This article is the fifth of a series focused on the most important landraces of cannabis. All the thousands of strains of cannabis we use today are derived from a limited number of landraces, which have been used for medicinal, religious and recreational purposes during centuries. Cannabis originated in central Asia, and from there it has spread to all corners of the world. Sometimes helped by nature, sometimes by man, cannabis seeds have conquered unimaginable distances, spreading their genetics, adapting to new environments, changing their characteristics, and therefore resulting in countless combination. Some of these combination stabilized themselves through inbreeding, and resulted in landraces. Some of these landraces have preserved themselves, isolated in remote areas of the planet with no contact with other cannabis strains for long periods of time.
My name is Franco, my passion is cannabis, and my work is strain-hunting for Green House Seed Company.
And this is the history of:
Thai Sativa
Thailand is a huge country, located in the heart of Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia. The country is a kingdom and the largest city is Bangkok, the capital, which is also the country's center of political, commercial, industrial and cultural activities. 64 million people live in the country, and they are mostly Buddhist.
During the 1960s Vietnam war veterans started going to Thailand between service tours, to relax and enjoy the tropical beaches and the unspoiled lush nature. After that, the hippies took over, transforming the islands along the coasts of the country into worlds apart of full moon parties and endless summers. Then in the 1980 came the sex tourism, and the troubled issues that go with it. And finally, in the 1990s, Thailand became a real pot-tourism destination, with thousands of people visiting every year in search of the famous Thai Sativa.
Thailand became famous for its cannabis first during the 1960s, when the Thai Sticks started being exported and showed up on markets as different as USA, Australia and Europe. The Thai Sticks were made by pressing many small buds onto a stick (cannabis or bamboo) and then wrapping it with a small thread from the cannabis fiber, or with some other organic lace. Thai Sticks became extremely popular, because the high was extremely sativa-like, very uplifting, and more potent than the average cannabis available back then. After the 1970s, when breeders started producing high-potency hybrids, the popularity of the Thai Sticks decreased and eventually they disappeared from the main trade routes of cannabis.
But more recently, starting in the mid 1990s, there has been a return in popularity of the Thai Sativa, because many smokers begun to get tired of high-potency strains and started smoking light sativas again. Especially more mature users, with a high-productivity lifestyle, appreciate strains that can keep them active and productive like the Thai Sativa. And so this old landrace made its way back onto the menus of several Dutch Coffeeshops, and into the dealer’s stash houses all over the world.
The Thai Sativa is a very old plant. According to my opinion it is one of the first landraces, one of the original cradles of sativas that have then moved to the four corners of the planet through natural and human activity over tens of thousands of years. The geographical area of origin is the northern part of the country, in the Chiang Mai and Nan areas, and into Laos. It is a very remote area, covered by thick jungle and very hilly. The huge plantations are controlled by local gangs, involved in the opium trade as well as the production and trade of amphetamines, the most popular drug in Thailand. The territory is guarded by militias, and the Thai government does not have full control over the area, leaving most rural villages under the administration of local tribes.
Endemic poverty have stimulated the cultivation of cannabis, and the crops are bigger every year. Entire hills are burned for fertilizing the ground, then planted.
For as long as the there is human memory, cannabis has been growing abundant in this region. It is likely that the first seeds came here from the Hindu-Kush area, and then adapted to the local conditions by changing traits, evolving into the sativa that it is now.
The hours of light do not change much between winter and summer in this part of the planet, and technically it is possible to grow cannabis all year round. But the wet season is very long and the amount of rain considerable, so the large production crops are planted just once a year at the end of the wet season and harvested after 5-6 months. The plants grow up to 1 meter before starting to flower, and the flowering is extremely slow. By harvest, they are 4-5 meters tall. The branches keep stretching even during the formation of the buds, making the plants very tall and often causing the branches to hang towards the ground. A typical trait of the Thai Sativa is the horizontal growth of the branches, parallel to the ground, with long skinny buds and very long hairs. The color of the leaves is lime green, and the leaflets are non-overlapping and very long, a true sativa trait. One of the most common traits in the original Thai landrace is the hermaphroditic one. More than 5% of Thai plants shows male and female flowers on the same plant, and this makes the production of seedless weed virtually impossible. One of the hardest selection processes ever is the selection of a true female Thai plant, with only X chromosomes.
The high of the Thai Sativa landrace is legendary: very energizing and uplifting, creeper and long lasting, but with a particular smoothness and feel.
It allows the experienced smoker to stay focused and to be very efficient, but at the same time it creates a very socially stimulating high.
Unfortunately, weed is very illegal in Thailand. The local laws are extremely strict, and applied by a very corrupt Police force that is using any kind of illicit method to catch drug dealers as well as users and get money from them to avoid arrest. And the Thai law does not incorporate the concept of soft and hard drugs, cannabis is as stiffly punished as it is heroin.
So cannabis tourists must be extremely careful when enjoying their favorite herb, even in the more relaxed islands of the south of the countries. And seeds are considered illegal as well, so best option is to mail them before leaving the country.
Franco – Green House Seed Co.
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