The world’s chasers of hot zaza have a new line from the top breeder, Compound Genetics, to sink their teeth into this summer: Black Amber.
Named after a dark, sweet Japanese plum, the set of eight crosses is debuting on the European event circuit as well as in domestic and international seed banks. Compound is enamored of this Full Moon Genetics-bred cross of GMO and OZ Kush Bx2 due to the size, the loudness, the look and the washability. So the breeder reversed their favorite phenotype of it, made pollen and bred it to their stable of Compound classics and current hits. Now, the seeds are out as feminized three-packs targeting the newly legal German market, and Compound is hunting through them for keepers that it will then license worldwide.
Black Amber itself takes the gassy, limey, candy, green bud of OZ Kush and straight-up bulks it out, adds more color and gives some funk from the notorious GMO Cookies. GMO is not technically a genetically modified organism, but it still has this divisive reputation for being rank, wrong and oh-so-funky. It’s for flavor chasers bored by more conventional fare. Oddly enough, the GMO terpene dives under the Black Amber crosses, lurking beneath the surface, adding volume and body without the stank.
“I thought GMO was going to punch everything in the face,” Ruby Wagner, Compound Genetics’ head of marketing, said when she dropped off a box of samples of all the crosses in flower form. “It didn’t. I don’t think there was anything (GMO-like). I was shocked. It just added a little back-end funk, body and weight.”
Name Game
Full Moon Farms had originally dubbed the cross High Fructose Corn Syrup. Compound Genetics renamed it Black Amber and tied Egyptian art themes from artist Brian Steely, a heady, high-end concert-poster designer from Atlanta, into the packaging.
You can see Compound ranging far and wide for strain names, because “everything is taken,” Wagner said. They’re often inspired by places, food or music. Black Amber on Gastro Pop #5 yielded the first sellout of the line: Gastro Funk. The cross to Compound’s hit Pink Certz is dubbed Nakamarra. The Apples and Bananas with Black Amber cross is called Shake Back and is sweet and fruity with a lot of potential keepers. The Pinana cross is dubbed Solazo. The Private Banana cross is called Tostones.
Two standouts for me include Jahrassic and Orange Moon. Wagner shouted out the longtime San Francisco-based breeder and brand JAHnetics for the Jahmagic and Black Amber cross JAHrassic. I’m guessing the name refers to how beastly these nugs are amid the era of runty strains. The winner of the bunch might be the Ice Cream Man #5 and Black Amber cross called Orange Moon, which name-checks singer, weed goddess and doula, Ms. Erykah Badu.
Orange Moon #2 smelled and tasted like a fruit punch Capri Sun with an orange Creamsicle finish.
“It’s wild,” Wagner said to the Leaf. “I don’t know why you’d be getting that off of Ice Cream Man and GMO.”
Meanwhile, Orange Moon #44 has a distinctive Jack terpene, aka terpinolene, which also comes out of nowhere, given the parentage.
Orange Moon #2 was also oddly racy and enervating like a sativa. Yet Orange Moon #44’s sativa smell hits much more hybrid and mellow than Orange Moon #2. There are so many genes interacting here, you just kind of throw your hands up, set aside the bro logic and accept what your senses tell you.
More from Compound Genetics
With just five people, Compound Genetics casts a huge shadow as it chases “flavors by design” and “herb that checks all the boxes,” Wagner said. There should be some washers in here for hash heads, given the GMO, you’ll have to pop some packs and see.
The team has about 30 Black Amber phenotypes across eight strains that they have narrowed down to about nine keepers for potential licensing. They also held back Madvilliany, a Black Amber and Mad Rabbid cross that name checks MF Doom. Look for that strain to come out and sell out fast this summer.
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Also, don’t miss Compound’s return of their hit Grape Gas cross, Mellowz, which came back in seed form June 12 at Mary Jane Berlin, along with its new crosses.
Pot Farmer’s Almanac
Vegetative season peaks outdoors now. Ensure drip irrigation is dialed. Cover the topsoil with mulch to prevent evaporation. Use shade cloth if it’s too hot. Prep trellising. Any nitrogen deficiency will show up first as yellowing of the lower leaves. The full Buck Moon will peak on July 29
