Obama Kush

In 2007, Red Beard of Tigard Farms, who also operates under the name CSI:Portland, germinated a handful of seeds from a cross of Mendocino Purple and Bubba Kush and kept 2 plants, naming them Obama Kush and George W. Kush. Inspecta of CSI Humboldt gives this account and, by Inspecta's own description, created the cross in 2006. As a cutting, Obama Kush then spread quickly through the Pacific Northwest of the USA, according to the breeder. Several strain descriptions, however, tell the lineage differently.

Genetics and Origin:

According to CSI Humboldt, the breeder reversed the original Bubba Kush clone and used its pollen to pollinate a selected Mendocino Purple clone. The cross itself was offered as Mendocino Purple Kush, which makes Obama Kush a selected phenotype from it. A consumer report from 2016 gives the same parentage.

Other strain descriptions and a profile in the Portland weekly Willamette Week from 2016, by contrast, list Afghani and OG Kush as parents. A third account is relayed by a producer from Oregon: no breeder claimed the strain, and it probably traces back to Superior Genetics of Michigan. A strain overview, in turn, lists for the CSI Humboldt S1 the pedigree (Skunk × unknown) × (OG Kush × Afghani), which contradicts the breeder's account. Obama Kush is classed variously as an indica and as an indica-dominant hybrid with 65 % indica and 35 % sativa; one description gives 14 to 21 % THC. It also circulates under the names Obama OG and Obama OG Kush.

As a parent, Obama Kush is found in Purple Frost by Resin Snob, a cross with Skunk #1, and in Mo'bama, for which Oregon Roots crossed its own Obama Kush cuttings with Miracle Alien Cookies.

Aroma and Flavor:

CSI Humboldt describes the scent of its S1 line as earthy pine with sweet grape and a little pepper. Other descriptions add wood, herbs and berries, another adds plum and sage, and a cultivation guide mentions a sweet, earthy scent with floral notes. In 2016 Willamette Week smelled sweet berries over an earthy Kush base and attributed humulene, myrcene and limonene to the scent. One strain description, by contrast, lists caryophyllene as the dominant terpene, followed by limonene and pinene.

Consumers taste pine and citrus, cedar or simply earth. Some found the flavor flat or noticed hardly any smell.

Effects:

Reports describe physical relaxation combined with euphoria and elevated mood, in some cases with creative drive. Consumers rate differently how tiring the strain is: some use it in the evening and describe a heavy effect that makes them sleepy, others find it mild, sociable and not tiring. Willamette Week called it invigorating and explicitly free of couch-lock.

As side effects, strain descriptions list dry mouth, dry eyes and dizziness. Individual reports mention headaches and dizziness after excessive amounts as well as increased nervousness; several consumers, by contrast, stress that they noticed no paranoia.

Cultivation:

For the feminized S1 seeds, CSI Humboldt states around 60 days of flowering and names indoor and outdoor cultivation as possible. According to the breeder, the plants show deep purple and forest green tones, dense flowers and abundant trichomes.

A cultivation guide describes Obama Kush as short and stocky, with medium yield and medium difficulty, and names Sea of Green or Screen of Green as suitable methods. According to the guide, the strain prefers dry conditions and copes with cooler temperatures. Because of the dense flowers, mold is a risk at high humidity during flowering. The guide says it needs calcium and magnesium in larger amounts.

Versions from Different Breeders:

The plant selected by Red Beard circulated as a cutting. CSI Humboldt offers a feminized S1 made from it, that is, Obama Kush pollinated with itself. Plantation Premium Seeds crossed Obama Kush with an unspecified ruderalis to create Obama Kush Auto. For this the breeder states 8 to 10 weeks from seed to harvest, a height of 60 to 100 cm and 400 to 500 g/m² indoors, 500 g per plant outdoors, and 16 to 24 % THC.

Community Experiences:

Consumers repeatedly describe the flowers as compact and dense, with dark purple areas and orange hairs; one report, by contrast, found them rather loose. A grower who grew the strain for a summer ended up with a rather low plant that turned deep purple and developed large flowers. One consumer considers the quality strongly dependent on cultivation, another found the euphoria weaker than with OG Kush.