I wanna take the time to dwell a bit more on local strains,landraces, & hybrids in Hawaii, especially Hawaii county. Plus touch on a bit more about Island pioneers/growers.
Okay, once again I wanna address the early pioneers who brought strains to the 808. One group of individuals we failed to mention the other day was military personal. My cousin returned from active duty in Viet Nam by way of Panama. He came home with two or three pounds stuffed inside his stereo speakers. So yeah, the military came home with al kines of goodies.
But with regard to surfers, we travelled in some pretty hairy places to get waves & smoke. My trip to Indo in the early 70's was beyond hairy. Same can be said about my trip to Ceylon(Sri Lanka)too. Both places I could have easily lost my life in the name of cannabis & surf! With regard to Indo, you only have had to seen the movie "The year of living Dangerously". My first trip to Grajigan(Java) was during this period. So if you've seen the movie, you get an idea what it was like. Got better to be there once Mike Boynum set up his surf camp there, kinda away from the war. With Ceylon, the two races of indeginous people were constantly fighting for control of country. Hairy fucking place,and a good place to get hit by a stray bullet too!
So you got all these different groups of people(hippies,military,surfers, and vacationers) coming to Hawaii bringing seeds in their pockets or luggage.
I have this theory that is pretty solid,and it goes like this. We all realize that with regards to strains, breeds tweak their work. It's like putting their stamp on their work. Another words like KKDay was talking about, "Diesel". Not all Diesels are created equal. That goes with pretty much all professional breeders. Another words Greenhouses "White Widow" is gonna taste different than the "White Widow" put out by Nirvana. But you take Greenhouses version of "White Widow",grown indoors at their faucilty, and put it next to White widow from GH grown on the Big Island, and let people choose which one they want after tasting both. I'm willing to bet that 8 outta ten will pick White Widow grown locally, over GH's version. I can't explain it. But all strains grown locally over time adapt to the enviornment, and in no time at all become local. This is my theory about Kona Gold, Puna Butter etc.,etc.. They were all once foreign strain to here. Meaning Thai eventually crossed with something else became say'Elephant".
Thinking back on my fried brain, Elephant use to have this nice Junipur/Licorice taste that I loved so much. As a youngster I use to go to the old "Beach Center" in Waikiki, one pocket filled with wax paper baggies .Three finger bags of Elephant for $20.00, and a brand new 'Country Surfboard', or 'Dick Brewer' under my other arm. This went on every weekend, it's how I made mines back then!!! Anyway, I'm pretty sure Elephant might have been a cross of two thai strains(Highland Thai, Juicy Fruit Thai). Just one day it was gone???