my $0.02 on the Blue Lines
I never got to try name Blueberry in the 90's when it was making a name for itself, I was mostly on the $60 zips of b-satch at that point in my life. I remember a few samples of herb that tasted of blueberries, but they had no name when passed to me. It seems as though this vintage Blueberry is the benchmark that most on this thread are going by when speaking of 'quality' Blueberry. Never had a confirmed sample in the day, so i can't say. But FWIW, I have sampled some Blueberry grown from the cutting that DJ released here in California a few years back, and it was truly exceptional herb, right up there with the best I've seen at a club. The sample was not blue in the least, it was almost golden. Very fruity aroma, no real blueberry scent, but with distinct wood notes to the flavor. And it had a very strong, long-lasting and 'goofy' high, the type that makes Tim & Eric seem perfectly logical.
Also, FWIW, the very best herb I've ever seen offered at a med club was a purple Flo purported to be selected from original Delta 9 collection seed, with small but extremely dense flowers and an almost cloyingly sweet flavor of roses and dried grapes. I gladly paid $70 for an eighth, and it was actually one of the only times I didn't feel overcharged by a med club.
Legends Johnny Blaze is an F1 hybrid of what is described as an 'original' Neville's Haze female and the B130 Blueberry male. Several very positive reports exist on this hybrid, and the growers who have taken it to F2 report even finer examples than they found in the F1. I can't think of any other hybrids on the market using DJ/MNS genetics off-hand, but it seems to me that this particular example indicates that these two gene pools play very well together and warrant further exploration. But I think that work is probably best left to others (like us), not DJ/Nev/Shanti. They have enough on their respective plates. And the genes are out there. I have a pack in my fridge...
My experiences growing Blueberry outcrosses has been limited but extremely rewarding. Most notably Chimera's 1973 Highland Guerrero x B130 Blueberry (or Guerreroberry as I like to call it, for brevity's sake). Sadly, I lost my F1 mother in a simultaneous mite/PM disaster, but I managed to make several crosses with her and also one of her brothers beforehand. My keeper had a wonderful amalgam of old Mexican and Blueberry traits - the bouquet was absolutely redolent of one of those little blue tree car air fresheners, only it was a Blue Tree hanging in a fresh-hewn hardwood cabinet newly stocked with spices, notes extremely similar to those I remember from the rare better Mexicans I was privileged to sample as a youngster. Structurally it was a very large, very stout, strongly branched plant with a steroidal growth rate and long, thin leaves, looking much like what I'd expect from a pure Mexican, but the floral clusters had a very similar look to other B130 hybrids I've seen, with a clustering habit and extensive foxtailing. The flowers also displayed a distinctive and beautiful blue/grey hue when fully cured. But the high was the most memorable part of this plant - it was a true one-hit wonder, with a massive, expansive (and for some people, alarming) clarity to the experience. It always gave me this recurring image upon exhale of my head coming through the ground into a giant horizonless cavern, like a massive endless isolation tank. This sensation faded into an all-encompassing but classic 'fun' high, spawning lively stream-of-consciousness conversation in groups or wistful, comedic stream-of-consciousness introspection when smoked alone. No ceiling was ever found to the high - even some of the most experienced smokers I knew couldn't get past 3 hits. I think I made it to 18 or 19 one time. And it was still there, right in the front of your head, 6 hours later. It quickly became legend in my small circle. Not the best yielder, but the finished product was worth the frustration and expense. Financially, I maybe broke even. But I made many, many lifelong friends with this herb.
My opinion is that DJ, Nev, Shanti, Chimera all produce outstanding work, using differing methods with differing goals to differing ends. My old hazy Jack Herer keeper cutting (Nev's work), is a completely different animal from that Guerreroberry selection (Chimera/DJ's work), which is totally different from my Congolese x Deep Chunk selections (ACE/Tom Hill/Richard Williams' work). All are from very different parent lines, all worked by our anonymous stoner ancestors in their respective lands/cultures. All are extremely valued and cherished members of my genetic library for different reasons. I could never pick 'the best' from amongst them, but for example, the Jack is always what I reach for first thing in the morning with my coffee or when I get too bombed on someone else's Indica, because it slices through sleep or stupor like a laser. But it renders me completely useless as a musician - fucks with my sense of time and timing. The Deep Congo, on the other hand, is a pure herbal rhythmic enhancer. I've been bringing it with me to every gig I've played for years, and some of my musical colleagues will smoke nothing but Deep Congo, period.
In the same way, all of these breeders I've mentioned have earned their spots in my garden and breeding program for different reasons, and I will continue to seek out purchase gear from all of them as I am able. Maximum respect to Nevil, Shantibaba, DJ Short, Chimera, the ACE crew and Tom Hill, all working their finest plants to the best of their knowledge and abilities, each to the tune of their own muse. There's diversity right there.