Vanished in the Haze: The Story of Haze Strains
Their main stock in trade was LSD — barrels of orange sunshine, specifically — but, like many good pyschonauts, they were also cannabis connoisseurs. The Brotherhood’s quest for an endless summer took them to Thailand, Hawaii and Africa, where they found epic waves and mind-blowing cannabis. The enterprising lads began to ship cannabis back in hollowed-out surfboards, right under the noses of clueless customs agents.
The 1970s were truly a different time. Along with the weed came seeds. At the time, only a few far-thinking folks put any real value on seeds. Just imagine how many epic genetics wound up on the floors of dorm rooms and crash pads around the world. Fortunately for future smokers everywhere, some did realize the potential and began to save and breed seeds. The Haze was one phenomenal example of these early breeders’ work.
Cannabis connoisseurship really began in the late 1970s. Publications from that era list prices for Hawaiian and Thai sticks that are far above the prices of regular herb. Hawaiian was going for $175 an ounce, whereas an ounce of Colombian was $40. This was also the beginning of the California commercial sinsimilla market, which was listed at $125 an ounce.
Folks began really breeding at this time, since many of their equatorial sativas didn’t grow as well in California. The Haze brothers emerged around this period in Santa Cruz with their eponymous strain, as well as a purple one. As best as this reporter has been able to ascertain, the strain was originally a cross of Colombian and Mexican genetics. Over subsequent seasons, Thai and North Indian strains were added to the mix.
The Haze rapidly achieved mythical status in the rarefied world of top-flight cannabis. The average smoker would have never before experienced cannabis of this level with Haze being reserved for rock stars, their dealers and a small group of growers who were in the scene enough to get their hands on it.
Enter Dave Watson, also known as Sam the Skunkman.
Skunkman was part of the Sacred Seeds collective, which is often credited with being the first seed bank in California. He traveled the world collecting seeds and was hard at work in Santa Cruz in the late 1970s, where he was able to obtain the legendary Haze. To escape the burgeoning drug war madness of the early Reagan years, the Skunkman decamped for Amsterdam in the early 1980s. Fortunately for all cannabis lovers nowadays, he took his precious stash of seeds with him. Skunk # 1, California Orange and several versions of Haze all resulted from his partnerships with Dutch breeders during the dark years of Reagan and Bush.
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