HISTORY OF PURPLE HAZE #1 MARIJUANA
Purple Haze is a name used to describe a specific variety of clearly purple Marijuana. In fact, this name was originally used to describe a type of LSD that was sold in the 60s and 70s impregnated with a purple blotting paper. Later, this marijuana strain has gained this famous name thanks to its high potency and high concentration of crystals.
Purple Haze marijuana was apparently originated in Colombia from which it was obtaneid and standardized from the epic Haze strain of the Haze Brothers and Sam The Skunkman. Besides it immense potency, it stands out for the color it acquires when exposed to low temperatures during the flowering period. In fact, the leaves and calyxes change from a dark green to a lavender blue color or to a very intense violet/purple color.
However, the story of Purple Haze marijuana changed dramatically at the precise moment when this glorified term was used in the song of Jimi Hendrix. The majority of the people believed the song has been created around the story of this super-potent LSD created by Owsley Stanley and not by the story of this cannabis specimen. Nonetheless, Stanley named this LSD "Purple Monterey" in anticipation of waiting for the Monterey Pop Festival during which Hendrix would presumably consume either marijuana or LSD before taking the stage. In this way, it remains unclear whether the name of Purple Haze comes from one or the other.
For lovers of rummaging in the newsagents, several sources point out that according to an article from the Rolling Stone magazine talking about the Monterey Pop Festival (published around the end of 1980), much of the festival's audience also went to the Monterey festival under the effect of a purple acid. The same article stated that Owsley had his people parked at the front doors holding huge jars filled with purple cardboard tongues inviting festival goers to pick up handfuls.
According to an article published at High Times magazine and written by Bruce Eisner from the early January 1977, Eisner states that he had interviewed Tim Scully, one of the men involved in the creation of LSD. According to Scully's statements, Owsley Stanley began developing LSD in Los Angeles in 1965, where LSD was legal. Owsley created LSD in 270 micrograms tablets of purple (Purple Haze) and white (White Lightning) colors. LSD was outlawed in 1966 and Owsley was arrested in December 1967. The song of the same name was created precisely in the same year, so Jimi Hendrix may have used this name to refer to that blotting paper or to this mariijuana strain.
However, Hendrix said that the song had nothing to do with drugs but it was rather based on a dream he had by walking under the sea. This dream was clearly inspired by "Night of Light" a science-fiction novel from Philip José Farmer which uses the term "purple haze". Jimi explained that in his dream, a purple haze surrounded him and wrapped him in it until he was lost. Hendrix also stated that the song has nothing to do with the drug and the line "whatever it is, that girl put a spell on me", illustrates the point that the song is not about drugs, but rather from a member of the opposite sex. Besides that, Hendrix's 1983 song ... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) tells a similar story in which he (Hendrix) and a girl/woman walk out to sea together "take our last walk through the noise of the sea " to escape from an apocalyptic scenario.
In one way or another it we can say that everything was closely related to that place and time. The glorious moment of the general freedom experienced on the west coast of the United States has created the breeding ground for the rest of other Movements that took force like the antiprohibitionists, antimilitarists, hippies, gays, lesbians... Purple Haze was considered the basis from which all the mysticism of drugs and liberal behaviors that were promoted and created at the time and now are somewhat forgotten. Purple Haze #1 and especially the regular Oldtimer Haze are specimens to remember all that Hippie spirit. At this moment they are the only reliable versions that we have been able to find available on the market.