Never like a real skunk...1 thing is for sure though, it's always these greasy golf ball shorty indicas that have the true bo skunk smell. Never got that smell off a sativa, or anything crossed with it.
I know this might be older but I wanted to chime in.
I've only been growing for a short while, (almost 1.5 years) and I have noticed this and wondered about it.
Back in the day, when we would get kind bud or hydro, the smell would cause many people to turn and run in horror. Only the most dedicated of pot smokers would stay around (and they were happy they did)
In fact, Jon Stewart made a joke recently on the daily show about "skunk weed." The person didn't know what it was and he went on to say "ya know, like dirt weed...just crappy weed, we call it skunk weed."
Now, I'm a huge JS fan. I think the guy has done more for American society than he will ever know, but Jon...sigh....dah, I still love ya.
Skunk weed is the tits! I'd pay a premium to find some of that stuff. Although, I must confess, this BO odor you guys are talking about I'm not familiar with. Just that super sticky, skunk smell that makes you need to come up for air just from smelling the bag. I was the best blunt roller (I can't roll a good joint to save my life) disputed by all the other blunt rollers of course, but the general populace liked mine best. But I remember I would have a hard time rolling one with that weed because my hands were so damn sticky, even after washing several times. I can vividly remember on one occasion where I had to break it up and fill the blunt, but my friend had to handle the blunt. You couldn't touch the two and just not make a mess.
And that smell and "stick " would be on your hands for days! The only thing I could compare it to would be like getting uncured fiberglass resin on your hands. It's there, you will never get it off, it's going to stick to everything around it, and they only way to be rid of it is to wait till you shed that layer of skin.
I have not found that trait yet in any strain I've grown, seen, or bought (that's a lot of different strains, maybe 100?) And some were supposedly skunk x ______, I think SSH is a skunk x no?
That plant looks like a perfect structure for 32 tops if it grows those heavy top nugs like that...in one of these training grates (at the bottom of the tent)
Do you know what the average dry weight was per top nug? Just ball park? I'm curious after the cure how much weight it holds.
Back to what made me start this reply (aside from ak47) to run into that many strains, and not find any that were like the stuff we used to get...I found that odd. SSH was the stinkiest I've run into, but that isn't it. SSH was a potent smell, but the stuff we used to get from time to time was just overwhelming. Given to a chemist who had 30 minutes, he could turn that smell into a weapon, it was just crazy.
So it led me to wonder, is this strain just out of existence? I never knew what "kind" bud meant anyway, it was usually something different each time, but often we got that skunks stuff that should be labeled "handle with care." It was often stickier than the hydro we used to get.
I haven't been looking for it like u clockworkz. I've just found it odd that a strain that was so prevalent from 1997-2002 that almost anyone could get a hold of it...I haven't seen it, not even once. So the breeding question you brought up is interesting...as it would explain this phenomenon.
Now if I may segue to something else I have wondered about. I'll use an illustration. My dr told me that when he was young in the late 60's they could get Maui wowie and Acapulco Gold. You still can. But how much has it changed in 50 years? If I were to grow an AG plant, would it be anything like what he was using back then?
But also, with all these crosses and what not...the breeding has gotten really intense. Are we going to end up at a point soon where the strains are just "caramel?" Or is there effort going into maintaining the originals.
I think it's cool that we get to answer things like "I wonder what the high would be like if you crossed A and B." Someone has probably already bred it, you can try it yourself.
But I think of the breeding like mixing the primary colors. Like we have red, yellow and blue. We mix them to make orange, green and purple. From there you can make other colors...
But is anyone making sure we keep the "red, yellow, and blue" strains?