Alright, this is gonna be general and not to be taken as law, i'll also probably be casual with language so be critical when reading it. I apologize if my privacy settings prevent pms, i'll check that after this and pm you myself farmerp.
Gonna start with the seed thing. I think elites, by the standards of outstanding in scent, structure, and potency, are probably around 1 in 10000 or worse. I think you can find a plant that will be an elite to you, in your growroom, from quality seeds at about 1 in 100. The choice of if that's worth it to you or not is your call. I would keep in mind that there's only a small amount of knowledge and work preventing one from generating their own, using the same genetics basically, for pennies. Every calyx can be a seed. Out of 100 quality seeds, you'll likely find potency, flavor, and structure, but maybe not all on the same plant. Elites aren't perfect either so maybe elites are more 1 in 100, i can't say. I can say that with a single 315cmh or 400w hps/mh you can grow 100 seeds in cups in a 4x4 area and probably find multiple plants you care for and don't want to give up easily. There is a bit of work with trimming and checking for herms, but it sub 20 minutes a day once you're used to it. And, if you research the science, you can learn to make plants grow large right into 1212 in half filled solo cups. You'll only get an eighth a plant if you want to regenerate it though cause you'll be afraid of killing it lol. For anyone wondering, i'm not totally sure of the size limiting but i do know that nitrogen fixing, microbes, and hormones from kelp work for me and i believe are scientifically sound.
Into taste, smell, sticky, resin and
terpenes. We know that flavonoids and
terpenes, part of the resin, are what generate smell and flavor. We dont know too much more than that definitively lol. Im gonna preface this by saying i disregard most myths and tropes because i've tested them, you haven't. Don't just trust me, research and correct me! Anyways, all myths aside, science tends to lean towards the fact that resin has certain uses, and that a healthy plant does what it does best. Therefore, a seedling has a predetermined expression it's going to put out. It will put that out "best", or most honestly, at it's healthiest. As far as how much it's going to stink, taste, and how, that's genetically determined. You will only express those genetics honestly, if the plant is at the limiting level of health to express those. Too sick, no stink. Therefore, the goal is to grow the healthiest plants possible to fairly judge their expression. In my experience, you can have lightly burned tips in flower(my previous photo would be considered pushing it to me but ive been bedridden and so others grew that with direction(not always properly haha)), but anything more compromises the honesty of the expression. If you want to find a winner, you gotta be able to grow lots of plants and keep them all 90%+ healthy imo. That's not as hard as it seems, but there's definitely a curve. You can't just buy an elite and bypass all this though, it'll come up again and again.
One final note about seeds and hunting elites. If you're looking for only amazing plants, 80% don't make it past week 3. They gotta be banging vigorous to be elite. Most real elites are stumbled on so to speak. That's true for me,
Chemdog, and mac off the top of my head. If i could go back in time, i'd make and pop seeds in half my room and produce in the other half from day one. I love to buy whatever seeds strike my fancy and then do a big mixed batch, there are no rules here.