Having lived in Honolulu in the late 70-'s to mid 80's time period, I have many fond memories of the awesome weed. Back then I had quite a few local hoodlum buddies that were life long grower's with some deep local connection's. Paranoia and distrust ran deep because of Operation Green Harvest, as well as rival grower's ripping each other off. Years later, Operation Green Harvest morphed into Operation Wipe-Out, receiving assistance from the U.S. military.....
........ 25th Army Division.
I have no idea what it's called today.
Nonetheless, even in a bud paradise like Hawaii, sourcing and scoring the finest pakalolo back then wasn't easy. Yes when it's in season (Late October to late May) it's easy to find, but believe it or not there was always more poor quality shit weed available than connoisseur grade. I use to annoy my local buddies whenever I asked them to find me some good weed, knowing all too well that if it was shit to average grade, I wouldn't buy it.
Back then, weed prices varied upon who you knew. An ounce cost anywhere from $120 - $180 bucks. I still remember buying unmanicured, absolutely killer Puna Butter Buds on the Big island, direct from the grower for $100/once. It was the kind of weed that literally left you with a sweet buttery flavor after smoking it. When I took some back to the mainland for the Christmas holidays, one big fat joint would literally cripple 6 unsuspecting participant's in a room at a house party. Back then THC content in most weed was 10-12 % at the best of time's. To a greenhorn, vomiting after one or two hits was not uncommon......
Decent Hawaiian from back then was easily equal to any of the best weed strains that we have today. There is something magical about Hawaiian weed that is expertly grown. The sun, the trade winds, the soil and the old school strains all combined to make it the best weed in the world. Unique world class microclimate's abound, taking you back to surreal Jurassic Park like valleys. The same seed strain or cutting will grow out differently when given to a different grower that's situated in a different valley only miles away. Different microclimates yield different results. This is what makes Hawaiian weed so special.
Most uninitiated toker's were simply not use to higher THC content weed, coupled with drinking a few too many wobbly pop's.
Memory starts to fade after so many years, but here are some of my recollections of the best strains that I was fortunate to smoke :
Elephant - Thai Sativa that grew out fat spear shaped branches and colas that looked like a huge tree in the warm Hawaiian sunshine. Trippy, and really potent. Smelled like a wet moldy carpet.
Molokai Leper Buds - I had a friend that lived in Molokai. He worked at the leper colony in Kalaupapa, hence the name, leper buds. Long sativa like spear buds - 12 inches long- with a a piney minty taste, with hints of licorice.
Haiku KooKoo - I had a crazy local buddy whose parent's allowed him and his hoodlum brother's to grow weed discreetly in the backyard of the family home on the windward side of Oahu. He grew an African sativa strain that was many generation's old, and had acclimatized itself to the micro climate paradise of his back yard. This is where I first learned how important soil is when growing weed. Mr. Haiku Kookoo was a master at mixing/blending his living soil with secret ingredients which included composted chicken shit. It tasted like a tangerine berry smoothie, and was devastatingly potent.
Puna Butter - Exceptional smoke. tasted like butter. The buds were shaped like round button's. Definitely an exotic indica that to this day, I've never smoked weed that tasted as sweet and buttery, with massive after taste on the palate.
Kona Gold - Only saw and smoked it a hand full of time's. It looked like and smoked like the best Gold Lumbo, but much more terpene rich and intense. Sweet, black peppery spicey, and trippy as fuck. I still remember having my buddy that grew the Haiku Kookoo freaking out after sampling some, saying that he hadn't seen Kona Gold like that for many year's. He couldn't believe I found some. It was devastatingly potent. A fat joint would cripple a room of hard core local grower's with ease. Sativa Hall of Fame material.
Back then, I think I paid $80 for a quarter once one time to get some. HUGE $$$$ back then.
Maui Wowie - Like the Kona, Maui buds were hard to find. The real Maui Wowie was a short season indica that could be harvested 3-4 time's a year in certain Maui micro climate's with an experienced grower. It tasted like exceptionally sweet hash bud with hints of lavender.
Kauai Electric - Kauai is the second oldest Hawaiian island. I knew one local buddy who was on old school master grower who lived out at the north shore of Oahu. He would always preach about good volcanic soil, mixed with the right organic compost. The older the soil, the better. Allegedly, because Kauai soil was so old, it grew out better weed. Looking back at it all know, a good measure of this is true, but I'm also sure that the right strain and a stout grower might have a role to play in this as well.
Even when a strain didn't have a name, and most did not, I was in college at the time, and the crowd I rolled with were always pinning some kind of crazy name to the exotic strains were were smoking. We called weed "barney", and joints were BFB's, BIG FAT BARNEYS. Quaaludes, those crazy Rora 714's with the beveled edges - think "Wolf of Wall Street" - were called Gorilla Biscuits.....
.........and we consumed them like breath mints. Fun times......
Haiku Kookoo - African sativa gone Hawaiian in a hidden micro climate somewhere on the Oahu windward side.......
RMS
........ 25th Army Division.I have no idea what it's called today.
Nonetheless, even in a bud paradise like Hawaii, sourcing and scoring the finest pakalolo back then wasn't easy. Yes when it's in season (Late October to late May) it's easy to find, but believe it or not there was always more poor quality shit weed available than connoisseur grade. I use to annoy my local buddies whenever I asked them to find me some good weed, knowing all too well that if it was shit to average grade, I wouldn't buy it.
Back then, weed prices varied upon who you knew. An ounce cost anywhere from $120 - $180 bucks. I still remember buying unmanicured, absolutely killer Puna Butter Buds on the Big island, direct from the grower for $100/once. It was the kind of weed that literally left you with a sweet buttery flavor after smoking it. When I took some back to the mainland for the Christmas holidays, one big fat joint would literally cripple 6 unsuspecting participant's in a room at a house party. Back then THC content in most weed was 10-12 % at the best of time's. To a greenhorn, vomiting after one or two hits was not uncommon......
Decent Hawaiian from back then was easily equal to any of the best weed strains that we have today. There is something magical about Hawaiian weed that is expertly grown. The sun, the trade winds, the soil and the old school strains all combined to make it the best weed in the world. Unique world class microclimate's abound, taking you back to surreal Jurassic Park like valleys. The same seed strain or cutting will grow out differently when given to a different grower that's situated in a different valley only miles away. Different microclimates yield different results. This is what makes Hawaiian weed so special.
Most uninitiated toker's were simply not use to higher THC content weed, coupled with drinking a few too many wobbly pop's.
Memory starts to fade after so many years, but here are some of my recollections of the best strains that I was fortunate to smoke :
Elephant - Thai Sativa that grew out fat spear shaped branches and colas that looked like a huge tree in the warm Hawaiian sunshine. Trippy, and really potent. Smelled like a wet moldy carpet.
Molokai Leper Buds - I had a friend that lived in Molokai. He worked at the leper colony in Kalaupapa, hence the name, leper buds. Long sativa like spear buds - 12 inches long- with a a piney minty taste, with hints of licorice.
Haiku KooKoo - I had a crazy local buddy whose parent's allowed him and his hoodlum brother's to grow weed discreetly in the backyard of the family home on the windward side of Oahu. He grew an African sativa strain that was many generation's old, and had acclimatized itself to the micro climate paradise of his back yard. This is where I first learned how important soil is when growing weed. Mr. Haiku Kookoo was a master at mixing/blending his living soil with secret ingredients which included composted chicken shit. It tasted like a tangerine berry smoothie, and was devastatingly potent.
Puna Butter - Exceptional smoke. tasted like butter. The buds were shaped like round button's. Definitely an exotic indica that to this day, I've never smoked weed that tasted as sweet and buttery, with massive after taste on the palate.
Kona Gold - Only saw and smoked it a hand full of time's. It looked like and smoked like the best Gold Lumbo, but much more terpene rich and intense. Sweet, black peppery spicey, and trippy as fuck. I still remember having my buddy that grew the Haiku Kookoo freaking out after sampling some, saying that he hadn't seen Kona Gold like that for many year's. He couldn't believe I found some. It was devastatingly potent. A fat joint would cripple a room of hard core local grower's with ease. Sativa Hall of Fame material.
Back then, I think I paid $80 for a quarter once one time to get some. HUGE $$$$ back then.
Maui Wowie - Like the Kona, Maui buds were hard to find. The real Maui Wowie was a short season indica that could be harvested 3-4 time's a year in certain Maui micro climate's with an experienced grower. It tasted like exceptionally sweet hash bud with hints of lavender.
Kauai Electric - Kauai is the second oldest Hawaiian island. I knew one local buddy who was on old school master grower who lived out at the north shore of Oahu. He would always preach about good volcanic soil, mixed with the right organic compost. The older the soil, the better. Allegedly, because Kauai soil was so old, it grew out better weed. Looking back at it all know, a good measure of this is true, but I'm also sure that the right strain and a stout grower might have a role to play in this as well.
Even when a strain didn't have a name, and most did not, I was in college at the time, and the crowd I rolled with were always pinning some kind of crazy name to the exotic strains were were smoking. We called weed "barney", and joints were BFB's, BIG FAT BARNEYS. Quaaludes, those crazy Rora 714's with the beveled edges - think "Wolf of Wall Street" - were called Gorilla Biscuits.....
.........and we consumed them like breath mints. Fun times......Haiku Kookoo - African sativa gone Hawaiian in a hidden micro climate somewhere on the Oahu windward side.......
RMS
.......as a matter of fact, I even smoked some with you and Captain Daffy, the hoodlum in the above pic.........
........ upper left.
.....she's a sat/indi hybrid, but leans on the sativa side, let's say 70/30
