So this is fortuitous that I found this! I can help clear a lot of this up, but you are one of the 1st people Ive heard of that was pretty close to the real story.
First and foremost, most people seem to confuse Federation Seeds or NGS version of Romulan for being Romulan. Not to mention how many people seemed to be misled in the past, getting sold or given cuts that were not Romulan to begin with. Federation Seeds, and later Next Generation Seeds, did not ever have a pure Romulan other than in a cut that was sold to them from Romulan Joe. They crossed that cut with a male White Russian, or similar "white" strain.. and then backed it to the cut numerous, numerous times. They are responsible for the fruity, grape flavored, Romulan.. and its not pure, but it is actually a cross. This is also the true genetics of the '79 Romulan, or Romulan 79.. which is actually Federations name for the cross, Romulan 7 of 9, since it was crossed with #7 of 9 males that had to choose from.
So with that said genuine Romulan, aka Port Alberni Pinebud, has a strong Pine taste and smell.. this is the BC or Canadian Romulan version. The "american" version, for lack of a better name, is more complex in taste.. skunk, pine, peppery, spicy, eucalyptus, sandlewood, hash, earthy.. its extremely hard to nail down her exact taste/smell. So many people grew the Federation version, which is far more like an inidica than the original Romulan, and it caused a lot of confusion over the years of what Romulan is and what it looks like. Basically, if it was the best high you've ever had or close to it.. it was probably the real deal. If it was just really good herb, it was probably something else.
I grew up around this plant, as my Father was part of a group of growers that grew her, and in part helped breed her (according to pops). When my pops passed away, I became the caretaker and since then I have slowly started this campaign to re-release her all over, breed regular seed stock to keep her around for a long time, and to finally clear up the stories surrounding her origins, etc.. so here it goes, I've copy and pasted this from my website. The history was put together from my own memories, my father and his friends stories, and has been confirmed by several people who would truly know whether this is factual or not:
...it starts with a unique connection to this particular strain. [Jake] grew up in California in the late 70's and early 80's. His father was a US Navy Veteran, and also a well connected drug dealer during the 1960-70's. He was, more importantly, also a grower of cannabis. And starting in the late 1960's, his father began a business relationship with a certain motorcycle club. Which soon flourished into him being a main supplier of cannabis, cocaine, and LSD to some of the larger chapters of this club in California. This was the beginning of a loose collection of growers and cannabis breeders, who were all also military veterans and connected to motorcycle clubs from California to British Columbia. They met during camping trips up and down the PNW, and traded seeds, stories, and did their business with their families in tow all while camping out in the woods.
This was eventually how Romulan came to be, but it was first known by a very different name: Port Alberni Pinebud. In California, it was called Pine Mtn. bud among a few other names. But it was all coming from the same source, that group of veterans who grew and met during camping trips together. They started meeting up, and eventually working together on the cannabis they were breeding. It started well before Jake's father got involved, with veterans returning home from the Korean war. They brought back seeds from an amazing strain they had sampled, called Thai. The Korean Thai seeds were grown back home in the BC area, and Norcal area but these veterans found it very difficult to grow in those regions. Eventually when Jake's father and other veterans got involved, they introduced a Mexican sativa into the mix. And later a Colombian landrace was added, most likely Colombian Red, in the late 1970's. Eventually an Afghani Indica was bred in, but they did not like the results entirely, so they back crossed it with the Colombian Red again before they found what they were looking for. This original set of F1 seed stock are what brought P. Alberni Pinebud, P.A. Purple, and other notable strains to come from that region at that time. It was also at around this time, that Federal Agencies began to crack down on this groups members and their activities. This forced them to no longer meet together, and pushed the resulting strains and growers into more remote areas.
But that still doesn't cover how it became Romulan, and the last interesting connection to our founder Jake. "Romulan Joe" is who brought the strain to the masses initially. Most everyone knows this part of the story, but many also get things mixed up. Joe was not a Vietnam veteran, he was too young for that. His family owned a Nursery in Southern California, the same Nursery that Jake's father frequented to get his supplies. Joe worked at his families nursery when he was young, and a teen. He often helped load trucks, and generally help customers out once they had paid. This over time developed a friendship and connection, and eventually led to Joe getting a hold of a cutting of what he later named Romulan. Joe cloned his cut for years, and that is where the Romulan part of the story began. But he acquired that cut from either our founders father or someone close to him. Unlike what most rumors spread over the years have said, the true source of Romulan was never from a Vietnam Veteran, Oakland Biker, turned Emerald Triangle OG... it was from a group of growers, that were all veterans first and foremost, and also bikers, that spread from Vancouver, B.C. to California.
Anyhow, I hope that helps.. and I hope as I spread this girl around that anyone who loves a truly remarkable plant, and are tired of smoking strains that are supposed to be fire but feel like you just took a deep breath of air.. well, this is your girl here, and I hope you get your hands on her soon. Just know Im doing my best, have some help, and before too long this amazing plant will be all over again.
