I don't know what the solution is because there's such a growing demand for this hash. How are they going to provide both? I think eventually the hash will just push out some of the pot from the market and the pot will become less in demand. More people will taste the hash and realize that's where the good stuff is, and that grass is no longer what it used to be.

Jorge: Well there's a simple solution....

Skip: What's that?

Jorge: Grow more dope!

[laughter]

Skip: That would work! And I think that is the solution too. Most of the hashes used to be imported from overseas and they used to be organic, because in the poor countries they can't afford fertilizer and all these chemical things for growing their pot. They would just throw some seeds into the ground and when it comes up, it comes up. And that's about the extent of most grass processing before the hash in most of these foreign countries.

Now you've got a situation where the hash has been grown non-organically and becomes more concentrated. So people who are used to smoking hash and not getting any other side effects or whatever, are now smoking this extremely potent Dutch hash that has not been grown organically, and is possibly going to have unintended effects.

When you get hash is it affected by whether it's been grown organically or not? Is the quality of the THC affected by whether it's organically grown?

Jorge: It shouldn't.

Skip: Maybe for flavor. I noticed some growers grow certain plants for hash. They even call them "hash plants", because they're not meant to be smoked. If you smoke them they taste terrible. But the hash is incredible!

Jorge: You've got table grapes and wine grapes for example. Table grapes are very sweet and are nicer to eat. The wine grapes often have thick skin on them to protect them. The skins can be made in to grappa or orujo. The seeds aren't as important in the wine grapes as in the table grapes. The sugar content is much different. The wine grapes don't taste very good to eat.

Skip: That's a good analogy.

Jorge: The marijuana plants would be very much the same. If you concentrate all the resin it would taste quite good, but when you have it on plants that have way too much chlorophyll or other bad qualities in the vegetative part, it would make it taste bad.

Skip: Do you find that growers are growing specific varieties for hash?

Skip: It seems to me here in Holland they're in an experimental phase with it. They're making hash out of everything right now. And everyone's turning everyone else on to it and everyone' trying to decide what the best hash is. What grasses make the best hash. I know there's haze hash, which is very in demand right now, like all the Sativa hashes which are harder to come by. I think this experimentation is a really good thing, because I prefer hashish and this is something new. We've always had the same Moroccan, Nepalese, Pakistani hashes for ages and ages and now suddenly there are dozens if not soon to be hundreds of types of hash, all made from hybrids, that nobody has seen before or tried before in their lives. So this is an exciting new phase in cannabis, especially for the consumer to be able to taste this.

The Cannabis Cup, which we're in the middle of, is highlighting a lot of this.

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