Interview with Simon from Serious Seeds taken from the german cannabis magazine Hanfblatt, translated by filter tip
Hanfblatt: Simon, since april 1999 the production of THC rich cannabis has been made illegal. Did this effect your work? Is it your observation, that since then the police are looking more closely at Seed breeders?
Simon: The new law had it´s effects, it was no longer possible, or safe to use the exesting grow rooms that the police knew about. But it also wasn´t like the police were out to bust legitament seedbreeders. The primary reason for the seed production bann was to give the police a hand going after cannabis growers, who all was had acouple of seeded plants in the grow room, so when the police came they could say “ No officer, were not producing cannabis were making seeds” this problem has been taken care of for the police since the bann.
Hanfblatt: How many people work for/at Serious Seeds?
Simon: There are 4 people, that really work for Serious seeds like, my wife for office work, two guys who take care of plants and myself for everything else.But there´s more that help out like paul, who has a different job but helps out during the cup or at different events and theres also a couple of growers that work at producing seeds for me but do not belong offically to Serious seeds.
Hanfblatt: Are you considering the supply of medical marijuanna ?
Simon: No. although I have been producing some potent cannabis over the years, I am a cannabis breeder at heart who loves working on new strains and crosses rather than producing kilos of buds even if its medical.
Hanfblatt: How whould you describe the Holland seed market situation at the moment, how is the relatonship between the seedbanks?
Simon: We are alwas there for new seedbanks and show them respect, this philosophy is shared with other older seedbanks like Dutch Passion and even newer ones like Magus Genetics. There are however a lot of other seedbanks that have a different philosophy, it shows when these seedbanks copy a award winning,prized and original strain name. It´s kind of like in the real world: there are always people who do not care what others think of them, or how they can make a profit.
Hanfblatt: What can you tell us about the names “Ole 47” and “OKE 47”?
Simon: Ah man, that’s a story I really wanted to avoid here with out mentioning names. But if your going to ask I guess I have to give you a clear answer. It was a dissapointment for me, when sensi seeds started production on the AK-47 and Bubblegum. And not even under there own name-but a “cover” name- “WHITE LABEL”. Ben Dronkers promissed me that the strain names would be changed, since I have never used any names from sensi seeds. White label then changed the names AK-47 was now “oke-47” and Bubblegum was now “Doublegum” oh well. The white label seeds at that time were only sold out of sensi´s own store and I didn´t feel like fighting about the subject anymore. Then, a couple of years later, al of a sudden “Black Label” was born a new branch off the High Quality seeds. Black label specialized on selling seeds with a popular name and a pretty package. I immediately had problems with these guys, because black label were buying there seeds from white label and then sold them under there own label. I was not happy with this, not only that, now these white label seeds were being pushed with big media coverage, it was going to far. Henk from Dutch Passion-he was also involved with a few strain names- and I had a talk with Ben Dronkers(sensi seeds). But Ben was not prepared to change the names, black label was however ready to change the names around enough till I was satisfied so “ole-47” it was. It´s important to me that people who heard about AK-47 don´t get confused and buy the copy Ole-47. I always try and make good on a bad situation, it´s important that people do not loose there trust in Serious Seeds.
Hanfblatt: Have all the cheap-seed banks and strain-fakes hurt your bussiness, or has this compition not affected your sales?
Simon: Well you can´t really put a number on how many people went out and bought copys from other seed banks who really wanted Serious seeds.Last year Nirvana,without asking, used the name AK-47 for cheap-seeds. On there web site they simply copy and paste the entire description from the Serious seeds web site. Even all the prizes and cups that were won by us.everything word for word.That did infact hurt our sales as we also had a smale production hole to fill. When I wrote about the situation on my web site, the Nirvana people conntacted me and asked me to remove the info from my web site, crazy world? Nirvana has recently changed the name.
HanfBlatt: Which countries are important for you as a seed bank?
Simon: At the moment It´s England and Spain other countries such as the U.S.A, Germany, France do not allow the sale of cannabis seeds, these countries are not as free as the claim to be.
Hanfblatt: Is it true that currently the trend, with cannabis strains, is going twards more flavor and aroma rather than just maxium THC levels?
Simon: When THC is high, and that’s the case now days with most strains,then other factors start to regain awareness flavor,aroma. A high THC level is still the most valuable after all we comsume cannabis for the buzz.our strains Ak-47, Kali Mist, White Russian are extremly potent and have there own indidual aromas.
Hanfblatt: Whats your favorite strain?
Simon:I always have some nice buds in the office to chose from, and I always go for the Kali Mist, I often have to refill the AK-47 as well.
HanfBlatt: Do you smoke any other strains from seed banks or any landrace strains?
Simon: I´ve got a couple of import strains, that I like to smoke every now and then, a Mexican and a Jamaican, for the taste. But usually I smoke Kali Mist, that’s why I made her, a combination of the best natural strains.
Hanfblatt: Simon, the last strain release from Serious seeds has been a while…I know that you are/were working on a Hawaian variety. When can we expect something new from Serious Seeds?
Simon: Yes, I know. A couple of times already I´ve thought THAT’S IT, I´ve found it! But then other tests proved that it was not 100% right. It´s simple, I can only release a strain when I am absolutly certain that it has been breed to perfection—no room for improvement.if I happen to lose money with this attitude twards breeding, because a great nummber of trail crosses are not released, that’s all right- money´s not the most important thing in life!!!!
Hanfblatt: Simon, since april 1999 the production of THC rich cannabis has been made illegal. Did this effect your work? Is it your observation, that since then the police are looking more closely at Seed breeders?
Simon: The new law had it´s effects, it was no longer possible, or safe to use the exesting grow rooms that the police knew about. But it also wasn´t like the police were out to bust legitament seedbreeders. The primary reason for the seed production bann was to give the police a hand going after cannabis growers, who all was had acouple of seeded plants in the grow room, so when the police came they could say “ No officer, were not producing cannabis were making seeds” this problem has been taken care of for the police since the bann.
Hanfblatt: How many people work for/at Serious Seeds?
Simon: There are 4 people, that really work for Serious seeds like, my wife for office work, two guys who take care of plants and myself for everything else.But there´s more that help out like paul, who has a different job but helps out during the cup or at different events and theres also a couple of growers that work at producing seeds for me but do not belong offically to Serious seeds.
Hanfblatt: Are you considering the supply of medical marijuanna ?
Simon: No. although I have been producing some potent cannabis over the years, I am a cannabis breeder at heart who loves working on new strains and crosses rather than producing kilos of buds even if its medical.
Hanfblatt: How whould you describe the Holland seed market situation at the moment, how is the relatonship between the seedbanks?
Simon: We are alwas there for new seedbanks and show them respect, this philosophy is shared with other older seedbanks like Dutch Passion and even newer ones like Magus Genetics. There are however a lot of other seedbanks that have a different philosophy, it shows when these seedbanks copy a award winning,prized and original strain name. It´s kind of like in the real world: there are always people who do not care what others think of them, or how they can make a profit.
Hanfblatt: What can you tell us about the names “Ole 47” and “OKE 47”?
Simon: Ah man, that’s a story I really wanted to avoid here with out mentioning names. But if your going to ask I guess I have to give you a clear answer. It was a dissapointment for me, when sensi seeds started production on the AK-47 and Bubblegum. And not even under there own name-but a “cover” name- “WHITE LABEL”. Ben Dronkers promissed me that the strain names would be changed, since I have never used any names from sensi seeds. White label then changed the names AK-47 was now “oke-47” and Bubblegum was now “Doublegum” oh well. The white label seeds at that time were only sold out of sensi´s own store and I didn´t feel like fighting about the subject anymore. Then, a couple of years later, al of a sudden “Black Label” was born a new branch off the High Quality seeds. Black label specialized on selling seeds with a popular name and a pretty package. I immediately had problems with these guys, because black label were buying there seeds from white label and then sold them under there own label. I was not happy with this, not only that, now these white label seeds were being pushed with big media coverage, it was going to far. Henk from Dutch Passion-he was also involved with a few strain names- and I had a talk with Ben Dronkers(sensi seeds). But Ben was not prepared to change the names, black label was however ready to change the names around enough till I was satisfied so “ole-47” it was. It´s important to me that people who heard about AK-47 don´t get confused and buy the copy Ole-47. I always try and make good on a bad situation, it´s important that people do not loose there trust in Serious Seeds.
Hanfblatt: Have all the cheap-seed banks and strain-fakes hurt your bussiness, or has this compition not affected your sales?
Simon: Well you can´t really put a number on how many people went out and bought copys from other seed banks who really wanted Serious seeds.Last year Nirvana,without asking, used the name AK-47 for cheap-seeds. On there web site they simply copy and paste the entire description from the Serious seeds web site. Even all the prizes and cups that were won by us.everything word for word.That did infact hurt our sales as we also had a smale production hole to fill. When I wrote about the situation on my web site, the Nirvana people conntacted me and asked me to remove the info from my web site, crazy world? Nirvana has recently changed the name.
HanfBlatt: Which countries are important for you as a seed bank?
Simon: At the moment It´s England and Spain other countries such as the U.S.A, Germany, France do not allow the sale of cannabis seeds, these countries are not as free as the claim to be.
Hanfblatt: Is it true that currently the trend, with cannabis strains, is going twards more flavor and aroma rather than just maxium THC levels?
Simon: When THC is high, and that’s the case now days with most strains,then other factors start to regain awareness flavor,aroma. A high THC level is still the most valuable after all we comsume cannabis for the buzz.our strains Ak-47, Kali Mist, White Russian are extremly potent and have there own indidual aromas.
Hanfblatt: Whats your favorite strain?
Simon:I always have some nice buds in the office to chose from, and I always go for the Kali Mist, I often have to refill the AK-47 as well.
HanfBlatt: Do you smoke any other strains from seed banks or any landrace strains?
Simon: I´ve got a couple of import strains, that I like to smoke every now and then, a Mexican and a Jamaican, for the taste. But usually I smoke Kali Mist, that’s why I made her, a combination of the best natural strains.
Hanfblatt: Simon, the last strain release from Serious seeds has been a while…I know that you are/were working on a Hawaian variety. When can we expect something new from Serious Seeds?
Simon: Yes, I know. A couple of times already I´ve thought THAT’S IT, I´ve found it! But then other tests proved that it was not 100% right. It´s simple, I can only release a strain when I am absolutly certain that it has been breed to perfection—no room for improvement.if I happen to lose money with this attitude twards breeding, because a great nummber of trail crosses are not released, that’s all right- money´s not the most important thing in life!!!!
Very nice article, thanks for posting it.
