Strain Report: Kalamata Red – The Blues of Greece

Rembetika was the music of the poor, the dispossessed, the refugees and the migrants who came to Greece from Asia Minor before and after the First World War, they brought with them their tradition and music. This music was once illegal and oppressed, the music of Hashish smokers, the underworld and the outcasts.
The USA played a big role in the history of the Rembetiko history. The first recording took place at early 1900 in New York, and the song was written by a Greek immigrant, Tetos Demetriades. The song was called Misirlou, and it has since been used in the movie Pulp Fiction and more.

Rembetis or Mangas

The Rebetes were the ones that played and listened to rembetiko music. They used to hang out in the opium dens and tekes (Coffeeshops). The Rebetes were seen as anti authoritarian rebels and outcasts, and they have also been called Mangas.

The Mangas were very proud and honorable, very clean and tidy, with good manners and always well and uniquely dressed, overall having different morals and ethics from the mainstream Greek society.

The had a long mustache, hat, heavy walking style and they would often solve their honor disputes with knifes. In their culture, the wife and the mother had a special position and both received a special love.

They value friendship, solidarity and they where ready take your life or loose their own if someone offended their honor or that of their beloved ones.

The Mangas had to become very creative because the police was always running after them, bullying them and beating them badly. The police would break their musical instrument, the Hookah, destroy their plants and smoke and put them in jail.

Baglamas was the solution because of the size, it is like miniature Bouzouki that they were able to hide in the sleeve of their suits.

When they didn’t have an instrument they used to sing without and an empty glass or a couple of spoons was enough to keep the rhythm. They also had the same practical approach with the smoking instruments: They used to make pipes from all kinds of vegetables. Potato pipe was very common, and also they used to dig a small hole in the ground and create the famous earth pipes.
They used to smoke mixing with tobacco that was preferably washed, and the charcoal they used for lighting the fire on the Hookah was from walnuts, so the weed or hash taste would pass as clean as possible to their lungs.

Kavatza was called the hide out where they hide their stashes, water pipes, musical instruments, and did their grows. The Kavatza in general was a safe place to chill. In one song they describing that when you see small flames during the night around the suburbs, is the Mangas drinking the Hookah.

Another name for the Mangas was Hasiklides (“Hashish smokers”) and this category of rembetika songs about weed was called Hasiklidika (“Hashish Music”).
The mangas themselves never used the word smoking, but referred to it as drinking, drink hookah or drink a joint. This comes from the way they inhaled the smoke.

The high they called it “Mastura, Masturomenos” (Stoned) and a good Manga had to smoke constantly to keep the Mastura at the highest level.

Their favorite smokes were coming from two different origins: Arkadia for the weed and Prusa Turkey for the Hashish. The Kalamata Red strain’s origins come from this era, the era of the Greek Blues.

There is a lot of knowledge behind the Greek underground smoking and growing culture. It was traditionally done organically, as they had a close contact with Mother Earth. They followed the moon cycle and had some very special methods on how to grow their weed to become mighty strong, almost hallucinogenic at times.

On the 18th of January, they potted the seed indoor. On the 25th of March, it was transplanted out in the soil, after which they waited till late October to middle of November for the harvest. Some phenos were only cut in late December. For fertilizer they used milk and blood, but the details on this are a secret.

Many families in Greece, especially in the region of Kalamata, lost their freedom in this war of prohibition. A lot of sacrifices and hard work was put to maintain our heritage and keep alive these pure ancient heirloom wonders.

So when you inhale the vape of Kalamata Red, I recommend listening to Mario singing about the times when God drunk Hashish and he created this world, then he give it to the human being, so he will get stoned too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=583nKNDsJec&ab_channel=JohnDiM

Listening to this music while you are high is like a trip back in time, just close your eyes, hold tight the Skunk Magazine in your hand and enjoy the ride to the moon.

Soon we travel to Greece, to be continued ….

Strain Name: Kalamata Red

Breeder: Delicorganics

Height: 2,5 – 3,5 (8 feet) meters in optimal conditions in an outdoor environment, indoors, depending upon the vegetation time

Weight (yield): Medium yielder. 13%-17%Thc

Flowering time in days: Indoor 70 days, outdoor 11 to 13 weeks Greek Kalamata Red landrace drug cultivar is a traditional hashplant

Taste (burned and unburned): Sour, sweet, lemony, more herbal, and creamy when cured well

Scent (burned/unburned): Old school fruity gas

What the dried bud/crumbled bud looks like: Like crumbled diamonds

Speed of high onset: Lighting fast, laugh attacking high

Duration of high: Long, five hours+

Quality/type of high: Artistic, motivational, psychedelic

Medicinal qualities: Pain relief, mood-lifting, good for depression

The seeds come directly from the original breeder, Delicorganics. Kalamata looks very feminine with her red aura, unique and wild. She performs very well for dry hash and as a seed producer, and her flowers are small. It stretches a lot like a pure sativa and is very easy to grow in an organic garden. It does not demand many nutrients and is pest and fungus-resistant, so she is closer to the NLD cannabis varieties.

You can find some variation among her population, but I will say you notice more similarities than differences, and all share an undefined smell when you rub their stem. I like Kalamata Red because of her special high, which can compete with most strong Hazes, adding a bit more color and taste to the game. She stands out for her medicinal properties such as pain relief, antidepressant, and mood lifting effects. She has a unique lemony and herbal taste, and the laugh attacks that come like waves bring back memories from the good old days. In high doses, the feeling becomes very psychedelic and spiritual and can be overwhelming for some.

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