The First Annual ‘The Hemp Connoisseur’: Part 1

I haven’t gotten my pot in dime bags since I still regularly called cannabis “pot.” Living in a MMJ state has spoiled me, I guess, into getting all my pot, weed, medicine, or whatever you choose to call it in medicine containers or sealable jars.

Yet, here I am with 9 clear dime bags in front of me, filled with what is supposed to be some of the best medical marijuana that Colorado dispensaries have to offer to their patients. I’m a “Connoisseur Judge” for the first annual Colorado cannabis championship, hosted by magazine The Hemp Connoisseur. I’m officially evaluating the “sativa” entries, which also includes a sub-category “CBD strains”.

Picking up my sample packet, I couldn’t help but be excited about getting to really try my palette out on a bunch of different strains.  The plastic envelope, filled with strains and a few pages of info, stunk up my backpack; I had a feeling that there were at least a few bags that had some serious fire.  Dumping out the little plastic baggies filled with different strains was like being a kid on Halloween, taking an inventory of all my candy and making mental notes of which the best stuff might be.

The instructions and sample voting form instructed me that sativa judges would be voting on two categories: sativa and CBD strains. It went on to say that the CBD strains should have very little THC in them: “You will be rating the CBD category for the medicinal effects and the clarity of mind that you will have while medicated on them. We chose our sativa category judges to sample these because sativa, like CBD, is usually more of a day type of medication you can still function on.”

I know that heavy indica strains usually contain more CBD then THC, but still have THC in them and will get you “stoned”. Sites like Project CBD have some great information regarding these strains, which are indented to have little psychoactive effects and be used only for pain relief.

On of scale of 1-10 (1 being the lowest, 10 being the highest, the 4 main criteria are:

• Appearance
• Smell
• Taste
• Desired Effect

During my posts, I’m going to sporadically add a few criteria: Length of smoke (does it burn well?) and preferred method (some strains are good for vaporizing, while others would probably be better to be broken up and put into a blunt).

The deadline to turn in my final votes and secure my ticket to the finals (at Casselman’s in Denver on Friday October 5)  is September 30, and one of the instructions was to wait 4 hours in between samples (for obvious reasons). So, I’ll be taking my time with this, and will be sharing the experience with you!

Right off the bat, which do you think is the best LOOKING strain? Comment below, on a scale of 1 to 10.

Pictures of the entries to this year’s The Hemp Connoisseur contest