The Legend of Panama Red

Panama Red, Panama Red, he'll steal your women then he'll rob your head. Oh Panama Red. Ah yes the early 70' were good times too.
 
The high alone... the story is right on the money. So too all the posts about it being gone.

I remember the Gold and the Jamacin, Seals and Croft, the Dobbies. Horseback riding with our 'head' friends. The whole world was different. People too. Me.

I remember the day... John and I were on Devils Glen Road by the Park. We lit up smoking only half the pinner. Thank God our horses knew when it was time to go and where to go. It's an horse ride back to middle road. I must have nodded out, deep in- deep thought- or something. John too ! Nodding out.
Every-so-often I would look over at him and with a melt face grin and he be laughing already.
Cars would be flying by at 45 and the horses didn't care and neither did we. The sound... being able to hear the song on the radio ... the dopple effect...

In one spot of silence I heard a cow 'Mooo'. Then I remembered a commercial on TV about Allegro home entertainment speakers "It'll blow a match out !" was the moto.

So I start thinking about how sound waves affect air. Waves of pulsating air.... the cow mooos again in the distance. So I expanded my thought to include 'the moscito'... I thought about what it would be like for a little itty bitty moscito flying around , looking for some lunch... spots a nice cow nose... approuch said nose... buzzz buzzz buzzz....Just about to land... then, MOOOOO!!!!! WTF!!
Left wing all busted... spiralling down "WE're hit! We're hit!!" Was all in my head!

I started laughing! Thinking about this trainwreck of a moment for this poor little bug. I looked over at John and ... he must have read my mind!! He said 'moooo'! And I said, "No, MOOOO' as I shock my hand like a moscito doing the fly by! MOOOO!!! rattle, rattle, rattle!! "we're going down! We're going down!!!"
I peed my pants!

Poor little bug! (LOL!)

Not kidding... I peed my pants!

I don't think I ever laughed that hard in my life.
Oh, what a ride!

Stranger still it usually takes an hour to ride the distance we travled. But that day/moment- it only seemed like 5 or 10 mins. We both noticed this it seemed, at the same time. Truly heavenly baked! A couple of post toastie on horseback!!

The sounds that day. The summer... The heat melting you softly but surely. The slow pace of the horses. The smell of the fields in bloom. And the music... the people... the real friends that all the songs were writtn about. Real musicians! Yes, round a'bout. Black Sabboth. Heart, Little Queen.

I remember!

And I miss Panama Red more now than ever before.

Hey! Who brought this subject up!!

(Get my spiritual mouth all watering for some Red and now.... Jones!!! Jones!!!- Thank you very much!) Ohm,... Ohm...Ohm...........
Peace, peace....
Justine
 
Medical Marijuana said:
In this story you'll learn who and how this 12 ton load of Panama Red was smuggled into California.

Have you ever heard the legend of Panama Red? I mean you have heard of Panama Red haven't you? Well here's the true story about a load that came into California, in 1969.

I drove up Highway 1, to Maple Street, in Tam Valley, and turned left. If you know where this is, it's near Mill Valley. I went to my connection's house to see what exotic weed had come in. He had Yucatan Green, which was fully filled into white plastic bags. It had a fruity aroma, and you could uncoil the kiwi colored green leaves back into their natural finger and hand shapes. I'd never seen weed cured this well. It was somehow cured like pliable tobacco leaves. The price was $150. a pound which was a lot back in those days. Next a brown grocery sack came out of the closet, which I noticed was full of both white plastic bags and the brown grocery bags. From my quick glance I estimated about 10 bags of weed in all.

As the top of the brown bag was unfolded I immediately smelled the strong aroma of fresh tilled earth, perhaps the smell when you turn over a mulching log, combined with red clay. Then I distinguished another smell. The smell of fresh earth was mixed with a strong hashish smell. A handful of the well dried small buds was pulled out and laid on the stainless steel plate of the triple-beam. I was in wonder as I had never seen any weed that wasn't green or gold. To my amazement these small buds were a bright rusty color. Not brown like the Colombian Gold I scored a few years later, but you know, a rusty red color. I asked: Where's this weed from?

My connection told me the story.

This is Panama Red. This stuff grows in the mountains north of the Panama Canal. The soil is red to black, with rain all the time. It's impossible to get this weed, but I have access to about a ton of it.

How much is it for a pound, I asked him.

It's $220. a pound. My wad of cash choked in my pocket, as I had thought that the Yucatan green was expensive. He could read me. He pulled out a paper from his Zig-Zag pack, and rolled a pinhead joint. Then he lit it up, making a yellow flame as the empty paper end burned into the weed. He took the first puff, which sent off, two thin intertwined lines of blue gray hashish like smoke, heading towards the ceiling.

He was already well stoned from encounters with his earlier customers, and when I first walked into his home I had noticed how his eyes were glazed over. He looked like the poster of a wizard, with his long hair, beard, and crystal ball eyes. If this were possible, he looked even more euphoric from the one hit; and his eyes rolled back, and closed, as he slowly stabbed the smoking pinner across the table in my direction. As I reached out for it, he said in a choked breath while exhaling smoke: You'll probably never get weed this good again.

I knew his word was always true. My connection and his group had smuggled hashish from Afghanistan, India, and Morocco. He'd been busted for importing hash in the bottom of a crate of snakes. He always had exotic weed and hash. He wouldn't mess around with the weed I could get from the pilots in my part of the state. The only stuff I could get in my area was Mexican weed which ran about $80. to $120. a brick. We called this weed, reg, for regular. The reg kilos or bricks came wrapped in red, green or blue construction paper and was taped off with masking tape. This was the regular bottom line, non-exotic, weed that was somewhat harsh to the throat, but got you stoned. We resold for $10. a lid, or if you weren't around back then, a lid is an ounce.

The hashish smell of the pinner was overcoming my thoughts, as I took a hit of pure heaven. The smoke was so smooth, with a taste just like it's unburnt smell of fresh clean earth and hashish. I thought it tasted like Lebanese Red hash, mixed with fresh earth, as I barely watched the smoke vining it's way upwards. It was hash without the bite. Then the stone came on as I took my second hit. My senses suddenly kicked into hyper space as I became acutely aware of everything. My hearing, my thinking, my senses were all rocketed into Stonesville, which is a different place for every one of us. Within a minute I realized I was really stoned. I laughed. Shortly after three hits, I started seeing trails, colors, and realized this weed was a psychedelic high too. Lots of colors, and laughs, in a mellow floating state. A weed to bring out your innermost thoughts, to philosophize, about the finer points of life and existence, with those of like mind.

In 1969, I bought five pounds of Panama Red, which is the most stony weed I have ever smoked, even to this day. When I got back home where the local Hippies were used to the $10. price of an oz., of reg, I knew I couldn't sell this rusty red weed. First, since it wasn't green, they wouldn't believe it was weed. Second, the price would be about four times what they were used to paying for an oz. of reg weed. I kept telling myself nobody was ready for this rusty weed which would send anybody, especially these locals to heaven. I knew that if I rolled pinners, it would take me years to smoke all of this exotic weed. I figured at least 80 joints to an oz., and I had 80 ozs., and let's see, that's 6400 joints. I couldn't take time to do one a day, so I figured maybe 150 a year, and um, it would take me over forty-two years to smoke all of this weed. It would lose it's potency after a year or two. Then the lightbulb came on. I'd roll up about 10 pinners and just give them away. I understood that even my friends could figure out that this was the best weed in the world. After they had smoked this fantastic weed, they would realize how stoned they were, and with the weed rolled up they wouldn't know it wasn't green! Great idea! I reached into my pocket again as I arrived at the toll booth on the Golden Gate Bridge entering San Francisco, stoned out of my mind.

I want you to know something, when I got home that's exactly what I did. I passed out the pinners and asked my friends to just try it and give me their opinions. They questioned me about the small sized joints, and I said what are you complaining about, it's free. Then the phone started ringing with questions like: What was that? Is that laced with acid? That can't be ordinary weed. Do you have any more? Then I got to tell the story of Panama Red to them, which if you ever smoked the real thing, I need not say more.

MEETING THE SMUGGLER

On another score trip north, about a month later, I discovered that my connection had moved to Stinson Beach. You might know where he moved if you ever went there. It was the third house back from the beach, it was on the left, the one with the purple door. When the purple door opened I gasped as I thought I saw my dad sitting down counting cash on a coffee table. I realized that it really wasn't my Dad, but the guy was a dead ringer for my dad. He had a receding conservative haircut, with brown hair, and graying sideburns. Same facial features. My connection introduced him, and for his protection, I'll just call him Roy. Roy was counting out $40,000. cash, another installment for the fronting of his illegal, precious cargo of Panama Red to my connection. This was a lot of money for a weed deal back in 1969, and probably one of a hundred bags of money picked up by Roy. You figure it out. If he sold his Panama Red for only $120. a pound, times 24,000 pounds he grossed about $2.9 million from his load. Thirty years ago this money had the purchasing power of about 4 times more than what it would buy today. However, I have no idea what Panama Red would cost today as I have never found it again. I've had Colombian Gold, but it's more of a brown tobacco color. Red is a very earthy, rusty color and I haven't even seen any counterfeit stuff offered. I haven't even seen the seeds offered. The $40,000. Roy was counting out was only a payment for about 300 pounds. Payment for a ton would be $240,000. Don't forget he had the money from selling the fish too.

Roy was a very candid person, treating me as if he'd known me his whole life. He explained the Panama Red saga. He bought a surplus submarine chaser, a 90 footer. He sold most of the military gear and paid for the vessel, with money left over. It was a typical government deal where millions were spent to build and outfit the ship, and then it was later sold for peanuts. Roy outfitted it as a fishing boat. He got a crew together and went south. He loaded in 12 tons of Panama Red, and then he and his crew went fishing. They covered the weed with tuna, iced it and headed back north. The ship was checked out, and cleared for entry. As they returned to the Bay Area, he made contact with his man onshore in northern California, who with a few hours notice, got a small fleet of fishing and sailboats together. This fleet was obviously pre-planned. The fleet was a fleet of dealers who went under the Golden Gate Bridge out about 25 miles, and towards the Farallon Islands, where the Panama Red was quickly offloaded onto these smaller boats. One Harbor Master inside the bay was in on it too, so there was little chance of anybody getting caught. I can't tell you if it was day or night, foggy, or anything about the conditions, but I do know from other smugglers that they use the worst weather conditions for all of their activities. If it's hard for them it's hard for the cops to catch them. Roy said he retired off this trip and that he sold his fish, the ship, and intended on paying the IRS it's taxes on the fish, if any were due. Roy told me the city he lived in, and I'll give you a hint, he lived between San Francisco, and San Jose. If you know him, tell him thanks from me.

I grew some plants from the very small brown seeds. The plants had stalks with alternating green and purple vertical lines. The dark green leaves had purple veins. I got tired of watering them, so I sold the crop where it stood, by selling a map with it's location. My friends nicknamed me Panama Red, for waking them up to this high. There's been no more Panama Red, that I'm aware of. If I'm wrong I'd like to read your story.

Anon
Click to expand...

This is very interesting! I was in a mental hospital and I was talking to the charge nurse one day on duty and we started talking about marijuana, later that day, being bored as hell I started drawing a pot plant with crayons as we can't use pencils. Dave, the charge nurse, walked by and noticed, since we had already talked about pot earlier he felt it was perfectly fine to start talking about pot to me, and he told me about a weed he had smoked years ago, the most potent of all weed, the best stuff out there: Panama Red. I was like, Dave you are a crazy old bat, it was probably purple you were just too high. Seeing this I realize Dave was NOT shitting me! He is an old man probably in his 60's, looks like the owl from winnie the pooh haha. I am all the way out in Vermont! It's amazing to say I know someone who has smoked one of the most legendary strains of pot out there. I think I will call Dave tommarrow!
I remember him walking away saying "the redder, the better". I'll never forget that haha.
 
In NYC an LB of Panama Red was $550 in 1978. It was worth every cent.. The aroma was nothing like i ever smelled, nor was the texture..
It was the finest weed for its time, and i only wish, the strain could be recreated in its pure form...
 
snowhigh_panama_red.JPG


I believe this is real Panama Red. Never had the real thing back in the sixties or seventies, but it is from a breeder -Snowhigh- that did have the real thing. I can you tell you the high is exquisite.

Wish I could share some with the oldtimers that want some of the old greats.:tokin:
 
^^ Not sure what Alp-Gold is. Michoacan is what you were smoking, not sure on the dry ice either. The best bet that I know of to get this is Dr. Greenthumb. Going by the smoke report for it, fem seeds though. The Snowhigh Panama Red is not available now and do not know when it comes around again.
 
Yeah Yesum sorry for the socall spelling Acapulco Gold sure you have heard of it Acapulco Gold - Google Search The Meshmacon probably not spelled right but was a way to take Reg. weed and put in a container (cooler) for i think 24 hours with dry ice and when done gave you a very funny , laughing , body High . Probably not good for you but when your 16 it didn't seem to matter . LOL
 
I seem to recall hearing of the dry ice thing but never tried it. 'A Child's Garden of Grass' was a book back then and had that misinformation in it I seem to recall. Burying pot to make it mold so it gained potency was another myth going around. Glad I never did that one either. I recall telling a guy that burying might make it more potent, and he went and buried it all right. Hope he lived. hehe

I am growing the Acapulco Gold x Michoacan right now. I am going back to the 70's. Not wearing those flare jeans though or the short shorts. ugh
 
yesum said:
I seem to recall hearing of the dry ice thing but never tried it. 'A Child's Garden of Grass' was a book back then and had that misinformation in it I seem to recall. Burying pot to make it mold so it gained potency was another myth going around. Glad I never did that one either. I recall telling a guy that burying might make it more potent, and he went and buried it all right. Hope he lived. hehe

I am growing the Acapulco Gold x Michoacan right now. I am going back to the 70's. Not wearing those flare jeans though or the short shorts. ugh
Click to expand...
yesum; back in the early 60s, we used to smell the kilo size bricks and pick the ones that was moldy. Looking back, we were pretty ignorant ? Can you tell me the thc content on the Alp gold ?
 
Not for sure. The breeder Snowhigh rates potency at 8 of 10. I have not smoked it yet. The Acapulco Gold from Bodhi was not very strong. At first I tripped out but I soon developed tolerance to it. I am looking forward to this new AG.

I also have a couple other AG hybrids to grow soon. They are supposed to be very strong.
 
I've been growing Acapulco Gold x Durban Poison from SnowHigh... plants go completely gold after 35ish days in flower. Its pretty strong... THC is not the only thing that gets you high.

SnowHigh has a good stash or access to a good stash of very old genetics. Everything I've grown from him is the best most vigorous plants I've ever grown.

On burying cannabis. This is an old traditional way to cure cannabis. It's not buried to promote mold. In Africa they wrapped and buried cannabis, Asia too and South America.... the hippies in NorCal used to do it... but not wrapped like traditional methods ... and probably to hide rather than cure as main reason. I think they used to bury hash in the middle east for years ... before the hippy trail was a thing. Why the hash was so good from Afghanistan... it was aged for like 10 years. The hippies changed all that tho. Bought it all up we did.

Great story.. I've read several books about smugglers and weed. Good to see the people telling these stories... oral tradition mainly.. back in the day many many smugglers went to jail (federal prison) or worse.. Now that they paid the price they can tell the stories without worry. Soon many of these warriors will no longer have the ability to share these wonderful tales!
 
^^ I think your Durban cross is called Devil's Tit? I think the potency is from the Durban. It can go into the mid 20% range I guess.

Just sampled some Maya. Acapulco Gold clone crossed to NL5HZ x Thai x Afghan. Nice strong high, sativa in effect. Just a small lower larf 'bud' quick dried. It could change with a cure and the better top nugs effects.

I think Snow has a better Acapulco Gold than Bodhi. Not sure, but that is my feeling. Bodhi's just lacks potency. They look almost identical though. Snow has several different lines of the AG.

I am running the Panama Red from Snow and also Dr. Greenthumb. They look identical. I wonder if they are? Both real vigorous. Absolutely old time strains each of them. I was around during the 70's and this is what pot looked like, aside from being so red that is. Never had the Panama Red at least I never knew I had it. I had one extreme trip from some brown looking pot. Did not get a close up look of it, just saw a guy rolling joints from his bag at a distance. My color vision is not great....

The one I am most excited about is Original Haze x Lambsbread. Original Haze is authentic but suffers from inbreeding depression, lack of potency. Out crossing it solves that. Have a couple going now. No Afghan in it at all. Long flower skinny leaves. I think the Lambsbread is a South Indian strain brought by workers or slaves to Jamaica or that general area? Just a hunch that this is what I have been waiting for. A soaring trip hopefully.
 
Yes correct on the DT - VERY potent. Lots of terpines along with THC. It needs a good 3 month or more cure to tame it a bit for me.

Here's some red next to DT #8 I have running now. Opposites attract - the red bud will kick you back the DT will get you dancing!

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