Acapulco Gold strain

The Acapulco Gold strain was a status symbol before the modern cannabis industry existed. Documented in the US as early as 1964, it was defined the following year by the Oxford English Dictionary as a special grade of cannabis grown near Acapulco, according to Wikipedia. Is Acapulco Gold indica or sativa? It is a landrace sativa from the Guerrero mountains of Mexico; CannaConnection lists it as sativa-dominant (70%) and AllBud at 80%.

Its name refers to the golden and amber tones the buds take on late in flowering. The aroma is unusual for a sativa: Leafly describes a smell like burnt toffee when the buds are broken up, and its reviewers rank honey far above anything else, followed by chestnut, coffee, nutty and woody notes. Wikipedia describes a peppery, citrus flavor. Leafly's lab data shows beta-caryophyllene and myrcene almost tied at the top, with limonene third, which fits that combination of warm spice, soft earth and citrus.

Acapulco Gold effects are active and clear. Leafly users most often report focused, energetic, creative and uplifted, followed by happy and euphoric, and consumers commonly mention fatigue, low mood and stress. Side-effect reports in Leafly's data are low across the board, with dry mouth and dry eyes the only ones that stand out slightly. Modern figures put THC around 18–24% (Leafly's lab median is 18%, AllBud 19–24%, CannaConnection 23%), although these measurements come from today's seed versions rather than the Mexican imports of the 1960s.

Acapulco Gold helped build later hybrids: Leafly lists it as a parent of Skunk #1, and Haze drew on Mexican sativas of the same era. Compared with Maui Wowie, it is nuttier and sweeter in a honeyed way rather than tropical. Leafly notes it is becoming harder to find. Seed-grown versions exist — Amnesia Seeds' Acapulco Gold won the 2010 Cannabis Cup Sativa Cup — but Wikipedia records a long-held view that plants grown away from the Guerrero sun never quite match the original.

Acapulco Gold is a landrace sativa traditionally grown in the Guerrero mountains near Acapulco, Mexico. Wikipedia reports that US records of it go back to 1964, and in 1965 the Oxford English Dictionary defined the term as a special grade of cannabis from the Acapulco area. It became a connoisseur favorite of the 1960s counterculture, and High Times credits smuggler and concert promoter Gary Tovar with importing it into California in the late 1960s. Cheech and Chong later featured it in Up in Smoke.