What is the average lifespan of a strain?

The way we buy weed has completely changed. Along with a wave of legal reforms related to cannabis that have taken place around the world over the past decade, there has also been a marked shift in the way smokers choose the floral species they wish to enjoy. The hype machinery that drives trends in cannabis strains is in constant flux, making the lifespan of a certain type of flower ever shorter, and many of today’s consumers are buying targeted at specific breeders and brands, rather than specific strains . Cannabis Cup results once dictated the flavors we would be smoking for years to come, but in the current market it can be difficult to shop with specific cannabis hybrids in mind due to the lack of consistent availability. This leads to the deceptively simple question: what is the average lifespan of a cannabis strain?

When asked about trends in cannabis genetics, cannabis expert and author Elise McDonough’s mind went back to a big surprise that took place at the Cannabis Cup in 2004 when Reeferman, a Canadian, burst onto the Dutch scene and took first place in sativa occupied category for love potion #1.

“[Reeferman] came into her scene and he swept everyone [the Dutch] pulls himself off the map because he brings something new and fresh,” she said. “In my opinion, what the Dutch were doing in the ’90s and early 2000s is what Californians are doing today. The Dutch had certain strains and everyone crossed everything with everything and eventually they just had this kind of model where everything became very similar.”

McDonough explained that Reeferman created strains like Love Potion by “traveling the world, finding these landrace strains, growing them in vast fields, selecting, and then breeding.”

Reeferman was then able to create very novel flowers compared to what was coming out of the Netherlands at the time, she said.

“I think the same thing will happen in California. Everyone’s fed up with these hybrid hybrids of cookies,” McDonough said. “Everybody’s outgrown the same stuff and crosses it willy-nilly with everything else, and it’s just become this weird mess.”

McDonough, now Marketing Manager at Binske, also sees log lifespans from a different perspective.

“The other thing about this hype breeding and this shortening of the cycle of new varieties is that we as brand people have the feeling [pressure] from retailers,” she said. “Retailers always want us to have something fresh, different and new on our menu.”

She explained that retailers’ goals are different from those of traditional cannabis breeders, who spend years stabilizing and preserving genetics. McDonough likens the conversation about breeding cannabis to breeding dogs, saying it took generations to breed Labradors with Poodles to create Labradoodles.

“And they’re still pretty crazy,” she said.

With cannabis, like with dogs, it takes generations to achieve well-defined, consistent, and predictable traits.

“[For breeders] that’s your IP, that’s your special sauce,” McDonough said. “And this work takes generations. It takes years to stabilize a tribe. So what we’re seeing now are these hyped strains that are flash in the pan, and they’re not stabilized.”

Unstable genetics may explain part of the reason why newer cannabis strains often lack stamina, but many other factors are at play. Mike Doten, chief sales officer at Fig Farms, believes that unique strains go through a parabola of popularity that rises and falls in about five years.

“We had [strains] like the Dark Karma we’ve been trying to pull back,” Doten said. “The retailer just says, ‘The demand is too high if you scrap that and you’re just losing shelf space.’ Something like ‘You have to let it keep growing’.”

Doten said more common strains will have shorter lifespans as consumer demand falls.

“For us to introduce a super common strain like Gelato #41, we have maybe a six to eight month window in which we can spend our standard amount before we have to start dropping it down and down and down and.” finally rule it out.”

Marketing also contributes to a strain’s longevity.

“Sometimes we launch four or five new strains in a month, and we don’t have a marketing package for each one,” Doten said. “These are things that would also help extend the lifespan of a strain if you just have a proper marketing kit with you.”

Another element that keeps strains in the spotlight is their flavor profile, which fits into overarching popular categories like gas and fruit.

“Think the hype strains have a five-year lifespan,” said Luigi Diaz, a comedian who has worked in the cannabis industry for nine years. “Then it becomes hype. Then everyone grows it to perfection. Then come the crossbreeds, and by that time the new hype has grown and breeders have moved on in search of that new fire. Although gas is forever.”

For Josh Vert, co-founder of Royal Key, known for producing award-winning extracts, a key factor when looking for a strain to bring to market is often its ability to become a cannabis concentrate. Another component at play is the way a particular strain grows.

Vert submitted a few floral entries to this year’s Emerald Cup, including Riddles, a phenotype of Red Pop raised from seed and then self-crossed. Riddles, he said, proved not good enough to be made into rosin.

“There were a few phenomena … there was one called Yoplait that I don’t think we’ve officially killed yet, but he’s just so prone to mold that he hasn’t made it,” he said. “And sometimes you can’t figure out those details for a few runs.”

Vert said it wasn’t until Riddles healed and revealed an aroma akin to Zkittlez’s ever-popular tropical fruit and bergamot-orange essence that he realized he might have something special.

“It turns out it’s just really special to me, but that’s okay,” Vert said. “We just look at people and see what really resonates and what excites people. What we might have overlooked too, you know? We don’t see everything, we smell everything.”

Vert pointed out that the traditional market drives many trends. He said Zkittlez’s terpene profile is outstanding, but one reason the strain “can’t/won’t die” is because there’s a brand behind the strain. The popularity of the strain has also prompted many other brands to use it in their breeding projects.

“Every time you breed with it, there’s a Z on it, so it’s marketed again and again,” he said.

Vert explained that the question of strain longevity is complex “because strain stability could tell how much a brand has to do with marketing.”

“And then you have a market perception, general acceptance and attractiveness for the thing. Zkittlez has those two things in abundance,” he said.

Alyssa Roberts, Chief of Staff at Kayla Extracts, agreed that the question of how long the average strain lasts is a complex question and agreed with McDonough, explaining that the constant search for new flavors means cannabis breeders don’t always look at the genetics work stability.

“The lifespan that we see in genetics is about four to five years when we see a strain really thrive and get that hype before it gets crossed,” Roberts said. “Strain variability and differentiation are all based on the market and what the market wants to see.”