Sub why you playing these games!

So I was reading up on some past High Times articles you wrote and came across the one about Black Russian. Just tell me why Sub! Look at that damn thing, I don't care if it tasted like shit, haha, there has got to be a way to breed that color into something tasty. I talked to one of your reps up in Traverse City MI and he told me the only place I may be able to find that Black Russian is through some people called Cloud City (located in CO) who are apparently breeding some of your old school stock. I called them up and no luck. So you tell me, how do I get my hands on this strain? I've literally put an amber alert to all my grow friends and about to get her on the milk carton! It puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again, is this what you want for you children!?

You may or may not care but a little background on me. I'm a MI based CG and Patient running through strains like hotcakes (think constant rotation of 72 plants and a monthly order from Attitude) and a strain hoarder with a taste for the exotic.

The Story of Black Russian
Black Russian is one of the most amazing looking strains ever to be photographed and one of the main reasons that I am a writer, let me explain. I have been growing Cannabis and taking pictures of it for a little less than 10 years and I love documenting as many strains as I possibly can. To me a seed is like a box of cracker jacks and I can’t wait to see the surprise I get each time I grow a new strain from seed.
I had never really submitted any work to a magazine before choosing the immediate feed back of the internet and sites like Overgrow and Breedbay until one day when someone I know sent pictures of my Black Russian clone into Hightimes and it was immediately published based on looks alone.
I decided if a plant I was growing was going to be in a magazine I better do it right so I used the text from the online post and the pictures I had taken to put together an article that I submitted to Danny Danko and the next thing I know I was a contributing writer to several magazines and now I have my own book published by Ed Rosenthal.
Black Russian went on to become extremely famous and to this day breeders offer crosses made using the hybrids I created using the Solid Purple female and the dark magenta male used to create the f2 we released. I do not like Black Russian and we offer no hybrids of the parents now and no one in our circle of medical growers still grows it. But Why? I thought it would be cool to tell the behind the scenes story and shed some light on why I don’t smoke or even grow one of the most sought after crosses to surface in a long time.
Like everyone else I was blown away by the looks of the Black Russian female we found using seeds from Nebu. Jill had met him once and he had given her a few packs of his seeds and when I landed out west I had seen pictures of Nebu’s work and figured I had to give it a shot. We shared the 5 seeds with friends up north and I ended up with a few females and a few males and choose the female and male based on things I have learned to look for over the years. I actually asked Nebu if this was ok and his response was to have at it. Everyone but me was gaga over the Purple buds I thought it had a weird taste of musk and pepper that over powered the nice Grape smell and taste that lurked underneath each toke. Meanwhile everyone was Screaming give us Black Russian f2’s so I did and they were released to the growing public. About 75% of the females found from seed turned an amazing color but I caught hell from every grower that didn’t get a Purple phenotype. I thought I could improve the potency and taste possibly by crossing the strain with one of my favorite mother plants Apollo-13 and used the Black Russian male to pollinate A-13 and create the strain we called Sputnik. I grew out the new sibling cross and we found a nice ratio of Deep Pink females and ones that only exhibited solid white pistils and green coloring. The surprising thing was the buds from the non colored females was much better tasting and severely more potent than the females that grew Pink Pot.
I was at this point convinced that Purple Pot and Potency were not necessarily conducive. I stopped being so impressed with purple weed and preached Purple was just a color and not indicative of quality in any form other than looks. I passed the Mother and Father to a medical grower and ask him to keep them alive which he did not and it was about this time that everyone that was able to get a pack of my Black Russian F2’s started showing them off online and things got crazy. I had no more seeds to give out and the few distributors still holding packs were getting prices never heard of for pot seeds. The last pack sold went for 1000$ and I need to make clear none of it went into my pocket that’s taking advantage of people.

Once I moved out west I was able to sample some of the Kush’s that people like so much like OG Kush, Bubbu Kush and Chemdawg and I figured out I dislike the flavor of Kush! No matter what strain or how well its grown I do not like the hot taste of Kush Indicas and I now understand why so many people loved the Black Russian, Sputnik and the hybrids that spun off of this work. It wasn’t a bad strain just one I didn’t like the taste of.
See some people love Blue Cheese Dressing and it makes others cringe the same can be said for flavors in Cannabis I just found this out to late. It did teach me that there are many many palettes and everyone has different taste. No longer do I rush so fast to judgment based on taste. Black Russian always got me really high if I actually smoked a few bowls I just rarely got past the taste of the first bowl.
Once I relocated out west I was able to find an amazing tasting Urkle female that also turns an amazing color but nothing like the Neon Purple of Black Russian. The Urkle was however much much better pot and the strain we created with it Querkle is an amazing Indica with purple traits and a Grape taste that I enjoy every day! So I don’t hate purple anymore and that’s a very good thing. In Fact a new hybrid created using Querkle, Qleaner has become one of my favorite strains of all time! It taste like Grape Nehi Soda but has the added potency of Jacks Cleaner!

So that’s it the story of a strain you may have seen and why now its more of an urban legend than seeds people can actually acquire. Several breeders do offer hybrids they created using seeds I created though and that is one hell of an honor.

Subcool is the Author of Dank Featuring Black Russian; Page 26

subcool said:

breeders do offer hybrids they created using seeds I created though and that is one hell of an honor.

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Any ideas on how I go about contacting these breeders?

Also, stay tuned for a House & Garden Vs. Super Soil thread

what happened to the black russian clone the guy had given you in the youtube videos? i think it was a couple months ago but never saw any updates.


that was a beautifal strain, sucks about the flavors

I killed it based on observations

subcool said:

I killed it based on observations

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Sub this can not be
Please resurrect Please kiss-ass

My creations are as good as they are because I know when I plant wont provide what I am looking for.
My non hesitation to kill off problematic strains are why TGA is where it is today cant have it both ways sorry.

Sub

subcool said:

My creations are as good as they are because I know when I plant wont provide what I am looking for.
My non hesitation to kill off problematic strains are why TGA is where it is today cant have it both ways sorry.

Sub

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Well you certainly got me there. Much respect for you Sub, I can only imagine how much work you've got going on and still finding the time to answer my silly pleas. Just being a grower and a bit of obsessiveness towards it at that keeps me busy about 5-6 hours a day. If you're ever looking to add to that posse of growers/testers/reps or whatever give me a shout. Marijuana and all things related are my life and passion. Located in MI.... And if I ever come across that Black Russian I'll give you a shout. Peace and Thanks