Are there any substantial qualitative differences between growers in different countries? I've been focusing on quality in this discussion because I'm more concerned about what the end user consumes than the techniques that growers use. For example Pakistani hash vs. Nepalese. You've always had the lower grades from one place and the better grades coming from another country.

Jorge: Usually what happens is that people keep the best produce for themselves and smoke it locally. Then they export the lower quality. I think you're gonna find your best growers are consistently in Switzerland. They always do everything perfect. If they don't do it perfectly they have a lower status. They must do everything perfectly because everyone does everything perfectly there.

Skip: Is there as much competition in Switzerland like there is in Holland among the growers and breeders?

Jorge: There's competition, but it's quite a bit different though. It's not so overt like it is here. Dutch people in general carry their manhood along with their variety. They don't distinguish between the two. It's like they say, "This variety is as big as my dick!" [laughter] "It's the biggest one, I'll show you, it's on the table here. I'd like to smoke your dope, but mine's so much better, I really don't want to waste my time with yours." That's very much of an ego statement and very common.

In Switzerland people would say "Yeah, I have the best dope, it's better than anybody else's around here. Would you like to try some?" In general, if someone has better marijuana than another, they'll admit it! In the Netherlands you just don't see it admitted.

Skip: They've got too much ego tied up.

Jorge: Also ego is very big in Canada too. Ego tends to get in the way of quality a lot of times. It also holds back information. Growers in Spain are probably down at the bottom of the (ego) list, but they're learning quickly. They like really good smoke. The more people that are around, the more marijuana that's around, the higher the quality gets. It seems to be a cumulative thing.

Skip: So over time, the growers learn from each other, from your books, from competitions, from their own experiences and improve their varieties, improve their growing methods, and everybody's happy as a result. It gets better and better.

Jorge: Yeah that's right!

Skip: I have one more question for you, then I'll let you go. Can we expect to see any new books from you in the new year?

Jorge: I'm working on one now, I need to get more photos and have more experiments. It'll be a book on how to grow for a small amount of money in a small space. A lot of people need to do that. They're not really heavy consumers and they don't need to grow a pound or a half a pound every month. They need to grow an ounce every month maybe or two ounces.

Skip: Two ounces a month I think would satisfy most individuals.

Jorge: They can grow it under the table, in a small corner. A lot of people don't have that much room to grow. So it seems like there's a big need for it. And there's the new compact florescent lamps in higher wattages. 65 to 125 watts.

Skip: You know you might want to discuss those completely enclosed grow systems. I'm curious about those things because you can grow not only pot but other things in them.

Jorge: You don't have a big marijuana habit and could grow a small amount and be happy with that. It would be perfect for you. But in America everything's gotta to be big. You've gotta have a thousand watt lamp. You can get the same amount of light out of a 600 watt. All you need to do is put it closer to the plants. You burn less wattage, you're much more efficient...

Skip: Less heat, less electricity...

Jorge: That book will probably come out next year. I'm also going to release a video with 10-20 growrooms. A little tour of the grow rooms. I didn't realize how important it was for people to see inside growrooms. I was talking to a seed company here who redid their seed room. They changed it substantially. They told me that just looking at the photographs of different rooms saved them days of work. So a video will help them immensely. You can learn in 30 seconds a hell of a lot of stuff.

Skip: I look forward to seeing that video.

Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5