I partly agree with you, the whole thightly held elite cuts story seems to me a lot contradictory whith what i always considered to be the spirit of marijuana growing and breeding..We are fighting so hard to make this plant legal and to spread it in many countries, while in the same cannabis comunity many cuts are off limits because some some big heads keep them closed in the safe..I think the problem (in their perspective) could be the loss of value and uniqueness that theese plants would have if everyone would grow them.
Its pretty simple, actually.
Perceived scarcity enhances value; if they're passed around and common as dirt, there would little value to "elite" clones. Put backwards, by definition what makes them "elite" is rarity. You can't be in the cool exclusive club, if you'll let anyone in the front door.
There is also a relatively small population of growers that even CAN maintain clones for long periods of time, and cannabis sales, are also big business.
So there are financial and other reasons why many of these cuts are scarce and will always remain that way.
Of course none of these things, by themselves, mean that "elite clones" are NOT unique and/or special in some way or another. In fact, invariably they are interesting, though its usually not merely a question of potency, but a combination of excellent potency AND other interesting characteristics such as unique scent, flavor, yield, color or other appearance, and grow time.
In terms of just potency, the best phenos from a number of commercial lines can potentially yield over 20% THC, making them up there with many of the "elite" cuts. Though again, these commercial lines are themselves typically created out of highly select lines or "elite" cuts too.
In any case, if ALL you're after is pure potency, well. . .any idiot with a $100 set of bubble bags, some ice water, and a few hours time can make hash substantially more powerful than ANY "elite cut" buds.
