There are some well proven clone only varieties that perform exceptionally well, in most environments. The ones that check all the boxes, breed well, and have been time tested. But not all clones or cuts are considered “elite”. I think there are more categories than just Elite. I think it would be more reasonable to break them down into categories like “Legendary”, “Elite”, “Hype”, “Quality”.
“Legendary” being those older, time tested, top quality, clone only cuts, that almost everyone who knows anything has had or at least heard of. Like OG, NL5, Chemdog, Skunk…
“Elite” being an award winning, well tested, proven quality, rare phenotype/clone only variety. Like Gelato, MAC1, Wedding Cake, Zkittlez…
“Hype”, I consider to be anything that is relatively new, heavily marketed, not well tested, but still good quality. Like Runtz, PBB, Gary Payton, Apple Fritter…
“Quality” (or “affordable” if the price is right) would be anything that is still somewhat available in seed form, but someone found a better than average pheno that will save someone else some time from hunting a pack of seeds that may be out of their price range or space/plant limit capacity. Everything else could go under this category, really.
Just my opinion
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