The weed now, and the weed then (when I started). 1976

[tdavie]

I first started smoking pot in 1976 when I was 16 (you can do the math, I'm too blazed at the moment). The dealers would all sell individual pre rolled joints or would roll for you. A pre roll would cost $2, and could last you a high school dance evening. Weed was generally what I would now consider to be brickweed, ditchweed, garbage or dross. It was generally very Sativa and uppity (which is exactly what I don't like, which explains why I used MJ on and off until I could find more Indica based pot).

Somewhere around Dec/88 I picked up 1/4 oz of Thai (supposedly), that was so sticky as to be ludicrous. It cost $100, but I got very high off of one toke from a 1/5g joint. At this point, joints would typically last me a whole evening.

August/94; I was on holidays, loaded with weed (paying about 40-50 an ounce at this point). Height of stupidity was smoking 1/4 oz between myself and another person and taking mushrooms and drinking far too many beer, before, during and after a Pink Floyd concert. And driving home (how I managed to drive someone and myself home without causing harm is unknown; it is why I won't drink and drive today).

October/99; I am paying about $65 Cdn per 1/4 oz at this point. I have taken to smoking joints while driving, something which only lasts for a few months.

Feb/01 until approximately Septemberish /09 I was pretty much without Cannabis, other than an occasional toke every few months. Didn't buy weed from about Decemberish/00 until December/09, at which point I bought 10g Green Crack for $100 Cdn.

Currently only have named strains about 1/2 the time. Always costs more for named strains, btu so far has always been worth it. Price is $60 / 1/4 or $ 240/oz delivered. At the moment, 1/6 g lasts me 2-3 hours whether I vaporize or bong combust.

It was illegal in 76 and it still is. Cost me less than a dollar to get buzzed in 1976 and it's currently costing me $ 1.42 per bong rip which would suffice for 2-3 hours. Haven't had a seed since I can't remember when.

And it was hard to find in 1976, and it still is; unless you live in a dispensary/coffeeshop friendly locale. It's somewhat easier if you're looking to buy an ounce or more.

I needed a toke to get me high in 1976, and I would probably need more now if the weed was the same strength (which it isn't....on average it's much better). The quality of the weed now is equal to or better than most of what I'vve had in the past, cost and inflation adjussted.

Tom

 

[momatik]

http://iloveweed.net/2010/09/high-times-top-40-buds-of-1977/

This might bring back some memories.

 

[WatTyler]

^ wow, that was interesting to see.

Sticks, seeds and leaves.

I'm nearly surprised it ever caught on!

No disrespect to the landraces, but full praises to those who developed the cultivars we now use.

 

[crawdad]

nice read tom, thanks for sharing.

 

[pakalolo]

I'd say I've tried about half of the strains from those pictures. Back in those days, we were always skeptical when we were told what we were buying, but it's clear from that article that most of the time we were being told the truth.

The only really powerful stuff from that selection is the Thai. Thai stick was the first really strong weed to show up. Before then if you wanted strength you had to get hash or sometimes, hash oil. In the early 70s I was living in the hash gateway to North America, so I never found it hard to get, but weed was rare and usually ditchweed, as Tom says. Back then it was typical for a third of your weight to be sticks, stems, and seeds, and the rest was almost all leaf. That's why Thai stick was so much better, it being buds tied around a stalk or a sliver of bamboo.

It's hard to make judgments across the years, but in terms of effects on me, I'd say that the major reason people think weed today is so much better is that back in the day you never got buds. The new strains might have a higher THC content, but in 1975 I could get completely blasted on a toke or two of Thai stick, which is on a par with the good stuff I see around today.

 

[VWFringe]

still regard my first indica fondly - expensive date, but she was worth it...early to mid-eighties, san jose, $60/eighth, only colas (prolly humboldt)

that was when i started rating my bag weed by how many stars out of ten, and i believe some, like this indica i used to get through this one great connection, was as good as any Bubba today.

 

[vapirtoo]

1975- some moldy acapulco gold, best tasting, best hitting shit I
ever wrapped my lips around! One toke action, would love to
get a chance to vape some of that. Time machine anyone?

Overall the herb seems much better now than then.

 

[lepstadder]

my father always told me that "thai stick" was buds tied around a stick then rolled in opium or hash...

 

[SmokingElectricity]

i sure as hell don't miss picking sticks and seeds out of my blend.

 

[pakalolo]

my father always told me that "thai stick" was buds tied around a stick then rolled in opium or hash...

The opium was only a rumour, but there were Thai sticks that were dipped in hash oil. One toke from that and you stayed happy for a long long time.

Once the US pulled out of Vietnam, we stopped seeing Thais sticks (coincidentally I'm sure).

 

[lwien]

I'd say I've tried about half of the strains from those pictures. Back in those days, we were always skeptical when we were told what we were buying, but it's clear from that article that most of the time we were being told the truth.

The only really powerful stuff from that selection is the Thai. Thai stick was the first really strong weed to show up. Before then if you wanted strength you had to get hash or sometimes, hash oil. In the early 70s I was living in the hash gateway to North America, so I never found it hard to get, but weed was rare and usually ditchweed, as Tom says. Back then it was typical for a third of your weight to be sticks, stems, and seeds, and the rest was almost all leaf. That's why Thai stick was so much better, it being buds tied around a stalk or a sliver of bamboo.

It's hard to make judgments across the years, but in terms of effects on me, I'd say that the major reason people think weed today is so much better is that back in the day you never got buds. The new strains might have a higher THC content, but in 1975 I could get completely blasted on a toke or two of Thai stick, which is on a par with the good stuff I see around today.

Yup. Thai Sticks didn't come around every day back then, but when they did, I snatched up as many as I could get my hands on....... that, and Nepalese Temple Balls and Owsley Acid, and..........

Good times :/

 

[weedemon]

love hearing about how weed used to be. i only got into it around the year 2000. became everyday user since 2001.

for me the herb has gotten better but i think that's only because i found better suppliers from the bigger cities compared to where i was grabbing when i started in the country.

 

[sunsett70]

http://iloveweed.net/2010/09/high-times-top-40-buds-of-1977/

This might bring back some memories.

damn, that stuff look a lot like what i get now, if it's compacted brick weed style complete with some stem/seeds! maybe the quality of my weed is 70s style, which would explains my ever increasing hippy attitude.

 

[Purple-Days]

Lots of my story is location specific, doesn't apply to all folks everywhere.

Then and now, for me, started in 1971 or '72 with a try or two that ended in no high.

By the end of '74 I was into mostly Columbian and Mexican ounces, called Lids, or OZs, or Sacks that folks measured by the 'Finger Method' or the rare postal arc and needle scale. Saw pounds and quarters (1/4 Lb.) but didn't have that kind of cash.
1974 - 1980s Stems and seeds? Plenty... We had something called 'Shake' , basically 'bud trim', that was never trimmed, that flaked off during cure. Stems for the same reaason, buds came of the stems, the stems stayed in the mix... Seeds were common in shake, as the buds were well ripe and ready to shed seeds. Some dealers (of course) would use seeds as a supplement to enhance the profit margin and actually 're-buy' seed (I am not kidding) to add to 'new' bags. We all had stolen cafeteria trays to de-seed our weed...

BTW thanks USA Feds for exposing me to Paraquat... rat bastards . . .

 

[MaxVapor]

When I started circa 1983 back in the north east we could only afford "shake" as well. My friends and I would collect the seeds planning to grow our own sometime but we never did.

One summer my friend got an angle on 1/4 lb, which I believe cost us $300. At the time it was more weed than we could really imagine having. I kept it hidden in my closet in one of my Dad's old briefcases. I was sure I would get caught. Took us all summer to smoke it, but looking back it was really low end stuff, I would always end up with a terrible headache by the end of the night.

Some years later I was in NY, and hooked up a connection for (what was claimed to be) "Jamaican Black Gold". Whatever it was it was way better than anything I had acquired to date. I think I still have some seeds from that around somewhere that I saved.

Then I quit smoking for many years, and came back to it maybe 5 years ago. I can't believe how good the stuff is today! So many varieties and flavors, it's like being a kid in a candy store!

 

[tdavie]

1988 and we had a decent source on what I was told was Chocolate Thai. It had buds (no seeds) wrapped around green bamboo with red threads. Didn't taste like anything to me (I didn't learn fine taste discernment until I became a beer geek), but smelt vaguely sweet. $70 per 1/4 or $40 per 1/8. Extremely sticky. 1 to 2 hits and I was a basket case. It affected me like Salvia does (bought 20g 5 years ago and really don't like it. Took way too much and it was unsettling), although some of the visuals were nice.

May 1988 went to an Iron Maiden concert. Didn't bother going into school that day, just hooked up with an old friend, bought an ounce of some ditchweed, shrooms and proceeded to get blotto before the concert. Opening group was some band I had never heard of before but I loved (Guns n Roses)

Sept 1988 was also the first and only time I got ripped off. A guy called Little Niki (really, people called him that but he was a lanky 6 ft 2 in guy) was going to split 1/2 oz Chocolate Thai with me. $60 delivered to my lab where I was a grad student was what I was being charged. Well, Niki never showed up. I saw him around campus for another 9 months until I dropped out. He was always kinda fringy and slunk away. Turns out another graduate student in another department was still buying weed from him

Some stuff definitely stands out in my memory

Tom

 

[akwardsauce]

i love these stories...i always wondered about the little details about a smokers life in different generations...i wonder how weed parties and how purchases, prices, etc were back in like the 40s & 50s...or even back in the 1800s...must have been more relaxed way back then.

i wonder what they were smoking on on the movie set of reefer madness

 

[jeffp]

In 1972 a few friends and I chipped in for a quarter pound that we were intending to smoke new year's eve. It was $45. We split it up and went home and rolled joints, on new year's eve we gathered all the joints together and smoked ourselves straight. At least we thought so. I remember we were outside at one point walking to a party, I wanted to light a cigarette and went right against the filling pumps at the gas stations because of the wind.
Probably wouldn't have done it if I was in my right mind. We finished most of the joints but there was still some unrolled weed in the large bag. Next day we walked over to our friend Stuie's house to finish it up.
In his room, listening to Anthem of the Sun. His parents suddenly returned home. His father's footsteps were approaching his room. Stuie put the large bag over his head and the top of the bag had like ruffles. His father walked in, he looked at his son and said, "Why do you have a bag over your head?" Stuie said, "I'm a rooster Dad."
Stuff wasn't bad in those days and it was cheap. Still, we couldn't afford much of it unless we chipped in.

 

[t-dub]

When I went to college, in Oregon, back in the 1980's great cannabis was easily had and the price was the same as I am donating now at my local resource center, $10/gram. Since I started medicating in January I have found that now there are many more strains than I remember, quality is higher, and of course now I am vaping instead of combusting. One thing I have noticed about most of the "berry" strains is that they taste like SOAP in my HerbalAire . . .

t-dub

Edit: Oh yes, and the Purps also . . . taste like horrible Kool-Aid.