Chocolate Thai: The Lost Cannabis Legend Of The 1970s

Chocolate Thai is the dark brown legend from the hills of northeastern Thailand that people still talk about with a kind of reverence, a rare plant tied by hand around little bamboo sticks, famous for an aroma of rich coffee and cocoa, carried over the Pacific during the Vietnam War era, and then lost almost as quickly as it arrived, leaving behind a story that old timers have been chasing for decades. What's covered in this video: • How the plant known in Thailand as kancha became part of everyday village life in the northeast • Why Thai families kept it close to home, using it in their kitchens and in traditional healing • How the rolling region of Isaan along the Mekong River became the perfect home for this plant • Why the rest of the world had no idea what was hiding in those quiet villages for so long • How American servicemen stationed at bases like Nakhon Phanom and Udorn discovered it • How Chocolate Thai made its way to America in a form nobody had ever seen before • Why it was once compared to a fine Cuban cigar • What the famous Thai stick looked like and why it was wrapped around bamboo • Why the wild rumors that spread about the sticks in America turned out to be just an urban myth • How Thai villagers checked quality with a simple trick against a wall • Why the warm sunny days and cool clear nights of Isaan made the plant impossible to copy anywhere else • How the long, patient season gave it such a deep aroma and rich flavor • What Chocolate Thai looked like, with slender, airy, dark brown clusters instead of the usual gold • What Chocolate Thai smelled like, from dark chocolate and fresh coffee to a warm, nutty edge • What Chocolate Thai tasted like, bitter like strong coffee up front and smooth like cocoa on the finish • How the name Chocolate Thai came from its color and its unforgettable scent • Why nobody can say for certain where that famous brown color came from • Why people said it felt clear, soaring, and full of energy, like nothing else around at that time • Why people who tried it still describe it so vividly decades later • How the name Chocolate Thai became a badge for the very best of the best • Why ordinary Thai sticks were often passed off under its famous name • Why the true golden age of Chocolate Thai lasted only a few short years • How an Oregon pioneer known as DJ Short preserved its genetics in Purple Thai • How Purple Thai went on to become a parent of the famous Blueberry, quietly carrying a piece of Chocolate Thai into the future • Why the villages of Isaan faced a tough era as the outside world changed • Why slow, delicate tropical plants could not keep up with faster, compact plants from Afghanistan • Why a longtime fan said it simply disappeared and never came back • How a pair of friends from Los Angeles said they found its genetics hidden in a batch from overseas • How those friends