High Times Cannabis Cup

The High Times Cannabis Cup is a five days festival that gathers people from all over the world, who are eager to decide on the best products presented at the Cup.

So you can be a judge yourself, if you buy a judge pass. You will get to try out for the first time the best strains the breeders have been working on and the latest hashish produced, the newest smoking equipments, accessories and hemp products, and decide which you think should be awarded for its high qualities. Unfortunately, the judge pass will not help you get free cannabis samples, but they will get you to all the organized events: the parties and concerts, the expo, the seminars, and make your opinion matter to the final results. There are also the celebrity judge passes, which each year is a reason for surprises and more fun.

They get to decide which of the seed banks enrolled in the competition brought the best ganja. Also they participate in talks and discussions held at the event.

The past few years, The Amsterdam Cannabis Cup Expo has been held at the PowerZone Club, but in 2009 it was spread through the participant coffeeshops. In the Powerzone everybody gathered to find out about the surprise strains the event is bringing to the public. All the exposants had the opportunity to brag about their products. There even were organized fashion shows promoting hemp make clothing and accessories.

Greenhouse Seeds, Barney's Farm, Sensi Seeds, Reserva Privada, The Grey Area, Paradise Seeds, DNA Genetics, BC Bud Depot, Apothecary, Amnesia Seeds, THSeeds, Bug Buddha Seeds, De Dampkring, Kiwi Seeds, Soma Seeds all have been winners in this friendly fight for the best cannabis strain, Indica, Sativa or Hashish, and many others have participated along the years.

Since 1997, the Cannabis Cup had a special ceremonial act, called The High Times Counterculture Hall of Fame. This special moment was the peak of the festival, when prominent, counterculture celebrities were inducted into the Hall of Fame, by watching a documentary on them and honoring them. The 2009 inductee is the founder of the High Times magazine, Thomas King. The first one, in 1997, was Bob Marley. His widow, Rita Marley made a surprise trip to Amsterdam to celebrate her husband at the Cannabis Cup. The past years have brought to celebration names like: Louis Armstrong, , Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin, Jack Herrer, Bob Dylan and many others.

The High Times Cannabis Cup is also a great opportunity for activists or various organizations that fight for the decriminalization of marijuana usage and liberalization of cannabis growing for manufacturing different useful products, around the world, to manifest their beliefs and ask for their rights.

There are no proofs, but it seems like the first Cannabis Cup was organized in 1987, when a HighTimes editor, Steven Hager, came to the Netherlands for an interview with the founder of the first Dutch Cannabis Seeds Company. Together with a photographer, they were the only 3 judges to decide which of the four enrolled seed companies will win the competition: Super Sativa Seed Club, Sensi Seed Club, the Seed Bank and "Cultivator's Choice".

Since then, the High Times Cannabis Cup developed in many ways. It reached international dimensions, and high numbers regarding public and celebrity participation and popularity.

Until 1992, there were not many seed banks willing to participate at this event, and its great diversity was not yet reached. But the 5th and the 6th High Times Cannabis Cups represented the return of the seed companies, like Homegrown Fantasy and the Sensi Seeds Bank, Nirvana Seeds, Dutch Passion.

The 1994 Cannabis Cup brought great novelties. The first Hemp Expo was held at the Pax Party House and the parties at the Milkweg Club started. It also was the first internationally concerning edition. The New York Times published an article on this event, and the population from Tokyo could watch a one hour documentary on this matter.
The following year however, the amplitude of the Cannabis Cup drastically modified. Participants from USA and Canada enrolled in the competition. Media representatives and reporters massively came to record the event. Thousands of people traveled to Amsterdam to be judgers, or just to freely smoke the best cannabis strains.

At the 10 years celebration, the High Times Cannabis Cup the guests had the great surprise to meet Rita Marley, the widow of Bob Marley. She came to participate in a ritual meant to honor and celebrate Bob Marley's memory. It was the first countercultural icon to enter the High Times Cannabis Hall of Fame. Since then, this ceremonial ritual has been repeated each year during the Cannabis Cup.
Other memorable names in the cannabis culture have been honored and entered in the Hall of Fame, like: Louis Armstrong, Allen Ginsberg, Ina May Gasking (founder of the midwife movement), Bob Dylan, Paul Krassner, John Trudell (former chairman in the American-Indian Movement), Tommy Chong, Rainbow Family members Barry Adams and Garrick Beck.

In the past ten years, each Cannabis Cup had a main theme. In 2000 there was the "Honor the Goddess" Cannabis Cup, when many women celebrities attended. There have also been the "Peace" Cannabis Cup, the "Return of the Kind / Freedom" Cannabis Cup, the "Conspiracy" Cannabis Cup, named after the book of the celebrity that was inducted into the Hall of Fame that year, Jack Herrer.

For nine years, until 2002, the Cannabis Hemp Expo was held at the Pax Party House. When is got closed, the High Times Hemp Expo first did not have another place to happen, then tried with the Amuse, then in the Northern Amsterdam in the Docklands Building of the NDSM Harbor. Happily, since 2007 the Hemp Expo found a suitable surrounding in the PowerZone, where it opened its doors for two years, but in 2009 the Expo was spread through the coffeeshops.

The 20th anniversary of the High Times Cannabis Cup in 2007 brought together Tommy Chong from the legendary "Cheech & Chong" as the counter cultural icon to enter the Hall of Fame, and Redman as host of the usual fashion show brought by Hempworks. It was a crazy funny and interactive session of the Cup.
They even released a DVD with the entire festival.