Northern Lights #5 x Haze

By no means is NL5/HAZE a new strain. Perhaps new to leafly, but this cross, first made in 1989 by Australian expat & Amsterdam resident Nevil Schoenmakers, when he crossed Northern Lights #5 x his Haze A male. He’d spent much of 1985-1989 refining O Haze, breeding out the garbage genetics and concentrating the best genetics into two very different but equally excellent males which he named Haze A & Haze C. His Haze B project wasn’t working out as expected & was abandoned. Original Haze was bred by The Haze Brothers in Santa Cruz, CA in 1969. History remembers them by that name, but neither of them were expert breeders, nor were they particularly knowledgeable cannabis breeders in general & the O Haze, their cross of three excellent phenotypes of pure Colombian Sativas, while legendary, was an F1 cross and wasn’t worked at all. It produced amazing plants maybe 15%-20% of the time, decent to pretty excellent plants 25%-35% of the time, & garbage plants most of the time. Unfortunately it still took 20-24 weeks to flower, being an equatorial sativa. Usually called The Cough, at least two epic plants were found in S1 seeds of Nevil’s cross. NYC Uptown Haze aka Bronx Golden Haze aka Cuban Black Haze aka The Church aka Frankie (from its intense frankincense terpenes), but is usually just call Piff. Yes, that is where Piff originally comes from. Karma’s A5 Haze was also hunted from S1 seeds of Nevil’s cross. Sensi Seeds went on to remake the cross, & it’s most usually regarded as one of their strains. But Nevil’s version was used in several Mr. Nice crosses including Super Silver Haze, Mango Haze, G13 Haze, Skunk Haze, Afghan Haze, Haze AC, & it was potentially used in Jack Herer as well, although it’s possible Jack Herer used the Haze C male in both its mother, crossed with Northern Lights #5, as well as its father, which was definitely Skunk #1 x Haze C. Shiva Skunk was not used to breed Jack Herer. Despite misinformation that persists to this day. NL5/HAZE, usually known as Cough, is sometimes descended from Nevil’s original cross, but the Sensi Seeds version is much more common. Other breeders attempted this proven holy grail cross as well. Whatever version you smoke, it’s some of the best herb that was ever bred. Certainly the rare phenos of Nevil’s version, Cuban Black Haze / The Piff & Karma’s A5 Haze, have both more than earned their legendary status, but the more common variety is amazing as well. It’s one of the headiest smokes out there, & I don’t recommend it for amateurs or those who get anxiety from sativas. Most sativas are actually anti-anxiety & have euphoric effects that also fight depression, ADHD, & general bad moods. But smoke just a bit too much without the constitution for them and the high they provide (vs. the stoned effect of more indica dominant hybrids) is one of the most amazing feelings there is. But go easy. This one has long been known for its intense high. Even in mid-range THC versions. It’s potent regardless of its potency on paper. But THC % really isn’t as important as the industry has tried to make everyone believe. Nor is it representative of the actual “potency” of most cannabis. I’ve had 33% THC herb that didn’t hit me anywhere near as hard as a 23% landrace Acapulco Gold (one of the landrace cannabis varieties with the highest natural THC levels, mostly thanks to the hot and humid natural climate where the landrace acclimated).

This strain has some nice qualities to it and is a great daytime smoke. After 5 minutes, it starts with a fantastic head high and after 1hr fades into a calming body high with no paranoia that comes with smoking some sativas. Unfortunately for me the arousal effects of "Northern Lights" have been eliminated in this strain; you will not feel as sensual from smoking this. Nice energy boost is present also. No downsizes as the effects last for two hours or more easily. Given a choice between the original Northern Lights and this I'd go for the original. But this is a great grab if you smoke during the day.

Beauty