Grower Stories #108: Scarlet Palmer

Scarlet Palmer of Sensi Seeds Talks About Premium Cannabis Seeds That Many Future Growers May Find Interesting

Scarlet from Sensi Seeds and the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum shared stories about the brands with AskGrowers. We’ve learned what inspired Scarlet to enter the cannabis industry. We’ve also heard some interesting stories that you may find inspiring, along with barriers and the trends that exist today in the cannabis seed industry. All of this could be particularly useful for future growers. #growerstories

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Tia (AskGrowers) : What inspired you to get into the cannabis industry?

 

Scarlet Palmer : I’ve always been interested in altered states of consciousness and counterculture. When I lived in England and studied art, I was around many artists, musicians, and other creative people, and there was a lot of cannabis use. Around the same time (1995-6), I started getting involved in environmental campaigns such as the road protest movement. Legalizing cannabis went hand in hand with the aims of a greener and fairer world, and I met some inspiring cannabis campaigners as part of this movement.

I moved to Amsterdam in 1998 and almost immediately started working for a free cannabis newspaper. Since then, I’ve worked in coffeeshops, seed banks, and The Cannabis College. I’ve been working for Sensi Seeds and the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum since 2006. I can’t imagine working in any other industry. I love it.

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Tia : How did Sensi Seeds founder Ben Dronkers start the brand? Tell us your origin story!

 

Scarlet : Ben has always been ahead of his time; he saw the advantages of hemp textiles years before anyone else. In the early 1970s he had a shop in Rotterdam that sold clothing. While he was exploring Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, looking for new textiles, he discovered the advantages of hemp fibre - and at the same time, met cannabis farmers who gave him handfuls of seeds, explaining that they were ‘something special’.

This sparked Ben’s curiosity and he started collecting cannabis seeds from other regions, and learning about their different qualities. He actually traveled the whole world looking for strains! He has some amazing stories. In the early 1980s he started crossing indicas with sativas, selecting from his by-now massive collection of seeds. He was one of the very first people in the Netherlands to create new cannabis strains, and in 1985 he started selling seeds so other people could grow them too.

Two years later, he founded the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum (previously the Cannabis Info Museum) with his friend Ed Rosenthal. The two businesses went from strength to strength; last year we celebrated the 35th anniversary of Sensi Seeds, and next year we celebrate the Museum’s. In 2012 we opened a second museum in Barcelona, in a Modernista palace, which is just gorgeous. And needed, as the Museum collection has over 9,000 items in it now.

Ben also founded an industrial hemp company called HempFlax, which basically single-handedly brought back Dutch hemp cultivation from the brink of extinction. They started in 1993 with a few hectares, and now they have hemp farms in the Netherlands, Romania, and Germany.

He’s also a really warm and generous person and a genuine philanthropist. He believes in sharing information, preserving and curating the history and culture of cannabis, and striving to make sure everyone has access to the best possible genetics. And the power of industrial hemp! I’m honestly really proud to work for him. Top bloke.

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Tia : What are the most significant trends you see in the industry due to COVID-19?

 

Scarlet : A move towards virtual events, which is exciting in seeing what the industry can do regarding accessibility. Even when travel opens up again, we should continue doing a lot more online events. Not everyone can travel; not everyone can deal with the crowds and noise and the energy it takes to visit a big exhibition even though they would like to very much. Think about medicinal users and what we could do to give them more opportunities to participate. The Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum had a virtual booth at Spannabis this year, and it worked very well.

Also, we’re in a climate crisis. We have to encourage everyone to reduce the flights they take! Online events and online exhibitions have a lot of potential. Many people didn’t explore these as much as they have in the last couple of years.

Closer to home - and I’m sure we’re not the only people to have done this - Sensi Seeds has improved the ordering, shipping, and tracking process to meet the increased mail-order demand. And there’s been a fresh surge of interest in our CBD products, as everyone focuses on staying healthy. Right now, we’re working on getting more of the Hash, Marihuana & Hemp Museum collection online so that people can enjoy it virtually.

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Tia : Are there plans to open another Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum in addition to Amsterdam and Barcelona? Are there other programs you are involved in that help to normalize cannabis with the general public?

 

Scarlet : This is an excellent question because I’ve just taken on a new role that focuses much more on educating and inspiring, and encouraging people to get to know cannabis and what it can do. All the ways it can be applied to make our lives better, from hemp graphene batteries to medicines to classic stress relief.

For my first project, I’m working very closely with the Cannabis College to create a series of courses for both companies and private individuals to learn about the many different aspects of cannabis. The College is a free information center in Amsterdam. I’ve been volunteering there since 1998, on and off, so it’s very close to my heart. The courses will be announced on the Cannabis College website as soon as they are available. Make sure to keep an eye on that.

Another museum would be fabulous, of course, but I can’t say if there are actual plans right now.

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Tia : Can hybrid cannabis be used for medicinal purposes?

 

Scarlet : Yes, absolutely. As we discover more about cannabis, we’re learning that what we commonly think of as the differences between indicas and sativas - their CBD and THC levels, mainly - are not accurate. It’s much more useful to look at the different terpene and flavonoid profiles, in combination with the cannabinoids, that make up the entourage effect. So how we classify strains isn’t as important as the effects they have on the individual consumer.

We still classify them as indicas, sativas and hybrids on the Sensi Seeds website because it’s very useful for growers; it’s the system that everyone is used to and it helps people refine their search for the best strain for them to grow.

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Tia : What is your best-selling product? Thoughts on why this is?

 

Scarlet : At the moment our whole CBD range is very popular, probably because of the current situation with Covid-19. We recently added CBD Gold Oil. This is a much lighter flavour than traditional CBD oil, and it’s already climbing to the top of our best-seller list. The cannabis for our CBD products is grown and processed by our sister company HempFlax, which gives us oversight from seed to bottle. So we can be completely confident in the purity and quality of the product, which is great. This doesn’t sound very glamorous but I’m perimenopausal and I’m finding it a great help with staying relaxed and cheerful!

In terms of seeds, our Jack Herer is always a popular classic and our new Sensi Seeds Research varieties are really trending at the moment. The Purple Bud from our sister company White Label is colourful, uplifting, and super affordable so that’s almost always one of our top sellers.

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Tia : Any advice for new growers?

 

Scarlet : As with all drug use, start low and go slow! Which, in this case, means you’re better off getting some low-budget seeds and doing a small-scale natural light grow than opting for something high-end and trying to do it hydro- or aeroponically. There’s a lot of good information out there - the Sensi Seed blog has a myriad of articles on different hobby growing techniques - but in the end, the plant will teach you the most about what it needs and how it thrives.

I’d recommend something like our Sensi Skunk Automatic, which is basically a plug-and-play variety for absolute beginners. It’s reasonably priced and will deliver a pleasing yield, given half a chance. Hang out with it and get to know it, and you’ll be well rewarded.

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Tia : Where do you see the industry ten years from now?

 

Scarlet : Hopefully fully legal, naturally. I’d love to see a lot more research into the entourage effect and varieties bred for targeted use so that consumers have a lot more choice in what sorts they select depending on the impact they want. Current research points to terpenes and flavonoids having more of a role in the effects than previously suspected.

I’d also love to see a lot more use made of hemp to mitigate environmental damage. It’s not a universal cure-all, but it is underused in terms of what it can realistically do for humans. And I’d like to see a lot more education in schools about cannabis and drugs, in general, to enable young people to make properly informed choices.

Finally, I’d love to see more branches of the Cannabis College and the Hash, Marihuana & Hemp Museum! There’s no shortage of cannabis topics I’d like to create courses about, and the Museum Collection has over 9,000 items, so it would be fabulous to display more of them.

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Tia : What’s your consumption routine? What are the top three products that you’re using?

 

Scarlet : I use cannabis (no tobacco!) both medicinally and recreationally. I have a beautiful glass pipe that a friend of mine made, and I’m planning to get a vaporizer. I have PTSD, so sometimes, I consciously consume a small amount to mitigate anxiety or muscle tension caused by stress.

I also really enjoy it recreationally. Then I tend to smoke Moroccan blond hashish, which makes me quite active and creative, with heightened sensory perception. So I’ll use that for watching films, playing games, practicing magic, writing fiction, that kind of thing. It’s also fun to incorporate into a self-care routine - one of my favorite things to do is get high and then apply a chilled peppermint face mask. The cold tingly sensation is hilariously good.

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Tia : Your top strains to smoke? Why?

 

Scarlet : Mother’s Finest from Sensi Seeds. It’s apparent and uplifting, and incredibly smooth. It’s been around for a while, but it’s not one of our most well-known strains, which surprises me. We grew it in the seed bank once, and the top cola was bigger than my upper arm.

A more recent one is Silver Fire, which was developed as part of the Sensi Seeds Research Project, which blew me away with how strong it is. It’s a Silver Haze / OG Fire cross, and it has this fantastic spice and lemon flavor that’s quite unusual. It’s delightful to smoke, and the effect creeps up on you, so the massive cerebral lift-off caught me by surprise the first couple of times.

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You can follow Sensi Seeds at:

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SensiSeedBank/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sensiseeds

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sensiseeds.official/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sensi-seeds-bv

You can follow the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HashMuseum and https://www.facebook.com/HempMuseumGallery

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hashmuseum and https://twitter.com/HempMuseumBCN

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hempmuseumgallery/ and https://www.instagram.com/hashmuseum/

LinkedIn: https://nl.linkedin.com/company/hash-marihuana-hemp-museum

Thank you so much, Scarlet, for taking the time to do the interview. To learn more about these companies, head on over to their websites - Sensi Seeds and the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum.