You really, really wouldn't want to smoke a pure indica, imo. I've smoked an actual indica and it was mostly stem and tasted like dirt. It has not had the selective breeding that has produced big, oily buds that people love to smoke.
It's honestly a lot like corn before it was selectively bred by humans for thousands of years versus modern corn. Imagine that the modern corn is a modern weed bud, and compare that to what nature gave us…
Using 14,031 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) genotyped in 81 marijuana and 43 hemp samples, we show that marijuana and hemp are significantly differentiated at a genome-wide level, demonstrating that the distinction between these populations is not limited to genes underlying THC production. We find a moderate correlation between the genetic structure of marijuana strains and their reported C. sativa and C. indica ancestry and show that marijuana strain names often do not reflect a meaningful genetic identity. We also provide evidence that hemp is genetically more similar to C. indica type marijuana than to C. sativa strains.
That last bit from the abstract is the money quote on Indica. Real Indicas are closer to hemp, and hemp hasn't been selectively bred for flavor and getting high. So a "real" Indica is going to be a lot like smoking… hemp.
Anyway, long story short is that individual strains and the chemical combinations therein have more influence over the high you get than the idea that they're "sativa" or "indica."
Here's an article with a short interview with Sean Myles, who was involved in and credited with this study.
Pure indicas no longer exist? And strains are more important?
Would love to read more if you could point me in the right direction.
You really, really wouldn't want to smoke a pure indica, imo. I've smoked an actual indica and it was mostly stem and tasted like dirt. It has not had the selective breeding that has produced big, oily buds that people love to smoke.
It's honestly a lot like corn before it was selectively bred by humans for thousands of years versus modern corn. Imagine that the modern corn is a modern weed bud, and compare that to what nature gave us…
Here's a good scientific study on it:
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0133292
From the Abstract:
That last bit from the abstract is the money quote on Indica. Real Indicas are closer to hemp, and hemp hasn't been selectively bred for flavor and getting high. So a "real" Indica is going to be a lot like smoking… hemp.
Anyway, long story short is that individual strains and the chemical combinations therein have more influence over the high you get than the idea that they're "sativa" or "indica."
Here's an article with a short interview with Sean Myles, who was involved in and credited with this study.
https://slate.com/technology/2019/04/indica-sativa-difference-cannabis-weed-science.html