The Nectarball Collection

A short film from the NECTARBALL series

The Nectarball Collection

Half a century of cannabis history, kept in jars.

For decades it was a rumor in cannabis circles: a private library of whole dried buds from the 1960s and ’70s, including landrace strains you can no longer find. It is real, and it belongs to Mark Schulze and Patty Mooney.

This short film opens the cabinet.

Collectors: Mark Schulze & Patty Mooney
Run time: 13 minutes
Studio: New & Unique Videos®
Price: $2, one time

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On the shelves

Strains from a bygone era

Hundreds of whole buds, possibly thousands, each one a sample of what people grew and smoked before modern hybrids took over. Each sits in its own bag with a handwritten label and a penny for scale. A few of the names:

Landrace · Where it beganAcapulco GoldThe Mexican legend of the 1960s, now almost impossible to find in its original form. The first bud Mark “Wiz” Schulze collected.
LandraceColombian RedA South American classic from the era of imported weed.
San Diego-bornFallbrook RedThe mythical local strain from North County San Diego.
Grown by Mark & PattyNectarballTheir own strain, and the name behind the whole series.

A Thai stick: a long, slender dried cannabis cola bound to a thin bamboo stick, beside a penny for scale — **Thai stick.** One of the most alluring pieces in the collection, and the one visitors love and talk about most.

Dried Acapulco Gold buds and stems beside a penny, with a handwritten label reading Acapulco Gold 1972 — **Acapulco Gold, 1972.** The first bud collected by Mark “Wiz” Schulze, and the one that began the Nectarball Collection.

A dark dried Colombian bud in a clear sample bag with a handwritten label and a penny for scale — Colombian (dark), labeled ’78.

A Purple Ramona sinsemilla bud below its handwritten label and an old blue ticket stub, with a penny for scale — Purple Ramona sinsemilla, labeled at $220 an ounce and kept with an old ticket stub.

A hand holds a small light green bud against an engineer’s scale — Measuring a bud against an engineer’s scale.

A hand holds an open glass jar of dried cannabis flower — Cured and in the jar.

How it started

One bud from an aunt’s stash

It all began in 1972 with a single bud of Acapulco Gold, passed to Mark from his aunt’s own stash. He kept it, labeled it, and never stopped. From there the collection grew alongside the couple’s own quiet gardens in the back country of San Diego County, where they had been growing since the 1970s.

For most of those years nobody outside a small circle saw it. Mark and Patty stepped out of the “green closet” in 2016, and the collection finally came out with them.

Mark Schulze in a green Nectarball cap opens a sample bag with scissors beside a camera and LED lights — Mark opens a sample for the camera.

Mark Schulze bends over a glass table to line up a close-up of a sample bag next to a ruler — Lining up a close-up on the dining-room table.

1972Mark collects his first bud, a sample of Acapulco Gold.
1970sMark and Patty begin growing in rural San Diego County.
2016They come out of the green closet.
2024The collection is shown publicly for the first time.

San Diego Magazine called it one of cannabis culture’s most famous urban legends, and went inside to see it.

Harvesting San Diego’s Rarest Weed Collection, by Jackie Bryant, April 2024

More from the NECTARBALL series

NECTARBALL: The Story of CannabisThe 80-minute feature documentary, filmed on four continents.Dutch Cannabis MastersSoma, Mila Jansen, Doede de Jong and Rinus Beintema on Dutch cannabis history.Fighting Cancer With CannabisThe award-winning short about plant medicine and cancer.

Step up to the cabinet. The Nectarball Collection is 13 minutes and $2 to watch. For licensing or screenings, contact us.

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Patty Mooney and Mark Schulze are San Diego filmmakers and the co-founders of New & Unique Videos®, making independent films since 1985.