After taking a deep breath from Blueberry Cookies from City Farmers, BCN, the smoke rises into the ceilings of the Gothic Quarter’s 16th-century modernist palace. The smoke rising, I reflect on the meaning of the moment, and rejoice in the freedom to use weed legally. In a country that has legalized cannabis for personal cultivation and cultivation but not for sale, the smoke is still considered “gray” marijuana. For an international conference on cannabis genetics, I am in Barcelona. More specifically, I’m within the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum at a party celebrating the collaborative efforts that bridged a domestic-international divide to unite two storied cannabis seed companies, Sensi Seeds and Humboldt Seed Company. Their collaboration marks the beginning of a new chapter of the cannabis history. It continues the legacy of legendary fusions between European and Californian genetics, which began in 1970 when marijuana was hybridized.
Breeding Grounds is a collaborative project that resulted to the creation of four new feminized seeds . These are: the Bird (OG Kush x Humboldt Dream x Larry Bird), Auto Pineapple Kush Cake, (Pineapple Muffin x Banana Kush Cake x Autopineapple Kush Cake), Auto Amnesia Jelly x Amnesia XXL), as well as one from the Z terps (Purple Bud x Blueberry Muffin x Zkittlez). The symbolism behind the cannabis plants is perhaps more important than their lineage. Sensi Seeds, which was born from the seeds of The Seed Bank of Holland’s Nevil Schoenmakers, has brought to the market classic strains like the sativa dominant Jack Herer. It started selling cannabis seeds in Holland in 1980s. Humboldt Seed Company was founded in California’s Emerald Triangle, in 2001. It has a strong reputation for being a reliable breeder through huge phenohunts, award-winning cannabis, and its signature strain Blueberry Muffin. In 2023, the two companies will merge. This harkens back the early days of cannabis breeding, in the 1970s. Ed Rosenthal and Sam the Skunkman were the first to fuse Californian and European cannabis genes, creating the first ever cannabis hybrids.
The Seed Bank was the predecessor to Sensi Seeds. My uncle owned a shed. He would store High Times magazines. I can recall sneaking in his shed because we used to borrow weed from him. We were looking through his High Times and saw an advertisement for The Seed Bank. Benjamin Lind is cofounder and chief scientific officers of Humboldt Seed Company. It was almost like it clicked: “Whoa! You can order seeds!”
Lind began his journey as a child watching his family make their cannabis crosses. He also learned about seeds and the importance of them to guarantee the next harvest. Over a breakfast of lychee fruits from Barcelona’s famous food markets, Sensi Seeds was his first vision for a cannabis seed business. He met with the founders of the company, and was able to tour their facilities decades later. It became clear that his breeding efforts were in line with the work they did.
He says that many of the processes used in our breeding are similar. Although all breeders approach cannabis breeding differently, very few share the same beliefs and philosophies. However, we work well together.”
The combination of these two minds within the cannabis breeding industry was not a chance. It’s the culmination of many years of hard work by Ed Rosenthal, a cannabis cultivation expert who told me that he has written books but is more interested in mergers and acquisitions. Rosenthal has a long history with Sensi Seeds. Rosenthal was introduced to Ben Dronkers by a mutual friend, who founded Sensi Seeds in 1980s. After being introduced to each other, they began working together on the Amsterdam museum that would focus exclusively on the history and origins of cannabis. It opened its first in 1987.
Rosenthal says that Nevil Schoenmakers was also indicted. He sold The Seed Bank to Sensi Seeds and took off to Australia. However, he wasn’t brought back to America. We stayed close, and [Dronkers] hired us off at various times to accomplish things, and then they also contributed, I believe, $50,000-100,000.
Rosenthal was speaking about a federal case which began in 2000 and ended with Rosenthal being found guilty of three felonies relating to cultivation and sales of marijuana. The jury was not informed that Rosenthal had been appointed by Oakland to cultivate medical marijuana. They voted against Rosenthal’s verdict. Rosenthal was sentenced in 2003 to one day imprisonment, with time served.
Rosenthal refers to Sensi Seeds as a legacy family. He says that he first saw the Dronkers’s son Ravi Dronkers interact with Humboldt Seed Company and realized “cultures weren’t so different.”
He says, “I was certain that this was the right one and I did my best to make sure it wasn’t a disaster.” This is something I am really happy about. It’s going to be huge.”
Mid-March saw the announcement of the partnership at the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum in Barcelona. It included flutes and a bowl with Spanish-grown Blueberry Cookies for guests to make their own joint. Jack Herer’s young son Dan Herer was among those in attendance. He took a photo of the framed photograph of his father, which is displayed within one of our rooms dedicated to hemp. The legal grey market allows for smoking, and the enjoyment of cannabis concentrates and flowers is allowed in private clubs or spaces. The museum is clearly included, as well as restaurants that will open their doors for guests to use while waiting staff light up.
After a smoky Barcelona dinner, Rosenthal has a conversation with Nathaniel Pennington about cannabis breeding. By crossing the pollen of a male plant with the pollen of a female flower, cannabis breeding is able to create new forms of the floral. A F1 (or first generation) occurs when two landraces are crossed. These cultivars can be native to a specific region and not been bred. After at least four generations, the final hybridized product that is released by seed companies with reputed reputations has been created. Inbred lines, which are bred from similar genes, are used to ensure that seeds retain the same physical properties once they are planted. Because cannabis plants are complex in DNA, two lines of cultivars will result that have similar expressions, called phenotypes. Stabilizing genetics is the process of creating cannabis seeds. It involves a lot of work.
Pennington says that breeding is not science until it can be repeated. True breeding is only possible if you are able to repeat the experiment. This would be the exact same seed population multiplied by the same seed number and the same outcome. If you don’t have the ability to reproduce this experiment, then it’s not really possible to breed anything. However, you will make a line that can forever be propagated as an clone.
Sensi Seeds, Humboldt Seed Company and others make dubious claims regarding the reliability of their seed lines. However, these companies stick to science. These seed banks provide reliable cultivars for humanity that can cross borders and territories to help preserve the diversity of genetic expressions of the most beloved flower in the world.
Lind stated that both Lind’s families worked over generations to protect the best lines of breed and to bring them to market. We both evolved on separate continents with different selection pressures. Even though our lives are different, we share a similar philosophy that is based on respect and love for each other. We naturally crossed-pollinate best of Amsterdam and best Northern California.
The first High Times article was Seed Synergy.
