Highland Lao #4

Description

Genetics: Traditional Lao – Thai Ganja Domesticate (“Landrace”)
Sourcing: The Real Seed Company, Laos, Southeast Asia, 2022
Purpose: Ganja (seedless or lightly seeded buds)
Latitude: 18° N
Regional Harvest: Seed to harvest = 6 months
Height: 2 – 4 metres
Characteristics: Intense rich aromas; euphoric luminous high; Sativa-type architecture
Classification: C. sativa subsp. indica var. indica
Grow Type: Greenhouse or outdoors

A new accession from farmers in a crucial centre of production of ‘Thai’ ganja, the jungles and highlands of Bolikhamsai.

Ganja is a traditional household plant in this region of Laos, particularly among ethnic Tai rice-farming lowland communities such as the Lao. Commercial cultivation expanded with Western demand for Thai Stick in the late 60s and grew rapidly through the 70s and 80s after US-driven crackdowns across the Mekong in nearby northern Isan (NE Thailand).

The number ‘4’ indicates that this is a distinct accession from a new source.

Please note that the practical realities of security for farmers and their families combine with Covid restrictions to make travelling to farms to sample harvests like some kind of ganja Man from Del Monte more than a little unrealistic.

A further factor in why furnishing very high levels of detail in strain descriptions is a non-starter is how dramatically the quality and character of ganja varies depending on where and how the crop is cultivated. Terroir and phenotypic plasticity are persistently overlooked by Western aficionados. The mantra that needs drumming in for many folks is that precision and accuracy are not the same thing.

Across the tropics ganja is cultivated as a 6-month crop, seed to harvest.

Expect rich intense aromas and highs that bring a positvity most tokers in the West have forgotten exists

Lowered prices are to encourage exploration, which – unlike relying on forum reports – is the only sure way to discover and realize the potential in these plants.