FREE 18+ For adults only. Soft Secrets is published six times a year by Discover Publisher BV B Netherlands
Issue 5 - 2014
A PETITION TO THE EU AMSTERDAM
Weed like to talk
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While cannabis has become a worldwide debate over the last decades, the European Union somehow managed to avoid it. It cannot do so anymore. As underlined by the Eu European Monitoring Centre Ce for Drugs and Drug D Addiction, the lack lac of harmonisation of European Member States’ Stat cannabis policies has led to “a heterogeneous ‘legal ma map’ regarding cannabis offenc offences: some countries or regions tolerate certain forms of possession and consumption; other countries apply administrative sanctions or fines; while still others apply penal sanctions”.
In this issue: CLASSIC STRAINS: CHEESE ››
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STEPHEN ROFFE: BEYOND HERCULES ››
19
FIELD NOTES FOR THE CBD WAVE GENEALOGY ››
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Liberticidal policies pursued in certain Member States turn quiet citizens into offenders or criminals, while other European citizens are free to use cannabis in their Member States. The question of coherence and discrimination is worth asking. The ECI Weed like to talk aims at making the EU solve this problem by adopting a
common policy on the control and regulation of cannabis production, use and sale. Cannabis use is a matter of every citizen’s freedom of opinion and right of control over his or her own body, as in the case of alcohol and tobacco. It has been shown many times that the health risks of cannabis are much lower than that of legal drugs used for recreational purposes (alcohol, tobacco) and medical purposes (pain killers, psychoactive medication). Yet cannabis is still considered as a narcotic drug and therefore a “punishable offence” by the United Nations, although this classification is more and more disputed. Drug trafficking is in no way the cause, but rather the result, of repressive State policies: the troubles it brings are the logical consequences of drug
prohibition, not of an intrinsic “evil” character of cannabis. The reasons alleged to protect public health are contradicted in theory and in practice. Prohibition has increased cannabis use and resulted in serious damages to public health and security. Cannabis in and of itself is not the problem, but the renouncing of a debate and a European policy is. Its regulation in the EU is incoherent and unworthy of the Union’s values, whatever governments argue and whatever mask they use to hide behind. WITH 1 MILLION SIGNATURES THE EU CAN NO LONGER IGNORE THE DEMAND FOR LEGALISATION! SIGN THE PETITION HERE AND SPREAD THE WORD! http://weedliketotalk.wix.com/wltt
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Stand up, don’t spectate! “Fuck it, I quit” has been the phrase of the moment in the US cannabis movement after KTVA reporter Charlo Greene quit her reporting job on live TV, having just outed herself as the owner of the Alaska Cannabis Club! Having previously reported on the Alaska Cannabis Club without mentioning her connection to it, Greene took the decision to reveal to viewers that she would be leaving the network to divert all her energy into the fight to legalise cannabis in the state. As the segment she was presenting drew to a close, Greene looked directly into camera and said, “Now everything you heard is why I, the actual owner of the Alaska Cannabis Club, will be dedicating all of my energy toward fighting for freedom and fairness which begins with legalising marijuana here in Alaska.” “And as for this job, well, not that I have a choice but, fuck it, I quit.” After Greene’s spectacular resignation the camera cuts to the main anchor presenter who manages to stutter, “Alright we apologise for that….we’ll… we’ll be right back.” Greene then hit social media launching a YouTube video promoting every Alaskans’ right to smoke cannabis. “Advocating for freedom and fairness should be everyone’s duty,” she said. “I’m making it my life’s work to uphold what America stands for truly: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” “If responsible adults should be allowed to choose how they like to drink,” Greene asks in her video upload, “why differentiate my toke from your beer?”
CBD ComPassion is a Sativa dominant CBD-rich variety made by crossing a Nepalese variety with an un-named sativa. This is Dutch Passion’s first independently bred CBD variety. They have measured 14,7% THC and 8,5% CBD in this variety, the lower THC levels mean this is a useful medical variety which can be used without some of the heavy effects of THC. This can be useful for those seeking a more laid-back experience which will allow them to function well throughout the day and still have the medical benefits without feeling too high. Cannabis produced from this variety (or oils/hash made from it) should have a roughly 2:1 ratio of THC:CBD. Although the CBD varieties have been developed primarily with medical users in mind, we get surprisingly positive feedback from many recreational cannabis users. They report that cannabis from the CBD-rich varieties gives a strong body stone, with a less cerebral impact. The overall experience for many (though not all) recreational users is very good, somewhat different to traditional high-THC pot, but just as enjoyable. Genetics:
Nepalese x Sativa (25% Indica/75% Sativa) Culture: indoor and greenhouse Flowering time : 8 to 9 weeks THC: 14.7 % CBD: 8.5 % Seed bank: Dutch Passion
ComPassion
Her organization, the Alaska Cannabis Club, is Alaska’s main medical marijuana resource, providing advice on how to grow your own supply and also connecting medical marijuana cardholders with local growers. Greene has also started an Indiegogo campaign for cannabis reform, explaining in its summary: “I’m Charlo Greene, the president and CEO of the Alaska Cannabis Club - Alaska’s only legal medical marijuana resource.” “I just quit my news reporting job on live TV to announce that I am redirecting all of my energy toward helping to end a failed drug policy that has ruined the lives of far too many Americans.” The campaign has been created to encourage Alaskan residents to vote to legalise cannabis in the state via the upcoming Ballot Measure 2. Within a few days of launch it had hit its fundraising goal of $5000. If voters do approve Ballot Measure 2 on November 4th all Alaskan residents aged 21 and above will be allowed to legally possess an ounce of cannabis and grow up to six plants in their own home. Now that’s progress! Greene’s resignation made a great news story and set the internet buzzing for a good few days cleverly drawing attention to her club and their campaign to get Alaskan voters to stand up for what they believe in rather than sit on the side lines and spectate. Charlo Greene we salute you!
“Fuck it, I quit!”
a new growth experience.
pass it on!
Check out our website www.plagron.com for tips & tricks
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READERS’ MAIL
Attention Readers! Fancy a FREE packet of FEMINISED seeds from DINAFEM? Then send us a picture of your grow room or best cannabis plant, including a visible copy of Soft Secrets, and we’ll send you 3 seeds. Should your photo happen to feature your beautiful wife or girlfriend wearing a sexy microbikini or super hot lingerie, you will receive 6 seeds. Photo of the Month will even receive 9 prime quality feminised seeds. With compliments of Soft Secrets and DINAFEM!
Three weeks veg using all the Canna nutes in coco with air pots. Eight weeks flowering under a 400w HPS. Proud to show of my The Ultimate buds and pert English titties to you. And what lovely pert English titties they are! We almost didn’t notice those cracking Ultimate buds, we were staring so hard. Hi SSUK! What do you people think of my Vanilla Kush 6 week-old babies? Impressive bush? Keep up your great work boys! MISS MONEYPENNY My, my, Miss MoneyPenny! You’re looking very lovely today and we think we just caught a glimpse of your Octopussy. Splendid.
E-mail your entries to SSUK@softsecrets.nl. NOTE: All entries are handled with the utmost discretion. We don’t publish out of focus pics, and we don’t like photos of plants in veg stage. It’s fat buds & sweet babes we want to see!
E-mail: SSUK@softsecrets.nl Hi Soft Secrets. This is me with my Super Cali Haze, Super Auto, grown outdoors in soil with minimum nutrients. P.s Love the mag Hands down, one of the most impressive outdoor plants we’ve seen for a long time. Fantastic work.
Hi, this is my first attempt of growing Super Bud, in the picture it is in the 8th week of flowering, nearly ready to be cropped. We used a 600 watt HPS in 50 litre pots using soil. As you can see it stretched in the early stages and nearly became too tall for the grow room. End result was 3oz of dried bud which wasn’t too bad :) Doing another grow at the moment with Green House Cheese and so far so good. Regards from Ireland x Your plant seems to have sprouted a hot, seminaked lady... please tell us what nutrients you’ve been using! We look forward to seeing the pics of your next grow, here’s a few tips; ‘top’ your plant by pinching out the growing tip once it has developed to 5 or 6 internodes tall, this will make it spread out laterally and produce more bud sites. Develop the lower bud sites by cutting back leaf foliage and allowing the light to reach them, you can even hang a cfl lamp alongside them to get more light in there... and we’ll have more of that lovely lady too please.
`Hey guys. Just wanted to send you a pic of my most recent girls. These turned out to be my best result so far. I used the full Buddhas Tree range of on these and the oil content was insane! Thanks for the great read as always!` J - CAMBRIDGESHIRE
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Hi, these are Auto Mazars grown organically on Plagron nutes under 3x600w. Total yield was1350g, I expected more. Three different phenos were spotted in the crop. KERTESZ FROM HUNGARY Don’t be too disappointed, our Hungarian friend. They’re looking pretty damn fine and you did go organic so, what you’re lacking in yield, you should get back in taste. Next time concentrate on improving your environment; try upping your ventiliation - that fan and filter looks small for an 1800watt room – exchange the air more often and cut down on the heat... you’ll soon be on your way to that magical gram per watt.
I found these seeds. So don’t know what they are. This is them on day of harvest after 14 weeks from germination. They’ve been growing outdoors on my balcony loving the summer sun. FROM GRO BOT Cracking result considering you didn’t know what they were. We won’t ask where you found them, but they turned out nice mate!
Here are a few photos of my latest harvest, it’s a Super Skunk Auto grown in a 20 litre DWC bucket under a 330watt dual spec LED. I fed the whole Canna Aqua range with extra cal mag and silicon. I got just under 6 oz dry, which I was well pleased with. I hope you deem my pics worthy of a show in your amazing rag. Happy growing and peace out. SMERKS Fantastic yield from an Auto plant. We’re receiving more and more impressive photos of LED grows at the Soft Secrets office. The tide is definitely turning where lighting is concerned, is this the future? Keep sending your pictures.
Hi Guys ! Please find attached the results of my hard labour! Critical 2.0 raised entirely on Dutch Pro. Take Root, A+B, Multi Total and Explode. Vegged under 2 x 200w Envirolite’s and then 2 x 400w HPS. Had real problems with heat due to the weather but still managed to yield a healthy 30 oz dry. Not bad for a 1st timer grow! Love Soft Secrets! Keep up the good work. AN ADOPTED YORKSHIREMAN 30 oz from 800watts? On your first go? Either the Yorkshireman’s exaggerating his figures or massive congratulations are in order! Good looking bud, sir.
Greetings, beloved Soft Secrets! Hope you appreciate this fabulous pic of my beauties! The cheeky potted power ladies are Purple Paralysis, White Russian and a Northern Lights Hybrid Cross - all in week 5 of very vigorous bloom! Not long to go! DR GREENTHUMB Thanks cheeky! All looking nice, plump and well rounded... the buds are good too!
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PRODUCT FLASH PLAGRON GREEN SENSATION
ADDITIVE / BOOSTER
Stimulates flowering for the highest yield and best taste Boost your buds with the organic compounds phosphorus and potassium present in the Green Sensation. Green Sensation contains four products in one bottle. When using this booster you don’t need to buy any other additives like a bloom stimulator, PK 13-14 or enzymes as they are already in there. You can also lower the use of the basic nutrient by 50% when using Green Sensation. Test it yourself and experience the benefits of Green Sensation! Green Sensation is a powerful booster that guarantees a high yield. This stimulator was developed especially for the final 4 to 6 weeks of the flowering phase. Because of its well-balanced composition Green Sensation provides all the nutrients the plant needs. It ensures profuse flowering and cropping, a hard cell structure and the very best flavour. Advantages of Green Sensation: t 'PS CJHHFS BOE IBSEFS CVET t *NQSPWFT GMBWPVS CFDBVTF PG greater sugar formation. t $BO CF VTFE PO BMM TVCTUSBUFT t 4VJUBCMF GPS BMM UZQFT PG XBUFSJOH TZTUFNT Packaging 100 ml, 250 ml, 500 ml, 1 and 5 liter. on com Do you have any questions? servicedesk@plagron.com For additional information about Green Sensation and other products, www.plagron.com
FROM SOUTH AMERICA WITH LOVE; DUTCH PASSION INTRODUCE DESFRÁN Dutch Passion have introduced Desfrán, a pure South American photoperiod old-school sativa based on the multiple prize winning ‘Destroyer’ genetics. The variety is a resinous and heavy yielding connoisseur sativa variety with a soaring, strong psychedelic ‘up’ high which takes 9-10 weeks to bloom. If she is left to bloom beyond 10 weeks the hit becomes very heavy - a true ‘destroyer’. Desfrán is a stretchy variety which will fill the grow room quickly and grow tall. The genetics originally come from a Mexican Oaxaca, Colombian Punto Rojo and Meao Thai. This variety adapts well to SOG and SCROG grow methods, she produces unusually dense and compact buds for a sativa and has a fruity aroma with hints of green apples, pear and a hint of melon. Desfrán is a collaboration between Alberto, owner of South American Haze magazine and Dutch Passion. www.dutch-passion.nl
PARADISE SEEDS: GREEN LIGHT FOR LATIN AMERICA’S FIRST MEDICAL CANNABIS PLANTATION Paradise Seeds is celebrating the news that Chile has become the first South American country to authorize a medical cannabis growing programme to provide “compassionate use of cannabis oil therapy for relief” to oncology patients. The Dutch seed bank has been chosen to partner the project, which will be run by alternative therapy organization Fundación Daya (Daya Foundation). Paradise Seeds is providing the seeds to grow plants for the purpose of cannabis oil extraction. The oil will be used to develop therapies for 200 cancer patients. Authorization for the project has come from the Chilean Government’s Agricultural and Livestock Service, which announced the project on September 8 2014. The programme is a joint initiative between Fundación Daya and the municipality of La Florida (with a population of more than 360,000 people) and will benefit public health patients and Fundación Daya beneficiaries. The landmark decision to authorize the growing of medical marijuana in Chile was achieved through the hard work of the Fundación Daya, an organization set up by Chilean actress and social activist, Ana Mariá Gazmuri. It comes at a time when the topic of cannabis criminalization has been the focus of increasing debate in the country. The reform movement has many high profile supporters, from celebrities and academics to politicians, including a former president. Fundación Daya will be working with the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy at the University of Valparaiso to produce medical quality cannabis oil, extracted from the cannabis plants grown on its plantation. It will train public health workers in how to use the oil for palliative care and pain relief. The organization have chosen five Paradise seeds varieties to be grown. The Amsterdam based seed company has a track record of working with growers and assisting medical cultivation projects in Canada. It also has a history of growing strains, such as Pandora and Nebula, which have been recognised for having medical qualities. These varieties are amongst those chosen for the programme, as well as Durga Mata 2 CBD, a strain developed specifically for medical users, which was released earlier this year. Luc Krol from Paradise Seeds commented, “This is a fantastic decision by the Chilean Government which has shown real forward thinking in this issue. We look forward to working with the Fundación Daya and sharing our knowledge of medicinal cannabis with them. We are confident this project will have a positive effect on the cancer patients involved.” www.paradise-seeds.com
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CLASSIC STRAINS
A DANK AND POTENT LEGEND CONTINUES TO STINK UP GARDENS AROUND THE WORLD
Exodus was also responsible for launching CANABIS, the Campaign Against Narcotic Abuse Because of Ignorance in Society.
Cheese
In the late 1990s, Big Buddha crossed a Cheese clone with a spicy Afghani male known as ‘The Kali’, then back-crossed this result with the Cheese mother plant over the course of two years. Stable genetics resulting in variable, yet desirable, phenotypes offered experienced growers the
Cheese, the first-ever commercial Cannabis strain from the UK, domiSativa Diva nates the international weed scene to this day. Strain Name: Breeder: Genetics: Origins: Flowering: Outdoor
Cheese (clone-only) Exodus Crew 75% sativa / 25% indica Skunk #1 (Possibly x Afghani or Northern Lights) Around 48 days Harvest: Mid-September through early October
Strain Name: Breeder: Genetics: Origins: Flowering: Outdoor Harvest:
Cheese Big Buddha Seeds 60% sativa / 40% indica Cheese x The Kali (Afghani) 49 to 63 days End of October through early November
History of the Origins of Cheese Cheese is regarded as the most famous variety – if not the only one that the majority of folks know about – originating in the United Kingdom. Single-handedly
large buds were impressive and sturdy. This selection was cloned and dubbed ‘Cheese’. Some folks speculate that the Skunk #1 selection was then crossed with an Afghani or Northern Lights, due to its spicy undertones and bud structure,
Cheese is a good strain for sativa shorter growing seasons
opportunity to select the perfect blend of sativa and indica, as well as specific flavours, flowering time and yield. This was also the first time that Cheese genetics would be publicly offered in seed form, rather than difficult-to-source clones.
carrying the torch for ‘British weed’, the Cheese has a storied past that is directly attributable to two different breeders, Big Buddha Seeds and the Exodus crew – a.k.a. the ‘Luton Massive’. Rumour has it that, back in 1988 or 1989, a special female phenotype was selected after growing a pack of original Skunk #1 from The Seed Bank (pre-cursor to the Flying Dutchmen and Sensi Seeds) in the Chiltern area of England. The scent was particularly dank and cheesy, while the
although others insist that the original Cheese was simply a specially-selected Skunk #1 pheno. Seven or eight years later, in around 1995, a clone was given to the Exodus crew, a community living near Luton in Haz Hall, known locally as ‘The Manor’. A bastion of tolerance and self-preservation, Exodus was famous for promoting an alternative lifestyle, throwing generous parties, Cannabis cultivation and its support of pot legalisation efforts in the UK.
Both the Exodus Cheese and the BBC respond well to the bonsai technique of removing the central cola, as well as topping and FIMing, although sea-of-green (SOG) and screen-of-green (SCROG) techniques are also possible. Either version can be encouraged to grow short and stocky, plus, the relatively short flowering time makes this a suitable variety for colder regions, where a limited growing
Cheese Cultivation, Phenotypes and Effect The Exodus cut shows slightly more sativa than the Buddha version, with thinner leaves and a more ‘leggy’ appearance. The wild lateral development of this version requires the employment of stakes, yoyos or other means of plant support, in order to keep up with the medium to heavy yield that will tax slender lateral branches. However, if the original genetics are accessed (clone-only), the results will naturally be much more predictable and consistent.
tightly-packed buds that drip with resin towards harvest time
Those seeking spicy, old-school pot flavours should stock some Cheese in their library. A woodsy, musky scent that can only come from this strain makes it easy to identify by smell alone. Anyone who has tried to carry some Cheese around in public knows full well that double-bagging is a minimum requirement, although it is probably best to just leave this one at home in your rolling tray. Growers have reported unusually high rates of police raids when cultivating this strain, second only to NYC Diesel in its ability to get growers busted from smell alone.
lovers who live in climates with
The Big Buddha Cheese or BBC stretches slightly during pre-flower and the internodal spaces will continue to lengthen throughout the flowering period. The Afghani indica content assists in shortening the flowering cycle and balancing out the heady high of the Colombian and Mexican genetics. Although the scent may not be particularly remarkable during the early weeks of flowering, in the final weeks, a pungent aroma that only intensifies after harvesting is released, in addition to explosive trichome production.
Big Buddha Cheese offers dense,
pact and may appear slightly smaller than expected during the early flowering stages; while the yield may be lower than preferred, the potent, creeping effect means that less weed needs to be smoked in order to achieve complete intoxication. In spite of this compact quality, the strain is known for being relatively mould-resistant.
The BBC strongly resembles the classic Skunk #1 from the Flying Dutchmen label, while the Exodus cut tends to exhibit slightly more sativa-dominant phenotypes. The BBC can easily be trained to grow fat and bushy, with good lateral branching. Leaves showcase a definite 60/40 blend, with the sativa dominance thinning the leaves and adding a golden tone to the typical dark green Afghani foliage. Colas are perhaps more spindly than those of more indica-dominant strains, but the density and tendency of the flowers to cling to the stalks provide much more yield than is first apparent. Buds are com-
The flavour of this outdoor Cheese will be imbued with the power of natural sunshine season usually makes sativa cultivation difficult or impossible.
Hybrids Related to Cheese Big Buddha’s Blue Cheese (Blueberry x Cheese) is an indica-dominant gem that provides mostly Cheese genes with a hint of Blueberry, due to a special selection process and growing out copious amounts of progeny. For Diesel lovers, the Chiesel (Cheese x NYC Diesel) combines two of the stinkiest strains in history to offer an extremely unusual, fuel-like flavour with a trippy sativa high. What Cheesewreck (Cheese x Trainwreck) lacks in flavour is made up by its potent couch-lock effect. Old-school aficionados will appreciate Cheesus (Cheese x God Bud), Toe Jam (Cheese x Flo) and Swiss Cheese (Cheese x Swiss Miss), while devotees of Soma should check out SoGouda (Blueberry x Cheese x G13 Haze).
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20 years of experience, 20 years superb genetics, 20 years the best results! PARADISE SEEDS GRAVENSTRAAT 12, 1012 NM AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND TEL. SHOP: 020 7371599 TEL. OFFICE: +31 20 6795 422 FAX:+31 34 2461027 INFO@PARADISE-SEEDS.COM WWW.PARADISE-SEEDS.COM POSTBUS 377 - 1000 AJ AMSTERDAM- HOLLAND
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REPORT
SPOTLIGHT ON….
Bristol Cannabis Social Club The South West of England has always held a special place in our hearts; the beautiful rolling countryside, gorgeous coastline and prehistoric monuments make it a great place to visit. Awesome scenery aside another big draw to the South West is its laid back almost ‘hippyesque’ cannabis scene, some of the best companies in the industry are based in that part of the country. So, when we got an email from the newly formed Bristol Cannabis Club inviting us for a chat, we didn’t have to think twice about heading down to see them.
chat with other likeminded individuals. The club admins meet in a private location every 2 to 3 weeks to work on our future plans and website. We held a Feed the Birds evening which we organised with help from Finn and a cannabis information picnic on The Downs, Clifton on August 16th which attracted a large crowd of people, and we were able to raise funds by raffling items donated by UK Skunkworks and Tangy Gifts of Bristol.
We spoke to Jo from the club to see what he had to say…
Our next public event is a Fright Night party on Friday 31st October at our regular venue at The Prince of Wales, St Pauls, Bristol from 8pm
SSUK: Guys, thanks very much for taking part in this interview. Please tell us a bit about your club. Bristol Cannabis Club started as a Facebook page on 1st May 2012, as part of the UK Cannabis Social Clubs initiative, the page passed through several groups of admins until finally becoming a functioning club with its first meeting at the end of May this year
How can our readers who are local to you join the club? Does it cost to join? Local readers can attend any of our public events, details can be found on our Facebook page, website www. bristolcannabisclub.uk or email info@ bristolcannabisclub.uk We also have a mailing list which people can sign up to by registering their interest via our email address.
Why did you decide to start the club? The current group of admins came together because of their mutual interest and passion in both cannabis and cannabis law reform, and a common desire to drive change to the current system and laws and provide a point for patients who use cannabis as medicine to be able to source information and education.
Bristol Cannabis Club is not currently charging membership fees, and will not start to do so until we have membership packages available and the systems in place to provide a secure and regular membership service. Until this service is ready we are raising funds by raffling items donated by local and national allied businesses. The main raffle prize available for our Christmas party in December is in the photo below. Tickets for the party and raffle will be available shortly through our website.
How does your club differ from the other UK Cannabis Social Clubs? We’ve heard that you’re currently fundraising for community projects? Many of our club members are keen horticulturists and part of our current fundraising proceeds will be dedicated to supporting a local community garden project in Bristol, helping to provide fresh produce. We are also raising funds to be able to contribute towards the cost of patients traveling to Spain for therapeutic treatments.
If you’d like your cannabis club or society to be featured in Soft Secrets, please email
BCC first meeting 31st May 2014
The club’s official logo
Tell us a bit about your members. Is there a ‘typical’ type of member? No not really, our members come from all walks of life, including an Infrastructure Manager, Sales Manager, Rope Access Technician, Care Home Manager, Medical Herbalist, Senior Analyst, Students, Quality Control Technicians, house wives and gardeners. What sort of activities do you organise for members and how often do they take place? We organise monthly public social evenings in a local pub or community centre in the St Pauls and Easton areas of the city, where people can relax and
The club picnic
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EVENTS
How The Light Gets In Festival The ‘How The Light Gets In’ Festival is the largest philosophy and music festival in the world. Its’ thought-provoking debates, talks and courses are spread over 10 days and feature 180 speakers and 150 bands performing across 6 stages; a staggering total of 520 events in all. That’s enough to open anyone’s mind! The event ran from 22nd May to 1st June in the tranquil setting of Hay-on-Wye. This year’s theme was Heresy, Truth and the Future and the full programme featured world-leading experts in neuroscience, psychology and pharmacology, including David Nutt, Anders Sandberg and Richard Bentall, together with figures from the worlds of politics, philosophy and culture to debate everything from psychiatry to the future of drug policy. All set against a backdrop of live music and DJ sets from some of the UK’s most exciting talent. This event promised festival-goers the opportunity to discover which of today’s heresies will become the truths of tomorrow. Scrolling through the programme our attention was drawn to plenty of the debates and discussions, but a couple really spiked our attention;
Rationality and Drugs Fired by the Home Secretary for comparing the harms of ecstasy and horse-riding, hear David Nutt makes his case for a rational, evidence-based approach to drug policy.
Morality, Hypocrisy and Health Alcohol and tobacco, largely made in the West and exported to the rest of the world, kill 25 times as many people worldwide as all illegal drugs put together. Could it be that illegal drugs are not banned to protect our health but to protect the West’s deadly exports? Under the guise of morality is the West pursuing an economic goal, or is the war on drugs a genuine attempt to improve our wellbeing? Senior Drug Policy Advisor to the Obama Administration Kevin Sabet, live from
Boston, award-winning columnist and broadcaster Mary Ann Sieghart, and drug tsar to Tony Blair Mike Trace confront the west’s relationship with drugs. With our interest well and truly tickled, we contacted Tom Phillips from the organising body, The Institute of Art and Ideas, and asked her for his low-down. SSUK: Tom, thanks for talking to us. How did this year’s event go? By all accounts it was a huge success. We had more events than ever before (over 500 across 10 days), bigger audiences and, we hope, some very satisfied festivalgoers. I think we took the event to a new level this year, in terms of the scale of the project – we even hosted our own university on site, the iai Academy! The discussions surrounding pharmacology and drug policy are of particular interest to our readers. David Nutt is held in high regard round these parts, was his talk well attended? TP: It was indeed. He’s a Bristolian - we’re just over the border in Wales, so that might have helped! But really ea y he’s es respectespect ed by our audience because of his conviction. He stood up to the establishment in e believes to be right. the pursuit of what he ery often, and I think You don’t see that very eal hope. So he was it gives the public real odern-day ‘heretic’ exactly the sort of modern-day we were after. e talk featurAnd how about the ing Obama’s Drug Advisor, Kevin Sabet? nsurprisingly, It was fascinating. Unsurprisingly, ong prohibiSabet took a strong ke Trace, who tion stance. But Mike st comprehenwrote the UK’s first cies under New sive anti-drugs policies Labour, is now veryy sceptical of that ed that the West has approach. He argued o control the drugs created a system to out, whilst keeping that it’s worried about, hoice free for trade its own drugs of choice
and consumption. So his position has changed markedly over the past decade! The West clearly has to ask some deep questions about its own history and morality on this topic. On the question of legalisation though, Sabet and Trace found an area of agreement. They were both sceptical about floating new drugs on the market. They both asked the same question: would the drugs trade really be any better in the hands of capitalists than it is in the hands of cartels? Tell us a little bit about the festival, how long has it been operating and when did it all begin? 2014 was the sixth year of the festival. It was begun by our Director Hilary Lawson because he wanted to help put big philosophical conversation back into public life. We bring together speakers of all hues - academics and non-academics, policymakers and commentators, establishment figures and outsiders, celebrities and unknowns. No single speaker is pandered-to or wrapped in cotton wool - no theory or world view iss safe. sa e. Challenging C a e g g received ece ed wisdom sdo
By Little Lebowski
and practice is key for us, and I think that’s what draws the audiences in. And how many visitors have you had over previous years? The festival now has a footfall of around 30,000, whereas in the first year we had only a few thousand. The response has been incredible really. Tell us about the past themes and guests that you’ve had. In 2013 our theme was Error, Lies and Adventure. The idea there was that we usually think of errors as things to be avoided, covered up or papered over. But it’s through error that we find new ways to act and imagine. So we were looking for the errors in our thinking across philosophy, politics, science and technology that might lead us on a new path – on a new adventure. We’ve noticed that there are some great accommodation options for the festival… you can put us down for a super luxury yurt next year! How can our readers find out about future festivals and events? You can learn more about abou the festival – accommodation, programming prog etc – at www.howthelightg www.howthelightgetsin.org. All our events are filmed and released on our video platform, platfo www.iai. tv, which has 100s 100 of debates and talks on everything eve from human cloning clonin to multiverse theory. Are there an any upcoming events that yo you believe the Soft Secrets re readers would be interested iin? Certainly! We’ve just released debates on dar dark energy, the limits of logic, th the science of sex, and the relation relationship between fantasy and truth. We We’ll be releasing information about the 2015 festival soon. So watch this space!
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SHATTER
happy that I won because I was against good competitors from Amsterdam and America and now it is time to see how High Times will go in November!
INTERVIEW WITH THE EXTRACTION CHAMPIONS
NERD EXTRACTIONS Alot of people are now breaking into extractions, armed with a blow torch and rig they strive for the most potent and flavour filled shatters and extracts they
making unsafe extractions and using techniques and methods that make an end product that is contaminated and can do damage. I also give as many seminars
By Stoney Tark commercial level, which I am very excited about but will keep Soft Secrets updated in the next few months. What is de-waxing during oil extraction? De-waxing is a chemical process which is used to separate the plant waxes from the part that you really want to smoke, all of the essential oils. Think about the trichome like an egg. We are cracking the eggs and removing the shells. Those shells are the waxes and we just want the insides. This the most basic way to describe the wax part of extraction.
can make at low budget cost. So to clear the air on a new subject to a lot of people, Soft Secrets UK caught up with Lorenzo ‘ The Nerd ‘ to find out about his work and his recent cup success. SSUK: How did “NERD extractions” begin? Lorenzo: NERD Extractions began basically after I decided that I wanted to make and have the best hash that there was. I was personally fed up with the low quality and some of the terrible things that were out there. I have been all over the world and wanted to use my experience and knowledge I gained from the States to start my own extractions. Now I have been extracting under ‘NERD Extractions’ for the past 2 years, moving around Europe. What made you want to get into the industry? I got into the industry for the competition side of things and to educate people on what the best quality product really is. There are a lot of people now who are
as I can to teach people on the correct and safe ways to do extraction. Safety first is the most important thing. You are an Italian national. How was life growing up in Italy? Sucks...Italy is one of the most beautiful places you can imagine but the government are hard work and the weed policy means you cannot even have a joint. So that is one of the other reasons I started to fly around and by the time I was 23, I had already been to Amsterdam 52 times. After the 53rd time, I decided to move there. Living there I knew I could learn ten times more knowledge and make connections than I could get anywhere else. What is it you specialize in at ‘NERD Extractions’? Hash and every kind of hash. I am currently improving my techniques on clear extractions and holy waters, like my good friends in America are doing right now. Now I am trying to make new kinds of hash that have not been seen before on a
Is there a difference between using bud and leaf trim for extraction? Yes. There is a big difference. There are two ways to do a run which is with nugs and with trim. The nugs runs are more costly but the quality is much better. In terms of taste and smell and flavor. Please don’t get me wrong, you can do a run from trim that is almost as good but the most important thing is the starting materials. If you have good terpines you will end up with good terpines.
What are your thoughts on the current movement and the medical break through? I think that cannabis is a plant that everyone should grow but right now in Europe, the governments are trying to take hold of the market. I think people should be able to grow the medicine for themselves without the government being involved. If the government do want to get involved, then is for the right reasons and not for financial gain...I would be so happy. Where do you see ‘NERD Extractions’ over the next 3 years? The Sky is the limit really and I hope it won’t ‘shatter’..haha. Do you have any tips for those readers who want to take their work to the next level? I do not have any tips but can only say please travel around and really see for yourself. Teach yourself to want to be better and always keep improving. I am learning new things everyday and have real-
What is your opinion on purging and what is the correct way? Purging is very important and something that a lot of people are unaware of. It is the process that allows the butane for instance to be removed to ensure a clean extraction has taken place. This means you have an oil that should have no impurities in. Can you tell us more about your recent success in Barcelona? It was a collaboration with ‘ Top Shelf Extracts ‘ based in Colorado. ‘Big D’ down there taught me everything I know about extraction. It was a ‘Sour Diesel’ crumble that was super tasty that won us first prize. It had been purged for more than 110 hours as everyone should always do. In the beginning I was nervous about the competition but still happy because I knew how good my entry was. I was more
ized you can always go further than you think. Take the time to see other people work and when on internet forums make your own opinions and make connections and share knowledge. Don’t ever think you have the perfect product because you don’t and be humble because everyone can teach you something. Photos courtesy of Growland Spain/ Soft Secrets Spain
16
STRAIN REPORT
The Blue Dream Scene Here we go, stepping onto the stage, we have Humbolt Seeds Company’s Blue Dream, if you haven’t tried it, there is a good chance you have heard tell of it. This strain is a cross of Blueberry with Haze, it is Sativa dominant and is one of the top ten most demanded strains in California, in fact some have said it has become a tad oversaturated in the US market. There are a number of different phenotypes that have been observed with the Blue Dream strain, but at 17-18% THC, it is sought after for its medicinal properties and it is also said to be a strain that preserves a by Packed Nicely fine balance of both head and body effects. A five pack of the seeds were germinated and within two days, all seeds were showing a root and were then transferred into Root Riot cubes and placed into a propagator to await the appearance of their hypocotyl. These showed through in a matter of a couple of days, with fresh white hairy roots appearing, pushing out of the bottom of every cube. A most pleasing sight. At this point the five seedlings were potted up into small square pots using a light soil mix and were watered in with a feed of Growth Technology’s Nitrozyme and Atami Wortel, used to encourage further root development. Then, taking advantage of the long hours of daylight during these summer months, the seedlings were allowed to bask in glorious sunshine until they were ready to be put into the tent and beneath the light. The seedlings responded positively to the natural sunlight and in next to no time the plants were ready and potted up into 18L pots using Guanokalong soil mix, which were then placed in a 1.2m tent. To substitute the sunlight, for lighting I used a Maxibright Digilight Pro 400w dimmable
digital ballast and a 400w dual-spectrum Sunmaster bulb fitted into a standard Euro reflector. The light was set to provide 18.5 hours of light for the first few weeks and the plants soon responded. For extraction I used an RVK 125mm fan and the appropriate Rhino Pro 125mm filter. The nutrients used during this grow were the Canna Terra Vega and the Canna Terra Flores range and the suggested feeding schedule was adhered to throughout... well, up until the point of the selection of an additional bloom booster. To provide an elevated CO2 level within the tent environment I added an Exhale CO2 bag, which
Peaking in Babylon
Dr John Dee
The EU has decided that synthetic cannabis cannot be classed as medicinal. Actually, the “not medicinal” thing isn’t quite true, as I understand that whereas “real” weed has anti-emetic properties (it prevents vomiting and nausea), synthetic variants are emetics (meaning they induce vomiting). It sounds nasty, but I’m sure this has got some sort of medical use. I take the view that the EU is correct to do this, in the short-term at least. Potential medical benefits of synthetic cannabis is going to be a tricky one to figure out and requires consideration by people who know what they’re talking about. Something that is clear though, is that there’s no CBD in it; there’s barely any THC as such in it either. The quickest and most direct way to solve this would be to legalise weed and let everyone get on with it. Why would anyone want to use synthetic when they could have the real deal? Colorado and Holland are evidence that this is the case. The big problem is that increasingly, politicians and political parties are answerable to their “backers” who are almost always big business. The backers/party donators seem to have an agenda of their own which is to be allowed free rein to make billions from every aspect of Joe Public’s day-to-day life. R&R, in the form of consciousness alteration is no different: it’s just another way to screw money out of people. Hence, the idea that people might grow their own weed – legally – and stay in getting stoned rather than going to the pub and drinking themselves sick on corporate beer is not what these people want at all. It’s such a short sighted way of looking at it? I remember in the early/mid 1990’s there was a big noise made about how MDMA meant people would drink less alcohol = a huge drop in revenue. It proved to be the case, but only for a little while then people just incorporated
was hung from the top of the tent to take advantage of CO2’s property of being heavier than air. I kept an eye on the pH and I must admit I am quite impressed with the Guanokalong soil mix and its propensity to maintain quiet a stable and most acceptable reading that varied between 6.3 and 6.8 throughout the grow, regardless of the various nutrients in use. These plants grew fast and were soon widening and branching as they stepped up to a more vigorous production of leaf in the later vegative stage. The lateral branches were expanding and the fan leaves were large, broad and almost appeared to be staking their claim on any of the available light. A clear sign that the roots were not slouching either, was their rather speedy emergence out of the holes in the bottom of each of the 18L pots. That said, from above, there was very little chance of spotting these roots through the ever thickening canopy of lush, green leaves that these plants were churning out. The time came to change the light to 11.5 hours to initiate the flowering phase. At this point there was the usual two weeks of height gain, as the plants made room to accommodate their bud production. It was within around 9-10 days that the first female pre-flowers became discernible around the tops of these plants. As I mentioned earlier, when it came to a choice of bloom booster I made a deviation from the Canna schedule and decided upon using Atami’s Bloombastic. This was added through the final 4-6 weeks of the bloom phase at a rate of 1ml/L. Along with its stimulation of sugars and flower production, it also has stress preventing properties, not that these beauties looked in anyway stressed, but we were getting ever closer to harvest time. The production of
tricombs on and around the bud sites was a satisfying and pleasing sight to behold... but then, let’s be honest, isn’t it always? The plants started to produce flowers in large dense buds and as the nine week flowering time finally elapsed, the plants were looking well the buds being nicely swollen and ready for harvest. Each plant produced just over three ounce of dry, crystal-cloaked bud. It has been said that this would be a good strain for commercial purposes, which may be the case, but I should say that I have experienced various other strains that have had better sized yields than the Blue Dreams grown for this report but we must also keep in mind that these have been grown beneath a single 400w light. The aroma from these buds is a pine-like scent, probably due to high levels of the terpene Alpha-pinene and the taste of this strain could be said to be earthy and fruity, but the blueberry taste is still there, whilst also having a slight tang for good measure. The effects of the smoke began rather quickly with the immediate influence of the sativa high coming through at first, being euphoric and uplifting, though it doesn’t cloud the mind, but rather makes it focus and centred. These cerebral effects were long lasting and over time they slowly gave way to indica like effects of relaxation and the sense that this strain would also be suitable for that chill out period at the end of a hard day. Blue Dream is considered a good strain for a variety of medicinal uses that range from being an anti-spasmodic to antiinflammatory and from Asthma control to various appetite and eating disorders, but then, it’s becoming well known to many that Cannabis has various health and medicinal benefits.
booze into their raving armoire and everyone was happy again. Some of the biggest booze companies bought into (and continue to do so) music festivals, clubs, “organised” raves and all the rest. Similarly, a lot of tobacco companies have invested money in the whole vaping thing, as, let’s face it, it’s just another way of letting people do the same as they used to do (and even cheaper in terms of how much all the stuff costs to produce with a H.U.G.E. markup for Babylon). There’s an element of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is up to here. There is a schism in big capitalism where you have “traditionalists” on the one side saying “no” to anything other than old school tobacco and alcohol, and then there are what I’d arguably call “progressives” who see that these are on the way out – certainly tobacco as we know it is – but that there are massive revenues to be made from the alternatives. They’re all just after one thing though: Joe Public’s hard earned dough. It’s all bread and circuses, people, and I really despise it, but I also am pragmatic enough to dig that any big and meaningful change will come from a corporate Babylon direction. They’ll just need to figure out how they can make most money out of it while understanding that there’s always going to be an element of the cottage industry (as there is with people who make their own beer and wine). The thing is, most people won’t be bothered growing their own weed and would rather have the convenience of letting someone else do it for them and then just nipping down to the dispensary for a quarter ounce once or twice a week. Once the corporations get their greedy capitalist heads around the fact that they can’t stop people growing their own – they can’t stop it now with all the stupid laws in place! – and that there’s always going to be a percentage of the population who will ignore corporate weed in favour of Dealer McDope up the street, then things will change quickly and probably quite radically. And they’ll still make billions and billions out of it.
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19
INTERVIEW
Stephen Roffe: Beyond Hercules, THE INTERVIEW
Interviewed by The Professor
Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to load a speed boat with a ton of hash and then race it between continents at over one hundred miles an hour on the darkest night of the month? Imagine clinging on for dear life while you’re bouncing over the waves in the pitch black. The engines are roaring, cold salty spray is hitting you in the face, your favourite song is blasting through the headphones and the cops are trailing in your wake. Make it home and you’ll have earnt a year’s salary in one night. Sound like a good day at the office? In the nineteen eighties Gibraltar played host to a diverse motley crew of sailors, gangsters, smugglers, wayfarers and adventure seekers who smuggled Moroccan hash to get their kicks, fund their lifestyles and satisfy Europe’s insatiable demand for the stuff. Stephen Roffe was one of those people. In his new book, Beyond Hercules, Stephen shares the thrills, spills, successes and disasters of this secretive world with anyone who cares to read it. We read it and we liked it, so we went to catch up with the man himself to talk about his long relationship with the cannabis plant, his hopes for the book and his future plans for moving into the cannabis industry legally... SSUK: Congratulations on the book Stephen, it’s a very entertaining read – what were your motivations for writing it? SR: Thanks. I’d been thinking about writing my memoirs for my own posterity, but after spending years telling stories around camp fires everyone would tell me “you should write a book!” So it was other people that
It must’ve been a bit of a learning curve for you, can you tell us a bit about that process? Yeah, as a sailor I obviously knew that ‘hemp’ had been used for hundreds of years to make all the canvas sails and ropes that helped transport people and goods around the world but I knew absolutely nothing about the legal history or the medical applications of cannabis. It was through researching bits and bobs for the book that I learnt about all that. I learnt how it was America’s number one crop for donkeys years and then, almost overnight, it became illegal to grow it – and all because of people like the timber barons, the Du Ponts and Anslinger and Hearst, the big business people. That all lead me to finding out about Rick Simpson’s oil and all the medical applications of the plant, which was mind blowing. I started talking to people about it and then I found out about a friend’s motherin-law who used it to cure her skin cancer. I saw the after effects with my own eyes. This was a very attractive woman in her
IF YOU’RE GOING TO DO IT, DO IT BIG! motivated me. I read other books on similar subjects, like Mr Nice, and then watched dubious films like ‘Layer Cake’ and thought ‘Shit, they’re right, I’ve got a better story than that’ and as I’d been thinking about doing my memoirs anyway I’d already written the book in my head.
early sixties who’d developed a cancer at the corner of her mouth, the tumor was about the size of a ten pence piece and the doctors wanted to cut out a big chunk of her cheek to try and fix it. That would’ve left a big hole, exposing her teeth and gums where her cheek should’ve been.
She refused that. Her son knew about the benefits of cannabis oil so he got hold of some and they treated it very successfully. A few months later they went back to the hospital because she needed a bit of cosmetic surgery to deal with some scar tissue and they found that the cancer had completely disappeared. If I had known about that five or six years ago my Dad might still be alive and healthy today. My Mum is in a nursing home in
the government here has just granted its first license for industrial cannabis trials. I want to become part of that. At the moment they’ve granted the license for a small pilot scheme to, and I don’t mean this in a negative way, a bunch of pseudohippies. We don’t need to do this though. Loads of countries around the world have already done that and we know how well it works – there’s just no point growing an acre, where does that get you? I want
Hastings in her sixth year of the cruel disease Alzheimers, so maybe it’s a bit late for her, but I believe it was the stress and heartbreak of caring for my Mum that contributed to my Dad’s early demise.
to get permission to grow hundreds of acres because that’s the only way to make a viable business out of it. If you’re going to do it, do it big! It’s a great way to make money – its good for industry, its good for people and its a great way to help sort out all the shit that we’ve done to the planet. It’s not like its a new idea, we did it for hundreds of years and its only cos of big business and their politicians that we stopped. Here in Portugal there are thousands of hectares of unused farm land that are absolutely perfect for industrial cannabis plantations and it would be great to see Portuguese government allow people to do something productive with the land. There are a lot of social and
Knowing about this and hearing about all the other incidents of people curing their tumours and treating Alzhiemers and Chrones disease with cannabis has inspired my next big project. What’s that going to be? Well, it all depends on how well the book does, but I’m hoping to raise enough funds to set up in the cannabis business legally. I live in Portugal these days and
20 economic problems in this country and a legal cannabis industry could go a long way towards sorting that out. We need to get on to the Agricultural Minister. It sounds like putting this book together has given your love of cannabis a new lease of life!
hadn’t banned it in the 1930s and then again in the 1970s when they knew for sure that cannabis oil could cure cancer. I was twenty four years old in 1974 and if we’d been allowed to know all that then think of all the lives that would’ve been saved and all the ill health and suffering that people have gone through. Imagine
THERE HAVE BEEN MUTTERINGS ABOUT TURNING THE BOOK INTO A FILM Yeah, exactly. I’ve been a consumer of recreational cannabis for my entire adult life but all this information has opened up a whole new world, not just for me but for millions of people. They can’t stop it now, its an unstoppable snowball. Does what you know now change the way you look back at your smuggling days?
how different all of our lives would be, and think of all the families that’ve lost their Mums and Dads because of financially and racially motivated political lies. Its nothing short of fucking criminal. Indeed. This may be a bit of a daft question, but what are your hopes for Beyond Hercules? I’d like to see the book on the shelves
Stephen Roffe: Beyond Hercules With a well developed enthusiasm for adventure, a healthy disregard for nonsensical laws, a love of cannabis and a strong yearning for the seas you could say Stephen Roffe was born to be a hash smuggler. Beyond Hercules is an autobiographical account of how he fell into the business, graduated up the ranks of his profession and then helped to set up one last big job, the final pay day. The book sets the foreground by briefing the reader on Stephen’s early years; from his roots in Hastings to selling and smuggling diet pills in Majorca and then settling into the life of a Cornish fisherman, still in his early twenties. It moves on to how his first smuggling job found him and then turned into a career that led him to become a Gibraltar based cannabis smuggler for most of the eighties. The reader is plunged into the secretive but good natured and thrill seeking world of the high powered ‘cigarette boat’ hash runs between Morocco and Europe. On the darkest, most moonless nights of the month lives would be risked, plans would be executed and rewards enjoyed by those brave enough and smart enough to get from point A to B to C and then back to A again without crashing or getting caught. After dodging and racing his way to a healthy stash of buried treasure the author then sets out to construct the ultimate smuggling team. This crew of four managed bring together all the necessary skills, talents and resources that made them the best in the business. They were so good that it wasn’t long before they came to the attention of the London underworld, and, after being made an offer that was too good to refuse, they crewed up with a known face from the East End. The light-hearted and kindly natured souls of the smuggling team didn’t combine too well with the gangsters though, so after they parted company the team decides to set up the big one, the walk away job... Beyond Hercules is a very entertaining story about a salt-of-the-earth type character who is blessed with charm, daring and vast knowledge of the seas. A nice romantic side-plot bubbles away in the background and, in between high speed dope runs, big money payloads and figuring out ever more creative ways to smuggle hash, the reader is schooled with a few paragraphs on the history of the cannabis business in Morocco and the development of that old English staple, Soap Bar. This is a brave story to tell, and it should inspire the go-getter in everyone. Stephen’s light hearted tone and love of a good story means you’ll be smiling all the way through it, and when you get to the end you’re going to be sparking one up in the good man’s honour for sure!
No. Back then we weren’t thinking about the product in any way other than in terms of the quality of what we were smoking. None of us knew about all the other properties of the plant, we should’ve done though cos back in 1974 we know that they knew cannabis could cure cancer but they told us all huge fucking porky pies and hid the truth from us. Since then they’ve legislated against it, persecuted people for it and at the same time they’ve
when I walk through the airport, and up in WH Smiths as a number one best seller. There have already been mutterings about turning it into a film, that would go hand in hand with the book – it’d be the icing on the cake and it sure would be fun to go down to Gibraltar again and get on a big, powerful motor launch to recreate the action. If that happens I want to be the one driving the boat, cos I’m rather good at it! Getting chased
GETTING CHASED AT 100 MILES AN HOUR WITH HUNDREDS OF KILOS OF ILLICIT CARGO IS A MASSIVE ADRENALIN RUSH poisoned us all and made billions of dollars doing so, and all at the behest of half a dozen or so very powerful people. They’ve changed the whole history of humanity – I mean, a schedule one drug with absolutely no medicinal value? The history of the world would be very different if they
across the Straits at 100 miles an hour with hundreds of kilos of illicit cargo is a massive adrenalin rush, it was always about that rather than the money, and if it can all help to finance a legal and positive cannabis business here in Portugal then I’ll be a very happy man indeed!
Beyond Hercules by Stephen Roffe is published by Indie Publishing (indiepublishingltd.co) and available as a paperback or ebook from Amazon. Beyond Hercules can also be friended on Facebook and followed on Twitter.
WIN YOURSELF A FREE COPY OF BEYOND HERCULES! SSUK READERS CAN NOW WIN A FREE COPY OF THIS AMAZING BOOK. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ANSWER THIS SIMPLE QUESTION: WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE FRENCHMAN WHO PIONEERED INDEPENDENT HASH SMUGGLING AND WROTE FAMOUS BOOKS ABOUT HIS ADVENTURES ON THE RED SEA IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY? EASY, HEY? SEND YOUR ANSWER TO SSUK@SOFTSECRETS.NL BEFORE DECEMBER 18 2014 AND YOU MIGHT BE ONE OF THE LUCKY BASTARDS TO WIN A FREE COPY! COURTESY OF THE PUBLISHER AND SSUK.
21
SHOPS
Hedz Up, Digbeth
You’ll find Hedz Up, Birmingham Eastside’s premier head shop, opposite the Birmingham Coach Station on Digbeth. After moving from Ireland (where they traded as ‘Downtime’) to Birmingham 3 years ago, the shop in Digbeth has been trading for a year and a half now, and in that short time Hedz Up have earned themselves the reputation of having the widest selection of collectible research powders and pills in the West Midlands. Whilst they specialise in research chemicals, Hedz Up have a solid selection of souvenir cannabis seeds, herbal incense and Entheogens, and they’re gradually building their stock of smoking paraphernalia, currently offering a nice selection of detox drinks, bongs and pipes, rolling papers, grinders and the like. The staff are extremely knowledgeable and always
approachable so if you have any questions, let them know! Their website (www.hedzup.co.uk) is clean and mobile friendly, and will soon be accepting easy, secure card payments. Their core opening times are: Mon – Thur: 11am – 8pm Fri: 11am – 10pm Sat: 11am – 8pm Sun: 12noon – 6pm This can vary so please check the website, or call them on 07764949290 if you are pressed for time. Alternatively you can visit their shop in Blackheath (304 Long lane, Shell Corner Birmingham, B62 9LB), where you can also find a nice selection of research chemicals, souvenir seeds and paraphernalia.
EMPORIUM HYDROPONICS, Peckham Emporium Hydroponics has been established for over 2 years and in that time the shop has provided its customers with sound advice and competitive prices which has ensured this shop will be here for a long time to come. The shop is well located with plenty of parking across the road. Emporium sells quality hydroponic systems, hydroponic grow lights, grow tents & hydroponic supplies that can be delivered across the UK fast and discreetly.
Filters, Lumii, at prices you can afford. So, if you’re looking for affordable, reliable hydroponic equipment, look no further! Browse their online hydroponics shop where they have everything you need for successful home hydroponics. Alternatively, you can call Emporium Hydroponics to place your order on 0207 358 9920.
If you’ve always wanted to set up a hydroponics garden to grow great produce then you’ve come to the right place. Emporium Hydroponics supplies a vast range of Hydroponic equipment straight to your door which can be ordered from their safe and secure payment pages on the website www.emporiumhydroponics.com
196 Rye Lane Peckham London SE15 4NF
They stock a variety of hydroponic supplies from leading brand names such as Hesi, Bio Bizz, Ram
(t) 0207 358 9920 (w) www.emporiumhydroponics.com
Smoketower.com Company Blast Once a key making and bag repair shop, Smoketower.com was born in 1995. It has since become the premier online head shop in Europe. Sales were slow to start because early visitors didn’t believe how low the prices were, but the father and two son team eventually got word out about the shop’s wide selection of products and unbeatable prices. A few short months after the shop went live, orders from all over the world were flooding their warehouse. And it hasn’t stopped since. Hundreds of thousands of customers from all over the world trust Smoketower.com as their number one most trusted smoke shop. An ever growing selection of unique brands at affordable prices brings
customers back over and over again. Products range from glass pieces and high-tech vapourisers, to rolling papers and souvenir seeds. The company has relationships with the best brands in the world, and it buys in bulk, which means customers enjoy the best products in the world at unbeatable prices. Smoketower.com backs this up with a price match guarantee on any product. Today the company is rapidly expanding throughout Scandinavia and Europe. It’s goal is to eliminate the myths and negative connotations associated with cannabis culture. To shop the best selection, visit Smoketower.com today.
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23
Gypsy King Coffeeshop, Portsmouth Welcome to Portsmouth’s newest Head shop and Head quarters for Gypsy King Seeds!
herbal incense and research chemicals to name a few.
Entering the shop you are met with clean displays and great product choices. What makes Gypsy King Coffee shop stand out from the rest is simple; you have an actual coffee lounge to sit in whilst perusing all the products on offer.
There is plenty of parking next door to the shop in the Sainsbury car park as well as a nice outside seating area at the back of the shop, weather permitting.
Why not sit down, order a latte and muffin whilst looking through the various Seed catalogues available that include: Dinafem, Humboldt Seed Organisation, Dutch Passion, Green house as well as the newest seed bank in the UK, Gypsy Kings + many more. Alternatively, take a shisha pipe and chill out with a snack and drink. Other products on offer in the shop include e-cigarettes, Vaporisers with flavoured liquids, rolling papers, grinders, bongs, rolling boxes,
Gypsy King coffeeshop wants to make sure their customers receive the best service, will always be competitive on price and if there is something you want they don’t stock, every effort will be made to find the product and order it in!
Gypsy Kings Coffeeshop 299 Commercial Road Portsmouth PO1 4PB www.gypsykingseeds.com
Red Eye Headshop Chain The Red Eye Headshop chain of shops has been established for over 9 years and in that time they have carved themselves a niche with the choice of products they sell in their shops to suit the alternative lifestyle. The shops are well presented and well located in their respective towns and cities. Red Eye Headshops are fully stocked to cater for all your smoking, lifestyle and graffiti requirements. The shops are well laid out with good display cabinets and impressive counters showing all the products they have for sale at competitive prices. Products available include: Blunts, Rolling papers, Bongs, Vaporisers, Crazy contact lenses, E Liquid, Electronic cigarettes, Ethno botanical Herbs, Herbal Incense, Research
chemicals, Pipes, Bubblers and souvenir Seeds to name a few. They are an official distributor of Dinafem and Humboldt Seed Organisation seeds. As an official distributor, they can offer competitive prices and will be well stocked of the various strains available. Their shops are located in: Brighton, Newton Abbot, Oxford, Paignton, Derby, Leeds with new shops opening soon in York and Weymouth. The Red Eye Headshop chain is growing fast so expect to see one in your City or Town in the not too distant future! Website: www.redeyeheadshop.com.uk
Head2Head, Doncaster Head2Head is like a mini Amsterdam in Bentley, just outside of Doncaster (on the A19). They’ve been open for almost 8 years and you can see why when you experience their friendly, knowledgeable and discreet service and huge selection of products. As well as everything from hemp clothing, bags and shoes (stocking companies such as Hemp Hoodlamb), gifts and ornaments to legal smoking goods and smoking paraphernalia, Head2Head offer a large range of souvenir seeds from over 100 companies from around the World, including Dinafem, Humboldt, Big Buddha, Sensi Seeds, Barney’s, DNA, Royal Queen and many, many more. The team at Head2Head are dedicated to ensuring their customers are happy, and if you visit them and can’t find what you’re looking
for they will do their best to find it and order it for you! Thanks to their years of experience, friendliness and the scope of products on offer, I can see Head2Head being around for many more years to come. They’re open from Tuesday until Saturday, 11am to 7pm. There is convenient parking located just outside of the shop, which is easy to find on the A19. You can also visit Head2Head via Facebook at: facebook.com/Head2HeadTHC. 409 Bentley Road Bentley Doncaster DN59TJ
24
ED ROSENTHAL
FINISHING THE CLOSET GARDEN: THE WONDERS OF WICKS In my “Getting Ready to Grow” article, I outlined the process for setting up a closet garden, choosing seeds or clones, and starting the seeds. I chose to use the wick system—the ultimate in low-care methods, which is also ideal in times of water conservation. Now we move on to the transplanting, growth, flowering, ripening, and final days.
PART ONE: TRANSPLANTING I had planted 10-cm containers with two Fruity Juice® seeds each. Most of them germinated so there were two plants in each container. I reasoned that these were non-feminized seeds so some of the
container and placed the top of the rootball at the soil line. Then I pushed the soil around the transplant to make good contact with it. After the transplants were in place I placed the bags on top of the pallet that sits in the 120-by-120-cm tray. I made sure that
The rootball was placed into the container so the top was at the surface level.
The plants were a little stressed out from small containers and low nutrients. The roots had filled the soil.
plants would be males. Planting two per container doubled the chances of having a female plant in each one. I was supposed to transplant the seedlings on Sunday but my schedule forced me to delay planting by a week. The seedlings had become a little stressed by the time they were transplanted. However, I knew they would quickly recover once they were situated in roomier, brighter quarters. First I prepared the 16 containers. Since the plants are to be grown in a wick system I cut two 45-cm lengths of braided 1-cm diameter nylon rope for each container, a total of 32. Once they were cut I wrapped packing tape around the rope close to the ends to prevent the strands from unraveling. Each piece was looped through opposite holes at the bottom of the container so they crossed in the middle. I held the wicks in place using a piece of packing tape. Then I filled the container with planting mix. This step was repeated 16 times. Each 25-cubic-cm package of soil filled two containers. So I used eight bags of soil. To plant I scooped out soil to create a depression in the middle of each bag. I tapped the seedlings from the 10-cm
the wicks hung from the containers down into the tray so they would draw water up into the soil. Then I watered the plants with plain pH-adjusted water. Water leaked from the holes in the containers so I knew that they were thoroughly saturated. At planting time I didn’t have time to fill the trays so the wick system was not operational. Instead the plants were watered manually. It wasn’t until two weeks had passed that I filled the tray with about 12 cm of water with a 5-2.5-5 fertilizer mix plus compost tea, seaweed extract, and humic acid. At the same time I installed a small pump to circulate the water in the tray and an air pump with aerator to keep the water oxygenated because roots need the element.
Ten days after transplanting, the plants are thriving. Notice the LED fixtures above.
through. This serves several purposes. First it prevents light from getting to the water in the reservoir, which prevents algae from growing. Secondly, it lowers the rate of evaporation. Third, darkness promotes root growth from the containers into the reservoir so they have a direct line to water.
PART TWO: GROWTH AND FLOWERING Earlier I discussed transplanting the seedlings into containers that were part of a wick system. This uses nylon wicks that draw water up to the pots using capil-
The plants would draw from this reservoir through the vegetative cycle, which continued for about a month. Since the wicks drew the water from the reservoir into the soil I did not need to water the individual containers. I just had to keep an eye on the reservoir water level and refill it with water adjusted to a pH around 6.0. Next, I laid a piece of panda plastic over the whole system and cut holes in the Photo taken the day the plants were put into flowering. plastic over the containers to let the stems
25 lary action. No hand watering is required. Once the plants were transplanted they immediately started growing very quickly. About four weeks after they were transplanted the plants had filled the canopy, so I switched the light to 12 hours on and 12 hours off using a timer. This light regimen forces the plant to flower. The science behind it is that during the dark period a chemical called phytochrome builds up in the plants. When it reaches a critical level it switches the plant from vegetative growth to flowering. For the next week the plants went on a growth spurt, increasing their length by 30 cm or more. The plants grew tightly packed against each other, but I anticipated that some of the plants would be males and would be removed from the garden as soon as they indicated. After about five days it was easy to recognize the males. They had little balls that, if left to ripen, would turn into flowers holding sinsemilladestroying pollen. The 1/3-cm flowers have five white to pale yellow petals when they open. The females grow the first stigmas, the white- or cream-colored female organs that look like hairs sticking out of them. These “hairs” are hollow tubes with “brushes” that filter the air seeking pollen to fertilize the flower below. Should a pollen grain reach the brush its sperm is transferred into the hollow tube and then to the egg waiting below. Hopefully, the search will be in vain and the flower will ripen to be part of a tight seedless bud. Only about one-third of the plants turned out to be male and several of them were singles or were much larger than their
container-mates. Once these plants were removed, it left several holes in the canopy, but I allowed the neighboring plants to grow into the space to fill the void. The smaller plants, now free from shading, were thriving and showing a growth spurt even as they flowered. Before the gender cleansing, the density of the canopy held the plants upright. However, upon removing the males, leaving holes in the canopy, the plants began leaning over. I used plant stakes and twist ties to hold the plants upright while allowing branches to fill void spaces. Now the plants were beginning their flower growth spurt. I anticipated that it was only six or seven weeks until harvest.
PART THREE: FLOWERING AND RIPENING
The buds are ripening. Most of them are held between the two nets.
At this stage, it had been six weeks since the lights were turned back 12 hours daily to force the plants to flower. The plants responded visibly within five days, and indicated sex. Males were immediately removed from the garden. At the same time the plants went on a growth spurt gaining 30 cm in height in about a week. As that ended there was a burst of flower building. Now the colas, the branches holding the buds, were covered with the stigmas and developing more all the time. When the light regimen was changed to 12–12 the reservoir was drained and filled with nutrient water using a different formula. Nitrogen was eliminated during this part of the cycle so the reservoir was filled with water containing phosphorous and
1-cm braided nylon rope serves as a wick to bring water up to the soil through capillary action. The pots don’t need to be watered because the four wicks, one on each side, provide them with adequate amounts of water.
The garden ten days later.
A bud almost two weeks out. It will grow a bit as it ripens. I suspect it will reach potenYoung female flower.
tial and be all it could be. It will make new friends for a while and then disappear.
26
Mature glands can be seen clearly using a 6x or 8x photographer’s loupe. The garden on harvest day.
Close-up of buds after three weeks of drying/curing.
Plants in small containers can be moved easily to sunny spots and can be forced to flower early. Denis Peron’s garden, 2009. plants were runts. By the end, eight of the containers had male plants, which were removed. In all the containers with two plants one plant became dominant and, with loss of canopy space, the other one died. Two containers had plants with failure to thrive. This left only six plants in flowering mode with only two weeks to go before maturity. The plants were still using the wick system, drawing water from the reservoir below. The reservoir water had just been changed from flowering nutrients to rainwater pH adjusted to 6.0. Using this system each container drew water only as it was required.
] A mature bud showing stigmas and trichomes.
potassium. This promotes flowering and minimizes vegetative growth. Since the water change, no nutrient was added to the garden. Only pure rainwater was used to refill the reservoir. Next the reservoir was drained, removing all nutrients, and refilled with the rainwater, so the plants would receive more than 10 days of flushing—that is, growing with only a small amount of nutrients—to prevent them from having a chemical taste. To support the buds and keep them within their section of the canopy two nylon nets with 15-cm holes were installed. But most of the plants used only the bottom net. At this point, the buds were ripening nicely and getting firmer. They had a nice
sweet odor typical of Fruity Juice®, but it wasn’t very intense. I suspected that in the two weeks they had until ripening they would become extremely fragrant. There was not much to do in the garden. The plants were fed automatically as required using the wick system. The light regimen, CO2, and temperature were all on automatic. The plants varied in ripeness. Some were about five days away from ripe, while others had 15 days to go.
PART FOUR: FINAL DAYS Of the 16 containers that were started only six yielded bud, and two of those
As the days continued the buds started the final ripening process. The stigmas, the tiny white hairs sticking out 2/3 cm from the flowers, are hollow tubes surrounded by fine brushes. They filter the air, attempting to capture pollen drifting in the wind. As the flowers mature they dry and turn a reddish-tan, sometimes with purple overtones. The trichomes are composed of stalks topped with bulbous caps. It’s along the inner walls of these glands that the cannabinoids and the terpenes are manufactured and stored. As these oils build up the caps’ membranes begin to stretch. By the time they are harvested they should look like balloons about to burst. In some varieties the flowers to which the
stigmas are attached begin to swell somewhat and may develop a pod as if there was a seed inside. Another sign of maturation is the increase in odor. During the last week the aroma intensity increases dramatically. At the beginning of the day, eight weeks after forcing flowering all six of the plants had top buds that were ready to pick. Rather than stagger the harvest to ripen the lower buds a bit I decided to cut the crop. All the plants were cut at the bottom of the stem and then placed on netting in an unused tent to dry. They lay there at room temperature and lower at night for three weeks, then they were trimmed. The top buds produced a total of about 112 grams. Secondary buds totaled about 35 grams, and trim leaf totaled about 73 grams. This was a poor yield for 600 watts. I think the reasons were that the canopy was not filled with vegetation because there were only a few plants left after the runts and males were removed, and the LED lights by Apache turned out to be an older model, producing only half the light of the new models. The Fruity Juice® buds had an exquisite fruity/flowery aroma and a potent, up high that enticed people to smoke more, even though the taste was mediocre as a result of half-hearted flushing.
29
INTERNATIONAL GROWERS INTERVIEW WITH THREE ROMANIAN GROWERS
Romania
B.I.L: It’s definitely not an easy life but it’s better to grow for yourself than rely on neighborhood dealers. E.N.D: ....with pretty much a lot of paranoia flowing around. Flow: Life is not heavy, it´s fucking heavy, but if you are doing a good job, the weather and the climate will help a lot. Legally speaking it is messy for a grower, but a black market for weed in Romania exists and brings back good remuneration. A lot of bio-grown weed can be found on Romanian black market. I’ve seen plants weighing up to 1 kg of bud, grown in Romania.
How old were you when you smoked your first joint? B.I.L: I was 19 years old back then. E.N.D: As far as I can remember, around 18 - 19 years old at the time. Flow: I was 17. How was the experience, did you enjoy it? B.I.L: I had been working for a year already in a music Club, in the city where I spent most of my childhood. I was the right
Romania is a country where decriminalization has been proposed, but it remains a proposal only. Nevertheless, despite the legislation against cannabis, people grow it for themselves and enjoy what nature has to offer, having in mind the mild climate (in some parts of the country) which is well suited for growing cannabis plants. Decriminalization is the first step and it’s a must, considering both Romania is part of the European Union and considering the laws regarding cannabis all over Europe. Because information regarding cannabis culture is everywhere available online, the number of online Romanian specialized shops has increased and people have easy access; as a result, the number of seasonal outdoor growers as well as indoor growers has greatly increased in the last 5
years. Soft Secrets then interviewed three Romanian growers and activists. Interview by M.S.B. Soft Secrets: How’s it growing? Please introduce yourselves to our Readers. B.I.L: I’m 39 years old, I’m from Romania and I’ve been a cannabis activist and grower for 6 years. E.N.D: I’m 34 years old, from Romania and have been a grower, user, and cannabis activist since 2004. Flow: I’m 35 years old and I come from the center of Romania, up in the mountains. All goes well and I’m anxious to see the harvest of buds from this year.
How’s life in general, and for a grower and a smoker in particular, in Romania?
hand man of the owner of the club and one night he smoked the lungs out of me and I was blasted for a couple of hours laying on the couch and enjoying the bliss. It was confusing in the beginning, but I liked it more after I completely relaxed. E.N.D: I enjoyed it but I did not understand too much. My second experience was more intense and I felt a connection with Mother Nature. Flow: My first experience was crazy heavy, but still with a lot of energy and not like a couch potato; the feeling was incredible. Ruderalis, grown in mother Russia, provided the delight for my first moments with Mary Jane.
You grow indoors or outdoors? B.I.L: I started outdoors, but now I’ve been growing indoors as well for 4 years. E.N.D: I do both; sometimes nature is friendly and rewards you plenty. Flow: Indoors & outdoors. What strains have you been growing outdoors and indoors? B.I.L: My first grow was in 2005. It was a bag seed grow. The seeds were seeds that
30 I’d put aside from the buds I enjoyed the most. From 2006 on I’ve ordered from an online shop based in England. Outdoor I’ve grown Ice, White Rhino, White Widow and
the best spot, considering the number of people that are around the grow spot, and to be as invisible as it gets. Other concerns are animals, mold, and pests, but you can
change the mentality and let people feel that sticking together for a cause is the key to regulation of cannabis as well. A unified citizenry can fight better, regardless of the cause you are fighting for. E.N.D: In Romania is hard to see a big change suddenly, because of the mentality. Worldwide I hope that cannabis will not become controlled by governments, like alcohol and tobacco.
Will Amsterdam stay the capital of the marijuana movement? B.I.L: Amsterdam still is the capital, but in the future, maybe 10 years, Spain could be the country to offer a new capital of the marijuana movement. Reasons are the big pro-cannabis community and the climate. E.N.D: In Europe Amsterdam will definitely remain the capital of freedom. Flow: I am not sure if it will remain the capital, but at least will be the first one.
Hollands Hope, and indoor Ladyburn’74, Hawaiian Snow, Critical Mass and Super Skunk, amongst others. E.N.D: Outdoor I’m growing mostly autoflowering strains, mostly because of the climate. I live in a submontane region and only the really early strains finish properly, due to the cold weather that sets in fast in the autumn. Until now I’ve grown outdoor Auto Blueberry, Auto Bubblegum, Auto Wappa, Super Critical Auto and non autos like Chemdog and Sacra Frasca. This year I will go with Hindu Kush Auto, Big Devil Auto and Auto Mazar. Indoor I’ve grown Red Cherry Berry, Mazar, Wild Rose and sometimes bag seeds. Flow: Outdoor I’m always going with hybrids that have skunk genes infused and also strong indicas, if you have a greenhouse. Indoor....I grow pretty much everything.
What problems can you encounter and what do you watch out for when growing Outdoors in Romania? B.I.L: If you are growing guerilla style, you should choose a good, safe spot with plenty of sun, and watch for animals and pests of all kinds. I used to bring dog shit and spread it all over the place surrounding the plants and that solved the problems most of the times. Indoors, temperature is a big problem. E.N.D: The main concern when growing outdoors is the security of the chosen place. Secondly animals are a big concern, but also the weather in the summer: especially in August when it tends to be very dry and later on in autumn, September and October, when heavy rains can ruin your crop. Flow: The main ingredient is to choose
What is your advice for tourists that want to burn a ‘fatty’ and stay out of trouble while visiting or staying in Romania? B.I.L: The best advice is to have a have a friend in Romania and ask for his help. Wandering around the streets and buying weed is not the best idea. E.N.D: Be selective. Do not smoke with any person you meet for the first time and choose your place of smoking carefully. Flow: Smoke privately at home or if you smoke outside, be prepared to act like a rabbit. Is cannabis popular in Romania? What are the prices for weed, hash? B.I.L: It’s very popular. There are many people who smoke privately in the intimacy of their home, due to the strict laws, even lawyers, teachers, students. The price is between 10-12 Euro per gram.
Have you ever had any legal problems because you were growing weed? B.I.L: I’ve never had any legal problems; for me, it’s just a magic weed. E.N.D: Not until now and hopefully the future will remain the same. Flow: I´ve never had any problem legally
How would you promote your country? B.I.L: We have a beautiful country with amazing natural landscapes and beautiful women, but we have a handicap: the country’s leadership and half-hearted people. E.N.D: A country where virgin nature can be encountered easily.
speaking, but I know a few persons, even amongst my friends, who have had problems. Some of them have been incarcerated as well.
Flow: It’s wild in a good way, cool people and beautiful women, and last but not least with a perfect climate for weed.
choose wisely some strains that are pest and mold resistant.
Are there any specialized shops in Romania where do you buy the seeds and supplies from? B.I.L: Nowadays the number of online shops in Romania has increased and also a specialized shop has opened in Bucharest. Besides 2006, when I ordered my seeds online, for safety reasons mostly and because of the proximity (being closer to Vienna), I prefer to make all my purchases – seeds and indoor growing equipment – in Austria. Do you smoke cannabis for Medical, religious or recreational reasons? B.I.L: I smoke for all these reasons. E.N.D: Medical and recreational purposes are my main incentives to smoke it. Flow: Big time recreational reasons and sometimes, when needed, for medical reasons as well. What are your views on legalization? B.I.L: Regulate is the word! It’s better to smoke a ‘fatty’ and lie on a bench in the park, than drink alcohol and go home and beat up your wife and kids, like so often happens in Romania. E.N.D: I do not believe in legalization, but I do believe in decriminalization and tolerance. Flow: Haaah. It’s a child dream. How do you see the future of cannabis in Romania and world-wide? B.I.L: It should be a brighter future for the cannabis movement worldwide. I stay positive. In Romania we have to first
Are Romanian laws strict when it comes to drugs? B.I.L: They are strict enough! Half the time, a rape sentence is equal to cannabis related felonies. That´s crazy! E.N.D: Yes, they are. Flow: They are strict nowadays, but we hope for a better future, at least for our children.
Please share your motto with us, your final words of wisdom. B.I.L: Don’t show a lack of interest or spirit! Romanians, you should stand up for your rights. E.N.D: Plant a Seed. Flow: Hope for the best, prepare for the worst! Stay blessed.
33
JORGE CERVANTES
Indica, Sativa and Ruderalis This Original Afghani #1 from 1978 had reddish stigmas, but more often this variety would have white stigmas. Induce sativa and indica varieties and crosses to flower in greenhouses and indoors by giving plants more hours of total darkness and fewer hours of light. Outdoors, cannabis will flower when it receives 12 hours or more of darkness daily. Give cannabis 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness and 12 hours of light to induce visible signs of flowering in two weeks or less. This program is effective in all but the latest blooming pure sativa varieties. Small buds are developing on this Chocolope clone two weeks after inducing flowering with a 12-hour photoperiod.
tive growth, but it is described below. Once the sex of the plant is established, males unless used for breeding, are harvested before they shed pollen, and females are coaxed into higher yields. Once the photoperiod is set, disrupting it can cause plants to suffer stress. If they suffer enough stress, intersex (hermaphrodite) tendencies increase. Water intake of flowering plants is usually somewhat less than in the vegetative stage. Adequate water during flowering is important for plants to carry on internal chemistry and cannabinoid production. Withholding water to “stress” a plant will actually stunt growth and diminish yield. This pure sativa from Mexico shows classic long thin leaf blades.
This is the tall Durban Poison phenotype. Note the large narrow-blade sativa leaves.
Medicinal cannabis gardeners with a vegetative room illuminated 18-24 hours a day and a flowering room or greenhouse with 12-hour days and 12-hour nights, create environments that mimic the photoperiod in spring and fall. With this simple combination a crop can be harvested every six to ten weeks. In warm southern climates or with the help of artificial light, the harvest can last all year. These little clones have just started to flower. Plants show sex, male or female flowers, during the pre-flowering stage which actually occurs during vegeta-
Pure Sativa cannabis has its origins in tropical regions. These varieties are accustomed to 12-hours of sunlight and equal darkness all year round. The climate is such that they have a long and temperate growing season with leisurely and consistent growth. Super intense sunlight can be difficult for them to assimilate. Many tropical sativa varieties grow under the shade of the jungle canopy. Indoors, gardeners often give pure tropical sativas too much light. The result is even smaller and lighter flower buds. Lamps set further away or use lower wattage that produce less intensity and heat. Plants do not get as hot and receive adequate light to grow big flower buds.
34 Foto pure sativa darkened to simulate night – or cut in the moon Give pure sativas more darkness and less light to induce flowering. Give pure tropical sativas 11 or 12 hours of light and 13 or 12 hours of darkness to induce flowering. Some gardeners go so far as to gradually decrease daylight hours to 10 daily with 14 hours or more of darkness. Such practices simulate native climates which gives plants a chance to express their genetics. This technique will promote bigger flower buds.
Stress and Sex
If the photoperiod bounces around it causes plants to suffer stress. Make sure the timer works properly and inspect periodically.
A tiny male flower can be seen on this little female flower cluster. The male flower appeared after low temperatures caused the plant to suffer stress.
Bouncing the photoperiod around and dynamically raising or lowering the temperature has the effect of producing more male plants. I recently spoke to a gardener that induced male flowers on a female plant by lowering the nighttime temperature (normally 70º F [21º C) to 60º F (15º C) for two weeks. Note: Each stimulus – temperature, photoperiod, etc. – creates a climate that causes plants to suffer stress. And, the stressful environment does not necessarily turn the entire plant male. Most often a few hard-to-spot male pollen sacks appear sporadically on a few branches. The most susceptible plants already have a predisposition to intersexuality.
Auto-flowering feminized plant was bred to be grown in a Sea of Green. Auto-flowering cannabis ruderalis varieties do not require long nights to flower. C. ruderalis starts to flower within a month of germinating. Many auto-flowering cannabis ruderalis varieties are ready to harvest 70 days after planting and produce up to 4 ounces (112 gm) of dried medicinal flower buds when grown properly. European breeders have feminized many auto-flowering varieties. To date, the top varieties produce 3-3.5 ounces (80-100 grams) in 70-80 days.
Different Flowering Light/Dark Schedules 1. 12/12 – standard day/night schedule for most plants 2. 12/12 – switch to 11/13 after one week and 10/14 after two weeks. This is the schedule for tropical sativa varieties like Haze. 3. 12/12 – flower for three weeks then increase light to 11/13. Flowering is prolonged but harvest is increased. Note: often indica-dominant varieties flower about the same. 4. 24 hours – flowering regime for daylight-neutral C. ruderalis crosses with C. indica and C. sativa. Note: See “Photoperiod” in Chapter 17, Light, Lamps and Electricity for more detailed information on indica, sativa and ruderalis varieties and flowering.
There are several ways to promote male or female plants during seedling growth. The most dependable way to deduce sex is “Cloning for Sex”. Do not remove large fan leaves to allow more intense light to reach small buds or to stress plants! Large leaves are packed with food for the plant! They are essential to plant health and vitality. Indoors and in greenhouses where the hours of darkness are controlled, cannabis flowers for six to ten weeks or longer. This is a very short time. Hacking off foliage – leaves and branch tips – to initiate more budding sites is somewhat effective. Most of the lower leaves supply the roots and upper leaves supply energy to the top and promote flower growth. Remove only leaves that are more than 50 percent damaged by diseases, pests, and cultural practices. For example the yellow leaves hanging straight down should be removed.
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CBD WAVE CHRONICLES FIELD NOTES FOR THE CBD WAVE GENEALOGY
CBD Wave: first decade (2004 – 2014) The CBD Wave is here to change our idea of the medical, as well as the recreational, use of marijuana. The cannabinoid that was banished just a few decades ago has burst back on the scene and is here to stay. The truth is that CBD never truly left; it was simply lying hidden in the hopes that expert palates would H. Madera recognise its value.
two veteran growers with sound judgement – Jimi and Jaime. Since first appearing, CBD Wave plants have been highly appreciated by the more expert tasters. Practically every year since then, we have seen them triumph at the most prestigious recreational award ceremonies, such as the High Times Cannabis Cup, Cannabis Champions Cup, Copa Catalunya de Grows, Alacannabis, Copa de Cultivadores de la la Asociación de Internautas del Cannabiscafe, Copa del Garraf or Copa de Girona. Jimi and Jaime did their work well, and their efforts have paid off. At this stage, there’s nothing left to prove; we’re talking about an award-winning pedigree, a champion by rights.
CBD has medical effects The medical side of CBD is well-documented by science. In the early 80s of the last century, Raphael Mechoulam and other scientists published “Chronic Administration of Cannabidiol to Healthy Volunteers and Epileptic Patients”. This study stated that CBD can help epileptic patients; furthermore, it neither shows signs of toxicity, nor has important contraindications. This work already cited the contribution of other XIX-century forerunners, such as O’Shaughnessy (1842), Shaw (1843) or Reynolds (1890). By now, in the XXI century, dozens of studies on the medical effects of CDB have been written. Bedrocan has recently started to commercialise Bediol, a marijuana-based medicine with CBD/THC levels of 8:6, grown without pesticides or heavy metals. The final product is cut into 5-gram packets. The Bediol variety, with a ratio of about 1:1, has already been registered as a medical substance, after passing the necessary inspections. If you don’t have access to Bediol, you can find strains with a 1:1 ratio yourself in certain genotypes of any of the strains we mention in this article. The Reggae Seeds grow room hosts the genetics that gave birth to the CBD Wave After many rumours concerning the origins of these genetics, in 2011 Soft Secrets exclusively published a meeting between the main breeders of the CBD Wave in Spain, Jimi (Reggae Seeds) and Jaime (Resin Seeds / CBD Crew). The CBD Wave began in Girona and stayed local in its early years, building up slowly but steadily; now, a few years later, the whole world knows about it. It’s time to update those first, historic articles published in 2011. Although they’re the most complete articles to have been published as of today, certain mistakes need to be corrected and other aspects need to be summed up. Below are my humble field notes on what I, in this moment, believe took place; I’m writing in good faith and of course am always open to corrections. Aside from Jaime and Jimi, several growers and breeders are stepping forward to help clarify the truth. If you have any information to add, now is the time to take responsibility!
Winning strains for discerning tasters These strains weren’t created in a laboratory, nor are they aimed only at sick people.
However, users should have sound judgment and a mature palate, or at least be able to approach these strains without prejudice, like “this doesn’t give a good high”. The best way to enjoy strains with high levels of CBD is to start smoking from the morning, without having previously smoked a THC-rich variety, then keep smoking CBD all day. When you taste it throughout a whole day, you realise that it has a more subtle effect, as it makes you stoned while leaving your head clear. Furthermore, it doesn’t have an intense or sedating physical effect, as it keeps your mind active. Compared to strains containing only THC, CBD-rich strains are more balanced and suitable to center you in your daily life.
should give these strains a try, rather than insisting on using the TCH-rich strains that can make them feel ill.
Of course, there is still a lot of research and progress to be made, but we can already define CBD as medical. Centuries of scientific studies support this statement.
Summary of 2011 article I repeat: though CBD has important medical uses, it’s not necessary to be sick to enjoy it. It was actually selected by
During the first Spannabis, in 2004, Jimi (Reggae Seeds) bought a packet of New York City Diesel from Soma Seeds’ Soma
Another field of possible application consists of users pursuing a balanced recreational use, like the many people who enjoy a couple of beers or glasses of wine after work, but don’t want to go home stoned. Many people who claim that marijuana gives them “a real trip” and prefer commercial hashish are missing CBD; they
Soft Secrets brought Jimi and Jaime together for the first time in 2011
38 himself. The selection included three males, one of which presented a very special Diesel scent. He used this male to create Juanita la Lagrimosa (Reina Madre x New York City Diesel) and Kalijah (Blue Heaven x New York City Diesel). A friend of Jimi’s in Mallorca took seeds from the Reina Madre x New York City Diesel hybrid and selected the original Juanita la Lagrimosa clone. During a Kalijah selection, Jimi noticed one of
means in spreading his happy discovery to the world, thus carrying out the very first marketing campaign for a CBD-rich strain. At Spannabis 2010, Jimi tested Juanita la Lagrimosa, thus confirming his intuition that Reggae Seeds strains contained CBD. At the Cannabis Champions Cup in both 2010 and 2011, Dancehall came in first place for the Indoor Bio award. All the main actors in the CBD Wave were living
Anna, CBD matriarch The best way to resume our research is to go back to the origins of the Wave – that is Jimi’s house, where he lives with his partner Anna and their three children. I settled myself there for a whole day, in order to let information flow over me, amidst CBDrich samplings. Anna, while a lesser-known part of Reggae Seeds, is actually the seedbank’s second
receipt book, which clearly specifies the strains received by Alex. Excited by the news, I asked to see it. After rummaging through her files, Anna emerged with the receipt book. The receipt is simple but clear: in mid-2008, Alex carried off 5000 Dub seeds and 2000 Dancehall seeds. Part of the mystery solved. Later, I moved from the living room to Anna’s study, where she keeps all the material associated with drawings, images and internet. We began to look over old photos and I asked to see the ones from 2006… and bam! We found one of the building where Reggae Seeds began. Just as Jimi and Jaime can be considered the fathers of the actual CBD Wave, Anna is the mother who has always looked after the sprouts with love, performing the necessary tasks for their survival. I asked her: “What was it like to live this whole experience right from the start?” She was thoughtful for a bit, then spoke: “Very thrilling”. Her eyes shone with the joy of seeing her child reach the age of ten, strong and healthy.
Reggae Seeds hybrids, 2004 - 2014 Later conversations with Jimi unearthed more information about the CBD Wave genealogy. In 2004, an indoor cultivation produced a series of crosses with the male Diesel that introduced CBD. The best-known strains so far are Juanita la Lagrimosa (preserved as an elite clone) and Kalijah (both the male that serves as the cornerstone for Reggae Seeds’ regular seeds and a female have been preserved). Less famous is Naranj (Morning Glory x Diesel), a cutting of which is pre-
Receipt for 2000 Dancehall seeds and 5000 Dub seeds; GeneratedDieseltonic by CamScanner from intsig.com Cannatonic, and Dulce Canna come from this batch
the males that hadn’t flowered in 18 hours. “It was super resinous and smelled great,” he remembers. This male laid down the foundations of Reggae Seeds, with hybrids such as Dancehall (Juanita la Lagrimosa x Kalijah), Session (New York City Diesel x Kalijah) or Dub (Critical Mass x Kalijah). It’s fairly obvious that this Diesel introduced CBD to part of its subsequent offspring, including Juanita la Lagrimosa and the male Kalijah. Alex, Soma’s son-in-law, visited Jimi in 2008 and bought a batch of seeds from him that he still hasn’t paid for. He then sold these seeds to Jaime, as an Mk Ultra x G13Haze hybrid. Jaime planted about 100 seeds from this batch, from which he selected Cannatonic and Cannatonic II. Freeman, a friend who was collaborating with Reggae Seeds at the time, planted over 500 seeds and selected Dulce Canna and Picantona, which is now known as Dieseltonic. Jaime participated in the High Times Cannabis Cup Amsterdam 2008 with Cannatonic, placing third in the Sativa category – the first time that a Spanish seedbank won a prize at a High Times Cannabis Cup. At Spannabis 2009, Jaime tested Cannatonic, Dulce Canna and Picantona, discovering their high levels of CBD, which at the time came as a surprise. Throughout 2009 and 2010, Jaime invested all his
Cultivation of Reggae Seeds seeds in 2006. From left to right: Critical Bilbo to create Dub; female Kalijah and Juanita la Lagrimosa to create Dancehall in Girona during its “gestation era”, which is why we can say that the CBD Wave came out of Girona.
mainstay. During our gathering, she mentioned that one day, whilst arranging some papers, she came across their 2008
served as a basis for Naranchup (Naranj x Tropimango), offered by Philosopher Seeds. Two more 2004 crosses are also
40 preserved, although they’re not on the market yet: Funky Diesel and North Diesel. Funky Diesel is a [(Leda x Leda) x Blue Heaven] x Diesel hybrid. North Diesel, on the other hand, is a cross between the original male Diesel and Mandarina Diesel, a tangerine-scented female Diesel that Jimi found in the same packet containing the male. In 2006, he used a male Kalijah to create a series of hybrids in outdoor cultivation, such as Dancehall, Dub or Session. Jimi kept the seeds in a refrigerator and sold them in the early years of Reggae Seeds, as germination tests confirmed that they keep perfectly. According to Jimi: “That year’s harvest had a really special energy”. Up until now, CBD has appeared in some genotypes of Reggae Seeds strains, but not all of them. In 2010, Jimi and his friends from Elite Seeds began a project to develop a feminized version of Juanita la Lagrimosa, with CBD in all its offspring. This required a Juanita genotype that could be considered “pure CBD” – in other words, a high level of CBD and a low level of THC. Based on growning batches of selfed feminized Juanita seeds, the Elite Seeds team has discovered a genotype that meets the requirements to be considered “pure CBD”. Jimi has also recently discovered two more genotypes; one is a Session #22 x Juanita la Lagrimosa hybrid and the other is a Dancehall #11 x Juanita la Lagrimosa hybrid. Jimi has been working on the North Diesel genetic for years, hoping to find a male with which he can offer a regular version of Juanita la Lagrimosa, with a 1:1 ratio. Jimi is
currently collaborating with Elite Seeds, Philosopher Seeds, Royal Queen Seeds and Pepita Seeds.
Dancehall and Dub In 2008, Alex ordered seeds from Jimi, allegedly to send to Canada, and received a batch of Dancehall and Dub. Alex still hasn’t paid Jimi for these seeds; what he did do was hasten to sell them to Jaime the very same year, 2008. The Resin Seeds team selected Cannatonic, Dieseltonic and Dulce Canna. Jimi’s explanations and my tour of his flowering room helped me understand the differences between the two strains. Dancehall is a cross between a Juanita la Lagrimosa clone and a male Kalijah; its ancestors are the two most famous selections to result from Jimi’s 2004 work with the male Diesel. Thus, Dancehall is a typically Diesel strain, with long, thin buds. Dub, on the other hand, is a cross between Critical Bilbo and Kalijah, where Grandfather Diesel’s influence is limited to the paternal line, while Mother Critical gives it a lower profile and denser buds. Resin Seeds’ selections: Cannatonic, Dieseltonic and Dulce Canna According to Jaime, Cannatonic and Dieseltonic are more similar, both with a strong Diesel influence, Sativa profile and thin buds. Dulce Canna, on the other hand, is more robust, with thick buds, hinting at an Indica contribution. This data leads to the current theory according to which Cannatonic and Dieseltonic are Dancehall genotypes, while Dulce Canna is a Dub genotype.
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41 These three “elite” cuttings are the basis of his work with CBD. At Resin Seeds, Jaime uses Picantona aka Dieseltonic as breeder to create Cannatonic (Cannatonic x Dieseltonic) and Dieseltonic (Dieseltonic x Dieseltonic). These genetics make Jaime the only Spaniard to triumph twice at the High Times Cup (2008 and 2013). CBD Crew are currently using Dulce Canna as their main breeder.
Crew moves up the CBD-rich scale (2009 – 2014) In 2009, at the same Spannabis where he discovered the high CBD content, Jaime described the novelty to Shantibaba over dinner. So began the talks to create CBD Crew, a collaboration between Resin Seeds and Mr Nice Seedbank, whose aim is the development of CBD-rich seeds for medical use; the project was meant to help sick people. Up until now they’ve just barely managed to cover their costs, as they’ve invested everything in research and development. So far, CBD Crew has gone through four stages that can be summed up as follows. 2009. Cross between Cannatonic and Shantibaba’s male Afghan/Skunk, in other words a 1/1 x THC ratio. They selected a genotype that expressed the Indica side (Z6) and another that expressed the Sativa side (Z7). The regular version was a new Z6 and Z7 cross with the Afghan/Skunk male, while the feminized version was a Z6 and Z7 cross with a reversed Cannatonic to act as male. Test results showed that CBD was not present in all offspring, which led to this line of work being discontinued. 2010. Cross between Cannatonic and Dulce Canna, in other words a 1/1 x CBD
ratio. It gave better results than the previous hybrid, with some specimens showing very high levels of CBD, but there was no guarantee of CBD in all offspring, so this line was also discontinued. 2011- 2012. After an in-depth study of the scientific literature, they reached the conclusion that the only way to achieve their goal was to cross a genotype containing THC with another genotype, containing pure CBD. They started crossing Dulce Canna with strains containing only THC and, finally, achieved the sought-after results. CBD Crew created their current collection using Dulce Canna as breeder: CBD Critical Mass, CBD Shark Shock, CBD Mango Haze, CBD Nordle, CBD Skunk Haze, CBD Yummy, CBD Sweet and Sour Widow and CBD Medihaze. For the first time in history, a seedbank presented a collection where all their plants’ offspring presented over 4% CBD (with a higher CBD level than THC level), meaning that 100% of their specimens could be considered rich in CBD. 2013 – 2014. With a product of stable quality on the table, other seedbanks have begun showing interest in these genetics. Based on their desire to spread the CBD Wave to the rest of the world, CBD Crew are open to collaborations with several first-rate seedbanks like Dutch Passion, Positronics, Medical Seeds, Royal Queen Seeds, Grass-OMatic or Dinafem, Paradise Seeds, Eva Seeds and Barney’s Farm. Jaime localized another genotype containing only CBD in a CBD Medihaze hybrid (Psychohaze x Dulce Canna); this plant would be used to introduce CBD into
Dancehall Sativa strains, making it available also with the terpene profiles of a Sativa.
The CBD Wave reaches the world Jaime has always been a more experienced grower than advertiser, but he managed to give the CBD Wave the push it needed to become international, thanks to an effective advertising campaign and to his willingness to share his genetics freely with associations of sick people and medical projects all over the world. In his 2011 article, Jaime pointed out how, thanks to the efforts of friends, “several packets of Cannatonic” reached “medical cannabis clubs in Canada, USA and a medical cannabis project in Israel”. Jaime confirmed this statement to me when I talked to him at the Resin Club: many of those who have announced new CBD-
rich strains in Israel, the United States or Canada previously received Cannatonic (or one of its hybrids) seeds.
Worldwide marketing in 2012 In 2012, hundreds of thousands of news articles appeared all over the world, claiming that the scientists at Tikun Olam had developed a type of medical marijuana, treating CBD-rich plants as a worldwide sensation. Tikun Olam gave these strains names such as Avi-Dekel (16.3% CBD), Midnight (12.4% CBD9, El-Na (6.5% CBD) or Rafael (18.6% CBD). Jaime explained to me that Tikun Olam received about 300 feminised Z6 and Z7 seeds through a mutual friend – in other words, CBD Crew’s first prototypes (later discarded). Jaime himself travelled to Israel in 2012 and visited Tikun Olam’s dispensary as well as their cultivation
42 one has seen any sign of breeding work at the Tikun Olam facilities, such as refrigerators storing batches of seeds, males or reversed females. The media claim that Tikun Olam spent three years developing these strains. My sources claim that, in 2009, Tikun Olam was cultivating at a basic level. Furthermore, the sale of cannabis seeds is prohibited in Israel, unlike in Spain, and I am told that there have never been genetics experts at Tikun Olam.
The scientific method The publication of scientific research is the usual procedure when a discovery is made. For example, an often-used text in CBD breeding is “The Inheritance of Chemical Phenotype in Cannabis sativa L”. This article, a collaboration between HorthaPharm B.V. and the Istituto Sperimentale per le Colture Industriali, was written by Etienne P. M. de Meijer, Manuela Bagatta, Andrea Carboni, Paola Crucitti, V. M. Cristiana Moliterni, Paolo Ranalli and Giuseppe Mandolino. Aided by a wealth of charts and details, the authors explain the strains used for the study, where they come from and what the results were, as well as their literature of reference. The paper was sent to the Genetics Society of America on 23rd April, 2002, and accepted for publication on 16th October, 2002. According to the Spanish page of Wikipedia, “A scientific text, that is, a scientific publication or communication, is one of the last stages of any study, prior to external debate… Science stands out from other, non-scientific disciplines (like
Cannatonic
cles repeating the same scant claims. There is no detailed mention of the strains used for development nor of their origin, not even the name of the scientists responsible for the work or the literature of reference. Underground CBD Wave breeders, like Jimi and Jaime, can’t publish scientific studies, but everyone knows who they are and their claims are born out by proof after proof: the cups they’ve won, people who have witnessed their selections, photographs of their grow rooms and hundreds of analyses carried out by thin-layer chromatography and gas chromatography. Tikun Olam haven’t brought forth any evidence to support their claims. Thus, an appeal to reporters all over the world: don’t let yourselves be used in marketing campaigns, and don’t open yourselves to the accusation of “exaggerating”. It’s time to verify facts. It’s also time for scientists to demand explanations, as Tikun Olam expect to assume the mantle of science but are unwilling to submit to its methods or ethical principles. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Sick people have the right to know On Tikun Olam’s Facebook page, a desperate father writes: “Hello, I’m from Spain and I’d like to obtain Avidekel or something similar for my daughter. I need a strain with a high CBD level. How can I obtain it? Do I have to travel all the way there?” Another interested party protests: “Tikun Olam seems to be the only place on the planet that can supply Avidekel to the rest of the world, and they don’t
facilities. During Jaime’s visit, the only CBD-rich plants he saw were selected Z6 and Z7 phenotypes, a fact confirmed by the people in charge at Tikun Olam. Jaime didn’t see any kind of laboratory or scientific facility, nor did he find males, females, reversed plants, female plants loaded with seeds or any other sign that Tikun Olam were working as breeders. I tried contacting Tikun Olam, to give them the chance to tell their side of the story and explain the work they’ve developed with the Z6 and Z7 seeds they received. I spoke twice with Tikun Olam’s public relations manager, Ma’ayan. According to her, the hundreds of thousands of news articles that mention scientists at Tikun Olam discovering CBD strains are “reporter exaggerations”. She didn’t provide any information on the origin of these genetics, so highly advertised by the media, nor on their breeding process. I assured her that, while other reporters might have published baseless exaggerations, I on the other was interested in publishing exact information. She asked me to send her an email to be forwarded to the technical department, who could answer my questions more accurately. I sent her a letter detailing the entire story, but weeks passed and I never heard back. A source told me that they also asked Ma’ayan how Tikun Olam could claim to have developed these strains if they’ve never worked as breeders. The answer was
Dub the same, rather vague, one I received: “Reporter exaggerations”. Tikun Olam’s speech at Expogrow 2013 was also quite brief and devoid of information on the development of these genetics. In the face of Tikun Olam’s lack of collaboration, I had to turn to other sources to check the story out. I spoke with several people who have been to the Tikun Olam facilities or worked with them. Everything fits with Jaime’s claims – no
alchemy, for example) for the publicity scientists are committed to when their work is finished. Pseudoscience, on the other hand, is mainly based on promotion and publications, but without prior or subsequent scientific control.” There is no scientific research documenting Tikun Olam’s development of CBD-rich strains, nor is there any prior or subsequent scientific control. Only thousands of arti-
answer messages. I don’t understand their policy.” Tikun Olam justify their situation thus: “Unfortunately, our government forbids us to send out any part of the plant. We hope this will change someday; we truly wish to share Avidekel with the rest of the world”. The girl’s father answers hopefully: “All right, but please tell me this; if I travel to Israel, can I obtain Avidekel there?” Tikun
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44 Olam answers: “Only if you receive treatment as a tourist at a local hospital. Such are the regulations here.” Another Spaniard repeats an alreadyasked question: “But can one buy seeds in
need to know that they can find dozens of CBD strains in grow shops everywhere. There’s no need to travel all the way to Israel for a copy of Z6 or Z7, as CBD Crew, the original breeders of both strains, have continued their work and now offer a lot
including Avidekel from Israel. These are NOT developed. They all represent the same genetics and occur randomly in nature. All these strains, to the best of my knowledge, originated from Resin Seeds in Amsterdam and have been called CANNATONIC STRAINS. In my opinion, all of them should be named Cannatonic 1:1, 2:1, 24:1, etc…” Jaime sent seeds to the United States, as well, and travelled there himself, and several elite clones with high levels of CBD also appear in the USA. Are Frankel’s claims true? We’ll find out in the next chapter of the CBD Wave Chronicles.
CBD Wave seedbanks Cannatonic comes out in the Soft Secrets’ 2010 Strain Special, indicating its high CBD content
Israel?” No answer so far. Yet another sick person from Spain asks: “Please tell me where I can buy these seeds in Spain… Please, I need them”. Many more sick people are asking for these seeds from other countries, like France, UK, Brasil or USA. If it turns out that Tikun Olam only have a few Z6 and Z7 genotypes and no seeds available, the result will be that they are causing sick people, whose need is urgent, to waste precious time. These people
of CBD-rich strains in all their genotypes. Sick people have the right to information; depriving them of knowledge has very serious consequences.
Next stop, United States of America In September 2013, Dr. Allen Frankel declared online: “Charlotte’s Web = ACDC in California = Other 24:1 CBDrich strains around the world”. Frankel claimed: “Charlotte’s Web is the same 24:1 CBD/THC ratio as many other strains,
You don’t have to go far to buy CBD Wave seeds. Several seedbanks are offering them now, and you can request them from your go-to growshop or online. Below, see a short list of these seedbanks. Seeds from CBD Crew or their collaborators are the only ones to have CBD in all their offspring; otherwise you may simply find CBD in certain genotypes. We will publish further information in future issues.
sources of CBD, as it has agreements in place with both Reggae Seeds and CBD Crew. In early 2012, Royal Queen Seeds was the first international bank to join the wave, launching a massive advertising campaign for CBD strains, with fullpage ads in the main magazines and banners in several websites. In collaboration with CBD Crew they offer Euphoria and Medical Mass, both rich in CBD. The range of products in collaboration with Reggae Seeds offers Dance World, Royal Highness, Painkiller XL and Royal Medic. Royal Queen Seeds also offer a CBD oil made with industrial oil, for those who only need CBD. As Royal Queen Seeds are present in growshops everywhere as well as selling their products online, this seedbank is one of the easiest means to obtain CBD-rich strains. Dinafem. They currently offer Critical Mass CBD and Shark Shock CBD, in collaboration with CBD Crew. They have also destined a separate line of work to CBD, and have access to the main CBD-rich clones on the American market. With the evolution of their autoflowering varieties, Dinafem have demonstrated that research and development is truly one of their specialties; they’re sure to come up with some interesting novelties in the medium term. Medical Seeds. For the moment, they’ve presented Y Griega CBD in collaboration with CBD Crew; they’re also working on a collaboration with Reggae Seeds and have already received some of their genetics. Furthermore, the bank’s main breeder, Javi, has been working with an assortment of medical projects in Canada, thus obtaining several elite clones high in CBD content that are moving onto the scene. Dutch Passion. CBD Skunk Haze was CBD Crew’s first outside collaboration. This season, they’ll be presenting the fruit of another collaboration, CBD Kush, as well as Compassion, which was developed independently.
Banks with CBD-rich strains CBD Crew. A project shared by Resin Seeds and Mr. Nice Seedbank. The first bank in history to successfully accomplish a CBD-rich scale in the entire descendence of the strains it sells. As of today, CBD Crew and their collaborations are the only way to ensure that every seed is rich in CBD, presenting over 4% CBD (with a higher CBD level than THC level); as such, these strains are the most suitable for a sick person who wants to start using it without the need to analyse first. Reversed Dulce Canna is CBD Crew’s main breeder; their current collection offers CBD Critical Mass, CBD Shark Shock, CBD Mango Haze, CBD Nordle, CBD Skunk Haze, CBD Yummy, CBD Sweet and Sour Widow and CBD Medihaze. Royal Queen Seeds. This is a Dutch seedbank, but their main strain scout, Guillem, lives in Girona and has had firsthand experience from the start. Royal Queen Seeds is currently the only bank in the world to collaborate with the two main
Positronics. Before being re-established in Spain, Positronics was one of the first seedbanks in the Netherlands, founded by Wernard Bruining, pioneer on the Dutch scene. Wernard is an enthusiastic supporter of medical cannabis and has published books and articles on the subject after having treated people suffering from a variety of ailments with his oil. Positronics recently published his book Cannabis positivo. Aceite medicinal. Medical strains offered by Positronics in collaboration with CBD Crew are CBD+ Black Widow and CBD+ Critical #47. Positronics are also currently working on an independent Diesel line. Grass-O-Matic. Last season, they presented Med Gom 1.0, a version of their Maxi Gom. Their first CBD-rich autoflowering strain was created in collaboration with CBD Crew. Barney’s Farm: In collaboration with CBD Crew, they presented CBD Critical Cure and CBD Blue Shark.
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46 Paradise Seeds: In collaboration with CBD Crew, they presented Nebula II CBD and Durga Mata II CBD. Eva Seeds. They have a collaboration in progress with CBD Crew to produce CBD-rich versions of Jamaican Dream and TNT Kush. Banks with strains that can produce CBDrich offspring Reggae Seeds. The first seedbank in history to have a complete collection of CBDrich seeds, they created their first CBD hybrids in 2004 and set up as a seedbank in 2006. They’re also the only seedbank to offer regular seeds, which makes them a point of reference for other CBD breeders. For their regular seeds (Reggae Family), they crossed a male Kalijah with different strains to create Dancehall, Session, Dub, Root, Guayaka and Revolution. This collection also includes Respect. Their line of feminized seeds, Funky Experience, comprises: Juanita la Lagrimosa, Blackdance, O’Haze Red and Sra. Amparo. Resin Seeds. The first seedbank in history to discover the high CBD contents of one of its strains while testing Cannatonic at Spannabis 2009. They’re also the first bank to launch a worldwide CBD advertising campaign, in 2010. At the moment, the CBD-rich strains theyre offering are Cannatonic and Dieseltonic, both High Times Cannabis Cup winners. Pepita Seeds. Pepita’s main breeder, Emilio, is a good friend of Jimi’s; they’ve been fellow exhibitors at Spannabis for several years. Pepita Seeds’ CBD line mixes some of Jimi’s elite clones, CBD carriers, with other genetics to create Clemenvilla Kush, La Moreneta, Chemgos and Pepiberry. Philosopher Seeds. Also in Girona, they’ve been in touch with CBD genetics since this story began, as they’re friends of Jimi’s. The result of Philosopher Seeds’ collaboration with Jimi, Golo line, offers several CBD carrier strains: Jack el Frutero, SweetLove, SugarPop, Naranchup, SuperJuani and Guayita. Elite Seeds. They’ve been collaborating with Reggae Seeds for several years. As
CBD WAVE CHRONICLES/ INDEX OF ADS / COLOFON we’ve already stated in this article, after a lot of work they’re almost ready to present a feminized version of Juanita la Lagrimosa with a ratio of 1/1. They currently offer a version of Juanita la Lagrimosa that’s a self-pollination of the original clone. CBD Seeds. They presented One to One at Spannabis 2014, a strain with a ratio of 1/1 that earned them the “CBD Masters” prize awarded by Alpha Cat. This prize reflects how One to One showed the highest concentration of CBD amongst the plants tested, reaching 14% with the use of thin-layer chromatography. CBD Seeds are also crossing their elite cutting with other strains to produce a CBD-rich Amnesia or a CBD-rich Lavender. One to One could be linked to the Girona CBD Wave, which we will speak about in future issues. Pure Seeds. A medically-oriented seedbank, they collaborate with Dr.Mariano García de Palau as their medical consultant. They’ve recently presented B3 Medical, with high CBD content, and are working on two new strains. They’ve confirmed that these strains are related to the Girona CBD Wave; we’ll speak more about this in future issues. Family Ganjah. They received genetics from Jimi through mutual friends. They’re not listed in the catalogue yet, but the bank has already distributed their version of Juanita la Lagrimosa (self-pollination) and one of its hybrids, Juana la Loca. Genofarm. A new Basque seedbank run by veteran breeders who work with genetics from the Girona CBD Wave to create their own hybrids, like their MediCritical. They’re currently carrying out intensive tests to improve this variety. Madre Naturaleza. A growshop in Burgos, they haven’t launched their own seedbank yet, but they’ve developed hybrids of Girona CBD Wave genetics with excellent test results and high CBD content. French Touch Seeds. They’ve developed Irie, a regular-size Juanita and Kasper Diesel hybrid.
Index of ads Name 00 Seeds Bank 8 Ball Hydroponics Advanced Seeds Amsterdam Seed Center Atami Big Stone River Indoor Garden Centre Bio Green Bright Green UK Bristol Genuine Seedbank Brit Crops Buddha’s Tree Clever Green Dinafem Seeds Dr. Blooms Hydroponics Dutch Passion Ed Rosenthal Emporium Hydroponics Head 2 Head Hedzup Hesi Humboldt Seed Organization Hygrow Hy-pro Jorge Cervantes Kroon de Mama Editions Money Tree Hydroponics Mycologics Near Dark NPK Technology Paradise Seeds Paradise Seeds Plagron Procare Red Eye Headshop Senua Hydroponics Smoketower.com Smokin Vinyl Southern Hydro Centre Stanford Hydroponics Sweet Seeds TnB Naturals UK GroWorks UK Skunkworks Vision Seeds Wheatley Hydroponics
Colofon Page 35 1 17 39 48 44 8 45 39 9 14 1 7 1 31 22 45 45 43 2 18 1 43 32 45 40 13 45 43 43 1 11 4 45 33 36 36 45 43 1 47 28 27 27 45 39
Soft Secrets is published by Discover Publisher BV P.O.Box 362, 5460 AJ, Veghel, Netherlands Telephone: +31-(0)73-5498112 Fax: +31-(0)73-5479732 E-mail: info@softsecrets.nl Editor: Cliff Cremer Contributors: Little Lebowski, Ed Rosenthal, Jorge Cervantes, Derrick Bergman, Dr. John Dee, The Professor, Sativa Diva, Ganjah Selecta, Tony, Stoney Tark and others Comics: Jim Stewart Editorial adress: ssuk@softsecrets.nl Advertisements: E-mail: info@softsecrets.nl A word from the publisher: The UK government has embarked on a process of relative liberalisation towards the use of cannabis, and cannabis activists are engaged in broadening this engagement. Several local councils and police chiefs now actively support a Dutch-style coffeeshop system as a way of separating soft and hard drugs, as it has proven to do in Holland. Whether they are finding their way to new coffeeshops or growing for their personal supply, cannabis users are a menace to no one, and are causing no discernable social problem. Some politicians and commentators are calling for the outright legalisation of marihuana. Let’s wait and see how the debate develops during a period of relative peace between all sides of the argument. In the meantime, the publisher hopes Soft Secrets will show the public a positive side to the normalisation of cannabis use, and is anxious to offer a forum to both pro- and anti-legalisation advocates. This assumes that the publisher does not necessarily agree with everything that appears in articles and advertisements. The publisher therefore distances himself explicitly from published statements or images that might give the impression that an endorsement is being made for the use or production of cannabis. Nothing from this publication may be copied or reproduced in any format without prior permission from the publisher and other copyright holders. The publisher is not responsible for the content and/or point of view of advertisements. The editors take no responsibility for unsolicited submissions. The publisher has endeavored to reach all copyright holders of photos and/or images. Those who still believe they are entitled to these rights may contact the publisher.
With Cannatonic and Dieseltonic, Jaime is the only Spaniard to earn two victories in the High Times Cannabis Cup.
Next issue out: December 24 2014
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3s. 33,00€ 5s. 55,00€ 10s. 110,00€
Variety SWS49 Indica/Sativa: 50%/50% Indoor Blooming: 7-8 weeks Outdoor Harvest: mid September
3s. 19,50€ 5s. 32,50€ 10s. 65,00€
N!
Sweet Skunk F1 Fast Version Variety SWS54 Indica/Sativa: 65%/35% Indoor Blooming: 6-7 weeks Outdoor Harvest: end of August, beginning of September
NE W
3s. 14,90€ 5s. 24,50€ 10s. 48,70€
Sweet Special F1 Fast Version
Cream Caramel F1 Fast Version ®
Sweet Cheese F1 Fast Version ®
Variety SWS43 Indica/Sativa: 60%/40% Indoor Blooming: 7 weeks Outdoor Harvest: mid September
Variety SWS40 Indica/Sativa: 90%/10% Indoor Blooming: 7 weeks Outdoor Harvest: mid September
Variety SWS42 Indica/Sativa: 40%/60% Indoor Blooming: 8 weeks Outdoor Harvest: end of September
3s. 23,90€ 5s. 39,80€ 10s. 79,00€
100
3s.24,90€ | 5s.41,50€ | 10s.83,00€
Cream Mandarine F1 Fast Version ®
3s. 19,90€ 5s. 33,00€ 10s. 66,00€
Feminised size and production, dlZg^c\ i^bZ l^i] VjidbVi^X Â
100
Sweet Trainwreck Auto Ice Cool Auto ®
Bloody Skunk
Variety SWS45 100% Autoflowering Indoor/Outdoor Harvest: 8 weeks after germination Height: 70-120 cm
NEW
LOWER OF
4
LOWER OF
Devil Cream
NE W
100
·A ING UT
·A ING UT
%
N!
NEW
· AUT ING
LOWER OF
100
N!
NEW
· AUT ING
LOWER OF
Best Seed Bank Spannabis Sur 2013
·A ING UT
N!
Best Seed Bank Spannabis 2008
·A ING UT
N! NEW
N!
Best Seed Bank Expocannabis 2007
LOWER OF
n ised S ee ds
LOWER OF
Femi
3s. 21,90€ 5s. 36,50€ 10s. 73,00€
3s. 15,90€ 5s. 26,50€ 10s. 53,00€
N! N EW
Big Devil #2 ®
Big Devil XL ®
Variety SWS20
Variety SWS28
Variety SWS45
Variety SWS38
3s.25,00€ | 5s.42,00€ | 10s.84,00€
3s.26,50€ | 5s.43,90€ | 10s.87,80€
3s.22,90€ | 5s.37,90€ | 10s.75,50€
3s.24,90€ | 5s.41,50€ | 10s.83,00€
N! N EW
Devil Cream
Auto of the year 2014
Dark devil
Sweet Seeds gives you the chance to acquire a small but excellent collection of 10 of its 100% feminised autoflowering seeds at a great price. 35,00 €
The cheapest choice!!
visit www.sweetseeds.es
SWEET SEEDS DOES NOT SELL BULK OR LOOSE SEEDS TO GROW SHOPS. THE ONLY ORIGINAL AND GUARANTEED SEEDS ARE THOSE SOLD IN THEIR ORIGINAL PACKAGING. C/ Dr. Nicasio Benlloch nº36-38 · 46015 · Valencia · España · +34 963 890 403 / +34 628 593 887 · WHOLESALERS: +34 963 473 730 / +34 963 404 289 · Fax +34 961 939 618 · info@sweetseeds.es Sale prohibited to people under 18 years old. Seed for coleccionist use exclusively. It´s ilegal to make them germinate. They´re not for agriculture purposes. Consult laws about cannabis aplied in your place of residence. Sweet Seeds will not be acountable for ilegal use of this seeds done by third parties.
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