I know I could look it up,but since I'm here, is Chem related to skunk? I know I know skunk's genetics are probably loosely in the majority of strains somewhere. OR the other way around, chem's genetics. Skunk is older than chem so I assume the former. Are they closely related, if that's even correctly asked.
i would suggest binging on the potcast. mainly episodes with skunk va, nspecta, bodhi and mean gene. skunk va was first hand involved with the chemdog crew in that they knew each other and shared stuff.
chemdog was it's own thing, it's origns unknown as it was a bagseed supposedly not bred. skunk va however shared, with the chemdog crew, the super skunk. i am sure crosses were made but chemdog itself has no actual skunk in it.
also skunk itself is a bit controversial and many will say the skunks sold in seed today are not skunky. i have not grown any skunk from a breeder so idk. i actually have an afghan skunk from expert seeds germing rn so we shall see.
personally i think other things beyond genetics and terps play a role in the actual skunk smell us old ppl remmeber and rarely smell today. i have recently started putting more sulfur in my soil mix and teas trying to bring out more skunky and rotten profiles. i think there is something to this. it is known that sulfurs bond to terps, and it is possible it makes them smell like rotten eggs, garlic or skunk. this happens in other plants like skunk cabbage. it is very possible a mechanism like this is at play in skunked weed. i think the genetic part is a predisposition to whatever bioprotectent mechanism is causing this bonding of sulfides and creation of other compounds. you can listen to kevin jodrey talk about his skunk project for some of this info, other parts i theorized on my own after reading some books, not written by cannabis growers, on terps, esters and amines(amines include stuff like like skatole which is responsible for feces and decay smells in plants who want to attract carrions, beetles and flies)
**i'd like to note skunk cabbage emits this odor in the same manor, as a bio protectant. it does it to attract it's main pollinators to it by smelling like rotten skunk, it's pollinators include flies and stoneflies so you can imgine why the rotten smell is an advantage. so again imo it is likely skunk weed is a phenotypical expression caused by some need for a bio protectant under certain circumstances however i theorize sullfur is the ingredient needed to facilitate this when it does want to occur. so sulfur alone wont cause it but sulfur in high dosages present when it does want to do this is what conditions need to be met
** let me also add sulfur is key to wetlands and exists in high quantities and this is where skunk cabbage grows so...
***here is a research paper on skunk cabbage and it's smell***
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.841.5524&rep=rep1&type=pdf
- notice among other things that Dimethyl disulfide is in every sample but two in both male and female species of skunk cabbage. it occurs in more samples than any other compound tested, and is responsible for the creation of other smelly compounds that mimick skunks, urine, rotten meat, garlic etc.... she concludes - "S. foetidus would be dominated by a single compound, such as an oligosulfide or amine, and may contain compounds from other chemical classes. The results of this study showed the primary component of the skunk cabbage scent to be the oligosulfide, dimethyl disulfide
.