The Haze Story

In contemporary cannabis culture, the term "haze" is widely used as slang to encompass a variety of sativa-dominant strains available in today's cannabis seed market. However, there existed an authentic Original Haze strain, cultivated in California during the 1960s and 1970s by the Haze Brothers. Following its flourishing in California's extended summer periods, the Haze strain eventually journeyed to the Netherlands. It is from this point on that the story gets a little hazey :)

There is a story that Sam the Skunkman passed the strain on to legendary Australian cannabis breeder Neville Schoenmaker. Sam the skunkman did also pass the haze strain on to Eddy at the flying dutchman, who further stabilized the strain. There is also an alternative story that Neville received the strain from the Haze brothers themselves, this seems more than likely due to Sam the Skunkman’s varying accounts of what happened. Either way, the Haze Brothers ‘Original Haze’ strain found its way into the hands of Neville, who further worked with the strain; before marketing it in his aptly named mail order cannabis seed shop,‘The Seed Bank’.

Originally the Haze plant comprised of sativa genetics from a range of countries. Colombian, Thai, and Indian Sativas are the main components of this strain. There is some debate about the involvement of the Mexican Sativa, some enthusiasts claiming it is not part of the original haze lineage, while some insist it is. The truth is, this doesn’t really matter anymore when looking at hazes in the modern seed market. Either way, all true modern haze strains are related to Neville’s Haze which he sold through The Seed Bank; or if not, they are individual attempts at recreating the Haze, which in many cases will include Mexican genetics in the mix. As well as these there are also strains that have been labelled as Hazes, due to their similarity, but they are not true Hazes.

Haze strains typically produce a very strong, uplifting high. The Original Haze had a spicy taste, but these days the flavours vary, in the many strains that are now labelled with the Haze moniker. The Original Haze that was popularised in Europe by Neville in Amsterdam had a long flowering time of 12- 16 weeks; with a 16 week cycle being often preferred to increase not only yield, but the amount of fully developed resin glands too. In Amsterdam, the Original Haze developed a reputation for being an awkward plant to grow. As well as the 16 week flowering cycle, The Original Haze grows tall, and has very spindly branches, meaning a lot of care is required to support the buds growing on the end of the branches. Even with this care and attention the Original Haze can produce very sparse airy buds. The Original Haze is still offered in regular seed form, from the Flying Dutchman seed bank. Neville himself crossed the Original Haze with Northern Lights, to produce his Neville’s Haze strain. For Neville’s Haze, Northern Lights #5 makes up about 25% of the plant's genetics. Despite the involvement of the clone only strain, Northern Light #5; Neville’s Haze retains many of the characteristics of the Original Haze. The taste is haze, the effect is haze, and the plant can still get to some pretty unruly heights. However, many of the Neville’s haze seeds will produce a plant that properly finishes flowering in about 91-100 days, some pheno’s may go on as long as 16 weeks, but they are not really practical outside of the tropics. Neville’s Haze is available in regular seed packs from Mr. Nice Seeds, while a feminised version is still available from Greenhouse Seed Co. 

Neville had three hazes, which were labelled A, B, and C. Haze B was discarded, largely because of her unfavourable high when smoked. Both of the other two Hazes, A and C, were males. Haze A. being responsible for the spicy flavour we associate with hazes, while Haze C. had a chocolatey sort of taste. These characteristics have lead people to suspect that Haze A. is dominant for the Colombian Sativa, while Haze C. is dominant for the Thai Sativa.

Due to the awkward growth characteristics of both The Original Haze, and also Neville’s Haze; it wasn’t long before Dutch breeders began to hybridize the haze with many of the other popular strains around at the time. It’s at this point in history that the Haze began to develop its legendary reputation as a good stock strain to develop hybrids with. Many Growers preferred the NL#5 x Haze, where about 50% of the genetics were made up of of the Northern Lights #5. This strain was released by Neville’s Seed Bank, and also Sensi Seeds at a similar time. Although still a strain for the experienced grower, The NL#5 x Haze had a significantly reduced flowering time of only 10-11 weeks, as well as being a shorter plant as well. These days the NL#5 x Haze is still offered in regular and feminised seed forms by Sensi Seeds. Also it is possible to get a regular seed version from Shantibabas, Mr Nice Seeds. NL5 x Haze Mist can also be sourced in feminised form, from the Greenhouse Seed Co. In 1993 Sensi Seeds won the 6th High Times Cannabis Cup with their version of NL#5 x Haze.

In the early 90’s Sensi Seeds brought us their Silver Haze; while a few years later Greenhouse released Super Silver Haze. Although given similar names, these strains did actually differ a little. The Super Silver Haze produced by Greenhouse was a cross of two parent hybrid strains; a Haze x Skunk#1 plant, was crossed with a Haze x NL#5 or to write it properly it is {(Haze x Haze) x Skunk #1} x {(Haze x Haze) x NL #5}. This genetic line is available only as a feminised strain from Greenhouse seeds these days; while the regular version is still available through Shantibabas seed shop, Mr. Nice Seeds. Greenhouse’s regular seed version of the Super Silver Haze, won first place prizes at the Hightimes cannabis cups in 1998, and also 1999.

The Silver haze offered by Sensi Seeds, is actually a cross of The Original Haze, and a dark green Afghanica plant (thought to be part of the Northern Lights lineage). The Afghanica adds density to the large haze bud structure, and also lends lineage to reducing the flowering time, and also the height of the plant. Although the silver haze has had ‘improvements’ in these factors, the resinous afghan used in the crossing is non dominant in terms of the cannabinoid profile, leaving the effect and taste of this plant as a Haze. Silver Haze is available from Sensi Seeds in both regular and feminised forms (Please Note: the feminised Silver Haze from Sensi Seeds is a differently produced silver haze line, and is referred to as Silver Haze #9. Sensi Seeds also managed to take a cup with their regular seeds Silver Haze strain

So, these days Hazes are widely used in all sorts of breeding projects, and below we will be discussing some of the hybrids over the years that have incorporated Haze into their makeup

Undoubtedly, one of the most renowned hybrids featuring Haze genetics is the esteemed Jack Herer strain. Sensi Seeds crafted the Jack Herer strain, which comprises 50% Haze genetics expertly blended with a Northern Lights #5/Shiva plant. Both regular and feminized seed options of Jack Herer remain available through Sensi Seeds. Such is its popularity that numerous companies have sought to emulate this strain. For those interested, the feminized version of Jack Herer is offered by Homegrown Fantaseeds, BC Bud Depot, Vision Seeds, as well as Greenhouse.

As well as Jack Herer, there is also a popular cross from the USA that has really picked up popularity recently, and that is Blue Dream. The Blue Dream strain is Blueberry crossed with Haze, or more specifically it is suspected that The Super Silver Haze adds the Haze genetics to this strain. Blue Dream is available in Seed form from The Humboldt Seeds Organization. 

Greenhouse Seed Co have a number of hazes in their catalogue, some of which have a large proportion of true Haze lineage, while others have just a small amount of Haze in their genetic base. Greenhouse offer Arjan’s Haze #2 which is a cross of Neville’s Haze, Super Silver Haze, and a strain from Laos. While Arjan’s Haze #3 is a Haze plant crossed with a Laos Strain. Greenhouse also have Arjan’s Haze #1 as well, but the lineage of this strain is kept a secret. As well as these, Greenhouse also offer Arjan’s Ultra Haze #1, Arjan’s Ultra Haze #2, and Arjan’s Strawberry Haze. Then there is the Super Lemon Haze which has taken first place at the High Times cannabis cup two years in a row, in 2008, and 2009, as well as getting a second place cup in 2010. Greenhouse Seed Co. Super Lemon Haze is probably their most popular haze variety, and is available in feminised seed only.

For the next Haze hybrid we have the 2010 Cannabis Cup winner from Barney’s Farm Tangerine Dream. Tangerine Dream is a cross of the famed indica, G13; and also Neville’s A5 Haze selection. As you can imagine Tangerine Dream has a orange like sweet, citrus flavour, and is available through Barney’s Farm. 

There are also many strains out there that use the Haze name, but are not true hazes. That is not to take anything away from these strains, most have used the Haze name due to similar effects of the strain; the Amnesia Haze being one of the most recent examples of this. The Amnesia Haze is an amazing strain for sure, but technically speaking it is not a true haze. Amnesia Haze originally bred by Soma, from Soma Seeds, has a very exquisite lineage. The strain incorporates genetics from Afghanistan, Hawaii, Laos, and Jamaica. So literally the Amnesia Haze has no genetic connection to Neville’s Original Haze, or indeed even the A, B, C Haze strains mentioned above. The Amnesia Haze has a soaring effect similar to that of an Original Haze, which is why for this strain, the Haze moniker has been utilized.

 

Amnesia Haze from Soma is generally regarded as the best Amnesia Haze, and is available in both regular and feminised packs.

In recent years, the Amnesia Haze strain has gained remarkable popularity, particularly in Amsterdam, where it graces the menus of nearly every coffeeshop. This surge in demand has led to various other interpretations of Amnesia Haze, with notable attempts by Royal Queen Seeds, Vision Seeds, and Genehtik Seeds – the latter even introducing their own variation known as Amnesia Bilbo.

Due to their large bud structure (even though sparse), the Haze plant has become a prominent parent strain to many of the modern day auto’s that are now making waves in the cannabis scene. Some of the Haze Auto varieties can be found here. (Please note: we have included the pretend haze strains like the Amnesia in this too)

The Haze trend will always come and go. Haze will be favoured by growers, breeders, and seed selectors all over the world, for her many advantageous traits. Varied cannabinoid profile, high THC content, large bud sizes, and dank spicy/ chocolatey scents and flavours just to name a few reasons the Haze family of strains are so appealing.