Hi Guys,
I will tell ya a story. Its kind of a long one but bear with me for those of you who are obsessed with the pursuit of the Road Kill Skunk there is some info in here that I want to share with you. This whole story is about Old School Chronic and its a good one. So if you got a little time to kill and are interested in the lore behind the legend please buckle up. Here we go… The year was circa 2005. I was a young buck fresh into my beginning years of college. The weed scene in California was still very much illegal and the black market was thriving. These were my beginning grow years and I stumbled upon a pack of feminized seeds. Seeds were much harder to get back then and I had to make a ton of calls before my friend Juan finally came through. He acquired a 3 pack of feminized seeds from an unknown breeder. It was a fly by night black market dispensary that he got the seeds from. Being relatively new to growing at the time I was not picky I was willing to take any seeds that I could find. The seed pack was all black and had literally one word on it. Train-wreck. I had heard of the strain but had not yet smoked it at the time. I ran the 3 seeds in an indoor grow. A baking hot outdoor shed with no A/C and no carbon filter. I borrowed a 400 watt HPS light from a friend. Out of the 3 seeds 1 didn't germinate. I was down to 2. A few weeks into the grow I had problems with the second plant and it didn't make it. Remember I was a rookie grower at the time. So now I was down to 1 plant left. I nurtured this plant and cared for it like it was my child until harvest. What I was rewarded with was a beautiful sight to behold. For one of my very first grows I was super excited how the plant came out. This was the girl these photos are roughly 17 years old…
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Now I know what most of you are thinking... So what? What is so special about this plant? It looks just like a million other plants that you guys are skimming through everyday on Instagram right? WRONG! Oh so very wrong! Fast forward 17 years later. Im older and fatter now. Much more experienced grower with hundreds probably thousands of plants under my belt. What I will tell you guys is NOTHING that I have grown since then has even come CLOSE to this single plant you are looking at in these pictures. I only wish that there was a way for me to share my olfactory memory of this plant. The most INSANE loud plant I have yet to smell. And it all happened right in my first few beginning years of growing. This shit was so insane fire that it would race your heartbeat and glue your back to the wall at a house party. Super potent. It wasn't just because I had a lower tolerance back then either. Everyone that smoked this shit got blasted off into the fucking stratosphere. Even the daily smokers with the elephants tolerance. This shit was the REAL deal.
To describe to you guys what this was like. The smell.... First thing right off the bat was the classic undeniable smell of skunky ass weed. The classic "weed" smell extremely raw and pungent. But the complexities just kept going. On top of the classic skunky smell immediately your nose was hit with a sharpness that was almost identical to Black Peppercorns. Very sharp and peppery. Then it also had just a tiny bit of Citrus. Or maybe Pine Tree. Its hard to exactly put the finger on it cuz its close to both. Like a Lemon Lime Orange Pine-Sol zing! And to top it off at the very end of your smell journey you were smacked with what I like to refer to as "The sting". It had this raw and dirty Ammonia Piss on the end of the smell that was seriously boarder line offensive. Almost a chemical vibe kinda like what a rotting carcass smells like when it gets hot in the sun and starts to decay. So there you have it. A fucking dirty wicked Potpourri of Skunk, Pepper, Citrus Pine-Sol, and pure ammonia piss. So loud that it stings your nostrils when you put it up close. We smoked up all the bomb during that summer. And then it was gone.
About 1 or 2 summers later I was hanging out down on the boardwalk one night in Sunset Beach drinking beers at the local tavern. I smoked out with an older guy that had a lot of money. He was cool and we hit it off he drove a Red Porche and was a real nonstop talker. This guy was raving about how he had the hottest flower in town and that nobody could get flower more dank than his. He pulled out a little 1/8th container out of his pocket and popped it open. As soon as my nose hit it my memory was immediately catapulted back to the Train-wreck! My other friend happened to be with me at the bar. He too had smoked a TON of that Train-wreck with me. When my friend smelled it he immediately looked at me with big open eyes and simply said...
"Its got the sting"! Now to clarify the smell wasn't exactly like the magic Trainwreck pheno from a few summer prior but undeniably it was close. It had that nose burning eye watering funk with the ammonia piss and dead carcass at the end. An AMAZING smell of dank ass chronic insanely loud! I know for sure that any one of you guys reading this would be in LOVE with it no questions asked. I smoked up the bomb with this rich guy then he left. Like a ghost the nose burn ammonia sting was gone. The years have come and gone. Now its 2022 and still nothing I find comes even close. I have spent thousands on breeder packs over the years to no avail. Lots of great stuff too guys were talking expensive ass breeder packs from the finest growers. None of it is even close to the stuff back then that came around for only a few summers. So there you have it! Thats my initial story story of the one that got away and it started everything for me. If I had a time machine and could bring that cut back today it would blast everything off the shelves. I would be rich the flower would be flying off the shelves because it DOES NOT exist anymore at least not here. Designer LA Fruit and Kush strains would all hail in comparison to the Old School nose burn funk. You could smell a joint of this shit down the fucking block. Soaring elevated high that wasn’t necessarily a couch lock more like a mind journey to the highest mountain peak. You had to be careful with this shit if you were a newbie it could absolutely make you paranoid. But for the brave or a veteran stoner it was something very unique and special.
So all of this being said I will now share with you guys where I am on my Old School Funk quest. I have continued to search for these old school strains. The most popular craze now on the internet has been the Road Kill Skunk hunt everyone is crazy about it and people dispute it constantly. Upon my countless hours of cannabis reading and Youtube watching I came across a few little pieces of the puzzle that ironically fit together. They come into play with my old school Train-wreck experience. If you guys are still reading and have followed me this far please stick around this is where the clues start to come together like a Sherlock Holmes mystery. I stumbled upon a grower online by the name of Kevin Jodrey. If you guys have never head of him you should check out his shit he is awesome basically he is one of the Godfathers of the old outdoor Humboldt scene. Anyways in his videos he talks about his project to resurrect the infamous RKS. This 5 min video below is fantastic and if you haven’t seen it I strongly recommend watching it. I also attached a second video where he goes into the skunk genetic lineage. This guy really knows his shit…
After I first watched these videos I got excited because basically all of the descriptive smell words that he is using in here are spot on to my memory of the lost Train-wreck pheno. Words like Skunky, Peppery, Obnoxious, Citrus/Piney, Ammonia, Burn, Pissy, Dead carcass. These were all the perfect descriptor words for what I experienced. So then I was thinking about it more and the thought came to my head… Holy shit! Did I experience something that was close to a RKS? Is it possible that the ammonia loud ass undeniable volatile smells that I was experiencing was actually Ester Alcohols? Was “The sting” that we experienced the plant based fats and alcohols that Kevin is talking about? Holy shit! Maybe so! This shit got me really intrigued. Just based off of his descriptive words it seems like perhaps it was similar. I continued to watch all of Kevin’s RKS videos and to my absolute amazement in one of them he actually said “Even some of the old school Train-wrecks had a killer RKS vibe”. Holy shit what are the chances out of thousands of strains out there he says Train-wreck! I almost jumped off the couch when he said it! Holy Shit! I have searched this youtube video to provide here as evidence to you guys but for the life of me I can’t find it now. But you guys can just trust me he said it. So if Kevin Jodrey a skunk master and grow legend is telling me that some of the old Train-wreck strains had a RKS pheno then that means what I experience was DEFINETLY an old school Ester Alcohol variety. Nice! This was all very encouraging to hear because it kind of validates that Im not crazy LOL! For years I have been telling people that the skunkiest weed I ever smoked was Train-wreck and people would look at me funny cuz the modern Train-wrecks are nothing like RKS. Still great weed just not the same.
So here we go! Were going deeper fellas. Down down the RKS Ester Alcohol rabbit hole we go! So then I started researching “Ammonia” weed strains. I figured if some of the old RKS had the ammonia smell then maybe I can find some info by searching that. I exercised a deep google search and I started finding articles and videos about the Catpiss strain. This is where the RKS and Catpiss connection starts to come into play. I came across a video exclusively about Catpiss. It was the James Loud Show and he had a handful of guests on. 707 is on there and a few other greats everyone talking exclusively about the origins of the Catpiss varieties. The show is below…
While I was watching this show the guys started talking about the Super Silver Haze Catpiss phenos that used to be floating around down in San Diego back in the 90s. I also recall hearing the guys in the video briefly touch on a strain from San Diego called Hogs breathe. Hmmm interesting. Because Kevin Jodrey in the video I just posted above also reference the SD Hogs Breathe as an absolute killer skunky variety that he is using in his RKS breeding project. OK so now I started google searching these two strains. SD Hogs-breathe and also SSH Catpiss pheno. While I was searching for Super Silver Haze Catpiss on google I stumbled upon both a WeedMaps and Wayoleaf article talking about Catpiss. What I read once again shocked me and it was the final nail in the coffin for the Train-wreck case. The links are below but I took screenshots too. Check this shit out…
So now I was totally all jazzed up because its like I had done a 17 year full circle. It was like the mystery of the magic Train-wreck pheno from college was all coming together. The reason why that weed was so special is because it was a very rare super old school Train-wreck Catpiss pheno likley 80s or 90s. This is a clone only variety but the reason why I was able to experience it from seeds is because I had FEMINIZED seeds. This meant they were created from a cut of the original Train-wreck Catpiss mother-stock! Hallelujah and the fucking angels start singing! Nice! Sherlock Holmes mystery solved.
So now comes the inevitable question that everyone is asking? Where the hell did all of these amazing old school Ester Alcohol varieties go and how can we bring them back? Where is the RKS and Real Skunk #1? The SSH Catpiss Pheno? And the TrainWreck Catpiss pheno? And the Old School SD Hogs-breathe? The answer is they likely still exist but they are EXTREMELY rare and difficult to find now. I have literally made it a lifelong goal to try to get my hands on some of these Old school Ester Alcohol varieties. I need “The sting” back in my life really bad. So remember the James Loud Catpiss show that I posted earlier? There was a guest on there named JR and he is from San Diego. This guy…
He is the owner of a seed company called
oldschoolchronic.com and he talks about the SSH Catpiss pheno on that show. He actually has the old school SSH Catpiss cut and he made a BX line out of it he offers the seeds on his company website. Being from the costal area of Orange County its not that far of a drive to SD like 1hr 30min. I know I could have just purchased the seeds but like I mentioned before after pheno hunting forever without finding the nose burn I felt like it was prudent to try to obtain a cut. I reached out to him on instagram and started bugging him. After many back and forths over a period of weeks my pleasantly polite yet persistent attitude payed off. He agreed to meet with me down in SD and he hooked me up SUPER huge. Not only did I get the SSH Catpiss but I got teen plants instead of cuts! Luckily he had them available. I got the SSH Catpiss BX2…
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And also the SSH Catpiss BX3…
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Both of witch are the real mother stock breeder cuts. JR was so rad he hooked me up with a bunch of other dope stuff too. His company is legit and like the name states he has the super dank old school strains in his catalogue. I won’t disclose how much I spent but I did drop some $ on this stuff. I feel that its important to note that JR usually does NOT give out cuts. Its something he used to do more but he is strictly seeds now. He made a special acceptation for me because I bugged the shit out of him and we both grew up in the exact same area of Orange County. Since we had a few things in common and I was so persistent he finally cried uncle and caved in. Please don’t reach out to him for cuts cuz I don’t want him to get mad at me for disclosing this info lol! His BX seed packs are actually super stable with very little phenotype variation. In retrospect after talking to him in person I probably could have just ordered the stabilized seed packs but it was none the less a good opportunity to meet him face to face and talk cannabis for a while. If you are looking for some new strains I highly recommend putting a seed purchase in on his website. He hooks up mad freebies all the time with your order and its all flame. SSH Catpiss and the White Rhino are his superstars.
So now I have some legit Catpiss stock to grow with and possibly breed with. Along with the old school SSH JR cut I also purchased the 1990s Catpiss strain from Dagga Love. He is another old school Catpiss grower from San Diego and he was also on the same James Loud Catpiss episode. This guy…
I am running his most Ammonia dominant strain right now and the seeds are just getting started. This is where Im at so far…
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So I got these two ammonia lines going right now and I also have breeder packs of 1988 Skunk#1 as well as the original NL #5 the real Nevil stuff. Also a few others as well. These strains will likely be amazing as is however I may be using them to do some pollen chucking too. My main goal would be to get something at least similar to that Train-wreck Catpiss pheno that started my cannabis journey. I would love to be able to find an old school cut of either SD Hogs-breathe or the real Train-wreck Catpiss pheno or an RKS. I know these are hard to get but if anyone on this forum has the real deal ammonia burner cut or a dirty skunk cut that is legit I will pay you $1000. No bullshit I would need to verify it by smelling the flowers but if my nose is satisfied and it truly is a unicorn I will gladly count out the hundred dollar bills. Also a validated burner male of any of these strains would be wildly valuable to me. Perhaps we can do a cash and cut trade where I give you some money then we also trade for some of my rare cuts as well. My theory is that if every plant in the breeding project has either ammonia Ester Alcohols or the RKS lineage in its past then its possible with a little luck and a whole lot of seed popping that I can start finding the more rare recessive traits of Ester Alcohols. Im trying to find the exact stuff that Kevin Jodrey is looking for as well. Thank you for reading this all the way through and any help or feedback or information that you guys can give me would be much appreciated. Please help me in my Ester Alcohols breeding attempt and if you happen to have good knowledge please send it our way on this post. Peace out and bless up!
Boogie
. Yes you are correct, the smell that Im referring to as ammonia can be best described as a very astringent and acrid smell. Very sharp on the nostril. It's almost like a chemical type smell but it's NOT a bad chemical caused by nutrient issues or anything negative like that. Its natural terpenes being released from the plant that gives off this smell. And Ive found that it is a pheno specific trait and NOT a strain specific trait. I have smelled it only a handful of times in cannabis but it was all the way back decades ago. It was in that TW that I grew and it was also found in very rare Kush phenotypes back in the day. As I recall from memory almost 20 years ago the Kush I smelled back then had that EXACT same "sting and chemical" type of smell that my Train Wreck had, but then at the tail end of the sniff it had a sweet Kush OG background. My TW was the same with the "sting and chemical" up front but then it had a citrus/pine/black-pepper on the tail end. After much research online I have come to believe that the Kush version of this that I was smelling back then was the San Diego Catpiss from the 1990's era. That was a kush type strain. This would make sense also because there were versions of Trainwreck still floating around back then around the same time period that were the Catpiss version of TW. The TW version of piss was a cut that was pheno specific and it was created by crossing skunk from the 80's with the original TW cut from Arcata. Thats what I grew back then and its so far been the Holy Grail of weed for me personally. It's the one that started this whole thread and I put the pictures up on post number 1. I have been trying to find that similar "sting" ever since then but its lost now. Im very close to finding it again I think. This is why I'm hunting catpiss strains from the 80s and 90s now because I believe this ammonia style smell is found in some of these older varieties but since its pheno specific you gotta pop a lot of beans before you finally find it. I believe it was also found in some vintage skunks as well especially from Mexico like what I_Grow_Skunk has.
