Category: Hemp Reviews

High Times Hemp Cup 2021 People’s Choice

After participating in and enjoying the FLWR City Hemp Cup, I started searching out other cups that might be going on. I was very happy to see that High Times had ventured into the hemp arena and was offering a people’s choice judging kit for folks to take advantage of remotely.

The kit came with a variety of CBD, hemp, and D8 products. There were edibles, flower, tinctures, salves, pre-rolls, and vapes. I was very surprised by the range and variety of products offered, the box was well worth the money. Overall I received 27 different products to sample. In total there were 12 different judging kits available and the selection was random when they were ordered.

As I make my way through the products, I’ll post reviews of the ones I really liked and of the ones I didn’t. See below for pictures of all the products I received in judging kit 1A.

FLWR City 2020 Harvest Cup

The FLWR City Harvest Cup was used to showcase the variety of hemp being grown within NYS. FLWR City partnered with other organizations, such as ROC NORML and New York Cannabis Growers & Processors Association, to put on such an amazing event. One of ROC NORML’s missions is that for every event they put on, they must give back to the community in some way. With FLWR City Harvest Cup, they were able to raise almost $6000 which was put back directly into non-profit food organizations who supply food to those that need it in both Buffalo and Rochester NY.

FLWR City received over 50 submissions from hemp farmers across NYS. The organizers whittled down the list to 20 “best” hemp samples that they then prepared to be sent out to the judges for grading. There were two types of judges for this event: industry judges and people’s choice. The industry judges represented individuals who are in the cannabis industry within NYS. People’s choice judges had the opportunity to participate with a $50 ticket. That $50 got us 20gs of hemp flower, a dynavap M, a torch, and a few other swag pieces. Really, the entry price along made this event worth it for me.

Having the opportunity to sample all this hemp flower was simply amazing. Some of the hemp flower was really just phenomenal and being able to sample such a wide variety exposed me to some I probably never would have purchased or sampled on my own. There were some unique colors and flavors such as berry notes, funky cheese, and some dark purples with bright green that really produced some stunning flower.

I’m not going to give a detailed review of all 20 samples, but I want to highlight the ones that I liked the best and the winners:

  • Cultivar 7 – Gatsby from Weaver Road Farms
    • This flower, when opening the bag, just smelled so dank. I got some serious diesel notes out of this and it was my number 1 strain until I got farther into the cultivars. The flavor carried through nicely in the dynavap and was a very pleasant sesh.
  • Cultivar 55 – Hawaiian Haze from Miss Perry’s Farm
    • This flower had a really nice bud structure with some light purple mixed throughout the flower. The aroma was a bit of a subtle cheese flavor that came through slightly in the vape as well as another flavor I just couldn’t place. The vape experience was really nice and had me wanting more. I also got some decent effects from this flower and a slight headchange.
  • Cultivar 38 – Lifter from Breathing Web Farms
    • I’m a sucker for Lifter strains. I’ve always found these to be the most pleasant and this one I gave the highest scores to. The flower gave off some citrus notes followed by a bit of diesel and it was probably the best cured flower out of the whole bunch. The diesel notes came right through with the vape.
  • Cultivar 20 – Amy’s Hemp CBD from Premium CBD Spot – People’s Choice winner!
    • Looking back at my notes, I really didn’t enjoy this flower as much as others. It gave off some orange aromas coming out of the bag and in the dynavap. It was a very smooth vape, great trichome coverage, and was trimmed nicely.
  • Cultivar 27 – Abacus CBD from Heartstone Organic Farms – HARVEST CUP WINNER!
    • This flower had a wonderful mix of purple throughout and nice red pistils. The trichomes were super thick on the flower and very easy to spot with the naked eye. I picked up some pine aromas out of the bag and through the vape; it was not very overpowering and provided a really nice vape experience.

Overall I am super happy to have been part of this event. Looking at it from the outside, the event was put together very well and it was a very smooth experience for the judges. My only negative is that we were given only 9 days to sample and judge 20 hemp strains. With life and other things happening it was tough to find time, some days I was sampling like 4 strains a night.

Hopefully NYS doesn’t carry through with its hemp flower ban; it would really be a negative blow to farmers in this craft industry if they were unable to sell their flower. Hemp has shown me cannabis has many different sides and qualities and the flower should be celebrated and cherished!

If you want to watch the entire finale, they have it up on Youtube.

Ode to Franklin

The hemp industry is a vibrant and varied one. While there are some large farms that produce many of the smokable hemp varieties in circulation, smaller farms are also producing hemp that has some unique characteristics. Franklin hemp by Veteran Grown is one of these hemp strains.

Franklin hemp was created purely by accident and will forever go down in hemp lore. With a combination of factors, including abnormal weather, Veteran Grown was able to produce one of the most unique and controversial hemp strains in recent memories. What makes Franklin so special is the high THCa %, legal Delta-9 THC limit, and also a low CBD %; all these combined make Franklin an almost 1:1 strain of THC to CBD.

THCa is the precursor acid to delta-9 THC. THCa will convert to delta-9 when exposed to heat. With this in mind, smoking Franklin will produce some psychoactive effects given the 6% THC content. Now, the original 2018 Farm Bill only had provisions that limited the delta-9 THC content in flower to 0.3%. The oversight on the Fed’s part is that delta-9 THC is not very present on flower and its mostly THCa. They fixed this by issue by implementing a new “Total THC” rule which was defined as D9-THC content plus .87 of the THCa content and that rule goes into effect in November which will make Franklin illegal.

But for now we can legally purchase and enjoy Franklin. Franklin is not the prettiest hemp flower, it is not the best tasting hemp flower, but Franklin does exactly what it is supposed to do. It reminds me of the low-grade cannabis I was able to purchase in high school and even college. It does the job and with all the benefits of ordering off the internet and getting it shipped to my house; my what a time to be alive!

Franklin is the type of hemp that’s good for rolling a couple joints and going on a hike in the woods. You don’t go to outer space but get into a good mood to enjoy the hike. I also find myself using Franklin while relaxing around a fire or just winding down for the day. It pretty much is a good anytime strain to chill or, when consuming in higher quantities, is good for recreational reasons.