Southeast Asia has one of the longest cultural associations with quality seed production for flower production (whereas other parts of Asia are known for their hash). In the words of Angus, proprietor of The Real Seed Company and Kwik Seeds, Asia is fascinating because “It’s the biodiversity from the point of view of the plant itself that’s most interesting, and culturally it’s most interesting in terms of these long traditions of use, these counter-cultural traditions of use.”
Cannabis Traditions of Southeast Asia
In many ways, the Southeast Asian cannabis culture that Angus mentions is most similar to the modern scene, whereas cannabis from other regions was either open pollinated or bred for hash production. Even today, Angus describes why Southeast Asian cannabis is so appealing to the modern market, saying, “In Thailand and Laos you have a farmer who’s tasked with just producing seeds. So his job would be to grow a crop and make sure there’s no hermaphroditic plants in it and to do some selection with the potency”.
In Angus’s opinion, all of the modern hybrids that are considered high-quality smoke have lineage from ‘Thai’ genetics that were carefully selected in this way. In contrast, the Afghani strains that have been used to make those sorts of plants easier to grow don’t have that history of selection for quality bud because all of it is traditionally made into hash anyway.
What’s Makes Southeast Asia’s Weed Unique?
Landrace strains from Southeast Asia are best known for two fairly distinct sets of aromas. Some have a very floral scent that we associate with terpenes like terpinolene. These plants often exhibit citrus aromas and may have herbal notes, particularly of mint and even menthol. The other set of Thai landrace strains have a rich chocolatey, coffee-like complexity that takes on an overall earthy overtone.
Thai landrace strains are generally considered pure sativas, which they tend to be when it comes to their growth characteristics and structure. That doesn’t necessarily mean what people think, however. Many landrace Thai strains are tall, lanky plants with airy buds that still produce intensely narcotic and sedative highs. One example of this is the legendary Chocolate Thai, which is known for its relaxing and dreamy effects that are strong enough to knock a person into their seat or put them to sleep. Compared to modern hybrids, these strains are still fairly cerebral but not in the uplifting sense of the floral, herbal, and citrus varieties.
That’s not to say that Thai strains will always be one or the other and have predictable effects, but due to the fact that strains aren’t grown openly in fields (a.k.a. open pollinated, or OP), they might have more distinct strain profiles than landrace strains from Africa or the Middle East. One of the ways to guess what the effects of a landrace Thai strain will be is to figure out whether it’s a highland or lowland variety, but it’s not foolproof.
In general, it’s said that highland varieties from Southeast Asia represent a more pure sativa lineage, and the lowland strains represent more hybridized effects. It’s certainly true that the differences in climate come into play, but in this case, it may be more about politics and law enforcement. The earlier pure sativas may have actually come from the tropical lowlands and been moved into the mountains, and then later on, highly organized traffickers moved into the lowland farms with strains that were hybridized for yield and shorter flowering times.
Keeping that in mind, let’s go over some Thai landrace genetics that you should know about!
Where to Buy Thai Landrace Strains
Although some of the treasures from yesteryear may be long gone, there’s a lot still out there, especially in private collections. When it comes to retail stores, you might find strains with ‘Thai’ in the name but they don’t usually represent the vintage stuff all that closely. The only commercial producer we know of that has a line up of authentic landrace strains is Washington State’s Kiona. You can see their heirloom Vietnam Black aka VB 164 below, which is fairly close match to some vintage Thai strains.
Other than being able to shop for Kiona products, we’ve found it really hard to locate products like this, so the best option might be to look for home growers that might share with you! Here’s some of the old favorites and modern iterations that are still passed around today:
Lemon Thai
Although this delicious strain was found growing in Hawaii, it’s said to be a cross of Hawaiian and Thai landraces. This heirloom strain is a parent of OG Kush and you can find it at Heritage Seed Co. It’s not often that such an absolute legend becomes available in seed form, especially as an F4! Another heirloom option is Pablo’s Lemon Thai, which crosses Lemon Thai with Colombian and other premium genetics, but this one comes at a premium price.
Pineapple Thai
For a taste of Thailand in a short-flowering package, check out 707 Seedbank’s Pineapple Thai from Breeder’s Direct. Keep in mind that most enthusiasts feel like landrace sativas bred into shorter flowering times lose much of the energy and mystique that makes them distinct!
Purple Thai
Veteran landrace breeders Snowhigh and Coastal collaborated on Jedi Mind Trip Colombian but this cross of Oaxacan and Thai landrace sativas has also available from Kyle Kushman at Homegrown Cannabis Company. If autoflowers are your best option, Ethos has offered their own autoflowering Purple Thai.
Chocolate Thai
Vintage Chocolate Thai seeds are harder to come by, but DC Seed Exchange has had packs of Cocoa Puffs by Hazeman in the past. Top Dawg Seeds has a Chocolate Thai cross called Chocolate Thunder available at The Seed Source.
Non-domesticated
If you’re brave (and skilled) enough to try domesticating your own Thai strain, you can look for imported seeds harvested from plants actually growing in Thailand. The Real Seed Company’s landrace and Southeast Asian varieties including this gorgeous Highland Thai. Curious but less adventurous growers can look into semi-domesticated options like something from ACE Seeds, or Destroyer (fem) from CannaBioGen that are meant to capture authentic Thai traits into more practical form.