I have not read this whole thread in detail, but there seems to be a lot of misconceptions and odd opinions about skunk weed. It is not a myth. It definitely existed in NorCal in the later 1970s. Several varieties were around, with variable terpenes, from floral to fruity with cat piss hints to pure eye watering skunk road kill stench. As some have said, the stench would get you busted, or ripped off when growing it or packing it. I saw a lot of it, but I was not a big fan of skunk. Most of it was on the more mild side of stink, but some absolutely reeked. Word was that the bikers developed several skunk strains in NorCal and Uncle Fester in Humboldt had the genetics of a wide range of them. His was an array of open pollinated genetics, from paint peeling RKS to floral and fruity skunk hints. He died and left his beans with his nephew, Master Thai in the Sierras. Master Thai has a bad rep with some people, and he is temperamental. He stopped selling beans last year in a rant against the legal system in California, but had some more beans up for sale in the spring on his web site.
The cocktail that created the original NorCal skunk weed strains in the later 1970s was a combination of Colombian Gold (Santa Marta) sativa, which had a light skunk or cat spray smell to it, and Afghani or Pakistani indica. Some others used Acapulco Gold sativa crossed with Afghani. The cross breeding brought out the myrcene and funk. I have some older NorCal pre-Skunk #1 seeds that I am test growing now. We shall see what they come to this fall. I have a line on several other NorCal and Euro early Skunks as well. I am not a huge myrcene terpene fan, which is mostly where the stench comes from. But it is addictive... I hope my skunk does not reek to the point that it attracts attention. I have a legal grow here where I live now, but thieves abound. And the neighbors may complain, even growing it indoors or in greenhouses. Which is a big reason that RK Skunk does not have high commercial appeal.