Celebrate 4/20 in style by smoking pot varieties named for some of marijuana’s greatest pioneers and champions. These strains immortalize four of the most important elder statesmen of cannabis, so enjoy the smoke while honoring these cherished titans of our industry.
Nevil’s Haze
1st Place, Seeds, High Times Cannabis Cup, 1998
Pioneering breeder Nevil Schoenmakers founded the Seed Bank of Holland, the first marijuana-seed company to advertise in High Times. He went on to develop a number of strains that remain famous to this day, including the Silver Pearl, Northern Lights #5 x Haze and many others. His greatest feat, however, turned out to be his namesake, Nevil’s Haze (also sometimes spelled “Neville’s Haze”), an almost pure sativa that Nevil stabilized made up of Thai, Colombian, Indian and Mexican genetics originally bred by the Haze Brothers of Northern California. This classic Haze provides a pleasant, piney-flavored punch that’s perfect for energetic daytime activities.
Contact: greenhouseseeds.nl or mrnice.nl
Dr. Grinspoon
Another almost pure sativa, this one is named for the brilliant cannabis researcher and author, Dr. Lester Grinspoon. The 86-year-old Harvard professor and author of Marihuana Reconsidered (1971) and Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine (1993) debunked the government’s false science regarding pot use and exposed the Lysenko-ism of the era’s attitudes toward cannabis. This old-school, long-flowering sativa enhances the senses and inspires awareness, much like the intellectual it’s named after. Patient growers will find that it’s well worth the wait, and experienced smokers will love the amazing high, which seems to have no ceiling—the more you smoke, the higher you go!
Contact: barneysfarm.com
Jack Herer
1st Place, Sativa, High Times Cannabis Cup, 1999
High Times Top 10 Strain, 2010
This phenomenal strain is named for another absolute giant of marijuana activism, the late, great Jack Herer, who would have turned 76 this June. Jack wrote The Emperor Wears No Clothes in 1985, heavily influencing every activist who came after him and earning himself the moniker “the Emperor of Hemp.” Sensi Seeds honored Jack with his own namesake strain, and it stands as a tribute to a great freedom fighter. Tireless activism requires a pot variety with pizazz, and Jack Herer’s got it all: great flavor, a beguiling, spicy scent, tremendous resin production and intense potency. Medical marijuana patients suffering from anxiety disorders and fibromyalgia report that Jack treats their symptoms well.
Contact: sensiseeds.com
Jorge’s Diamonds #1
High Times Top 10 Strain, 2008
This one is named in honor of Jorge Cervantes, my mentor and predecessor in writing the cultivation question-and-answer column in High Times. We all owe a great debt to the man who sowed useful growing information for many years through his magazine articles, books and website. Jorge’s Diamonds #1 is an indica-dominant strain that also takes its moniker from the extremely resinous trichomes that make the buds gleam like diamonds. Growers love this variety for its heavy yields and strong resistance to pests and molds, but smokers will luxuriate in the many nuanced taste notes and powerful high.
Contact: dutch-passion.nl
I thought ssh won in 1998?