The Old Dutch Masters: Sensi Seeds

The Old Dutch Masters: Sensi Seeds & The Growth of The Cannabis Industry – Part 1

Sensi Seeds is a pioneering Dutch cannabis seeds company based in the beautiful city of Amsterdam. The company was founded by legendary cannabis entrepreneur, Ben Dronkers; a gifted and passionate cannabis advocate whose journey in the industry began in the 1970s.

Ben’s mother was a talented and prolific gardener. The sights and smells of plants in bloom filled his childhood years and left him with a love of horticulture that was to last a lifetime. This formative experience with plants led young Ben Dronkers to become interested in breeding and crossing plants to develop pronounced characteristics and traits that were more desirable – taller structures, more abundant branching, higher yields and heavier fruit sets.

As time passed, Ben began experimenting with cannabis seeds. Indoor cultivation was a new phenomenon and the techniques were far from perfected. The cannabis that was available in Amsterdam was, at the time, of poor quality – African or perhaps Thai in origin and sold as pressed, dried blocks that appeared almost brown in colour and looked distinctly unappetizing.
Ben’s efforts produced potent cannabis, but the overall quality was still poor. That was until he decided to call upon his earlier passion for breeding and genetics. Ben decided to travel further afield to seek out better quality cannabis genetics. His first excursion to Pakistan was to become a seminal moment in cannabis history as Ben recalled himself in a much later interview:
“Pakistan! That’s where we started getting good results…That was the big turning point. It was interesting and fun.”
His travels in the 1970s would take Ben all over the world sourcing fine quality cannabis. Wherever there were landrace strains to be found, Ben would be there. From the Americas to Central and Southern Asia and from the Hindu Kush mountains to the warm climes of the Caribbean.

Ben began cultivating exotic strains of cannabis in greenhouses in the Netherlands. The initial reception from Amsterdam’s coffeeshops was underwhelming. Whilst some tourists had seen cannabis of this quality before, the Dutch locals simply didn’t understand what it was – even disparagingly referring to it as “spinach” when it first appeared.
Finally, Ben managed to convince a couple of independent coffeeshops to try selling his product and when they saw how quickly it sold out, they were instantly converted. The difference in quality and, crucially, potency was to say the least, significant. This was the true beginning of Sensi Seeds as we know them today.

Ben Dronkers’ activities in those early days saw him fall foul of Amsterdam’s authorities on more than one occasion. Bizarrely, it was perfectly legal to sell cannabis seeds but illegal to cultivate the plant. How was one to obtain seeds without growing cannabis plants?
Although the penalties for cannabis possession were minimal, through researching Dutch legislation and the help of a wily lawyer, Dronkers managed to obtain legal permission from the Dutch authorities to cultivate plants for the sole purpose of producing cannabis seeds.
This decision was to change Ben’s life and help forge the industry as we know it today.


The Old Dutch Masters: Sensi Seeds & The Growth of The Cannabis Industry – Part 2

After being granted a license to grow cannabis plants for the purpose of producing seeds, Ben Dronkers knew he had unlocked an unimaginably important gateway.
As the city of Amsterdam began to revel in its reputation for cannabis genetics, breeders from all over the world began to visit to meet like-minded people and to swap genetics and share breeding knowledge. The arrival of American cannabis genetics right on his doorstep combined with his unique legal impunity presented Dronkers, and his by now sizable team of entrepreneurs, with the opportunity to breed new American cultivars with the carefully selected strains he had acquired from his travels.

Ben opened the Sensi Seed Bank in the heart of Amsterdam in 1985.
Here, he enjoyed the freedom to produce and catalogue cannabis seeds for the next decade, creating a legacy that underpins the entire European cannabis seeds industry to this very day.
The hybrids he and his team (including eldest son, Alan Dronkers) created with this plethora of far-flung cannabis genetics showcased the team’s abilities in term s of handling genetics and led to numerous other professional seed companies utilising the Sensi strains in their own breeding programmes.

The original, Amsterdam-based High Times Cannabis Cup was founded in 1989. For the first time, this gave cannabis breeders a platform to share and celebrate their creations and have them judged against other strains created by their peers. Sensi Seeds won their first haul of trophies at the Cup in 1993, but their generics had been picking up silverware from the very start. Notably a 1989 win for The Seed Bank with Sensi’s Early Pearl/Skunk #1 x Northern Lights #5 x Haze which was followed by a 1990 win for the same breeders, again with a Sensi strain, the inimitable Northern Lights #5.
If those strains sound familiar, that’s because they are still considered high quality now in 2021 and are used as the foundations of the new contemporary hybrids that continue to amaze industry judges with their flavours, aromas and wonderful potency.

It’s fair to say that Sensi Seeds’ library of strains is now seen, by other breeders, as a veritable treasure chest of elite cannabis genetics. Strains like Skunk #1 are widely used by breeders to build stability and uniformity in a new strain. Skunk #1 of course, is one parent of the all-conquering Tangie from DNA Genetics that won pretty much every competition it bothered entering.
Sensi’s eponymously-named Jack Herer has won multiple awards in its own right as well as lending genetics to iconic modern hybrids like Jack The Ripper and New Jack City.
Their Hindu Kush and Northern Lights feature in the genetic lineage of so many modern strains it would be easier to list the ones that don’t. Silver Haze, Shiva Skunk, 

It’s really difficult to overstate the importance of Sensi Seeds for the industry as a whole. We certainly wouldn’t have the anywhere near the same variety of genetics as w do today without their pioneering efforts and we at PureSativa sure are grateful for that.

PureSativa re official UK distributors for Sensi Seeds and our relationship with the company is rooted firmly in friendship and respect.
Sensi Seeds are available to buy from our website on a retail or wholesale basis. For a limited time you’ll get 1 free feminised Afghan seed with every retail purchase and of course our FREE UK SHIPPING offer on all retail sales over £40.