“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.