native has spent a statewide (vape carts, edibles, fair amount of time chilling and “KHALIFA’S concentrates and other products, collaborating with Snoop Dogg, NAME HAS BEEN which are already available in other has claimed to smoke $10,000 PRACTICALLY states, are expected to follow in the worth of weed a month, and penned SYNONYMOUS WITH WEED SINCE near future). This new distribution numerous lyrics and songs about THE START OF HIS deal is just the next logical step in the herb – including “Roll Up,” “Still CAREER.” a partnership that goes back to the Blazin,” “Stay High” and the aptly origins of the brand. titled “California,” among others.

As the story goes, the Khalifa Kush KHALIFAKUSH.COM strain was originally a particularly skunky variety of @THEKHALIFAKUSH Berner’s OG that Wiz fell in love with.

STORY by BOBBY BLACK @BOBBYBLACK420/ CALIFORNIA LEAF | PHOTOS by EMILY EIZEN @EMILYEIZEN

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Torrey Holistics is known throughout San Diego for its medical pedigree.

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TORREY HOLISTICS TORREY HOLISTICS HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN AS THE MEDICAL GO-TO FOR SAN DIEGO COUNTY RESIDENTS, FIRST OPENING ITS DOORS IN 2015 WHEN PROP 215 WAS THE LAW OF THE LAND. IN 2017, IT BECAME THE COUNTY’S FIRST DISPENSARY TO OBTAIN AN ADULT-USE LICENSE ONCE THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO RATIFIED PROP 64.

TODAY, TORREY HOLISTICS IS THRIVING AS ONE OF THE DISPENSARIES OF CHOICE FOR SAN DIEGO RESIDENTS – ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO LIVE OUTSIDE OF THE CITY.

The San Diego metro area’s Cannabis laws are a bit convoluted, and while it is legal within city limits, the unincorporated areas of the county still maintain a ban on the sale, cultivation and manufacturing of Cannabis. That is scheduled to change sometime by 2023 according to estimates from the county, but until then, millions of San Diego County residents must drive to a legal area or are relegated to ordering delivery – which Torrey Holistics provides. As they sit at the edge of the city limits, the location is accessible to the huge glut of county residents who live in the suburbs north of the city.

The dispensary is located in the Sorrento Valley, nestled between canyons and the 805 and 5 freeways. It’s in an office park, like many in the area, and is on the ground floor. The actual shopping area is small but stacked – Torrey boasts all of the state’s biggest and best retailers for all types of products, but it also features smaller growers like Mendocino’s Emerald Spirit Botanicals (known for its 1:1 CBD:THC Harmony Rose cultivar), as well as the THC-V-heavy Pink Boost Goddess.

In general, it can be hard to find smaller growers’ weed from TORREY HOLISTICS up north down in San Diego, so 10671 ROSELLE ST #100 it’s especially cool that Torrey SAN DIEGO, CA Holistics goes the extra mile to 7AM-9PM MON-SAT cultivate relationships with small 9AM-9PM SUNDAY growers individually.

TORREYHOLISTICS.COM @TORREY_HOLISTICS_2 Something else Torrey Holis(858) 558-1420 tics is known for throughout San Diego is its medical pedigree.

In fact, cancer doctors at nearby UCSD recommend them to their patients as their dispensary of choice.

Torrey Holistics even employs Dr. Beth, who holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology and biochemistry, and is also a cancer survivor. She’s basically the in-house medical consultant for the shop and offers one-on-one consultations with would-be customers and patients – especially those with medical considerations who want to know how Cannabis might be able to help them, which products are best, how to properly dose, etc. As far as I know, this is the only dispensary in San Diego with such a service.

For me, Torrey Holistics is a go-to because it fills a gap that is sorely needed in the Prop 64 era: An adult-use-friendly store with all the best cultivators and brands in California, alongside a robust infrastructure which also supports medical patients (who in my opinion got the short end of the stick as far as dosing, attention and tax breaks were concerned once the market opened for adult use).

Everyone’s needs are valid when it comes to legal Cannabis, and it’s awesome to see Torrey Holistics putting its customers first before everything else.

REVIEW by JACKIE BRYANT @JACQBRY for CALIFORNIA LEAF | PHOTOS by SANDY HUFFAKER @SANDY_HUFFAKER

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HU MBOLDT SEED COMPANY

20

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Genetically Gifted If you don’t think fish and Cannabis share something in common, you haven’t met Nathaniel Pennington.

Possessing an expertise seemingly perfectly suited for the wilds of Humboldt County, Pennington says his past career as a fisheries biologist is not at odds with his current role as the founder and CEO of Humboldt Seed Company.

Damian Marley’s new Cannabis brand, Evidence, purchased the site of an abandoned prison in Coalinga, California for their latest Cannabis grow — and filled it with 30,000 Humboldt Seed Company seedlings, yielding a productive harvest in Summer 2021.

MAR. 2022

“It's funny,” he observes, “because it makes perfect sense to everybody in Humboldt. There's this community that’s evolved here which is all about caring for the environment and for our ecosystems, and Cannabis was never, ever at odds with that. In fact, they went hand in hand.”

But for outsiders, some may wonder how a fish-focused researcher became a leading provider of world-class Cannabis genetics, helped turn a prison into a legal grow site alongside reggae star Damien Marley, and still manages to devote plenty of focus to the local watersheds and environment that make Northern California a little slice of heaven on earth.

As a conservationist, Pennington was part of a successful effort to have endangered species protections put in place for salmon in Humboldt. Additionally, he was also heavily involved in a 2006 Klamath River dam removal deal – believed to be the world’s largest river restoration project to date.

Though Pennington still holds several Board of Directors roles tied to his work with fish, by 2017 the impending enactment of California’s Prop 64 had inspired him to press the gas pedal on a Cannabis-focused venture he’d first sown the seeds for back in 2001.

Struck by the idea that genomics – integral to his studies of salmon – would also be of major importance to Cannabis (especially in a legalized world), in 2001 Pennington headed down to Humboldt County’s courthouse and asked a clerk if there was any business registered as Humboldt Seed Company already.

“They looked at the state record,” he says, “and there wasn't anything under that name, so I started one. It was like, ‘I'm growing seeds, but don't worry about which ones.’ You had to walk a fine line.”

It was a line that became much easier to walk in the wake of California’s choice to legalize adult-use Cannabis sales in 2016. The following year, Pennington and his team began to plan for a pheno hunt of unprecedented scale.

Based on advice from geneticists at UC Davis, Humboldt Seed Company was told that an ideal database on Cannabis genetics would include at least 10,000 plants from a diverse array of lineages.

Part of Pennington’s motivation for this project was to create a sharable database of phenotypic information at a time when most Cannabis had become, in his words, akin to a mutt.

“At this point, in Cannabis, there's almost no such thing as purebred,” he says.

“If you were to compare it to dog breeding, everything in Cannabis is a mutt now. The difference is that you can't clone a dog, but you can clone Cannabis – so it doesn't matter as much if everything is genetically variable and mixed up. But to do actual breeding and to conduct breeding experiments that are repeatable, you need to be able to use more purebred lines.”

To accomplish this monumental task, in 2018 Humboldt Seed Company found farms willing to collaborate with them – mostly in the Emerald Triangle, but also in Central California as well.

In total, 10 farms participated on different levels, with six or seven cultivating hundreds – and in a few cases, thousands – of plants as part of the effort.

“We planted 10,000 plants throughout farms all over Central and Northern California,” Pennington recalls. “And then we curated a tour with a diverse group of industry professionals and Cannabis enthusiasts. We handed them all data sheets and iPads and everybody just walked around the fields. We did a fourday weekend and covered 6,000 of the 10,000 plants.”

These annual pheno hunt tours have become a staple for Humboldt Seed Company, though Pennington acknowledges that things have been scaled back for the last two years due to pandemic concerns. Nonetheless, four years in, the results still yield some incredible surprises.

For example: mint terpenes.

“For 20 years,” Pennington says, “I didn't think Cannabis could smell like peppermint, but we recently got some seeds that had mint terpenes and it just shocked me.”

Naturally, Pennington’s respect for the plants and animals of Humboldt also extends to the indig“An old prison that used to incarcerate people enous populations who have resided in who had grown, possessed or sold Cannabis the area since long is now the location for a massive grow. And before that name was they had a ton of success! The grow was just given to the region. unbelievably productive. If anything, they To that end, Humboldt Seed Company were like, ‘Holy shit. We don’t know if we’re has co-founded ready to process this much weed!’” the Nature Rights Nathaniel Pennington | Humboldt Seed Company Council (NRC): a Founder & CEO nonprofit led by members of local indigenous communities. Featured in the recent “An old prison that used to incarcerate documentary “Gather,” Pennington says he people who had grown, possessed or sold appreciates the extra attention the NRC has Cannabis is now the location for a massive enjoyed as a result of appearing in the film. grow,” he marvels. “And they had a ton of “They didn't exactly mention Humboldt success! The grow was just unbelievably Seed Company,” he laughs, “but we're not productive. If anything, they were like, 'Holy doing this to get mentioned. We're doing it shit. We don't know if we're ready to process to get the word out about Native American this much weed!'” culture and to get people talking about what It’s an exciting moment and one that we're going to lose if we just continue forging Pennington sees as even further proof that the ahead and not caring.” various spokes of his professional interests A similar sentiment inspired a recent effort are all undeniably connected.

by Damian Marley’s new Cannabis brand, “Ultimately,” he says, “it’s about sowing Evidence, to buy an abandoned prison in the seeds of social justice however you can.

Coalinga, Calif. and turn it into a grow Whether that means uplifting indigenous operation. Purchased for around $4 million, communities, protecting the land on which we Evidence co-founder Dan Dalton worked with all live, or working to reverse the pot-to-prison Humboldt Seed Company to secure 30,000 pipeline – it all comes from the same place.” seedlings, which were grown last summer.

With part of the proceeds pledged to support the Last Prisoner Project, Pennington HUMBOLDTSEEDCOMPANY.COM describes the undertaking as one ripe with @THEHUMBOLDTSEEDCOMPANY irony – the good kind.

STORY by ZACK RUSKIN @ZACKRUSKIN for LEAF NATION | GARDEN PHOTOS by MIKE ROSATI @ROSATIPHOTOS | PRISON PHOTOS by KANDID KUSH @KANDIDKUSH

feature

22

RE U T L U E C TISSU FUTURE & T H E A G AT I O N OP OF PR

WE ED SC IEN C E

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WALKING INTO CONCEPTION NURSERIES feels a bit like boarding the U.S.S. Enterprise.

It’s astoundingly clean. And shiny. But instead of redshirts milling about pushing glowing buttons, the rooms at Conception’s Sacramento, Calif. facility are packed with bustling PhDs in lab coats and blue nitrile gloves, handling tiny little baby pot plants with the utmost care. Conception is a different type of Cannabis nursery. In its facilities in Oregon and California, it focuses on a science-based practice common in modern agriculture, but relatively new to the world of weed: Tissue culture.

P R O PA G AT I N G A P L A N to pivot and scale quickly was critical for CEO Kevin Brooks chose to spearour business. We started looking at how head Conception after his time working other industries handled this and what the with the Connected and Cookies crews norm was in traditional agriculture, and it in the early lead-up to rec legalization really pointed to tissue culture for consistent in California. In those nascent days, the product and being able to give that predictcompanies had trouble finding ability that growers wanted.” regular supply of viable, A form of both disease disease-free plants for their remediation and massively cultivation operations. scalable plant propagation, “What we found was almost tissue culture offered a path every challenge we had traced forward. Through the tissue back to the mother room,” culture process, Brooks and his Brooks said. “First off, it’s team of science-minded plant very expensive real estate … biologists are able to clean and it was our main source out any diseases that genetic of pathogens. As bugs, pests lines have picked up along the and disease came through, it CEO KEVIN BROOKS way – restoring cultivars to their was almost always through the original glory. mother room. And it was a very difficult “These mother plants, over time, environment to scale up and down. For become tired,” he said. “They lose some companies that were consistently dropof their health and some of their vigor. ping new, cool, hype stuff – being able So part of what tissue culture does, is it

MAR. 2022

genetics, Brooks encountered a significant challenge to his goal of helping breeders enter the modern era.

“We just happened to get involved with them early on, and we were tricked to a certain extent, like a lot of other people, as well,” he said.

What began as a technological and licensing partnership had become something damaging, and Brooks and Conception had to take action.

“The truth came out, and we definitely felt like (former Phylos CEO Mowgli Holmes) was talking out of both sides of his mouth,” Brooks said. “The damage is done.”

Since then, Conception has been going through the aforementioned separation from Phylos, so his company can move forward.

“We’ve canceled as many agreements as we possibly can with them,” Brooks said. “The company needs to stand alone.”

comes in and restores its natural health and vigor.

You see higher yields, and you see some of the original attributes that made that cultivar special.

And so, a lot of what we’re doing is cleanup.

[Tissue culture] is also the only way that we’re aware of that will guarantee 100% pest-anddisease-free plants.”

It’s also efficient. His team can propagate seven viable clones from tiny plant nodes in one petri dish.

Brooks says that his 19,000-square-foot facility in Sacramento can achieve the same propagation output as roughly 10 acres of traditional canopy.

CLEARING THE BAR When Brooks initially launched Conception in 2018, he sought similarly science-minded companies to partner with. He partnered with breeders and other tech companies, eager to usher in the future. Unfortunately, one such relationship would result in what Brooks referred to as a “global divorce.”

Conception initially partnered with Phylos Bioscience in 2018, which at the time was accepted by the community with open arms for their work mapping the Cannabis genome via their ambitious Phylos Galaxy initiative. But when Phylos was accused in 2019 of having purposefully misled breeders who had trusted the company with their

“We have a non-propagation clause in our agreement with our growers,” Brooks said. “That non-propagation clause means that they will not steal, or they will not take that clone and replicate it on their own without permission, and that permission will go back to the breeder. … We have a few customers where they just want moms, and that’s a different deal – where we sell them a fraction of the clones at a higher price, and then we pay a different royalty to that breeder.”

The idea here is to provide a service to the breeder by propagating and distributing their genetics, and to the cultivator by providing a reliable menu of clean offerings.

“We pay meaningful, six-figure checks annually to (some of) the breeders we get clones from...” Brooks said. “We think it’s Through the tissue C U LT I VAT I N G A good for the industry, culture process, N E W WAY O F we think it’s good for Brooks and his team of the breeder, and we DOING BUSINESS Much of how the Conception do everything we can science-minded plant Nurseries model is built is in to give credit where biologists are able to reaction to the way the comcredit is due.” clean out any diseases munity responded to the feeling Brooks aims to help of betrayal toward Phylos. usher the Cannabis that genetic lines Brooks and his team have put community into an efhave picked up along significant efforts into initiatives ficient, scalable future the way – restoring for social good, working with driven by cutting-edge organizations such as Sweetleaf plant science and cultivars to their Collective, The Weldon Project’s mutually beneficial, original glory.

Mission [Green], and the Vetertransparent business ans’ Cannabis Project. relationships.

But more than that, they want “As we see more to change the way people think issues with (hop latent about the genetics side of the business. They’ve viroid disease), and underperforming harvests, built significant safeguards into their contracts and other kinds of viroids that are impacting to protect the breeders for whom they act as productivity, I think there’s going to be more and propagator and distributor, and who they see as more emphasis on delivering true-to-type, clean, of paramount importance to the future of their healthy, vigorous plants,” Brooks said. “Five years business and the industry as a whole. ago, no one was talking about tissue culture in With most cultivators, the agreement is simple: Cannabis. Today, I don’t think there’s a grower out They buy the clones, they grow them up, they there that isn’t curious, or who hasn’t tried it, or harvest them, and they’re done. The breeder gets who doesn’t want to learn more and more.” a percentage of the sale. Rinse and repeat. Other companies they work with, such as Cookies, direct exactly where each clone goes from their genetic CONCEPTIONNURSERIES.COM lineup. In every contract, the breeder is protected. @CONCEPTIONNURSERIES

W HAT IS T ISS U E CULTURE? EXPLANT AND INITIATION Plant tissue is removed from a plant with desirable genetic traits. It is disinfected and placed into a sterile tissue culture vessel with nutrients and growth regulators to encourage growth.

MULTIPLICATION The explant expands as it absorbs the nutrients in the vessel, ultimately dividing into 3-8 explants.

ROOT INITIATION Explants are transferred into a new tray with nutrients and growth regulators that encourage root formation, growing into tiny plants.

ACCLIMATION Plants are then ready to be acclimated to a greenhouse or indoor growing environment where they experience rapid growth in a controlled setting.

STORY by TOM BOWERS @CANNABOMBTOM/LEAF NATION | PHOTOS by CONCEPTION NURSERIES

STRAIN OF THE MONTH THE STRAINS ISSUE

“From a fruit punch flavor to a gassy, nail polish-like nose tickler.”

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3 0 % T H C | F I G FA R M S . CO M | @ F I G . FA R M S

6IXTH SENSE

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cultivated by fig farms

mar. 2022

CAL I F O R N I A

THE AWARD-WINNING team at Fig Fa rms has cultivated another top-notch strain with their 6ixth Sense – a Sherb Bx1 phenotype that they found from two packs of seeds.

T

REVIEW by JIMI DEVINE @THEJIMIDEVINE| PHOTO by TOM BOWERS @CANNABOMBTOM/CALIFORNIA LEAF H AV E A L E A D O N S O M E S E R I O U S F I R E ? E M A I L B O B B Y B L A C K @ L E A F M A G A Z I N E S . C O M

his variety is a pairing of Sherb x (Sherb x Animal Cookies Bx2) from Seed Junky Genetics, and while there are a lot of other claims to its lineage that circle the internet, that info comes straight from J-Beezy’s team at Seed Junky.

Few cultivators have worked their genetic lines over the years as well as Fig Farms has, as evidenced by the huge pheno hunt they undertook to find this gem.

“We went through 300 or 400 different seeds,” Fig Farms’ founder Keith Healy tells the Leaf, “but that one was a standout phenotype early on in the hunt. … We didn’t really base it on THC percentage. I’m more excited because it’s different.”

Different, indeed. When you first glance at the 6ixth Sense, it looks familiar with the dark notes from the Sherb coming through, and the same can be said of its structure. But that’s where all of the classic San Francisco dessert-weed aspects of 6ixth Sense end.

Popping the jar brings an almost aggressive, concentrated red Kool-Aid smell – but those sweet notes are just a mask, as the nugs actually hide a lot of the nose. Once you crunch into them and get a good whiff of all the cannabinoids inside, it turns from a fruit punch into a gassy, nail polish-like nose tickler. Rarely does a strain possess a profile that smells so potent, but with so much sweetness on top of it.

That wild nose carries right over into a flavor reminiscent of Pixy Stix. The taste is not quite as fruity as the nose suggests, but that’s a good thing: Most of the strains that taste the sweetest aren’t your heavy hitters.

As for the high, it’s about as full-bodied as you’ll find with something so tasty. And since it’s a solid hybrid, it won’t stick you to the couch or make your day too fast-paced. Bottom line: 6ixth Sense brings a balanced high with a decent cerebral edge.

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THE STRAINS ISSUE

A BREEDING GLOSSARY

STRAINS 101 Making new strains in the world today takes everything you’ve got … or at least some good genetics and a proper understanding of the breeding terms and techniques for expanding and improving the Cannabis gene pool.

AUTO-FLOWERING

INDICA

A plant that flowers automatically when it reaches a certain size regardless of photoperiod. Breeders created these types of strains using Cannabis Ruderalis genetics from higher altitudes with short flowering seasons.

Indica-dominant plants grow short and stocky with wide leaves and shorter flowering times.

LANDRACE

Domesticated plants that have adapted to the conditions of their place of origin over many generations. These are used by breeders to create new hybrids by crossing them with distinctly different varieties (e.g., African sativa landrace x Indian indica landrace).

BACKCROSSING

28

This is a breeding practice in which hybrids are crossed with one of their parents in order to try to stabilize chosen traits to discover a unique genotype.

MOTHERPLANT

BREEDING

A female plant kept in the vegetative stage to produce identical clones (or cuttings) to root and flower out. A motherplant can be a source of clones for many years.

Applying pollen from male plants onto female flowers to produce seeds. This is done around the third or fourth week of flowering in order to give the seeds enough time to mature properly.

PHENOTYPE

A plant’s observable expression of its genetic material within its environment.

DIOECIOUS

Any plant with different and separate male and female specimens. Cannabis is a dioecious plant.

POLLEN

Fine grains released by male flowers to pollinate female flowers and produce seeds. Male pollen is carefully collected by breeders from flowering males and then brushed or dusted onto flowering females.

FEMINIZED

A type of seed that grows only female plants.

Breeders use “male” pollen from hermaphroditic plants to produce feminized seeds for growers that don’t want to grow out any males.

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GENOTYPE

The stored genetic footprint held within a plant’s DNA.

HERMAPHRODITE

A plant with both male and female flowers.

This can be a genetic trait or a response to stress. Either way, growers should discard hermaphroditic plants to avoid seeding their crops.

HYBRID

A combination of two genetically distinct varieties e.g., Sativa x Indica F1 Hybrid - The first filial cross.

F2 Hybrid, etc. - Each successive cross.

S1 Hybrid - The result of selfing (using pollen from a hermaphroditic plant on itself).

MAR. 2022

POLY HYBRID

The genetic result of crossing unstabilized hybrids with each other. The resulting plants can differ vastly in their characteristics.

SATIVA

Sativa-dominant plants tend to have thin long leaves and a longer flowering time.

SINSEMILLA

“Without seeds” in Spanish. These are the unpollinated female flowers we call buds or nuggets that don’t contain any seeds.

VIGOR

Some hybrids created from distinctly genetically different parents express quicker growth and increased hardiness and yields in their first generation (F1). This hybrid vigor, also known as heterosis, is how new varieties are created and discovered.

STORY by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT/LEAF NATION P H O T O B Y E R I K C H R I ST I A N S E N @ E R I K . N U G S H O T S

“I honestly never focus on THC at all.

I focus on the terps and the experience the plant could potentially produce.”

same year he did his first cross: a pairing of Fort Collins Cough with a Chemdog DD male (Chemdog x Sour Diesel IBL).

While he felt like his pedigree was strong out the gate thanks to the people that helped him out in the first place, he did have to teach himself to be more selective in the breeding process.

But he’d already been to Amsterdam Eventually, he realized less is more. years earlier in 2004 to link up with some “I was lucky to have access to the best friends he’d traded music with online, cuts from the get-go,” Lynch said. “Back where his friend Akko gave him a place then it was kind of more about who you to crash and an introduction to Holland. knew.”

Many days Lynch would find himself at In the coming years, Lynch made the Amnesia – one of Ammove south to take Compound Genetics sterdam’s most famed to the next level, teaming up with Node coffeeshops and Labs and bringing in some folks to help on known for good Haze the business side, so he could focus on his – where he talked quest to keep finding the heat! And these to travellers from days – after bouncing around the cultivaaround the world as tion circles of Oregon to having people he enjoyed strains lined up for his latest creation down the like Lavender, MK block outside of Cookies – the trajectory Ultra, Cheese and remains solidly upward. the sorely-missed “It’s wild, wild,” Lynch said with a laugh.

Nothern Lights Specifically on Cookies, he noted Bern#5 x Haze. er’s support was huge in helping to take Lynch notes Compound to the level it’s hit over the those cofpandemic. feeshops were Lynch went on to speak of his selection his first insight process these days, as the market contininto how professional weed ues to evolve. While many are very focused could be. The people running those shops on THC percentages, he’ll hear none of it. seemed like legitimate business people to “I honestly never focus on THC at all,” him. Eventually, he’d travel back to OreLynch said in his firmest reply of the chat. “I gon only further bit by the bug. focus on the terps and experience the plant The following years featured a could potentially produce. I’m worried significant step up in his collection about total potency – THC is important, of high-end genetics. He acquired a COMPOUND-GENETICS.COM but there is so much more going on in solid OG in 2007, which was also the @COMPOUND_GENETICS the terps.”

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CHRIS LYNCH | COMPOUND GENETICS In recent Cannabis times, few breeders have captured the imagination of the community like Compound Genetics’ founder Chris Lynch.

STORY by JIMI DEVINE @THEJIMIDEVINE for LEAF NATION | PHOTOS by MICHAEL ROSATI @ROSATIPHOTOS

leafMAGAZINES.com

Time after time since 2017, when discussing where the best Cannabis on the planet got its start, Compound Genetics would be a name synonymous with those conversations. But behind all the hype cuts and ‘next big thing’ is a guy who loves Cannabis.

Lynch has spent much of the decades prior chasing down the world’s finest Cannabis flavors. Like many, his dealer taught him to grow – first dialing in his cultivation skills in Oregon at a house his dealer bought and built out. As the scene matured into dispensaries and warehouses in the early 2010s, Lynch was along for the ride.

The warehouses of Portland were also the first places Lynch came to understand what exclusivity in Cannabis meant when chasing top dollar. “It was the power of genetics,” Lynch told Leaf Mag during our interview at his San Francisco basecamp.

A lot of the cuts he was working with were the classics of the moment sourced from Humboldt County, Calif. – including Headband, a solid OG pheno he worked, plus some Afgooey and Super Skunk cuts in the mix, too.

THE STRAINS ISSUE

FIVE YEARS AGO, Runts was still just a candy spelled with an “s” – until Ray Bama and his partners sprouted an epiphany that sparked the kind of hype marketing managers only dream of. And from that time on, Bama’s partners Yung LB and Nick would be called the Runtz Crew. Leaf Nation’s Tom Bowers connected with Bama about the birth of the phenomenon that is Runtz, his thoughts on the future, and his word on what it takes to succeed in the strain game.

LET’S GET RIGHT TO IT. TELL ME THE RUNTZ SUPERHERO ORIGIN STORY. My partner, Nick, he’s the head grower. Pre 2017, our claim to fame was having indoor Zkittlez. At that point, people didn’t have indoor Zkittlez – it was a unicorn.

Everyone was looking for what was next. Having packs of it was unheard of … Nick asked me, ‘What should I cross it with?’ Gelato was the biggest thing at that time, Young Dolph had just dropped the album called Gelato … I was like, ‘Let’s cross the Gelato with the indoor Zkittlez.’ Nick dropped two phenos, it was a #7 and a #3. We had them in the car and we were like, ‘This is the thing.’ It was like a 15-minute drive and by the end, we had Runtz with a ‘z.’

Emerald Cup was coming up and we had three pounds of it. Me and LB stayed up all night trimming three pounds before the Cup. Berner was there at the booth, looking at us like, ‘What are you guys doing? You have all these people at the booth!’ We showed up with five girls, the Runtz and 1,000 t-shirts. Literally, that shit sold so fast – everyone at the Cup was like, ‘You’ve got something going.’

“To make a legendary strain, it has to be something new.”

WHAT MAKES A LEGENDARY STRAIN OR PHENOTYPE? WHERE DOES THE MAGIC COME FROM? It has to be something new, right? First and foremost. You gotta go back to pre-Runtz, you know? Pre-Runtz, there weren’t that many strains – now there are a million. To make a legendary strain, it has to be something new. You have to have innovation. You have to dial it in. You have to check all the boxes. It’s gotta have flavor, the power. It has to be different, man – some type of characteristic that makes it different. Gelato is like hazelnut gas, you know what I mean? I feel like Runtz took it to a whole ‘nother level of candy – now you have people who go only for that candy, you know? At the end of the day, we’re probably looking at another five to 10 years of the market being dominated by Runtz and Runtz crosses, Runtz sisters and stepchildren.

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WHAT PROJECTS ARE YOU WORKING ON NOW THAT HAVE YOU THE MOST EXCITED? We’re doing collabs with clothing lines, record labels, artists – anything you can think of, really. We’re doing a collab with a comedian.

We’re doing tastings with chefs. We have a breeding project with Seed Junky Genetics. We took the original Runtz and crossed it with some of the favorites of his line, like the Jealousy … He was like, ‘Hey, give me some cuts,” and he’s going to pollinate. His genetics library is crazy. We have a collab coming with Doja … we’re doing a breeding project as well with that. We’ll definitely have some merch and some media behind it as well.

RUNTZ.COM | @RUNTZ

RAY BAMA

RUNTZ MAR. 2022

DO YOU HAVE ANY PREDICTIONS FOR WHERE THE STRAIN MARKET MIGHT GO? I think we’re going to get a whole lot more Zkittlez crosses right now. I think that OGs are going to come back and we’re going to see a lot more green weed coming back. I think the market’s going back to a place where the end user is less trusting, so they’re going to want to see these breeding projects and how they do shit. I think that having real genetics and crosses is going to be important, rather than just ‘throw my name on the bag’ type of stuff.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO SUCCEED IN THE STRAIN GAME? Everyone tries to copy what the next person does. To a certain extent, you can – but you have to be unique. You have to see what you can do to shake the industry. … With Runtz, we brought the power back to our group of people. We gave everyone the strain. … Build on that and continue to innovate and create … do new things with it.

STORY by TOM BOWERS @CANNABOMBTOM/LEAF NATION | PHOTOS by MIKE ROSATI @ROSATIPHOTOS

GENETICS

In an industry dominated almost entirely by men, MzJill stands out as a Cannabis breeder with integrity, longevity and some of the tastiest, unique and potent strains on Earth.

J I L LY B E A N B L A C K C H E R RY

PHOTO BY @NATIVE_CULTIVATOR

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“MzJill’s work with TGA created some iconic Cannabis strains such as Agent Orange, Brian Berry Cough, Orange Velvet, Ace of Spades and her flagship – the multiple awardwinning, Jilly Bean.”

She’s working on bringing back some of the original classic TGA strains such as Vortex, Dairy Queen, Chernobyl and Time Wreck. She’s also particularly excited about her new line of stabilized Jilly Bean crosses including Cherry, Orange, Lime and Grape flavors.

MZJILL.COM @MZJILL420

STORY by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT/LEAF NATION | PHOTOS by MZJILL GENETICS

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methods – building her own bubble buckets because she didn’t want to dispose of conspicuous bags of soil.

Eventually, her medicinal needs and those of her patients drew MzJill to MzJill’s journey, like many pioneers breeding original strains and along of pot, began as a medical patient. with her partner, the late Subcool, She was born with scoliosis and only MzJill co-founded TGA (Team Green found real relief when she Avenger) in 2003. finally discovered CannaAlong with providing an bis. But that didn’t solve immense amount of free all of the problems for a cultivation information single mother of three young via online forums such as daughters during the throes overgrow.com, MzJill’s of pot prohibition, so she work with TGA created decided to homeschool her some iconic Cannabis kids and start growing her strains such as Agent Orown to avoid extra scrutiny ange, Brian Berry Cough, from buying medicine in the J I L LY B E A N Orange Velvet, Ace of @DIS_GREENROOM underground market.

Spades and her flagship – She set up a discreetly the multiple award-winning, Jilly Bean. camouflaged, free-standing room in TGA became one of the first Amerithe garage and employed hydroponic can seed companies to provide beans

JOKER’S WILD

PHOTO BY @SHE_WHISPERS_TO_PLANTS

MZJILL

for purchase online and MzJill was certainly the first female from the U.S. openly breeding strains available in the marketplace. I inducted them into the High Times Seed Bank Hall of Fame and chose Jilly Bean as one of the Top 10 Strains of 2007.

Together with Sub and the rest of the TGA team, they worked to breed potent and flavorful new varieties until a devastating fire destroyed everything they owned in 2017.

MzJill decided to move on—parting ways with Subcool, starting up her own company (MzJill Genetics) and retaining the rights to use the TGA name and many of the strains she had helped to develop.

“Thankfully, we had shared many of our mother plants with friends and I was able to recover the genetics,” she said.

“CSI Humboldt was very helpful with strains such as Purple Urkle, which was a parent of our Querkle strain and now my Jilly Bean Grape as well.”

MzJill also founded the charity MzJill’s People Helping People. Their work includes organizing holiday food, clothing and toy drives across Oregon and Northern California, fundraising for Veterans and children with disabilities, and empowering women in the Cannabis ecosystem.

Even after decades of growing and breeding, MzJill still finds joy in cultivation and strain creation.

Her advice to new growers? “Plant some seeds, keep everything clean and healthy to avoid pests. Mixing up a good soil is better than using bottled nutrients.”

As for breeding, she emphasizes that it’s not just about crossing two elite strains. “Learn to grow well first.

So many people have a room go hermaphroditic and suddenly, they’re a seed company. Make sure that you grow out and test your seeds before you release them. Take notes and keep track of everything.”

As the owner and head breeder of MzJill Genetics, MzJill feels her journey is only just beginning.

THE STRAINS ISSUE

MARIO GUZMAN S HERBIN S K IS WHAT LED TO YOUR RECENT REALIZATION AROUND THE UNIQUE PROPERTIES OF THE CLASSIC ‘SKUNK’ PROFILE? I think being a dreamer and kind of a visionary, I bumped into some SoCal surf brothers who are also visionaries and we had dinner out one night and … we just formed a friendship. I liked what they were doing in terms of studying terpenes, but they were also investing heavily with their own money into licensed facilities – specifically to research terpene profiles and different cannabinoids.

With federal laws prohibiting funding and creating a lot of barriers for research, it’s people like Max, Kevin and Jack that had the vision to put their money where their mouth is and know that there’s magic inside. They wanted to be part of the first ones to discover that and so did I.

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Mario Guzman is the legendary breeder behind some of the industry’s most groundbreaking strains, including the game-changing Sunset Sherbert, plus Gelato and its signature variants Bacio, Mochi and Acai Berry Gelato.

We caught up with the man behind the Sherbinskis brand to learn more about his longtime passion for the plant.

HOW AND WHEN DID YOU GET INTO THE CANNABIS GAME? I was living in San Francisco in the early 2000s and SB420 was introduced in 2004 – it created a legal framework for guys like me to start growing in their garages.

AT WHAT POINT DID YOUR FOCUS SHIFT TO BREEDING AND GENETICS? It kind of went hand in hand. From the very beginning I was playing with pollen and had been popping seeds, and I didn’t know anything about it really. I just learned quickly through trial and error. I never considered myself, or, even now really … the

MAR. 2022

WHAT ARE YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT FOR THE Sherbinski’s FUTURE? I’ve been worksignature ing for the last four years strains include just learning. I haven’t been WHAT’S THE MOST DIFFICULT out trying to make money Pink Panties, PART OF CREATING A NEW in seeds or clones or anySunset Sherbert STRAIN? I would say time. It thing. I’m just learning from and the Gelato line takes a lot of time and patience. people in Spain and different Nothing happens fast in this countries, and breeders and - Bacio, Mochi, game. From popping the seed to just people that get down and Acaiberry and Gello. letting that grow out, to cutting make seeds. We’ve got about the clone to flowering out that 100 moms of different geplant … drying it, trying it, netics that I’ve already tested sharing it, getting feedback … The people I’m two or three times. I’m confident that I’ve put in partnering with and seeking out are just looking to the work and I know what’s what, and I’m excited get back to the quality. It’s not about the biggest about starting to share some of the work I know buds or the biggest yields – it’s more about the I can stand behind that’s a lot more diverse than different medicinal effects of these different genetics what we’re seeing out there in the market. and opening up that gene pool a little more, rathSHERBINKIS.COM er than some of the narrow offerings that we’re @SHERBINSKI415 seeing. term breeder … I just learned to accept it. I just enjoy working with plants and experimenting.

STORY by NATE WILLIAMS @NATEW415/LEAF NATION | PHOTOS by @VISITHOLLYWEED

DUKE DIAMOND Duke’s advice to new growers is to first dial in your environment – and go low and slow with the nutrients.

Duke Diamond’s Cannabis career started early, when at around the age of 12, he decided to grow his own after the first time he blazed on a joint.

Even in the dark days of prohibition in Virginia, he felt safer growing it than buying it. He tells me, “I thought my chances of getting popped would be lower from laying low and not associ-

ating with a bunch of people. I planted some seeds and, luckily, my older cousins caught me, took me under their wings and pointed me in the right direction.”

“I ordered a bunch of seeds from Amsterdam, specifically Afghani, Skunk and Northern Lights x Skunk, and they performed so well. Real ass-stomping stuff! The Hash Plants were big, heavy yielders that finished up before the fall rains came in. It was all received very well and we felt we could compete with California or anywhere else. We started making hybrids, doing our farmer shit to speed up flowering time, boost yields and make the best selections. Potency was always most important.”

Duke was active on the online Cannabis growing forums, sharing valuable information and helping many people learn to grow and breed

DOMINION G

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P U R P L E DA H L I A

SCREAMING EAGLE

SEEDSHERENOW.COM @THEREALDUKEDIAMOND

STORY by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT/LEAF NATION | PHOTOS by DOMINION SEED COMPANY

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The South isn’t the first region people think of when talking about strains, yet many of the legendary varieties of the 1970s and ‘80s hailed from places like Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama and Virginia. To this day, tales of the Roadkill Skunk, Afghan, G-13 and Hash Plant strains light up the eyes of older tokers who swear it was the strongest they’ve ever smoked. A combination of proper climate, good genetics and outlaw gumption contributed to literally tons of marijuana growing in the hills each year.

their own. Eventually, in 2007, he was ratted on by an associate and busted by the DEA for growing, ultimately serving time in the Federal penitentiary.

He ended up having to return to prison in 2019 over an unfortunate bust for possession of a firearm as a felon and was released in 2022 – now placing his focus on reviving Dominion Seed Company and releasing new genetics to the public.

Varieties such as Figure Four, Screaming Eagle, Dominion Skunk, Skunkband, Burnout Chem, Sangria Punch, Polecat BX, Stashplant and more are now available for purchase.

Duke’s advice to new growers is to first dial in your environment. Also, go low and slow with the nutrients.

“When it comes to weed, everybody overdoes shit,” he says. “Don’t overwater. Even with organics – think of the microbes in your soil as your workers – they break the nutrients down into usable form, eating them and pooping them out. Focus on keeping them happy with proper moisture and temperature levels. Avoid using alfalfa and kelp after day 21 of flowering to keep your plants from tasting like grass clippings and burning improperly.”

In addition to growing and breeding new strains, Duke has a few other projects in the works, including starting a podcast, putting out some YouTube videos to help growers learn organic cultivation and finishing writing his book – so you can look forward to consuming Duke’s work in more than just smokeable form.

THE STRAINS ISSUE leafmagazines.com

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GOING ON A PHENO HUNT COMPOUND GENETICS’ CHRIS LYNCH, THE COMPANY’S SELF-PROCLAIMED CHIEF EXECUTIVE WIZARD, TAKES US THROUGH GROWING AND SELECTING FOR THE BEST CANNABIS TRAITS.

MAR. 2022

After a monster 2021 where Compound Genetics picked up more steam than arguably anybody in Cannabis, 2022 looks to be even crazier. Last December saw one of its biggest seed drops at The Emerald Cup with the Apples and Bananas line. It was also the premiere of the flowers they’d been working to get to market after years of development.

The star of the show for the flower launch was Jokerz #31.

With all the heat they’ve found over the years and dynamic varying flavor profiles, the White Runtz x Jet Fuel Gelato pairing reigned supreme. It was first hunted down at one of the grows Compound works with to do big propagations they don’t have room for in San Francisco. In the two years since the pheno hunt that found Jokerz #31, it has been tested and retested – always continuing to be wildly exotic Cannabis.

THE WORK currently going into 2022 started long before the calendar hit January. Compound Genetics’ Founder Chris Lynch noted he has a lot of strains that are doing well in the market right now and he’s planning to work those Jokerz, Pave, and Apples and Bananas lines even further. “[We’re] incorporating new tricks, new profiles,” Lynch told the Leaf. “And then having the collaboration with Berner will help get those out there. He sees strength in the building blocks we’re working with too.”

These efforts will require large scale pheno hunts to find the best versions of whatever Lynch comes up with. But what is a pheno hunt? Not all plants are the same, and a pheno hunt is about finding the best expressions of the seeds from the particular pairing of genetics. First, Compound will pop the seeds at a larger partner facility. In the process, they’ll take cuttings so they’ll have whatever ends up winning at the end. The second round will feature all the ones that are still in the running. In some cases, that number could be a few … in other instances, it might be 80 plants from 10 strains. That will whittle the number down further and they’ll run them again to make sure the first two weren’t a mistake.

Maybe a little bit under a year from when the first seeds were popped, just how commercially viable the end results are should be evident.

Just like parents can have a child that can slam dunk and one that can’t walk straight, not all the seeds are going to be a home run. The ultimate hope is finding a true outlier of the plant’s expression. Most of the seeds in the pheno hunt will lean towards one of the parents, but in the middle where it’s harder to decipher the characteristics, you can find the real magic and flavors you’ve never seen before. Outliers have the most differentiation from the expressions of the parents people are most familiar with.

Compound Genetics works with a few partners to try and hunt down that magic – to the extent that Lynch’s title is Chief Executive Wizard. As for what he’s looking for, Lynch noted advice he received from MAC breeder, Capulator: “He told me, ‘Just do what you think is going to be hot and just follow your taste. And if people like it, they like it. And if they don’t, they don’t.’”

One plan for the breeding work of 2022 is to move away from Gelatos. It’s not that it isn’t timeless, Lynch just wants to offer consumers new flavor profiles. When asked if he was ever concerned about the way hype moves certain strains, and how it could lead to narrowing down the genome, Lynch agreed. “We need to open it up,” he said.

Another change for 2022 and the Compound Genetics team is their exposure to a higher level of scrutiny. The seeds have been heat for years and many have had success with the line, but with the flower they’ll have access to a much larger consumer base.

“Where we’re at, we’re trying to move methodically, strategically,” Lynch said.

JOKERZ 99 #2

Just like parents can have a child that can slam dunk and one that can’t walk straight, not all the seeds are going to be a home run.

The ultimate hope is finding a true outlier of the plant’s expression.

“Make sure everything is tested thoroughly in multiple runs and checks all the boxes. I anticipate the scrutiny, it comes with the game … take it slow, as long as you stay true to your core values and the things that got you where you are … don’t forget those things.”

With the new flower line dropping, we mentioned that Lynch might have to tell some of the A-list rappers he’s been collaborating with like Berner from Cookies, Wiz Khalifa, and Quavo from Migos that he’s keeping the new family jewels. Lynch laughed at the sentiment, but didn’t deny it.

Lynch currently has a few major projects in the works, on top of three planned seed drops this year. The first is California’s Wine Country – where one of the farms Compound works with is hunting down new males to help Lynch freshen thing up. Solid studs are a critical part of any genetics company and plenty have been built off of one good male over the years. Lynch hopes to collect a few rockstars with the traits he’s wanting to carry on into future generations of heaters.

Back in San Francisco, the pollen is flying right now. This includes some Zkittlez crosses sure to get the universe excited. Lynch also plans on tapping into the genetics he fell in love with during his adventures in Amsterdam. This effort will feature a variety of Cheese crosses to keep an eye out for.

2022 will also see the Compound show hit the road. While people are already growing Lynch’s gear in every legal market, the plan is to personally bring the Jokerz #31 into a few new states – the first two markets being Florida and Michigan.

COMPOUND-GENETICS.COM @COMPOUND_GENETICS

STORY by JIMI DEVINE @THEJIMIDEVINE for LEAF NATION | PHOTOS by MIKE ROSATI @ROSATIPHOTOS

THE STRAINS ISSUE

GSC A balanced hybrid boasting a long-lasting high, GSC, formerly known as Girl Scout Cookies, is parent to a wide swath of popular pot strains.

The unique flavors of vanilla and mint cookie dough, plus a light lavender scent, are passed onto the offspring resulting in many beloved crosses.

GELATO Gelato #33 a.k.a. Larry Bird, is a Bay Area Cookies/Sherbinski staple named for its sweet and creamy scent and flavor.

This strain is relaxing yet uplifting, and those effects along with the bright orange hairs and unique frosty purple tint make it perfect for breeding new berry-flavored varieties with euphoric qualities.

L INE AGE / OG KUSH X DURBAN POISON F 1 DOMINANT TE RPE NE S / CARYOPHYL L E NE , MYRCE NE , LI MO N EN E PARE NT OF / SHE RBE RT, GMO COOKIE S, ORANGE COO K I ES , D O - S I - D O S , B I RT H DAY CAK E, O R EO Z, GRE ASE MONKE Y, THIN MINT COOKIE S, PL ATINUM COO K I ES

L I N E A G E / S U N S E T S HERBET X THI N M I NT C OOKIES D O M I N A N T T E R P E N E S / C A RYOP HYLLENE, LIM ONENE, HUM ULENE PA R E N T O F / R U N T Z , BISC OTTI

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ZKITTLEZ

MODERN BREEDING STRAINS

Bred by 3rd Gen Family, Zkittlez burst onto the scene with a tropical punch of lemon, grapefruit and ice-creamesque bouquet. Anecdotal evidence shows the indica-dominant effects help treat PTSD and depression. As a forerunner of the Runtz line, Zkittlez’ legacy as a wellspring of wonderful weed is undoubted.

LI N EAG E / ( G R APEFR U I T X G R APE APE) X MY S T ERY MALE D O MI N AN T T ER PEN ES / CARY O PH Y LLEN E, LI N ALO O L, H U MU LEN E PAR EN T O F / R U N T Z, W H I T E R U N T Z, MELO N AD E

leafmagazines.com

Cannabis breeding started thousands of years ago in Central Asia when seeds from the best plants were chosen every harvest year after year. The resulting plants spread throughout the world via human migration and eventually acclimated to different altitudes and environments. These became the original landrace Afghan, Indian, Southeast Asian, African and South American varieties used for flower and hash production over millennia.

IN THE U.S., crackdowns on imports of marijuana spurred aspiring farmers back home to plant their own seeds. Hippie travelers collected magic heirloom beans to bring home and used those plants, as well as various bagseeds, to create the original building blocks of the modern Cannabis gene pool including Skunk, Northern Lights and Haze.

Further law enforcement operations forced a few enterprising bud breeders to the relative safety of Amsterdam, where the first seed companies were born in the 1980s using just a few distinct bedrock strains to create the hybrids that fueled the indoor growing revolution. The descendants of those strains became the building blocks of our present day poly-hybrids, but an ever-more-sophisticated clientele of connoisseurs, aficionados and medical patients demanded new and improved terpene profiles, flavor palates and potency levels.

These days, a new breed of genetic material is being utilized to create flavorful strains for discerning palates and a marketplace constantly chasing the new heat.

Whether gassy or fruity, the breeders of today are taking things to the extreme – making new and improved varieties using the following modern breeding strains.

MAR. 2022

DO-SI-DOS This amazing indica-leaning strain from Archive Seed Bank has a calming effect and provides pain relief for people with migraines and nausea. Cannabis expert TH Caeczar describes the singular scent as “freshly baked lemon curd and mint pastry aroma with shortbread cookie undertones.” Do-Si-Dos and her descendents tend to pair well with a couch or bed.

L INE AGE / OGKB CUT OF GSC X FACE OF F OG BX1 DOMINANT TE RPE NE S / L IMONE NE , CARYOPHYL L E NE , LI N ALO O L PARE NT OF / DOL ATO, PE ANUT BUTTE R BRE ATH, DOSI S H ER B ET, W H OA- S I - W H OAS

GG4 Bred by the late great Josie Wales of GG Strains, the awardwinning GG4 (formerly known as Gorilla Glue #4) tests at an astonishing 30% THC! The earthy and piney buds announce themselves with a pungent and tangy smell that fills the entire room. A few puffs of these greasy nuggets is perfect for light sleepers and insomniacs seeking a full night’s sleep.

L INE AGE / ( SOUR DU B B X CH EM S I S ) X CH O CO LAT E D I ES EL DOMINANT TE RPE NE S / CARY O PH Y LLEN E, MY R CEN E, LI MO N EN E PARE NT OF / ZOOKIE S , G R EAS E MO N K EY

STORY by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT/LEAF NATION | PHOTOS by JUSTIN MCIVOR #JUSTINCANNABIS

PHOTO COURTESY ARCHIVE

FACE OFF OG Another Archive legend, this indica-dominant strain has been known to make beginner tokers dizzy, with a psychedelic power and a strong body buzz. The lime green nuggets sparkle like diamonds but it’s the unparalleled diesel fuel funk that make this such a prolific producer of prominent progeny.

LINEAGE / OG KUSH PHENO DO MI N A N T T E R P E N E S / M Y R C E N E , LIM ONENE, C A RYOP HYLLENE PA R E N T O F / D O - S I - D O S , A N I M A L M INTS, HELLRA I SER OG

WEDDING CAKE A powerhouse cross coming from the breeding wizards at Seed Junky Genetics, Wedding Cake a.k.a. Triangle Mints #23 or Pink Cookies, is an indica-dominant strain known for relaxation and appetite stimulation. A stunner when it emerged on the scene – so wildly popular it earned Leafly’s 2019 Strain of the Year – think movie marathons and well-stocked munchies when smoking on this tangy, creamy chronic.

LI N EA G E / S E E D J U N K Y G E N E T I C S T RIA NGLE KUSH X A NI M A L M INTS D O MI N A N T T E R P E N E S / L I M O N E N E , M YRC ENE, C A RYOP HYLLENE PA R EN T O F / I C E C R E A M C A K E , W E D DI NG C RA SHER

TANGIE A multiple award-winner and breeding legend, Tangie from Crockett Family Farms tends to impart its citrus orange aroma and acidity on offspring. The effect tends to creep up on you but once it takes hold, Tangie supplies a blissful and euphoric impact. Sativa-dominant, with no ceiling to the buzz, you can keep smoking and continue getting higher.

LINEAGE / SKUNK #1 X CALI ORANGE DO MI N A N T T E R P E N E S / M Y R C E N E , TERP INOLENE, P I NENE PA R E N T O F / T R O P I C A N A C O O K I E S , FORBIDDEN FRUIT, P U TA NG

CHERRY PIE Another award-winning Cookie Family hybrid strain, Cherry Pie made its name in the Bay Area with an earthy-yet-sweet berry scent and flavor. The effect is uplifting and giggly, perfect for a day in the park with friends or a night out at a comedy club. Several noteworthy varieties inherited their strong genetics from this stalwart species.

LINEA GE / GRA NDA DDY P URP L E X DURBAN POISON F 1 DOM INA NT TERP ENES / MYRCENE, CARYOPHYLLENE, PINENE PA RENT OF / FORBIDDEN FRUIT, BIRTHDAY CAKE, ANIMAL CAKE

THE STRAINS ISSUE

THE HYPE The science of hype in the Cannabis world

FEW PEOPLE IN THE WEED WORLD HAVE HAD A FRONT SEAT FOR THE EVOLUTION OF THE ‘CANNABIS BUYER’ QUITE LIKE WONDERLAND NURSERY FOUNDER KEVIN JODREY. For years, Jodrey helped backbone The Emerald Triangle’s starter plant supply from his Humboldt operation – where most of the biggest-name Cannabis genetics of the generation would make their way for protection or distribution to the wider masses.

Eventually, Jodrey would even help now-State Treasurer Fiona Ma come to an $8 billion valuation for Humboldt’s underground Cannabis economy in 2008.

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But through all of Jodrey’s adventures, consumer demand would dictate much of the path. Even predating the OG wave of the early 2000s when it first got to the hills, then onto Blue Dream and Cookies.

Not only did what consumers want change over the years, what dictated that demand changed as well.

Wonderland Nursery Founder Kevin Jodrey sparks up a handrolled joint.

MAR. 2022

“Pretty soon, it started to go into like THC frenzy …

And it’s really the undoing of experience, because the bottom line is that a simple cannabinoid doesn’t dictate shit.”

& THE HEAT T

here were no real lab testing numbers at a commercially viable level until Steep Hill Labs opened its doors in 2007. But 15 years later, the almighty THC percentage has become a market-driving equation, even if the labs are essentially running different races until the state-mandated standardized operating procedures drop in 2023.

“Well you had in the early 2000s … I still call it like, ‘the Dutch explosion.’ And so you get into that, but prior to that in the late ‘90s is when you first really started having lab analysis come out,” Jodrey told the Leaf. “And with the lab analysis, it started to quantify potency via a number. That hadn’t happened up to that point.”

Jodrey says there was certainly some proprietary and unpublished testing going on, but the first strain he cites as widely having its test results shared was White Russian. It was 19.8% and at that moment, believed to be some of the strongest Cannabis on the planet.

“And so all of a sudden, this number starts to become something that people started to talk about. And then lab analysis comes in,” Jodrey said, referring to Steep Hill.

As Jodrey and his peers first started to take a look at Cannabis analysis, it seemed like an excellent way to optimize your production process. The theory many in the early days had was that even if the science being peddled was less than refined, as long as the THC number was heading in the right direction, they were in good shape. And you could read between the lines on the test results and gauge the effectiveness of any adjustments.

Part of what they found between the lines was unconverted CBG. “CBG became this … little key to unlock more potency, because if you saw high levels of CBG, you knew you hadn’t converted completely. So we’re using all this to steer and drive and build higher CBD varieties, higher

1 to 1 ratios, higher THC,” Jodrey said. “But there wasn’t such an extreme emphasis on just the numbers – it was a part of the total process and you still had extreme diversity.”

The CBG made it easier for the team to narrow down the potential for CBD strains with a higher medicinal value, in addition to those absolute hitter high-THC cuts.

Testing would permeate deeper into the dispensary scene at the start of the 2010s. In those early days, a combination of budtender insight and data may have been the norm, but it seemed to quickly push towards the modern era of buying based on numbers.

“And then pretty soon, it started to go into like THC frenzy – where once we started to break into the 30s, it started to become so powerful a data point that everything else started to be pushed to the side,” Jodrey said. “And it’s really the undoing of experience, because the bottom line is that a simple cannabinoid doesn’t dictate shit.”

Jodrey argues that when we start to look at these snapshots that the tests represent as the whole picture, it’s similar to looking through the keyhole of the Louvre and saying what you see is the museum’s entirety.

“And I think that’s really the undoing of Cannabis … that you’re skewing populations to drive towards a percentage at the expense of other things,” Jodrey said. “And you’re seeing dissatisfaction in many consumers. There’s never been so much exquisite pot put on the shelf that people aren’t happy buying, or you wouldn’t have the trap hitting as hard as it is.”

Jodrey emphasizes that this all makes no sense to him, and believes his task through

this is to help people build better genetic libraries that aren’t offset by crazy numbers. He also notes that in some rare cases, the brand is bigger than the herb. The clout those farms have built up over the years allows the THC number to dip a pinch lower without affecting perception of quality in the consumers’ eyes.

In lieu of more education consumer shopping habits won’t change much, but Jodrey and others like him will continue to hunt down things they find exotic – regardless of what the lab test says. @KEVINJODREY @WONDERLANDNURSERY

STORY by JIMI DEVINE @THEJIMIDEVINE for LEAF NATION | PHOTOS by BENJAMIN NEFF @BNEFF420

concentrate THE STRAINS of the month ISSUE

“An outrageously clean oil with a distinct flavor profile and a full-body, energized high that launched me off the couch and outside.”

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JETTY EXTRACTS

SOLVENTLESS LIVE ROSIN CARTRIDGES All vapes are not created equal … and finding one you vibe with requires waltzing through a trial and error period filled with both decent highs and puffs you wish you could take back. Thankfully, Cannabis products in 2022 are better than they have ever been. Jetty’s new line of solventless vapes is a prime example of the viscous gold that awaits on dispensary shelves throughout California.

MAR. 2022 mar.

I RECENTLY got my hands on their Sour Strawberry live rosin vape cartridge and genuinely wasn’t sure what to expect. Vapes – even the legal ones – don’t have the best reputation for producing clean, enduring highs that lift your body to an auric radiance the way flower can. But I’m happy to report that as someone who’s been puffing and eating Cannabis products daily for the past 15 years and deeply values the power of terpenes, I was pleasantly surprised for several reasons. Between the packaging and the vape’s wooden tip, the product’s aesthetic looks like it could fit in a vintage surf shop … perhaps right next to the rounds of Sex Wax and zinc sunscreen sold at the register.

While flower will always be my number one, solventless extracts are a close second because they preserve the essence of the plant. Terpenes, major and minor cannabinoids, and flavonoids are all retained – making

the concentrated product an aromatic experience on par with fine wine. The flavor profiles are accentuated and roll over your palate in a way that triggers both taste and smell.

Jetty’s Sour Strawberry live rosin tasted fully like juicy berries, with hints of red fruit and a light flavor of gassy Cannabis flower on the exhale. The thick golden oil was produced by an extraction method that only uses ice, water, heat and pressure, resulting in an outrageously clean oil with a distinct flavor profile and a full-body, energized high that launched me off the couch and outside.

I ended up walking to the beach and watching the waves crash on the shore for 45 minutes, where Sour Strawberry heightened my senses to the point that I couldn’t take staring at the ocean’s majesty anymore – I had to merge with it. I ripped off my shoes with reckless abandon, left them on the shore and went knee-deep into the water. In the middle of winter.

Right after recovering from the plague. The waves soaked my shorts and long-sleeved, oversized Beatles shirt. I didn’t have any extra clothes with me and was about two miles away from home, but I didn’t care.

Feeling the mushy, living sand beneath my feet and the soft tide pulling and releasing water made me feel alive in a way I hadn’t in months.

Sour Strawberry catalyzed me into a deep moment with the elements that reminded me of how profoundly small my stresses and I are. Talk about a welcome perspective shift.

Jetty’s line of solventless live rosin cartridges are ideal for anyone who wishes to inconspicuously consume quality Cannabis extracts. If you’re someone who enjoys high vibe puffs while on the go, Sour Strawberry likely won’t disappoint. Who knows? Maybe it’ll help usher in a mindset shift for you, too.

JETTYEXTRACTS.COM @JETTYEXTRACTS

REVIEW by MARY CARREON @MARYYYSTARDUST | PHOTO by TOM BOWERS @PROPAGATECONSULTANTS

OVER 1 MILLION CLONES SOLD TO LICENSED CULTIVATORS IN CALIFORNIA AND OREGON!

edible of the month

ROSELOSANGELES.COM @ROSE_LOSANGELES

“The state of relaxation that hits before the sleep takes over is sublime.”

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ROSE LOS ANGELES

DEEP SLEEP DELIGHTS When it comes to edibles, one thing is clear: They are booming in popularity. Data company Headset is estimating this year’s expected sales to reach $3 billion, and while there are lots of reasons why – people don’t want to smoke, they need something discreet, et cetera – one of the biggest is because lots of people need help sleeping. And these days, it seems just about every edibles line has at least one sleep formula in its lineup.

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SOMETIMES the formulas include melatonin, CBN, and other relaxing botanicals and compounds. CBN in particular is known as the “sleep cannabinoid,” though it’s more expensive to extract and needs to be present in higher doses to be effective. But studies have shown that just the presence of THC, ideally with CBD, at the right dose is significantly effective for sleep – possibly even more than CBN is.

So, it was with great – forgive the pun – delight that I heard Rose Los Angeles recently debuted a Deep Sleep version of their popular Delights edibles.

I am, unabashedly, a total Rose fangirl.

First of all, flower rosin is used instead of distillate or even live rosin, which allows them to skip the freeze-drying process, as well as a couple of other steps. It also means a lot of the plant material, including terpenes, flavonoids and other minor cannabinoids are preserved.

In this case, Rose used Holy Tonic flower from genetics developed by Biovortex. They coursed through 28 phenotypes, each of which had varied and illustrative terpene profiles, and combined 60 pounds of flower from

the fall 2021 harvest into one Deep Sleep single-source rosin. The native ratio of THC:CBD in this rosin is 4:1, which matches other sleep formulas on the market, though none are entirely single-source or entirely flower-derived with all of the other plant matter intact.

It’s an impressive, laborious feat.

What’s more, these edibles – which are basically Turkish Delights – are delicious. The Deep Sleep formula emulates others in using dark-hued berries for its flavoring, specifically incorporating mulberries grown by the Bay Area’s Frog Hollow Farm. Also included are the calming botanicals vanilla and passionflower – both from the same farm. As an added bonus, they’re also totally vegan, gluten-free, and made with non-GMO ingredients.

It’s kind of hard to rate edibles according to how well they make you sleep, but I have to say, not only do these work well for the task, the state of relaxation that hits before the sleep takes over is sublime.

It’s like a mulberry-flavored blanket, just for me. I can’t think of anything better than that.

REVIEW by JACKIE BRYANT @JACQBRY| PHOTO by TOM BOWERS @PROPAGATECONSULTANTS

10 slices | 5mg THC/slice

Baking spray 6 tablespoons butter, softened 3 tablespoons canna-butter, softened 1 1/2 cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons 3 eggs, room temperature 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature 2 1/4 cups flour 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate 2 tablespoons melted butter, cooled 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Heat oven to 340. Spray a 9-inch loaf pan, or butter and dust with flour.

2. In an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time and then mix on high speed for five minutes. Beat in the salt, vanilla, almond extract and baking powder. Add the flour, alternating with the milk, and ending with the flour.

3. In a microwave safe bowl, heat the chocolate in 10-second intervals until just melted. Add the remaining sugar and two tablespoons of hot water. Stir. Add one cup of the batter and stir until combined.

4. Pour the vanilla batter into the loaf pan. Top the vanilla batter with the chocolate batter. Drag a knife through the batter, distributing the chocolate throughout the pan.

5. Bake the cake for 60-70 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool before removing from the pan.

COOKING WITH CANNABIS

Her-sTORIC EATS

BUTTERMILK MARBLE CAKE

Serves 4 | 5mg THC/serving

SASSY SPRING ASPARAGUS SALAD

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1 pound asparagus, rinsed, patted dry and trimmed 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced Zest of 1/2 a fresh lemon, thin strips 2 tablespoons good quality olive oil 4 teaspoons Cannabis infused oil Juice of 1 lemon 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar Salt and pepper to taste

1. Using a vegetable peeler, shave the asparagus into long thin strips. Place the asparagus in a serving bowl with the sliced onion and lemon zest.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the oils, lemon juice, vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.

3. At serving time, pour the dressing into the serving bowl and toss to combine.

R EC I P E S b y LAU RIE WOLF P HOTO b y B RUC E WOLF

I have actually had the pleasure of meeting all of them and Edna Lewis – the first Black woman to write a Southern cookbook using her own identity – was the caterer at my wedding.

The recipe for her marble cake, which I had the opportunity to eat by her own hand, inspired this recipe. The raw shaved asparagus salad from Alice Waters is a dish I have been making for years. We have her to thank for the “farm to table” movement in this country. Through her wisdom, we were able to understand the

importance of eating seasonally and locally.

Waters was not alone in this movement, but she has certainly had the greatest impact in my cooking world. I met Julia Child briefly, many years ago. She was instrumental in bringing French cuisine to America and she had a relaxed, fun style that made people feel comfortable in the kitchen.

My dad didn’t cook much, but he learned to make her vichyssoise (usually served cold) and that got him a reputation in the neighborhood.

He achieved other reputations, but no one wants to know – trust me.

I infused these recipes with Cannabis I grew this past summer. Woman grown, the strain is J1 – a clone from a close friend who has sadly left the world of weed. Not the world, just the business … not necessarily a bad idea.

VICHYSSOISE (POTATO LEEK SOUP) 1 1/2 tablespoons butter 4 teaspoons infused oil or butter 1 1/2 cups peeled, sliced russet potatoes 1 1/2 cups sliced leeks, well rinsed, white part only 1 quart chicken stock, vegetable stock is also fine 1/3 cup heavy cream Salt and pepper Sliced scallion or chives for garnish

1. In a medium soup pot, melt the butters.

2. Add the potatoes and leeks to the pot, stir and allow to cook gently, covered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the stock of your choice, along with heavy cream and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer uncovered until the vegetables are tender, 15-20 minutes. If the potatoes are hard, simmer gently for an additional few minutes.

4. Carefully pour half the contents into a blender and puree until smooth. Really smooth. Pour into the soup pot and blend the remaining half of the soup. Return to the soup pot.

5. If the soup is to be served cold, allow it to cool at room temperature and chill in the fridge overnight. If serving hot, heat through and serve garnished with scallions or chives.

#gi r l po w e r #w o m e nrule #bebold #just w omen #bet onw omen #R BG #happywomensd a y | La uriea nd Ma ryJa ne.com

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THIS WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH seems more weighted than others. There’s quite a bit at stake here. Since food is my bailiwick, I have chosen recipes from three women chefs who have created change politically, socially and culturally. I don’t have a clue if any of these women enjoyed Cannabis … I am using my take on their recipes to make a dish hopefully worthy of their immeasurable talents.

Serves 4 | 5mg THC/serving

cannthropology

WORLD OF Cannabis PRESENTS

The Original

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King of Cannabis

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Presenting the seedy saga of Nevil Schoenmakers— one of the most courageous, controversial and consequential Cannabis breeders in history.

BORN TO BREED Born to Dutch parents in Perth, Australia on February 2, 1957, Nevil Martin Schoenmakers was a rebellious youth with a passion for biology and genetics – breeding parakeets as early as eight years old. He began smoking weed in high school and after graduating, started working in a university biology lab.

There, he gained access to harder drugs – including morphine, to which he soon developed an addiction.

After getting busted on drug charges, Schoenmakers first fled to Thailand, then on to live with an uncle in the Netherlands in 1976. It was there, while using Cannabis to help kick his heroin habit, that he discovered a copy of the legendary “Marijuana Growers Guide” (by Mel Frank and Ed Rosenthal) and was inspired to grow pot professionally. In 1980, he was approved for a business loan from the Dutch government designed to help recovering addicts, then used the money to set up a small commercial grow and started selling marijuana to the Dutch market. Only problem was, the strains he was growing – mostly from Nigerian, Colombian and Mexican seeds – weren’t very popular. So in 1983, he made the fateful decision to switch from selling weed to selling seeds and founded The Seed Bank of Holland.

MAR. 2022

In this never-before-published photo taken in 1985 near the Russian border in Hungary, Nevil first discovers the legendary “roadside ruderalis” plant he would later breed with other strains to shorten their flowering times.

THE SEED BANK OF HOLLAND In July 1984, Schoenmakers released the seed bank’s first “catalog” – a one-page listing of seed varieties offered for just 25 cents apiece.

The following year, he took out a small classified ad in the back of High Times magazine where he offered American growers an opportunity to order the catalog for two dollars. Since he was only advertising the catalog rather than the seeds themselves, the ad didn’t violate any laws.

For his business to be really successful, though, Nevil knew he needed to get his hands on better genetics. As fate would have it, some of the best Cannabis strains in the world were about to fall into his lap. In the summer of

1984, legendary Santa Cruz breeder “Skunkman Sam” Selgnij of Sacred Seeds traveled to Amsterdam, bringing with him over a quarter-million seeds of California’s best genetics, including Skunk #1, Cali Orange, Hindu Kush and Original Haze. Schoenmakers allegedly purchased half of Skunkman’s varieties, as well as a few other popular strains from West Coast growers (such as Northern Lights, Afghan #1 and Durban Poison). He also acquired a few landrace strains while adventuring in Asia, including the rare ruderalis species. It was from this dank, diverse gene pool – as well as his brilliant and ballsy entrepreneurial acumen – that Nevil would build his seed empire.

WORLD OF CANNABIS

Though a few other Dutch seed companies were operating at the time, none were brazen enough to mail seeds to America for cash and then brag about it in the pages of High Times.

The back of the 1987 Seed Bank of Holland catalog, featuring the infamous photo of Nevil in a room full of hashish—the same image later used on his wanted poster.

In September 1984, Schoenmakers purchased an old 18th century estate in the Dutch countryside, which he christened the “Cannabis Castle,” then proceeded to transform the property into a veritable seed factory – erecting greenhouses on the land and filling the catacombs beneath the mansion with grow rooms.

By 1986 he was running display ads in both High Times and Sinsemilla Tips, offering the catalog for free and the seeds for $5 each. Soon, the Seed Bank was distributing hundreds of thousands of seeds globally and raking in millions of dollars a year. Nevil’s operation was so impressive that it drew the attention of High Times editor Steve Hager, who paid him a visit in 1986. In the now-infamous interview “Inside Cannabis Castle: The Man Who Would be King of Cannabis” (High Times, March 1987), Schoenmakers openly discussed his life, location and operations. Though a few other Dutch seed companies were operating at the time, none were brazen enough to mail seeds to America for cash and then brag about it in the pages of High Times.

OPERATION GREEN MERCHANT Unfortunately, growers weren’t the only ones reading High Times and Sinsemilla Tips – it was no secret that the DEA were among the mags’ biggest subscribers. Seeing the numerous ads for growing equipment and Cannabis seeds in their pages, the Feds decided to build a case for criminal conspiracy between the pot publications, their advertisers and their customers. They started purchasing seeds from Nevil when his first ads ran in 1985; two years later, they launched the official investigation known as Operation Green Merchant.

In our November 2021 GREEN HOUSE & MR. NICE edition (“Sinsemilla Story”), we Though he’d escaped extradirecounted how OGM raided tion and prosecution, Nevil’s Sinsemilla Tips and dozens of days of shipping seeds to the horticulture shops across the U.S. were over and he was still country on “Black Thursday” under scrutiny by Interpol, so he in October 1989, but that was knew he needed to keep a lowonly half the story – the other er profile. Which is likely why, half of the investigation was during his stint in the Australian High Times news article about Nevil centered on shutting down the jail, he negotiated a deal to sell skipping bail (Nov. 1991).

Holland Seed Bank. Luckily for his entire operation – the HolNevil, the Netherlands wouldn’t land Seed Bank and Cannabis extradite him for something that wasn’t considered Castle – to Ben Dronkers, who then merged it with a crime there. But in 1990, when he returned to his Sensi Seed Club to form the Sensi Seed Bank.

Perth for the birth of his son, the authorities were Despite selling his business, Nevil kept on breedwaiting: On June 24, Australian police arrested ing – at first, working for the very company he used Schoenmakers on behalf of the to own. Then in 1994, he and fellow Aussie breedU.S. Government. Then, on July er Scott Blakey (aka Shantibaba) co-founded the 13, the Justice Department handed Green House Seed Company with Green House down a 44-count indictment with coffeeshop owner Arjan Roskam. Together, they potential for multiple life sentencdeveloped several Cannabis Cup-winning strains, es – charging him with the sale of including White Widow, Super Silver Haze, White marijuana seeds, as well as criminal Rhino, and his signature strain, Nevil’s Haze. But conspiracy to violate the Controlled as the decade drew to a close, a change in Dutch Substances Act. law outlawing the production of seeds – as well as Schoenmakers spent the next 11 conflicts of interest and egos – led Shantibaba and months in an Australian prison while Schoenmakers to sever ties with Arjan. his lawyers appealed his extradition After leaving the Greenhouse, the pair connect… until June 1991, when he was ed with infamous smuggler Howard Marks (a.k.a. unexpectedly granted bail, paid the Mr. Nice) to form Mr. Nice Seed Bank. Soon after, $100,000 and skipped town to the Shantibaba moved his operation to Switzerland safety of the Netherlands. while Nevil remained in the Netherlands, continuing his work under the radar and out of the spotlight.

SEEDS OF BETRAYAL Of the 42 customers listed in Schoenmakers’ LONG LIVE THE KING indictment, only five were undercover agents …

Around 2003, Schoenmakso how did the DEA get ahold of the names and er learned that the Justice addresses of the rest? Unfortunately, based on Department had dropped its rumors that have never been substantiated, Nevil case. With no more outstandaccused Skunkman Sam of being an undercover ing warrants against him, he DEA agent. But as it turned out, the snitch was acwas finally free to travel again. tually Nevil’s friend and business partner, Raymond He returned home to AustraAnthony Cogo. lia, where he settled in New Ray Cogo worked as one of the Seed Bank’s South Wales, dropped out of U.S. distributors from February 1988 until June the Cannabis scene entirely, and lived for over a 1989 – receiving bulk shipments of seeds from decade in relative seclusion. He resurfaced briefly in Nevil in Michigan, then mailing individual orders 2015 when it was announced that he’d joined the out to customers hidden inside soup cans. In a board of an Australian medical Cannabis compasworn affidavit to the DEA that didn’t surface until ny called AusCann. Sadly though, his Cannabis 2018, Cogo admits that despite Nevil’s explicit comeback would be short-lived: Two years after instructions to destroy all customer information being diagnosed with cancer, Nevil passed away on after shipping the orders, he nevertheless kept it March 30, 2019, at the age of 62. all. So when he got busted attempting to sneak Many of those who’ve worked with Schoenmakers hash to a friend in prison, Cogo cut a deal to over the years speak unfavorably of his character, save his own ass – turning over an alleged 360 and perhaps justifiably so. But opinions about his pages of the Seed Bank’s customer information personality aside, there’s no denying the tremento the DEA in June 1989. Four months later dous worldwide impact he had on Cannabis cultivacame Black Thursday, then the warrant for Nevils’ tion. Without Nevil and his Holland Seed Bank, arrest the following year. many of the strains we enjoy today might not exist.

STO RY b y B O B BY B LAC K @ CAN N T H RO PO LO G Y fo r LEA F NAT IO N | M AI N P HOTO b y STEV E N CU RT I S

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WHEN VENOM IS COURSING THROUGH YOUR EMBROILED VEINS, it feels good to let out an exultant FUCK. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find any single word in the English language so versatile. Call us unrefined, but when you have such an effective expression – so interchangeable simply by the tone and cadence with which it is spit – why reach into that bag of expletives for anything else?

With fuck as the signature example, swear words can be some of the most impactful of all expressions – the exemplary embodiment of absolute emotion. They are the sprinkles to your sentences. The punctuation to your pronouns. The gravy on your mashed potatoes.

And when you study how we might’ve arrived at this era of artful articulation, it seems plausible that this breakthrough gained momentum when the 1940’s war children came of age a decade later. After having their mouths washed out with soap enough times in the cookie cutter order of row housing, they grew weary of the conservative austerity it took to defeat the Nazis, ready to adopt their rock and roll identity – ripe for a cultural rebellion. And rightfully accentuated by bad words in back alleys with cuffed jeans and cigarette-fueled observations.

If you think about it, language is a peculiar vehicle for communicating. And since the advent of our grunts toward a more competent connection, shunned words have had a place on the periphery of the dictionary. And when it comes to the word fuck: Why would you insulate the most foolproof remark that pinpoints your fiery feelings, when it specifically flavors your fervor?

Doesn’t it feel liberating to let it out…

Just like a giant, breathy bong toke.

mar. 2022

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