Poll: Has the quality of marijuana improved over the years, or not?

[tstick]

I'm an old guy....been smoking weed since I was a teenager....smoked every kind of weed you can name. I feel that I speak from first-hand experience when it comes to this subject since it was over 45 years ago that I started. I also realize there are some younger folks who didn't have the opportunities to try many of the "foundation" strains before everything became hybridized.....but, even over the last 10 years, I feel like there have been significant changes in regards to the quality aspects of marijuana.

Please give your opinions and explanations in addition to your vote.

Thanks!

 

[neosapien]

Yes. Every year I got better at growing it.

 

[charface]

If i really think about it the weed I smoked years ago was amazing/really shitty.

The weed now is amazing/really shitty

Some of the older strains lack bag appeal unless you know what you are looking at.

 

[Singlemalt]

I began smoking in 1966; I'd say yes quality has improved but the reason's are not as simplistic better breeding, etc. I grew up in Los Angeles, more than 90% of the weed was Mexican brick, basically low quality but that was because knowledge was lacking. Most of it was still in the vegetative stage with the low percent outliers of the crop in flower. Early on you never knew what you'd get, and neither did the dealers. Once in a great while you'd score some great weed for the same price. Gradually dealers began to learn the difference in quality between vegetative and blooming and then price accordingly, and pass that knowledge to the consumer. Earlier a dealer would get a "key" (kilogram) and just break it up into "lids" (3/4-1.0 oz). A consumer who got a lid of flowering tops won the lotto. There was one advantage to the weed back then; you knew you would not get blotto on one joint so you could dose accordingly; further the weed was sativa so after an initial short time paranoia you could go have fun instead of being inert .

 

[GroErr]

I'm 58 and started smoking in '72 at 12. Mainly seeded brick was around then, then the odd bit of Acapulco Gold, Panama Red, Columbian, Thai-stick and black hash would pop up here & there. Eventually got enough contacts to always grab something decent.

I don't know if it was better or tolerance makes some folks say the weed was better back then. It was good but I've bred and smoked some fire hybrids, and the quality overall is better because of experience in growing/processing it now. I take regular breaks, even 2-3 days at a time days can manage tolerance. If I go away for a few days and don't smoke (usually work trips and no time to smoke anyhow) when I smoke that first pipe it gets me ripped no matter what I choose from the stash.

Last year I grabbed some Panama from ACE and found a pheno that took me back to those days, flavours and high are very close to the old Panama. Really trippy compared to many hybrids, but I don't know about "better". Also found a decent pheno of Columbian Gold which had a similar high to the Columbian back then, but flavour is quite different.

 

[tyler.durden]

Yes...

 

[420God]

We have concentrates now so definitely yes. I haven't smoked flower in months.

 

[ANC]

I don't think one ever gets as stoned again as the first time.

 

[robert 14617]

Better harvest times better cureing teckneakes ,better growing conditions,i think breeders are doing great things with the strains ,so yes better

 

[BleedsGreen]

I think that it is more potent today because 35+ years ago we took what we got and I didn't grow, bags were full of seeds, not mature, etcetera, Granted I got high as hell but I do think that it is more potent today probably mostly because of how it is taken care of not necessarily just breeding. The closest we got to a concentrate back then was hash oil. Hell I remember when some "Ty Stick" would be around everyone would drool and that shit was still full of seeds So over all my tolerance is up but I am still getting high

 

[voodoosdaddy]

I started smoking/growing in the late 80's. I grew up in Houston and was lucky to have access to bud from all over the world. (God damn I wish i had saved those seeds) In general it's gone up. You can't even find brick weed these days. But there was some real fire every so often in that brick weed back in the day. THC % as a method of measuring the quality is total bullshit. There are a lot of canibinoids in weed. Some of the best stuff I've ever had was land race bud that was in a brick. Some of the worst weed I've ever had was out of a dispensary. Of all the bud I've had the few that stand out were bud my friend's uncle used to get from Peru. Lime green Mexi brick weed in Houston, Road kill skunk in North TX, Kali Mist in the mid 90's, My Sk#1 cut from 88 or 89 from sensi and my Blueberry in the early 2000's. General quality has probably gone up but I think much of the seed breeders have gone down hill. Pink belly butt fucker wedding sherbert cookies is a joke to me for the most part. It may be pretty and loaded with crystals but when I smoke and only get a 30 minute buzz I'm reminded what good bud is. I used to walk 7 miles up hill in the snow over broken glass to smoke a one hitter of hemp! Yeah I'm old and grumpy!

 

[dannyboy602]

I didn't start till quite late. 35 as I recall. So I'm not a good judge. I'm just delighted to see we as a society have grown up regarding Cannabis.
Now if only our government could just do the same thing.

 

[srh88]

Better harvest times better cureing teckneakes ,better growing conditions,i think breeders are doing great things with the strains ,so yes better

Technique is a tough word

 

[jacksmuff]

Technique is a tough word

*tackneeks*

 

[tangerinegreen555]

I began smoking in 1966; I'd say yes quality has improved but the reason's are not as simplistic better breeding, etc. I grew up in Los Angeles, more than 90% of the weed was Mexican brick, basically low quality but that was because knowledge was lacking. Most of it was still in the vegetative stage with the low percent outliers of the crop in flower. Early on you never knew what you'd get, and neither did the dealers. Once in a great while you'd score some great weed for the same price. Gradually dealers began to learn the difference in quality between vegetative and blooming and then price accordingly, and pass that knowledge to the consumer. Earlier a dealer would get a "key" (kilogram) and just break it up into "lids" (3/4-1.0 oz). A consumer who got a lid of flowering tops won the lotto. There was one advantage to the weed back then; you knew you would not get blotto on one joint so you could dose accordingly; further the weed was sativa so after an initial short time paranoia you could go have fun instead of being inert .

I was 3 years behind you.

Mexican brick was $20 an oz. for the next 7-10 years. Colombian $30, Colombian Gold $40, Jamaican $30.
You could buy a pound of brick for $75 if you bought 5. After you rolled some seeds off and took out some huge stems, you had 12-13 oz. you could sell for the standard $20.
Mid to late '70's thai stick started showing up. $200 an oz. and I grabbed as much as I could get. That was the only thing I thought was out of this world good, then I found out that soapy taste was opium.

Price went from $20 to $200 real fast in the '80's. It wasn't the late '60's block weed anymore though, and was noticably better. Hawaiian weed started showing up and domestic from Arizona, Texas and the south. Some of the best weed we'd get was Oaxacan. Big bright green buds.

It's gotten better. Way better. I've grown weed inside that looks better, tastes better and smells better than anything pre-1990. The only thing better had opium on it.

And now, that way better weed gets extracted to 80%-90% THC. I'm guessing Mexican block was 3%-5% and the 1st weed I grew outside in the '70's was about the same. Big ass difference from 3% block or semi-unskilled outdoor to 90% prefilled cartridge. I never got knocked on my ass in the '70's but I can do it now .

 

[charface]

I remember going from 3 finger lids
To 300 oz

When I was buying grams i remember the first couple times I seen a 12? Gram. Then 15 a gram became the norm.

Then dubs.

Im starting to think weed dealers are just as unscrupulous as the people they bitch about.

 

[Singlemalt]

When I started 4 finger lids/$10 was standard; then like coffee, lids gradually became 3 finger normative for same price. I was drafted in '69 and when I got out in '72, lids were $25 and sneaking down to 2 1/2 fingers. Course it was a bit better quality and one could buy 1/2 and 1/4 lids, almost of unheard of a few years before. I suspect that around this time "lids"=oz and you heard oz more and more

 

[tstick]

I voted No because of the way that the old strains each had a VERY distinctive quality to each one. I prefer "as-close-to-landrace" strains as I can get.

I can't argue that plants are presented better than ever. Things like size, density, the trimming is better, they are cleaner" etc. All that is true.

But I miss the days of the real skunky strains -strains that have now been hybridized out of existence. I know people will say these strains can still be found....but whenever I try them, they are nowhere near what I used to get regularly back in the 70's in the midwest. I don't remember any huge buds covered with trichomes back then. I remember lots of brown weed with some lighter, golden tones. I remember the buds were SO full of seeds....I mean FULL! In fact, when "sinsemilla" became the norm, an entire part of the ritual of smoking went away -that being the cafeteria tray or the double-album cover and carding out jars and jars of seeds....All that went away!

 

[charface]

I voted No because of the way that the old strains each had a VERY distinctive quality to each one. I prefer "as-close-to-landrace" strains as I can get.

I can't argue that plants are presented better than ever. Things like size, density, the trimming is better, they are cleaner" etc. All that is true.

But I miss the days of the real skunky strains -strains that have now been hybridized out of existence. I know people will say these strains can still be found....but whenever I try them, they are nowhere near what I used to get regularly back in the 70's in the midwest. I don't remember any huge buds covered with trichomes back then. I remember lots of brown weed with some lighter, golden tones. I remember the buds were SO full of seeds....I mean FULL! In fact, when "sinsemilla" became the norm, an entire part of the ritual of smoking went away -that being the cafeteria tray or the double-album cover and carding out jars and jars of seeds....All that went away!

I fondly remember brown/gold weed full of red hairs. Tasted all earthy and spicey n had a really fun high.
Im actually considering trying some of the modern columbian.
As for skunk I think its gone.
If anyone really had it they would be rich and we would all be growing it.

I know people claim they have it.
I wont say they are lying but My belief is they are mistaken.
Suuuuuper mistaken.

 

[tangerinegreen555]

When I started 4 finger lids/$10 was standard; then like coffee, lids gradually became 3 finger normative for same price. I was drafted in '69 and when I got out in '72, lids were $25 and sneaking down to 2 1/2 fingers. Course it was a bit better quality and one could buy 1/2 and 1/4 lids, almost of unheard of a few years before. I suspect that around this time "lids"=oz and you heard oz more and more

We always called 3/4 oz. a 'lid'. Because we didn't have anything else to call it.

A 1/4 was a nickel bag because it was $5.

A 1/2 was a dime, $10

A lid was $15 and an oz was $20. That's not to say they always weighed 7-14-21-28 grams. But everybody had a cheap inaccurate hanging scale you could buy for a buck. Always saw drug deals outside bars with guys holding the bag on those shit scales saying it's under or over depending if they were buying or selling. Lol.