You know good 'n well I’m getting in that Line right behind you. @Seamonkey84 is a “Cut Master”!!! I’ve got some of his Ladies in a Cloner, getting ready to "pot em up, some in the Crisper. Gonna be a heck of a Winter here. All, enjoy the Holiday, SS/BW…mister 
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I have grown plants that would never achieve elite status because of whatever reason, mostly lacking bag appeal. I had one that foxtailed forever and smelled like unwashed feet that only a collector of weird things would enjoy. It was one of my favourites.
I have some elite seeds I’ll sell for the low low price of $100 each. It’s a good deal. You should do it.
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The thing this post misses is that the early “landrace” strains needed to be grown by the 1000s to find those exceptional plants to breed with. Once those were found and bred and crossed, only then was it as simple as it is now to find what is now called an elite cut.
The problem with this though is that all these modern elites are from highly bottlenecked genetics.
Once the seed banks popped up in the 80s, most real breeding stopped and it just became a game of crossing strain A with strain B and calling it something new.
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Hype most of the time.
A lot of hype with “elite” cuts I think tbh, back in the day I had quite the stable , many of them considered to be “elite” after a few years of SERIOUS pheno hunting, and some backcrossing I found the cuts I hunted outperformed even my most sought after clones, this is when I began thinning the herd. I do seriously regret letting 2 cuts go that I was never able to Reobtain or recreate (not even close) but I’m looking forward to the future with all this new tech and a reinvigorated passion for cannabis cultivation. I think elites are just easier for many people as pheno hunting is a timely, space demanding venture. But it truly teaches the nuances of terps, flavonoids. And the subtle differences from pheno to pheno, and when you find an absolute gem 
there is nothing like it.
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I am going to find out what all the hype is about for a couple of what are considered Elite clones. I have G.G. #4 in flower now and a couple of Apple Fritter rooting and going to be grown out soon. I know I am going to like the G.G. #4, if it is the real deal. Harvest time should show me if it is real or not. The Apple Fritter I have never tried. Strong or not it still has to have a great high if I am going to keep it.
To me that is the one thing that never gets mentioned much about the Elites. Just because they are strong doesn’t mean everyone is going to like them. I don’t know if these plants are worth all the hype, I do know I will know more soon.
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A lot of them are hype for other reasons than strength too. Fruity terps (edit: and bag appeal , that purpurp) is all the rage now I think.
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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Yes. I don’t have a ton of space but I enjoy hunting through seeds.
Been gifted some cuts and they were very nice.
I tend to avoid hype in every aspect of my life, not just cannabis stuff.
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Honestly I couldn’t agree more @Berserker7205 . Even down to your choices of examples, had an associate pay 1000$ US for Apple Fritter (Lumpys) 100% authentic, was very disappointing IMHO, and then there are cuts that are closely guarded by my circle and crew. That I know for a fact would be ELITE LEGENDARY if they were just circulated beyond us 6-7 people. A lot of these new cuts/strains I tend to find to be hype , all in all I think half the fun is pheno hunting and eventually coming across that absolute GEM! And then seeing what you can do with it beyond that. Gets me fired up just thinking/talking about it.
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Amen 
, @Foreigner my friend. As do I
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One thing that is more true in the Cannabis genetic community than most others is that cost/rarity doesn’t relate to quality. There are a shit ton of amazing genetics out there, that are super affordable and widely available. Cost & availability of clone only varieties comes down to who you know… Then there’s the hype that doesn’t stand the test of time. Most of it is over marketed mediocre genetics, that haven’t circulated and most consumers have never had it. They then pass that hype on, trusting whoever told it to them, without actual knowledge of the quality of the cut. Once it’s gotten around, and people realize it isn’t all that it was hyped up to be, it’ll fade away, being replaced by the newest hype of the month.
Again, just my limited experience & opinion.
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While I don’t know what the Apple Fritter will be like. At least I didn’t have to pay $1000 for it LOL. I just grew out a Apple Fritter hybrid that was pretty damn good. Katsu’s, Fritter Bomb performed really well for me.
Still too early to tell how much I will like or dislike Apple Fritter. I am curious about the cheese side of the terpene profile. This might be the plant to cross with Exodus Cheese
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I think bodhi said it best when he said anyone can find elites or better just by popping their seeds. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And, as one of the largest libraries of so-called “elites” anywhere in the world, he would probably know since he’s always popping seeds.
These days, the label “elite” gets thrown around a lot. It seems to focus mostly on the visual or obvious traits of the weed rather than the more nuanced qualities. We all learned to not judge a book by its cover, but it seems that most cannabis consumers have forgotten that simple truism.
My question about categorizing stuff is, why does anybody care to rank and compare their weed with anyone else’s? The grass isn’t greener. Pun intended. 
Find something you like, something that treats you well and meets your needs, and be happy. Share it with others and perhaps they will like it too.
There’s no need to say “mine’s better than yours” or anything. Weed growing and smoking isn’t a competition, or at least it doesn’t need to be. Especially for personal smoke, but also in commercial grows.
Cooperation, sharing & inclusion benefits the world and the individuals far more, on average, than competition, greed & exclusion.
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I got some Apple Fritter from the dispensary, and as much as I am anti hype, it’s enjoyable. It has a sweet wood smell, with a sour wood flavor on the inhale and cinnamon aftertaste. 
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Cinnamon aftertaste? I wonder how that is going to work for me. I hate cinnamon in food. Doesn’t mean I won’t like the flavor in weed. I don’t like Black Licorice either but love the flavor in weed.
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Roadkill tasted of dead skunk and I loved the hell out of it
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Such a killer strain, still have a few zips, EVERYONE knows when I’m smoking the roadkill.
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It’s doesn’t have a lot of cinnamon taste, per se, but it gives you that tingling feeling in your mouth on the exhale, that reminds me of a cinnamon.
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I had a Power Plant a long time ago that had just the faintest hint of licorice. Very nice stuff. I’d like to find her again.