Old School Strains vs New School Strains an Open Discussion

[Cave Hill Cole]

Hey everyone,

I'm just sitting on my deck blazing a joint of a 95 Afi (Roof 95 by Th Seeds) strain and I am pondering the differences between "Old School" and "New School" cultivars....its a vast question and incredibly subjective, with no right or wrong...the best kind for discussion...so I thought I'd put it to the forum.

First off what's "old school"? Personally I tend to think anything pre-2000 probably fits the category. But I have heard people refer to cultivars from from only 10yrs ago as old school. What's "new school" Anything from cookies on? or Anything in the last 12months?

Can an autoflower be truly old school? I tend to think no...but 10yrs from now maybe yes.

Differences in structure? What are difference in plant structure between the new and old school cultivar? I tend to think old haze like thin leaved equatorial cultivars with giant forearm colas, squat bush think leafed Afganicas, and big bush leafy as fu&k skunk plants make up the old school. But then you have OG Kush, which is old school and fits into none of those categories.

What's new school structure? Less leafy, rounded golf ball nugs? Do modern hybrids have a common/generic structure now?

Flavor profile? We often hear people say..it tastes "old school" (my self included)...but what does that mean exactly? Does that mean its hashy? skunky? Or both? I think new school has a wider flavor profile. You have a range of almost every fruit flavor, where as in the 90s I was stoked as fu&k if it tasted even a little but like lemon. But then you hear of people talk of the "chocolate thai" from the 70s and 80s that tasted like Hershey's milk chocolate....which you don't really hear about now..maybe chocolope but from all reports its different.

Anyway...interested to hear anyone's thoughts

[Cave Hill Cole]

This is a great topic.

I tend to think of early 90's and older as the old school. But like you said, it's subjective. The countdown to old school begins the day you start and seems to be announced around the 5 year mark. But it really is age related. I feel genuinely sorry for a person when I hear them say cookies is old school. Like, gag me.

Auto flowers have been around for over a decade, but their reliability and mass acceptance is relatively new due to an improvement in stability, potency and flavor.

The big morphological chance that I see is that there are less big yielders (dry weight) and trichome production is through the roof comparatively. Now, is a smaller but more trichome covered plant equal to a larger flower yield but with less trichomes? Extractors would be the right people to ask on that because they are interested in resin, not flower mass. What is the difference in return? In the US, many breeders have switched to breeding for concentrates instead of flower sales. It's an easy economic decision.

I tend to see tighter but smaller buds on the current strains

.....I'll come back for a part 2 of my answer. I'm just trying not to type five pages worth of reply, which my brain totally wants to do with such an awesome question.... and I'm watching the fights atm.

it seems like the visual trichome content is throw the roof on modern hybrids. Which is fantastic for extraction as you say. But there are some older cultivars that looks wise...aren't anything to write home about..their trichomes look like a thin dusting...yet they are sensational smoke...the "entourage effect" we all like to say these days...the symphony of cannabinoids, terpens and esters all together as oppose to the single instrument. I guess if your flower smoker than older cultivars will always make sense.

Do you think the large percentage of cultivars with the same tight bud structure, is a indication that large issue of "inbreed genetics" is as common as you hear a lot of modern breeders claim?

Thanks for the input Chad...your always dropping cool canna knowledge on me.

[Nom]

I'm absolutely sure the stuff i used to smoke 20+ years ago would get me way more battered than it does now or maybe its just a case of tinted spectacles. But the best I smoked was in '99 (starting to think it was a homebrew) and I've never had anything as powerful since

[Cave Hill Cole]

I'm absolutely sure the stuff i used to smoke 20+ years ago would get me way more battered than it does now or maybe its just a case of tinted spectacles. But the best I smoked was in '99 (starting to think it was a homebrew) and I've never had anything as powerful since

I have a few memories like that myself...but I am always hesitant to believe my memory. As there has been a lot of time and joints in between, not mention age. Plus memories seem to have a habit of growing and evolving over time. The beauty of our hobby, is you have the ability to go hunt for that old school cultivar you came across 20yrs ago. You may not find it 100%, but you might be able to find what subset it came from and then go explore that, you may find something in that family that family that works perfectly for your personal endocannabinoid receptors

Your white whale is out there bro, just got to get hunting.

[Cave Hill Cole]

Do you think the large percentage of cultivars with the same tight bud structure, is a indication that large issue of "inbreed genetics" is as common as you hear a lot of modern breeders claim?

Man, I typed out a part 2 for 30 minutes, hit submit and somehow my internet connection was dropped and I lost everything. I feel so defeated.

To give my opinion on this question, yeah I think the narrowing of the gene pool has a part in that. One part of it is through the breeders selections for certain traits and in-turn giving up certain traits, like size, that may be a recessive trait. The second part I think is through sleeping with the cousins too many times. Cookies is a slut, I'm just saying

Dude, don't you hate it when that happens, spend ages on the magnus opus email...just to lose it, very F-ing annoying.

Yeah I have heard Matt Riot say that cookies is nothing but OG Kush X Purple Urkle....he also said it could be a OG Kush X reversed cherry pie. We all know that OG has stability issues...probably due to the fact that the majority of the modern OG strains came from a stressed/intersex plant in the first place (Josh D's Florida cut) . Then people are crossing Cookies back to OG and so on and so forth....so you get a whole lot of cousins with the same funky genes banging each other....which appears to now make up a large percentage of modern cannabis genetics. So that's kind of what's going on right? But...I do love me some OG kush, so I can see how that happens


Yeah cookies is a slut for sure...its like the modern version of blueberry...crossed to everything including your neighbors dog.

[Captain Beefheart]

im not sure what yr the mum was born but this does it for me.

https://ugorg.com/products/noname

i simply luv the bugger heres 2 plants 1 day flipped



its got a fueld bluesy skunky smell.... earthy almost !! + it twats me every bowl.

i`ll be back in 9 weeks with some flowers hows that....... god bless the skunk.

[Ukbudz]

Awesome topic

Not very often you see people growing out no names now @Captain Beefheart but you're right she's some very special herb. Grew a pack a few years ago and found one that tasted like orange burnt leather and hit like a train.

Too be honest me and my smoker mates don't really say something tastes old school more along the lines of that this weed tastes like that weed as in this weed tastes like cheese or haze but I've only been smoking since 07 and my mates a few years before that so we wouldn't really know old school weed which imo is 1980-2000. I am a second generation stoner though and I remember the old mans room of stinking of weed sometimes, of just pure skunk and I mean the kind of skunk you don't smell anymore, no sweetness or fruitiness it just screamed cannabis as soon as he sparked up or sometimes he used to get this absolute stinky cat pissy stuff yes this was the 80's and 90's when your dad smoked weed in his room and your mam sat and watched corrie while smoking aswell

I've grew a few cookies crosses out now and they've all had pretty much the same structure, small colas at the top then just golf ball nugs all the way down the stem, some with pretty colours and some without. Had some absolute horrendous hermie rates from them also. They all had that "bag appeal" that commercial people love but just never done it for me unfortunately.

[Cave Hill Cole]

i`ll be back in 9 weeks with some flowers hows that....... god bless the skunk.

Hey captain, you been growing for few moons now...have you noticed a different in skunk structure/potency? If you bought skunk 1 seeds today will the plant look the same as a skunk 1 from the 90's?

That sounds like a banging plant mate! That's what you one, no nonsense a plant that's going to let your hair on fire after every bowl

[Cave Hill Cole]

Awesome topic

Not very often you see people growing out no names now @Captain Beefheart but you're right she's some very special herb. Grew a pack a few years ago and found one that tasted like orange burnt leather and hit like a train.

Too be honest me and my smoker mates don't really say something tastes old school more along the lines of that this weed tastes like that weed as in this weed tastes like cheese or haze but I've only been smoking since 07 and my mates a few years before that so we wouldn't really know old school weed which imo is 1980-2000. I am a second generation stoner though and I remember the old mans room of stinking of weed sometimes, of just pure skunk and I mean the kind of skunk you don't smell anymore, no sweetness or fruitiness it just screamed cannabis as soon as he sparked up or sometimes he used to get this absolute stinky cat pissy stuff yes this was the 80's and 90's when your dad smoked weed in his room and your mam sat and watched corrie while smoking aswell

I've grew a few cookies crosses out now and they've all had pretty much the same structure, small colas at the top then just golf ball nugs all the way down the stem, some with pretty colours and some without. Had some absolute horrendous hermie rates from them also. They all had that "bag appeal" that commercial people love but just never done it for me unfortunately.

Yeah that acrid stanky skunk smell is kinda rare these days. I remember it well from the 90s...its that smell where whiff.....scream illegal! haha Mam watching the street blazing a spliff hahahaha priceless

Yeah north America seems to use the old school vs new school distinguisher a lot. Yeah your issues with cookies is somthing you hear echoed a lot. I really don't remember "bag appeal" being a big thing 25yrs ago...then again I was just stoked to get a bag of goodie dank haha

[Bulls]

I'll give my 2p worth of opinion as well lads. I've only first get to know cannabis in the late 90s and don't get me wrong but back then the weed was so stinky that you couldn't stay around if you are not a fan. It was just pure cannabis smell from the moment u spark that joint....I've tried variety of seeds but so far the best smokes I get is from what people say old school cuttings.. I think growing Exodus Cheese was the first time when I experienced that stinky weed I remembered back in the days. And I do think all new strains look different from what I've seen back in the past. Let's say I am not a huge fan of experinmenting with all the new strains as found my G spot with a few "oldschools" and don't feel the need to change them.