Scott Blakey (Shantibaba)

Scott Blakey aka Shantibaba is an Australian-born cannabis breeder known for creating Cannabis Cup winning strains White Widow[1][2], Super Silver Haze[3], White Rhino and El Nino[4][5]. Scott is known for working closely with Neville Schoenmakers on cannabis strains and seed varieties. Blakey is also the sole owner of Mr. Nice Seedbank, which he started in collaboration with Howard Marks, and was a co-founder of Greenhouse Seed Co. with Arjan Roskam[6][7][8].

Scott Blakey
Born
Melbourne, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Other namesShantibaba
EducationUniversity of Melbourne
OrganizationMr. Nice Seedbank & Research, CBD Crew, Sciva Corp, Green House Seed Co.
Known forCannabis genetics
Notable work
White Widow Super Silver Haze
Awards8 Cannabis Cups
Websitehttps://www.mrnice.nl

Biography

Blakey was born in 1964 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia to an Australian mother and English father[7]. He began smoking cannabis at the age of 13, and was instantly drawn to the experience that the plant offered. Blakey completed high school at the age of 16, before attending The University of Melbourne where he studied science from 1981-1985. During this time, he would travel to Mullumbimby by train and bring cannabis down to the university to sell to other individuals as enamoured by the plant as he was[9]. Over years of gathering

Early seed research and collection

Blakey spent a considerable amount of time travelling around Asia during the 1980's and estimates that he covered close to 40,000 miles on his 1964 Royal Enfield Bullet motorbike, where he collected cannabis seeds of local landrace strains[7] between 1982 and 1986. The main countries he travelled to included Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and India, with a considerable amount of time spent in a plant nursery within an ashram in Pondicherry known as ‘The Mother.’ In this Ashram, he was given the name "Shantibaba" (peace person) by the local Sadhu's[9].

In 1986, Blakey toured the South American continent for 11 months, collecting seed and pods for his own private seed bank and research. During this time, he visits to Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile. He also covered the desert and jungle regions, and the Andes.

The Amsterdam years
Shantibaba and father holding the White Widow plant after winning the Cannabis Cup in 1995

Shantibaba moved to Amsterdam in 1988 where he became an integral contributor to the "coffee shop" scene with a knack for producing high quality charas from his extensive seed collection. In 1994 he co-founded the Greenhouse Seed Co. with Arjan Roskam, whilst he was working closely with Neville Schoenmakers[8]. Together, they went on to win many awards including the Cannabis Cup for White Widow[10], Super Silver Haze, White Rhino and El Nino. Scott and Neville developed the NL5 x Haze A seed line, which forms part of the foundation for all Haze strains[11]. In 1998 Shantibaba took out all first and second prizes for Super Silver Haze, Mango Haze and Shantibaba's Hash[8]. Scott and Neville always valued plants over profits and at the peak of success, this unfortunately led to a falling out with Arjan due to their contrasting priorities.

At this point in time, Blakey took all of his mother and father plants, and teamed up with his friend and international drug smuggler, Howard Marks to create Mr. Nice Seedbank[12][13]. Many new and old strains were made available through this new venture, including strains such as Shit, Devil and Spice[14]. With the help of Neville Schoenmakers, Shantibaba decided to change the names of many strains that had brought him fame, in order to distinguish the original genetics from other companies claiming to still breed them. White Widow became Black Widow[15][16], Great White Shark aka Peacemaker became Shark Shock, and White Rhino became Medicine Man.

As a prolific breeder and grower of cannabis and strains, Shantibaba began consulting for several farms and writing columns for cannabis magazines such as Dolce Vita and Treating Yourself[17].

CBD research
Scott Blakey in a greenhouse full of marijuana plants in Spain in October 2014

in 2000, Blakey moved to Switzerland and set up large grows[18] where he became the first person to cultivate strains of cannabis with high levels of cannabidiol (CBD) for commercial purposes. In 2009, Shantibaba co-founded the CBD crew as a collaboration between Mr. Nice Seedbank and Resin Seeds. CBD Crew was established established for the purpose of researching and pioneering new strains in the medicinal cannabis field[19]. CBD Crew is a science based cannabis seed breeding company that enriches cannabis in CBD and simultaneously reduces the THC concentration[20]. Notable CBD strains include CBD Critical Mass, CBD Shark Shock, CBD Skunk Haze, and the CBD Therapy[21] and CBD Yummy. CBD Crew was the very first CBD enriched seed company in the market, helping companies such as Dutch Passion to develop and stabilize their first CBD-rich strains[22].

In 2019, Shantibaba set up Sciva Corporation to further continue research and cultivation of cannabis in the pursuit of medical outcomes[23].

gollark: I quite like Iceland, but I don't actually know much about its governance and just know it has some neat scenery.
gollark: Antarctica?
gollark: Also fairly true!
gollark: But yes, US healthcare system awful.
gollark: They have high-speed infrared links to ground stations to exchange trading data.

References
  1. "White Widow original seeds - History and characteristics". Blog Cannabico de GeaSeeds. 2019-01-29. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  2. Ossola, Alexandra (11 November 2015). "This Startup Wants To Put The 'Medical' Back In Marijuana". Popular Science. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  3. Rendon, Jim (2012). Super-Charged: How Outlaws, Hippies, and Scientists Reinvented Marijuana. Portlan, Oregon, USA: Timber Press. pp. 82, 83. ISBN 9781604694130.
  4. Kohut, Tim (16 May 2019). "5 Strains to Smoke While Rewatching 'Game of Thrones'". Weedmaps. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  5. SeedFinder.eu. "High Times Cannabis Cup :: Cannabis Cup Winner". seedfinder.eu. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  6. "Mr. Nice seedbank and research - History". mrnice.nl. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  7. Gordon, Claire (30 April 2015). "Marijuana's magic bean men". Al Jazeera America. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  8. "Shantibaba, the Guru of Modern Cannabis Genetics". www.semillas-de-marihuana.com. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  9. "Interview Scott Blakey: My mother plants are older than my kids". Sciva Corporation. 2019-10-30. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  10. Gracis, Matteo (15 July 2005). "Type Strong Cannabis Fair, Pescia 2005". Dolce Vita.
  11. Ago, Indigo-Seedsin #cannabis • 3 Years (2018-01-13). "The history of Haze -Warning long read!". Steemit. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  12. Shah, Sohum (8 June 2016). "Critical Mass (marijuana review)". The Cannabis. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  13. Shah, Sohum; Staff, The Cannabist. "Critical mass (marijuana review)". The Cannabist. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  14. Rosenthal, Ed (2001). The Big Book of Buds: Marijuana Varieties from the World's Great Seed Breeders. Oakland, California: Quick American Archives. pp. 39, 137, 142, 159. ISBN 0932551394.
  15. Miles, Helena (31 October 2019). "Halloween Special: What's the Story Behind Spooky Weed Names". Green Camp. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  16. "Discover cannabis on Leafly: Black Widow strain details". Leafly. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  17. Blakey, Scott (2013). "Grow Tips: Shantibaba's Sea of Green". Treating Yourself (42). Retrieved 23 July 2020.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  18. Cervantes, Jorge (2006). Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible. Barcelona, Spain: Van Patten Publishing. p. 121. ISBN 9781878823236.
  19. "The CBD Crew and You". Emerald. 2016-03-15. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  20. "Shantibaba - Co-Founder of CBD Crew". 2013-11-30. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  21. Leinow, Leonard; Birnbaum, Juliana; Moskowitz, M.D., Michael H. (2017). CBD: A Patient's Guide to Medicinal Cannabis--Healing without the High. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books. p. 211. ISBN 9781623171834.
  22. Mestrom, Joop (9 June 2020). "Six classic Dutch medicinal cannabis strains". Mediwietsite. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  23. "Sciva Corporation - Czech cannabis company". Sciva Corporation. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
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