I went to 2015 12th annual Emerald cup at, Sonoma counties fair grounds this past December.
My whole reason for going to the cup was to do a Cannabis cup review, comparing the emerald cup to other cannabis cups I have attended.
First off to not expect 20,000+ people, was kind of silly and lacked them being prepared. So that ment as a 215 medical marijuana patient not only did you have to get checked in, you had to then stand in line for hours to get your 215 wrist band, to have to right to consume cannabis. This isn't something that is new, they do it at every cup, but for some reason I guess they didn't expect that many people I heard it took 4 hours for some people just to get through the check in lines. Not good for patients!
I have to admit, I was late for work and my whole day would have been ruined by a 4 hour wait line, I cut to the front of the line looking for a "vendors line" which I couldn't find. Thank you to the nice man who helped me get my wrist band and on my way. But boy would I have been super upset, if I had to wait hours like some people did. Something I hope they fix for next year.
So remember I was attending the emerald cup as the cannacritic so the whole point was to critique the event and ask vendors if they were interested in getting a cannareview on Instagram for a sample of their products. Asking people isn't easy, but my experience is more important to discuss.
I have worked in a cannabis dispensary for 7 + years now. It is wrong to think my clients or patients are young men ages 18-25. THIS IS WRONG!!! and has been forever!!! Our #1 group of NEW patients is WOMEN over the age of 40!!! And for the last 3 years we have said that the "AARP crowd is our main source of patients" Yes, your read correctly it's not kids or young adults it's our older generation of patients that are tired of the pills they are given for insomnia, depression, pain, anxiety and much more and want to give cannabis a try. More often than not, they can get rid of the pills they are given and use one medicine CANNABIS getting rid of several of their prescribed medications. (Please don't just stop taking your medicine and replace it with cannabis, people do this over a long period of time and with help) But again remember it's Women and Older women.
So, to go to the Emerald cup as a single 215 patient and a women, I was sad to say my experience started off rather bumpy. Until I gave up that I was a critic, a writer and was critiquing the whole event and them ( the vendors) too, that things began to look up for me.
My point, it's still a mans world in the cannabis community. Even if women are the #1 consumers. Even if women are growing cannabis (and always has) They are producing cannabis cup winning, flowers, edibles and topicals too. Women deserve to have a little more friendliness and respect. Especially since we are the biggest buyers. I will get off my soap box and move on to finish my review of the emerald cup, but please if you are producing cannabis and don't realize that women are your base, please do some research and I hope you learn to treat your target audience with love and respect instead of the cold shoulder, "you can't begin to know what I am talking about" attitudes. I am not saying everyone did that. But my first hour at the Emerald Cup wasn't a good experience and it was because I was a women.
Once I started saying I was critiquing them, things changed BIG TIME!!!
So once I got my groove on, I learned that once I listened to what that vendor had to offer and could give them my pitch on what brought me to the Emerald cup, I found attitudes changed and people where super friendly and super giving. This was my first attendance as the cannacritic and writer for "The Irie Times" a local Sonoma county cannabis publication, so I was beyond pleased that giving a review on IG, you tube and my cannacritic blog got me samples of the newest and the greatest cannabis products that the Emerald cup had to offer. Not everyone said "YES" but I would say over 50% of the vendors were willing to hear me out and often share their products with me.
What I also loved about this cannabis cup was it had a different feeling to it than other cannabis cups I have attended. More often they have a super commercial, sponsorship flooded products with a huge push to sell sell sell!!! I am not saying vendors at the Emerald cup weren't there to make money, but it felt to me like it was more about REPRESENTING than selling!!! with over 200 bud entries and 150 concentrates and over 100 edibles this cup was really about the cannabis cup!
Often these cannabis cups sells judges kits, for several hundred dollars. But with the emerald cup, judges were selected and only they got to try all the entries. Great for the judges, not so fun for those who like to buy themselves into becoming a judge!!!!
Even if I wasn't a judge if you walked around the 215 medicinal marijuana area, vendors were giving away free dabs all over the place. If you joined various collectives, you were given gifts anywhere from a sample of their edibles, topicals, cannabis infused products but you actually got cannabis buds, from a gram up to one place gave out whole 1/8 of cannabis for joining up. I actually even got oil and concentrates as well for joining collectives. So if you were willing to go through their process, listen to what their product was about, you could actually walk away with a lot of free cannabis products to try. A lot less lighters than most cannabis cup, I think it was all the dabs!!!LOL
With 20,000+ people over two days it was crazy busy but that is what makes theses events fun. I have been to some with No one showing, and believe me crowds make these events 10x better.
The music was awesome and they even had a big stage with live music going. I don't go for the music but it's always nice to step away from the crowds and chill to so tunes for a bit!
I didn't attend lasts years emerald cup, but I heard one of the biggest complaints was lack of food.
Really? They didn't have food for cannabis users?? Well this year they did much better I think, they had a row of food vendors so it looked like people had a lot more choices. I am a celiac I cannot have gluten and sadly cannot trust cross contamination so I brought my own food!
I spent 9 hours at the emerald cup. I only went for one day, so I could recoup and get ready for work on Monday. But I have to say it started off kind of rough, with the check points and long lines for wrist bands. But once I got my groove on and past all the drama, I really had an amazing time at the 12th annual emerald cup. I am so glad I went. I met some of the most friendly and amazing people. I have tried my best to do all the reviews I promised to do. I still have a few items left to review. I just have to end with saying THANK YOU to every person and vendor all the staff people who went and worked their butts off. Thank you for making my experience a great one. Thank you for trusting in me and I hope everyone has enjoyed all my cannareviews!!!
In closing if you haven't attended a cannabis cup yet, and have wondered if it's worth the cost to get in and go!!! In my cannacritic opinion YES!!! If you want to be with your tribe, If you want access to everything cannabis, if you want to see the latest and greatest in cannabis products cannabis cups are defiantly events worth attending.
All cannabis cups are different, some more showy and all about making $$$$$ but if you want to attend a cannabis cup that is about the cannabis, about who is the best in the EMERALD TRIANGLE AND BEYOND...... Mark your calendar for next Decemeber for sure!!!
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