Say Cheese, Please – The Story of the Exodus Cheese Strain

Say Cheese! Forget that, roll it up! Let’s smoke that dank fire! Cheese isn’t just something you eat on a burger or pizza, and it’s not just something you say when you get ready to snap a pic. Cheese is also a phenomenal strain of cannabis. If you have ever had the pleasure of smoking some Cheese that was flowered to perfection, then you know what I’m talking about. For me, the Cheese strain has an incredibly sweet earthy flavor that is almost like the strain Roadkill Skunk minus the dead animal funk. It has a pungent flavor that definitely could be described as cheesy. Not cheesy as in a slice of Velveeta but cheesy as in an aged block of sharp cheddar.

Cheese typically runs around 80% Indica dominant with an average THC level of around 20%. Despite this being an Indica, many people have enjoyed the uplifting and creative effects of this cannabis strain for decades now. Cheese has not always been around. There is a really cool story that explains how this unique phenotype came to be. In America, Cheese is often called Exodus Cheese or UK Cheese. But, where Cheese comes from, they just call it Cheese. That’s because the strain of cannabis originated in the UK. Sit back, pack a bowl, load your dab rig, or roll a fatty, and get ready for a little elevated reading on how the cannabis strain Cheese came to be.

It All Started with Sacred Seeds

There was a group in California called Sacred Seeds. They were affiliated with legendary cannabis growers, geneticists, and genetic purveyors such as Mendocino Joe, Maple Leaf Wilson, David Watson, and others. Sacred Seeds was where it was at if you wanted quality beans that produced bodacious buds. Before it was legal, and before many people even thought of it, you could buy these seeds through a very popular cannabis enthusiast magazine at the time. These seeds started going out everywhere.

Of course, the federal government didn’t care for this much and eventually put a stop to it. Sacred Seeds was raided in 1982. The federal government was confident they had put a stop to the potent, pungent, strong marijuana that was taking over the world known as Skunk. Many people referred to the original Skunk as Roadkill Skunk because it smelt just like a dead skunk in a bag. You either loved it or hated it.

Moving forward, David Watson, AKA Sam the Skunkman, managed to grab some clones and a sack of seeds and made his way to Amsterdam. This goes into a different part of the story, so we’ll stop here and continue with Cheese. Because of the work, Sam the Skunkman Man did to develop Roadkill Skunk, the Cheese phenotype came to be.

Introducing the Exodus Collective

People everywhere we’re ordering Skunk seeds from the magazine. Some of those seeds made their way to a special group of people in the UK known as The Exodus Collective. In the marsh farm area located in Luton, England, The Exodus Collective was formed in 1992. They were basically a group of individuals who formed a DIY culture that embraced community collective living. It was a little like a commune, in a way. Everybody pitched in, and everything was shared. The group started hosting amazing rave parties. At these parties, one of the ways they would raise extra cash was by selling the cannabis they had grown. Cheese became a staple of an Exodus Collective party. Ask anyone who attended one of these events, and they will often refer to the sweet flavor of Cheese and the aroma of Cheese in the air while telling stories of listening to music and dancing till the sun came up. This paints a very different picture than the typical 80% Indica dominant couch lock buzz strain description we see referencing the effects of the Cheese strain today.

So just how did The Exodus Collective get their hands-on Cheese? The answer to that question is they didn’t. They actually grew the Roadkill Skunk that everyone craved. When you had this bud, you had no problem selling it. Someone in The Exodus Collective had Roadkill Skunk seeds or the original Skunk seeds from Sacred Seeds. They planted their beans, and the next thing you know, this funky tree appeared that wasn’t the normal Skunk. Rumor has it that when it was harvested, people were in a room preparing to trim it, and someone said, this weed smells like Cheese. From that day forward, the name stuck, and the Exodus Collective would go down in cannabis legend as being responsible for the discovery of the Cheese phenotype and the continuance of its genetics.

The Many Types of Cheese

What they started has reached around the globe. The Cheese strain of cannabis can be found from coast to coast in the United States. However, all Cheese is not created equally. There are also many different hybrids of Cheese today. You will find different varieties like OG Cheese, Triple Cheese, Blue Cheese, Big Buddha Cheese, White Cheese, Cheese Candy, and many others. If you have never got a chance to try UK cheese or Exodus cheese, give yourself the opportunity to. The next time you’re in a dispensary, ask them for some Cheese please, and if they don’t have it, ask them to please get some or go on the hunt to find some. This is definitely a strain of cannabis most every consumer will want to have tried at least once!