The Cannabis Cup is a festival that started out in 1987.
At this festival the public is exposed to a large variety
of marijuana-strains and hemp & cannabis-related products
which are judged among the public. A team of judges decides
every year what company brought the best marijuana and (hemp)
products to the festival.
The Cannabis Cup festival is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where marijuana is kept decriminalized. Much of the marijuana being given is from the different coffee shops around the city of Amsterdam. Usually the cannabis cup has a suprise weed, which is a strain of marijuana that is new to the culture and has never been smoked before, until it is being tested on the judges, which will give the surprise strain an offical marijuana smoke where it will be named and sold at the coffee shop that it was hybridized and grown at. Many tourists go to Amsterdam just to attend the cannabis cup festival. It should be noted that because of the acceptance of marijuana in the Netherlands, the marijuana being contested is of a high THC level, compared to the illegal marijuana in other contries. It is recommended for a judge to have high tolerance to the THC levels in the marijuana at the Cannabis Cup.
Visitors & Judges
Being a judge is considered a honor for some. To be a judge, one must pay an extra fee at the entrance, where this person will have honorary comments and votes upon the many different strains. Often a chill room is costumed for those who are considered "flagged" and no longer have any tolerance capacity to comsume more marijuana.
One big misconception is that marijuana is only consumed by means of smoking it. The Cannabis Cup is considered to be an all fair game, which means any way of getting high/stoned on marijuana, is acceptable at the Cup. This includes cakes, brownies, bubbelgum, lollypops, crackers, and of coures a variety of pipes, bongs, and cigarettes; all of these containing marijuana.
The event is widely sponsered by activists who fight for decriminalization of marijuana, organizations and marijuana seed selling companies.
People from around the world do attend the festival, and are usually people who use it illegaly in there resident country. The crowd at the festival are represented as neo-hippies. From the first edition in 1987 until 2003, the festival had a steady growth of attendants. 2003 marked the first loss, so the 2004 and 2005's edition were held on a smaller basis.
In 2005 DNA Seeds won the overall cup (see CannabisCupWinners.com) What will the 19th Cannabis Cup in 2006 bring?
* Steve Hager, founder of
the Cannabis Cup tells about it's history:
I first visited the Netherlands in 1987 to write an article for High Times magazine on the founder of Holland's first cannabis-seed company. Titled "The King of Cannabis," the article described how an Australian named Nevil got access to some of the world's greatest known strains of cannabis, and established a mail-order company in Holland that eventually made him rich. He lived in a mansion filled with growrooms that I dubbed "Cannabis Castle." While working on the article, I met the founders of Cultivators Choice, an almost defunct American cannabis-seed company. They told me about the spectacular California harvest festivals of the '70s. That's when I got the idea of holding a cannabis harvest festival in Amsterdam.
Your own favourite online magazine, Friends
Of Cannabis, is sponsor of the Grass-A-Matazz.
Grass-a-matazz is one of the special parties held during the week of Cannabis Cup.
In 2007, at the 20th High Times Cannabis Cup, Friends of Cannabis will be sponsoring this event for the third time! More info on www.grass-a-matazz.com
