Growing up in Hawaiʻi, Davin Carvalho was always drawn to the outdoors. He and his friends would skateboard, surf, and explore Oʻahu’s west side, enjoying the warm sun, breezy tradewinds, and cool waters around Mākaha Beach. As he grew older, he sought new hobbies that would keep him outside, and eventually discovered gardening. Today, Carvalho is known for his cannabonsai trees, which possess a Zen-like aesthetic and offer an enlightened high through the flower that they provide.

Carvalho’s journey as a gardener started early, when he began growing kalo as a kid. Kalo, or taro in Hawaiian, is a root vegetable that is inextricably linked to Hawaiian culture. According to mythology, the kalo plant represents the original ancestor and elder brother of all Hawaiians. For Carvalho, who is indigenous, growing kalo bound him to his familial roots. With around 100 plants in his garden, he could happily spend over an hour watering, fertilizing, and pruning on a daily basis.

For reasons unknown, in late 2020 Carvalho began to experience debilitating panic attacks. After two months of agony and countless emergency room visits, he discovered that gardening was a tool he could use to manage his anxiety. A friend sent him some traditional bonsai videos, which were relaxing and educational at the same time. Before long, Carvalho bought a couple ficus and juniper trees and began to seriously study Chinese and Japanese bonsai as a form of therapy.

During that same period, Carvalho decided to apply for official documentation with Hawaiʻi’s Medical Cannabis Registry, allowing him to grow marijuana for personal use. After realizing that traditional bonsai requires decades of devotion, he decided to adapt bonsai techniques to pakalolo which allowed him to grow beautiful, medicinal plants in a shorter period of time.

Through research on the topic, Carvalho learned that the bonsai “effect” comes as a result of training a plant. In the world of cannabis, training is nothing new. It’s common practice for growers to train plants for a higher yield and denser buds. By gently manipulating branches or tilting the pot the plant is in, Carvalho can create the bonsai effect as a result.

“My objective when I’m training my plants is to make it look like a replica of a full-size tree,” Carvalho said. “I try to think, ‘How many branches do I want? What do I want the canopy shape to look like? Do I want it to be a taller tree, a shorter tree? A bushier tree or a lankier tree?’ I keep all that in mind.”

Although he does not necessarily speak to his plants, Carvalho spends a lot of time in close proximity to them. Doing so promotes the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, with both parties benefiting in the process. By providing for his plants and helping them thrive, he hopes that they will return the favor.

“Gardening itself is a language. I might not speak verbally to them, but there is nonverbal communication with the plants in my garden and myself,” Carvalho said. “It’s a constant sending and receiving of messages in order for us to achieve understanding and reach a common goal, which is for the plants to flower and produce beautiful buds.”

In his most recent run, Carvalho incorporated rose quartz and amethyst, a crystal that is said to promote calmness and relaxation. When preparing for a new harvest, he is intentional about the overall aesthetics the cannabonsai will have, from top to bottom of the plant.

“I’ve done a little bit of research, but I’m definitely no expert. I wanted to make sure that if I was gonna use crystals, I wanted to know which combinations of crystals can go together,” Carvalho said.

When it comes to cultivating a successful cannabonsai tree, genetics play a huge role. To capture the bonsai aesthetic, Carvalho grows indica-leaning strains as they are shorter, bushier, and have tighter internodal spacing than sativa-leaning strains.

After three years of research and experimentation, Carvalho believes that each cannabonsai run has improved from the previous one. As much as gardening is an outlet to relax, it also provides a challenge that keeps him wanting more. No matter how much knowledge and experience he gains while growing, there are inevitably hurdles that humble and teach him along the way.

“If it was as easy as putting a seed in the ground and watering it, it wouldn’t be as fulfilling to me,” Carvalho said. “Anybody could do that. But to really have the commitment, dedication, passion, and drive, that’s what really gets me. I like something that’s not so easy to obtain but is something that if I work hard at it, I can either get it, or get something close to it and have something that I am happy with.”

This article was originally published in the June 2024 issue of High Times Magazine.

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When Abstrax started its recent research project, I doubt anyone could have imagined it would discover a whole new universe beneath our still-evolving knowledge of cannabis compounds. Now, they’ve released research suggesting how we understand how weed tastes or smells might just be the tip of the iceberg. Working with 710 Labs, SepSolve Analytical, and Markes International, the research team opened a portal into a world of rare and unseen flavor and aroma compounds in cannabis.

Founded in California in 2017, the Abstrax team calls themselves pioneers in botanical flavor technology. Its main business is to provide terpene-driven flavor solutions for industries such as cannabis, beverage, and fragrance. By studying the complete chemical makeup of a cultivar, Abstrax goes through a rigorous process to map out, select, analyze, refine, formulate, optimize, test, reformulate, test, and package before offering companies the truest strain-specific flavors they can produce. It does so through its three divisions: tech, which researches and creates terpene blends for various markets; labs, which conducts botanical testing and offers extraction/analytical technologies; and hops, providing research, products, and services to the brewing sector.

Using two-dimensional gas chromatography, a sophisticated separation technique that offers higher resolution than traditional chemical analysis, Abstrax was able to detect pockets of “hidden compounds,” which they believe have a significant impact on odor and can shape the course of how we classify or even shop for weed.

Abstrax researchers published the results of their findings in a white paper posted on their website and in the peer-reviewed journal ACS Omega. The research points out that one of the main driving factors regarding how consumers choose cannabis has to do with THC percentages. The battle over whether something is better because it’s stronger has caused more than a few amazing strains to become lost to time. However, another key factor in what someone purchases is and has always been how something smells. Despite restrictions across many states on cracking open a jar and letting someone take a whiff, this obsession with smell has led to terpenes, or terps, becoming the second most important factor that the study identifies when consumers decide which cannabis to buy. Now, packaging lists the most dominant terpenes on the label and uses them as a guide to tell consumers what they can expect.

Abstrax and the research team see this as a partial response to the modern pushback to the classic indica, sativa, and hybrid classification system we’ve leaned on up to this point. As the cannabis industry develops more modern ways of labeling and portraying the different varieties of cannabis, it’s looking for new terms to replace indica and sativa, and smell has emerged as a dowsing rod as competitions divide strains between candy, citrus, and gas. Much of the marketing focus on educating base-level consumers past sativa and indica has shifted toward trying to describe to shoppers what these aromatic compounds mean concerning the taste, smell, and psychoactive effects of a strain. It makes sense since, as the research points out, they appear in high amounts, making them a seemingly perfect identifier for classification.

Contrastingly, the research asserts that we might be trading one generalization for another in our use of terpenes, pointing to an additional study—“The phytochemical diversity of commercial cannabis in the United States,” published in PLOS One in May 2022—which concluded that in the United States, all cannabis falls into one of three terpene-dominant categories: terpinolene/ß-myrcene, D-(+)-limonene/ß-caryophyllene, or ß-myrcene/pinene.

The authors point out that through this system, strains with very different smells ended up in the same groups together. With its skunky, woody aroma, Dogwalker OG wound up next to Tropicana Cookies and Purple Punch, two cultivars with very contrasting smells. Meaning that you can’t always assume something will smell a certain way due to high percentages of certain terpenes.

“Taken together, these results strongly suggest that while aroma is a key property in differentiating cannabis varieties and user preferences, the importance of terpenes appears to be overstated,” researchers wrote.

The team concluded that terpenes had less of a correlation with the sought-after attributes of a lot of “exotic” cannabis strains and that it must be these alternate classes of compounds at work.

The study identified a wide variety of aroma classes, each with diverse functionality, that are responsible for some of the most desirable aromatic qualities found in modern cannabis. Two such classes include tropical volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs), which are responsible for the citrus notes in Tropicana Cookies or Tangie, and heterocyclic compounds like indole and skatole, which produce the rich, intense scent in strains like GMO. They also identified a class of chemicals called flavorants that includes alcohols, ketones, and esters, that go beyond terpenes in affecting the smells and tastes of cannabis. Though found in small amounts, they believe these compounds play a major role by combining to create many of the diverse tastes in modern “exotic” strains like Apple Fritter or Zkittlez.

“The discovery of these compounds will play a crucial role in validating cannabis’s authenticity and accurately classifying cannabis varieties in the future,” says Max Koby, CEO and co-founder of Abstrax.

Koby also said that utilizing these previously undiscovered cannabis compounds would allow Abstrax to create “the most flavorful and authentic cannabis flavors,” which will elevate the level of the terpene blends and isolate it sells, but also benefit everyone in the space. Consumers can finally have a better toolkit to identify what flavors and feelings they enjoy most. Cultivators, breeders, and brands could someday use this knowledge to better understand which plant components drive these sweet fruit flavors versus the savory ones.

“This research helps us better understand flavor in the cannabis experience, allowing us to better educate our customers and select phenos for our genetic library,” says research co-author Brad Melshenker, co-CEO of 710 Labs.

One of the more exciting benefits that Abstrax identified for this research was its ability to provide a jumping-off point for researchers and packagers to discover the best way of preserving these specific compounds and provide cannabis with a better shelf life.

With additional research planned, Abstrax has announced a partnership to create educational content that helps tell the story of the revelations brought about by its discoveries. Somebody reach out to Paul Rudd. Just like Antman explored and expanded upon the understanding of the microscopic quantum realm the technology employed here shows us there’s so much more happening inside the plant than we’ve ever imagined.

Abstrax believes “we stand at the dawn of a new era in cannabis understanding” and that the microcosm of additional compounds inside these plants is part of a secret roadmap researchers are just now learning to draw. This new research will allow us to look for and provide solutions to many of the problems that have arisen from the swift evolution of cannabis from evil weed to essential service. Maybe someday, in a galaxy far, far, away, an android will extend a glass jar to smell the nugs instead of watching an image spin on a budtender’s holopad.

This article was originally published in the February 2024 issue of High Times Magazine.

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Oklahomans, get ready to prepare your body, mind, and soul to take part in the High Times Cannabis Cup! We’re thrilled to highlight some of Oklahoma’s best products that have proven to be reliable and potent medicine for patients across the state. We’re not hiring cannasseurs to do the job though—that responsibility is reserved for judges everywhere to determine. We’ve included a variety of information for competitors and judges to know about what to expect for this year’s cup.

COMPETITORS

If you are a licensed business owner interested in participating, the timeframe for submissions is coming up this summer between July 8-10. It only costs $1 (non-refundable) to reserve your spot as a competitor! But keep in mind that there is a $250 per cancellation if you later decide not to participate. Also, requirements vary from product, so please keep this in mind when preparing to submit:

Entry Requirements:

1. Indica, Sativa, Hybrid Flower: (300) 1g samples
2. Pre-Rolls: (300) 2g max each
3. Concentrates & Vapes: (300) .5g samples
4. Non-Solvent Concentrates: (300) .5g samples
5. Edibles: (200) samples
6. Topicals+Tinctures+Capsules: (300) samples

JUDGES

Judges, mark your calendars for July 19, which is the first day that cup kits will go on sale with our intake partner and retail partners, all of which will be announced soon. The judging portal will be open between July 19-October 11, leaving plenty of time for judges to meticulously review each product in their kit. Brands receive a report of all judges scores and comments after the awards have concluded, so your voice as a judge is immensely important.

Check out the following entry categories to see what exciting products you’ll be able to choose from.

Entry Categories:

1. Indica Flower
2. Sativa Flower
3. Hybrid Flower
4. Pre-Rolls
5. Infused Pre-Rolls
6. Sativa Concentrates
7. Indica Concentrates
8. Non-Solvent Concentrates
9. Sativa Vape Pens
10. Indica Vape Pens
11. Edibles: Gummies
12. Edibles: Non-Gummies
13. Topicals + Tinctures + Capsules
14. Hemp-Derived CBD

THE AWARDS

Once all is said and done, it’s time to get pumped for a digital awards show on Facebook on October 20 (all dates are subject to change). This conclusion to another year celebrating Oklahoman cannabis is the best way to hear about each and every brand and product that participated.

MAKING CUP HISTORY

Oklahoma legalized medical cannabis in June 2018 when voters approved of State Question 788. Since then many changes have been made to the cannabis industry, including an ongoing moratorium on new licenses until at least 2026. For this reason, it’s more important than ever to support our local licensed and operating cannabis businesses.

Times change, but there’s always going to be top shelf cannabis products worth trying out. Our first introduction of the High Times Cannabis Cup in Oklahoma was in 2019 and featured 16 categories. Back then, strains such as Forbidden Fruit, Tropicana Cookies, and Gelato Cake were all the rage, with concentrate winners made from Grape Ape, Oklahoma Mimosa, Fruity Pebbles, and Purple Punch.

After the pandemic, we began to harness the power of the people to judge their own products with our first High Times Cannabis Cup Oklahoma: People’s Choice Edition 2020. Winning strains included Garlic Breath, Biscotti, Lilac Diesel, with equally prominent Garlic Breath wins in concentrates as well, among many other great products.

The High Times Cannabis Cup Oklahoma: People’s Choice Edition 2021 followed up with another great year, and strain wins from the popular Wedding Crasher, Gelato, Sunset Runtz, Mimosa, Strawberry Banana, and concentrates dominated through Amnesia Haze diamonds, Peanut Butter Breath live resin, SK Smash live rosin batter, and so much more.

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We’re announcing the return of the highly-anticipated High Times Cannabis Cup Michigan 2024! 

It’s the fifth year we’ve set up a competition in Michigan—one of our most enthusiastic event markets—and the most recent rundown of winners showcases Michigan’s finest products. With a massive 20-category breakdown this year, we’re proud to display the winners of a variety of categories, as determined by our Michigan judges.

Anybody can be a Judge and you don’t need to be an esteemed member of the cannabis community—just have the passion and grit needed to determine the next year’s winners. Act fast, as product submissions will be taken May 27 through June 7 in the Detroit area. Judge Kits go on sale June 22.

Judges will analyze products in their Judge Kits and a backpack full of potent submissions, using a variety of criteria. For the categories involving flower, pre-rolls, vape pens, and concentrates, judges will take note of a product’s aesthetics, aroma/scent, taste/flavor profile, burnability, effects/effectiveness, and terpene profile. Edibles have a slightly different list of considerations, including packaging and labeling. For categories like Sublinguals, Capsules, Tinctures + Topicals, judges will rank them based on ease of use as well. They’ll have about three months to narrow down their choices. Saturday, August 24 is the judging deadline for Cannabis Cup Judges.

On Sunday, September 15, the winners will be announced! The entry categories include the following:

1. Rec Indica Flower (4 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
2. Rec Sativa Flower (4 entries max per company)  (state-licensed adult-use)
3. Rec Hybrid Flower (4 entries max per company)  (state-licensed adult-use)
4. Rec Pre-Rolls (3 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
5. Rec Infused Pre-Rolls (2 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
6. Rec Solvent Concentrates (2 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
7. Rec Non-Solvent Concentrates (2 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
8. Rec Distillate Vape Pens & Cartridges (2 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
9. Rec Non-Distillate Vape Pens & Cartridges (2 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
10. Rec Edibles: Solvent Gummies (3 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
11. Rec Edibles: Non-Solvent Gummies (3 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
12. Rec Edibles: Non-Gummies (3 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
13. Rec Sublinguals, Capsules, Tinctures + Topicals (3 Entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
14. MEDICAL Indica Flower (4 Entries max per company) (State-Licensed Medical-Facility)
15. MEDICAL Sativa Flower (4 Entries max per company) (State-Licensed Medical-Facility)
16. MEDICAL Hybrid Flower (4 Entries max per company) (State-Licensed Medical-Facility)
17. MEDICAL Pre-Rolls (4 Entries max per company) (State-Licensed Medical-Facility)
18. MEDICAL Concentrates (4 Entries max per company) (State-Licensed Medical-Facility)
19. MEDICAL Infused Pre-Rolls (4 Entries max per company) (State-Licensed Medical-Facility)
20. MEDICAL Edibles (3 Entries max per company) (State-Licensed Medical-Facility)

Entry Requirements

One entry requires a $250, non-refundable fee, while two entries require a non-refundable fee of $100 per entry. Three or more entries requires a $100 refundable deposit per entry held, refunded when all entries are successfully submitted. Entry fees are waived for sponsorships. As medical patients are allowed to have higher amounts of certain forms of cannabis in Michigan, entry requirements vary for adult-use and medical products as follows:

Recreational:

• Flower: (228) 1-gram units. We will not accept any 3.5-gram entries.
• Pre-Rolls & Infused Pre-Rolls: (228) units: Pre-Rolls will be capped at 2-gram flower-only each;
• Infused Pre-Rolls will be capped at 3-gram flower-equivalency or 1-gram concentrate-equivalency each by METRC equations.
• Concentrates & Vape Pens: (228) .5-gram units. We will not accept any 1-gram entries. Batteries are required for Carts.
• Edibles: (100) units with 100mg THC max.
• Sublinguals, Capsules, Tinctures + Topicals:  (60) units with 500mg THC max

Medical:

• Flower: (228) 1-gram units. We will not accept any 3.5-gram entries.
• Pre-Rolls & Infused Pre-Rolls: (100) units: Pre-Rolls will be capped at 2-gram flower-only each;
• Infused Pre-Rolls will be capped at 5-gram flower-equivalency or 5-gram concentrate-equivalency each by METRC equations.
• Concentrates & Vape Pens: (100) .5-gram units. We will not accept any 1-gram entries. Batteries are required for Carts.
• Edibles: (100) units with 200mg THC max.

Looking Back at Events in Michigan

Let’s take a look back at a few past highlights in the Midwest. Michigan has hosted many Cannabis Cups with notable faces over the years, and we have some signature years underneath our belts. 2018’s High Times Cannabis Cup Michigan festivities, for instance, were headlined by Lil Wayne, Waka Flocka Flame, Vic Mensa, Machine Gun Kelly, Yo Gotti, and more. 

The 2019 Michigan Cannabis Cup showcased amazing submissions of strains like Critical Mass by Mrs. Berry Kush or Tropicana Cookies by COCO Extracts.

Last year, at the High Times Cannabis Cup Michigan 2023, winners received the coveted High Times Cannabis Cup trophy, a longtime symbol of quality in the cannabis community. It was designed by Alex and Allyson Grey, made from zinc and 24k gold plating.

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Sours, OGs, Tangies, sativas, Cheeses, and Purps—oh my.

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History is being rewritten, as we speak, in the Land of Enchantment and now that the results are in, we’re announcing the winners of  the High Times Cannabis Cup New Mexico: People’s Choice Edition 2023 representing the best cannabis the state has to offer. And while the pandemic reshaped the way we think about in-person events, we’re back and stronger than ever. In fact, it’s our first live event in three years.

This year, the High Times Cannabis Cup New Mexico: People’s Choice Edition 2023 aired live and we also had a top-notch live event with a slew of iconic performers. High Times teamed up with New Mexico’s own Fusion Promotions and 101.3 The Hustle to present the Cannabis Cup’s live concert event.

The Awards Show aired live and in-person at the event which took place at the Rio Rancho Events Center in Rio Rancho, near Albuquerque on Saturday, Dec. 9. The Rio Rancho Events Center is an 6,000-seat multi-purpose arena and Saturday will be filled with the best herb and products in New Mexico.

This year featured 11 categories for a total of 33 products narrowed down as first, second, or third place winners for 2023. Many enter the competition, but few are chosen. Each of these winners received an exclusive High Times trophy. Among these top winners you’ll find champs like The Grower Circle, hvst, Seed Junky, Prohibition 37, Mountaintop Extracts, and many more fine brands that deserve to be mentioned. 

Headlining the event was the iconic stoner duo Method Man and Redman, responsible for some of the best hip-hop to come from Def Jam, who were joined by Paul Wall, Devin the Dude, Lil Flip, Haizi Haze, Jawny Badluck, DJ Aldo Caldo and other special guests.

The event kicked off with the High Times New Mexico Cannabis Cup Award Show, where brands were presented with their wins. But with all this fine herb, the munchies are bound to kick in. That’s why we had Q Bone, Snoop Dogg’s own personal chef whip up some of Snoop’s best munchie recipes.

We also had Mr. Melty Land, an immersive experience put together by Mr. Melty, Stashbox and Disopopages. You could also find a Joint Rolling Competition by Head Space Alchemy and Crescent Valley Management where guests competed for the title of “Best Joint Roller.” On top of that, we had live glass blowing demonstrations, and tons of vendors with the new-new products you need.

Individuals who are 21 and over, or 18 and over with a medical cannabis card were eligible to snag a judging kit. Over 2,000 ordinary cannabis lovers sampled and rated the best cannabis products in the state with more than 185 entries competing for the wins. The highly-coveted Judge Kits included locally-grown products including flower, gummies, pre-rolls, and concentrates from dispensaries across New Mexico. Below are the winners of first, second, and third places across 11 categories.

Indica Flower

First Place: The Grower Circle – Homage

Second Place: hvst – Chocolate Grapes #4

Third Place: Enchanted Botanicals – Donny Burger

Sativa Flower

First Place: The Grower Circle – Trop Cherries

Second Place: Prohibition 37 – Tropical Runtz

Third Place: Seed Junky – Pineapple Fruz

Hybrid Flower

First Place: hvst – El Chivo #11

Second Place: Seed Junky – Purple Push Pop

Third Place: The Grower Circle – Oreo Cake

Non-Infused Pre-Rolls

First Place: The Grower Circle – Trop Cherries Pre-Roll

Second Place: Prohibition 37 – Red Runtz 51 Pre-Roll

Third Place: HoneyHole Cannabis Co. x Impact Farms – Lemon Hashplant Pre-Roll

Infused Pre-Rolls

First Place: Head Space x hvst – Purple Octane x Kush Mintz Hash Hole

Second Place: Mountaintop Extracts – Nuclear Sunset Infused Pre-Roll

Third Place: TWAX by The Clear – Lemon Haze Mini Infused Pre-Rolls

Solvent Concentrates

First Place: Herbal Edibles & Extracts – Orange Flambe Sauce & Diamonds

Second Place: Pharmers – Orange Soda Live Diamonds

Third Place: Mountaintop Extracts – Concord Clementine Caviar

Non-Solvent Concentrates

First Place: Sandia Botanicals – Olio Slurricane Solventless Rosin Cold Cure

Second Place: Nero – Golden Crisps Live Hash Rosin Cold Cure Badder

Third Place: Frozin – Grape Galette Fresh Frozen Rosin

Vape Pens

First Place: Elevated – Watermelon OG Cartridge

Second Place: O.Pen – Daily Strains Strawberry Cheesecake Vape

Third Place: Bloom – Classic Pineapple Express Disposable

Edibles: Gummies & Fruit Chews

First Place: Flight Bites – Sunset Punch Hash Rosin Gummies

Second Place: Derived – Sandia 1:1 Gummies

Third Place: Elevated – Strawberry Gummies

Edibles: Non-Gummies & Chocolates

First Place: Toasted – Honey I’m Stoned Infused Honey

Second Place: Elevated – Fruity Cereal Snack Bar

Third Place: Bhang – Ice Milk Chocolate Bar

Edibles: Topicals, Tinctures, Capsules, Sublinguals

First Place: Mountaintop Extracts – Wonder Bear Salve

Second Place: Dos Gringos Cannabis – Pain Relief Salve

Third Place: Synergy Extracts – Soothing Salve

A special thank you to our partners and sponsors!

Presented by: Elevated

Gold Sponsor: Enchanted Botanicals Cannabis

Gold Sponsor: Stash Box

Silver Sponsor: Fioré

General Sponsor: Bloom

General Sponsor: Dispopages

General Sponsor: Blown Glass Goods

Partner: The Hu$tle 101.3

Partner: Fusion Promotions

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The Prairie State is known for so much more than just vast stretches of grassland. Now four years after we launched the first Illinois: People’s Choice Edition, we’ve seen a wide variety of cannabis products and brands take home a coveted High Times trophy. But this year in particular, Illinois cannabis brands have given it everything they’ve got.

We announced the launch of this year’s Illinois: People’s Choice Edition 2023 earlier this summer, and gathered up some of the state’s finest products spanning 15 different categories, both adult-use and medical. But we previously held the hugely successful Illinois: People’s Choice Edition in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Here’s a glimpse of the trending strains and other products that won over our resident judges back then.

Even though the world was still waist-deep in the pandemic at the time, Illinois cannabis brands came through with shining colors. At the Illinois: People’s Choice Edition 2020, the fourth People’s Choice Edition competition to launch following the 2020 Hemp Cup, Oklahoma, and Colorado, with only seven categories. Back then, Revolution Cannabis brought home trophies with Florida Orange, Gorilla’d Cheese, and Turbo Lemon Cake, while we also saw wins from Bedford Grow with Grape Sugar Cookies, Velvet Glove with Columbia Care, Jenny Kush with Aeriz, Private Stock Mag Landrace with Verano, and Red Line Haze with Cresco, in addition to many other worthwhile wins from other product categories.

In 2021 the category list increased up to eight, and Revolution Cannabis took home numerous trophies for strains such as Blueberry Clementine, Mac & Cheese (Spicy Papaya Cut), Banana Runtz, along with Seed & Strain’s Velvet Glove, Aeriz’s Ice Cream Cake and Jenny Kush, Cresco’s Lemon Bean, and Triple 7’s Tropical Runtz and Rainbow Runtz.

That same year, NuEra, Seed & Strain, and Aeriz won in the pre-rolls category. In concentrates, Revolution Cannabis’s Blueberry Clementine Live Resin, Bedford Grow’s Highwayman Live Resin, and Aeriz’s Bundy OG Budder took home a win. Not to mention in edibles, Illinoisans rated edibles from Bedford Grow, Sweet Releaf, Revolution Cannabis, and Bhang, too.

In 2022 our category list increased again, this time to eleven. Brands such as RYTHM entered the game strong with Brownie Scout (and Orange Herijuana in the medical flower category), Fig Farms brought its famous Figment strain, along with UPNORTH’s Durban Poison, Floracal’s Vanilla Cake, and Verano Reserve’s Guru 0 for medical flower. But the previous year’s winning brands also came in with Bedford Grow’s I-95 and Revolution Cannabis’s Peach Crescendo, Miami Punch, and Gorilla’d Cheese (as well as Buttermilk Biscuits in the medical flower category). Revolution Cannabis, RYTHM, and Floracal were also chosen as the winning concentrates and extracts as well.

This time capsule of winners from the past three years shows the evolution of popular brands in Illinois, as you’ll see below. Exceptional cannabis is still being cultivated by Revolution Cannabis, RHYTHM, Aeriz, Verano, Fig Farms, and so much more, but you’ll also find a handful of new brands that joined the competition this year. So without further ado, here is the official list of Illinois: People’s Choice Edition 2023 winners.

In the meantime, the High Times Cannabis Cup: People’s Choice Edition continues to gain speed, so keep an eye out for winners in other regions such as Oregon in December, Massachusetts in January 2024, followed by Arizona in February 2024.

Indica Flower

First Place: nuEra – Cobra Milk

Second Place: RYTHM – Animal Face

Third Place: Revolution – Purple Monarch

Sativa Flower

First place: RYTHM – Jack Herer

Second Place: Revolution – Raspberry Shortcake

Third Place: Seed & Strain – White Grapefruit Cookies

Hybrid Flower

First Place: RYTHM – Slapz

Second Place: Revolution – Crockett’s Dawg

Third Place: Verano Reserve – Yum Yum Reserve Flower

Non-Infused Pre-Rolls

First Place: Revolution – Blueberry Clementine

Second Place: Paul Bunyan – Macnanna

Third Place: Dogwalkers – Mini Dogs – Animal Face

Infused Pre-Rolls

First Place: Moon Walkers – Coffee Creamer Solventless Live Rosin Moon Walkers

Second Place: Revolution – Future Kush Rocket

Third Place: Bedford Grow – Diamond-Infused Pre-Roll – Hot Mint Sundae

Solvent Concentrates

First Place: aeriz – Florida Oranges

Second Place: Superflux – Live Resin Strawberry Bubbles Budder

Third Place: RYTHM – Live Resin – Super Silver Cookies

Non-Solvent Concentrates

First Place: Fig Farms – Blue Face

Second Place: RYTHM – Rosin – Sunset Sherbet

Third Place: Revolution – Moon Boots

Vape Pens & Carts

First Place: Revolution – Florida Orange Live Rosin

Second Place: Superflux – Strawberry Bubbles Live Resin

Third Place: On the Rocks – Fresh Powder Live Rosin Cartridge

Edibles: Gummies

First Place: Goody Bag – Pink Lemonade

Second Place: nuEra – Pink Lemonade Live Resin Gummy

Third Place: Hedy – Sour Cherry Lime Gummies

Edibles: Chocolates & Non-Gummies

First Place: Incredibles – Peanut Budda Buddha Bar

Second Place: KIVA – Churro Bar

Third Place: Mindy’s – Caramelized Chocolate Marshmallow Graham

Edibles: Beverages

First Place: Señorita – Mango

Second Place: CQ – Cola

Third Place: Artet – Mango Ginger Spritz

Topicals, Tinctures, & Capsules

First Place: Doctor Solomon’s – Restore Transdermal Lotion

Second Place: Avexia – Pain Relief Balm 1:1 CBD:THC

Third Place: Remedi – Rest 1:5 Capsules

Medical Flower

First Place: Revolution – Blueberry Clementine

Second Place: RYTHM – Black Afghan

Third Place: Verano Essence – Strawberry Guava Essence

Medical Vape Pens

First Place: Revolution – Blueberry Clementine Live Rosin Cart

Second Place: Beboe – Inspired Vape Pen

Third Place: Verano Reserve – Coconut Cream Pie Reserve Live Resin Cart

Medical Edibles

First Place: Nature’s Grace and Wellness – French Toast White Chocolate Crunch Bar 1:1:1 THC:CBD:CBG

Second Place: Bedford Grow – Sea Salt Caramels

Third Place: On the Rocks – Sour Apricot Apple – Cherry Punch Live Rosin Gummies

A special thank you to our partners and sponsors!

Official Intake Partners:

• Rise Dispensary
• nuEra
• Zen Leaf
• Beyond Hello
• Lux Leaf
• Star Buds

Bronze Sponsor: Kaviar

General Sponsor: Legacy

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With home grow on the rise and a growing understanding of cannabis genetics, the cannabis seed market is undergoing its glory days. Allied Market Research provides a report showing the growth backed by data gathered by its team of analysts, who focus on multiple markets.

The global cannabis seed market size was valued at $1.3 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $6.5 billion by 2031, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.4% from 2022 to 2031, according to a new report published by Allied Market Research titled, “Cannabis Seeds Market.”

“The cannabis seeds market faced a period of short-term negative growth due to COVID-19 pandemic,” Allied Market Research representatives wrote. “Factors such as a decline in the product demand from major end-users, limited operations in most of the industries, inadequate funding to research and academic institutes, and disrupted supply chain has restricted the overall growth of the market during [the] pandemic period. However, [the] market is now slowly recovering from the negative impact and is expected to capture the growth momentum post 2022.

The Cannabaceae family of flowering plants includes the genus Cannabis, traditionally broken down to Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis, though some have dropped the sativa/indica terminology.

The cannabis seed market is divided into three categories: feminized, regular, and autoflowering seeds. The regular seeds segment dominates in terms of market size. 

The feminized seeds segment is also making an impact, growing at a moderate rate during the forecast period. Wild seeds grow at a 50/50 male-female rate. But feminized seeds are genetically modified using a handful of methods, designed to become only female plants. This has several advantages for growers, but the main one is that pollinating male plants won’t be able to devastate a crop and turn flower to seed. This helps facilitate growth and save a great deal of time and help farmers produce plants with clones.  

Autoflowering seeds contain ruderalis genetics crossed with potent strains to induce flowering regardless of light cycles, when normally plants do not flower until they receive a 12/12-hour lighting regime.

These tactics help growers tailor plants to their needs based on several outside factors.

In the report, distribution channels were classified as specialty stores, wholesalers and distributors, and online sales channels. Regional markets were analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA (Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.)

Wholesalers and distributors make up the lion’s share of distribution channel size. The specialty stores segment, however, exhibits the fastest-growing distribution channel. These are the stores that provide expert guidance and detailed product specifications.

Cannabis Seed Benefits

Beyond growing, the seed market also includes the supplement market.

The seeds are great sources of protein, fiber, and healthy fatty acids including omega-3s and omega-6s. They also have significant levels of gamma-linolenic acid and arginine—compounds that help treat chronic pain, lower the risk of heart disease, and help control neurological and other problems. 

They also contain calcium, potassium, vitamin E, sulphur, phosphorus, magnesium, and zinc. Those who can’t consume nuts, gluten, lactose, or sugar, however, can eat them because they are high in vitamin E, Allied Market Research adds. The market for cannabis seeds is expanding as a result of the increasing cannabis seed market demand in both the medical and recreational markets.

Cannabis seeds also have been marketed to promote digestion, weight loss, and several other benefits, some of which have yet to be proven. As time rolls on, data will provide more insight into proven benefits.

To learn more about the cannabis seed market, read the full report here.

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After an almost three-year hiatus, acclaimed psych rock band moe. is back on the road and ready to rock.

The band is currently touring the United States through the end of the year and is absolutely stoked. “People are showing up, everybody’s psyched to see Chuck [Garvey] back and everybody’s psyched that we’re playing again,” said percussionist Jim Loughlin. “It’s been fantastic.”

When we connect by phone with Jim and moe.’s longtime drummer, Vinnie Amico, the guys are feeling revitalized and excited to reconnect with their fanbase. Among other topics discussed was the potential for new music being created sometime next year.

Over the course of our conversation, Jim and Vinnie share stories of their early days in music, finding success with moe., changes in what it means to be a touring artist today, and how weed impacts their creativity and paranoia on various different levels.

High Times: What were your first exposures to music and how did you each find it?

Vinnie Amico: It’s weird, I always knew I wanted to play but I went to college for something completely different and was planning to get a “real” job and all that, but all I ever worked on was playing drums [laughs]. Music was secondarily the first thing I was ever going to do.

Jim Loughlin: Ever since I was a little kid, I was always fascinated with music. I would listen to it constantly and in seventh grade started playing. By the time I was a freshman in high school I knew that I was going to go to school for music and it’s what I always wanted to do. I didn’t know what kind of music or if I was going to be in a band, or how it was going to work out, but I knew that path was what it was going to be in some way.

Vinnie Amico: Seventh grade is also around the time you get into the Van Halen records and all of this other music, you find your guitar player buddy, you set up in the garage and then you start working out all of that music. Basically when you’re twelve, all of that starts to happen and you really get “bit by the bug” right around then. Some people don’t go forward out of high school, while others take off. That’s when you kind of know.

High Times: So high school was the gear shift when you realized music was what you wanted to pursue full time.

Vinnie Amico: For me, I was just playing all of the time. Next thing you know, you go to college, and I’m playing gigs all the time there. It was just something I did, not something I was really pursuing professionally other than I was getting paid for it already.

I got out of school and got a job, but was playing more gigs than spending time trying to get better at my job. Eventually, everything just switched to where the job didn’t mean anything anymore. It became all about the music.

Jim Loughlin: We had a garage band in seventh grade that played together until ninth or tenth grade, and then in high school, I played in a bunch of different garage bands and then started seriously studying music. In eleventh grade, I went to a conservatory program, so I’d spend my mornings at a different school studying music, and then would come back to my regular high school and take of my English and social studies requirements.

When I got to Buffalo, New York and met the guys in moe.—I was a bass player at the time—but got a drumming gig with them because I played both. At that point, it went down the path of “Okay, you’re going to be in a band,” and it’s going to be all about live music.

High Times: Was there an initial moment or experience that reaffirmed for you that choosing music was the right decision?

Vinnie Amico: I had become a working drummer in Buffalo before getting the moe. gig. The validation came once moe. was touring and I got to play at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), which was the concert venue that I grew up seeing concerts at. When I played on that stage I was like, “This is it, I’ve made it. This is my career.” 

It was like, holy shit, the dream came true. When you’re sixteen and you’re high and watching a concert at SPAC, the big dream is to be up on that stage. To then be on the stage was the affirming moment for me.

Jim Loughlin: When I first started playing with moe., we were playing a lot of local Buffalo gigs and stuff. We then started branching out, making a couple of two-hour drives and doing weekends.

When we moved to Albany, New York, we decided “this is it,” quit our day jobs and moved into a house together. Our first two-week tour down South—we all piled in the van with the gear, did the whole driving thing, sleeping on floors—that was our first actual tour. It didn’t matter how many people showed up, it was just amazing that people in North Carolina and South Carolina showed up to see this band from Buffalo play. The tour was so much and was such a great time that it definitely solidified the thought, “I can do this for the rest of my life.”

Vinnie Amico: That was all pre-Internet. 

Jim Loughlin: No one knew who we were, and at the end of each show, we’d break down our gear and meet the five or six people who stuck around. They’d be like, “Hey, great show, need a place to crash?” They’d sign up on our mailing list, ask for a CD, all that stuff. It was so impactful because it was so far away from what we considered home.

It wasn’t like up in the Northeast, we were playing in front of 5,000 people already, we were still only doing a couple hundred people per show. To be able to go down South and know that a little bit of word had already spread and people were showing up was mind-blowing back then. And this was ‘92 or ‘93. It was a different time.

High Times: Is what went into preparing for your live shows then different from what a band needs to do today?

Jim Loughlin: It’s completely different. I don’t know what would have changed for us necessarily. Back then, you couldn’t record a record in your bedroom. You had to go somewhere where someone had a tape machine and had all the gear. It was so difficult to put out your own album. When we put out Headseed, we carried physical copies of the CD for years. It wasn’t just, “Here’s a link to our new album.”

Back then, what started for us was “tape trading.” People would trade Grateful Dead shows and Phish shows because those were two big bands in our scene who allowed taping at their concerts. When there was room at the end of one of those tapes—like a Phish show would take up X-amount of tape and there’d be 10 minutes at the end of dead space—someone would put a moe. song on it. You’d then trade a tape with a Phish fan and you’d get a Phish show, and then at the end, you’d hear a band you never heard before and now you’re like, “Oh, I like that song.”

You had to really dig back then. The fans had to do a ton of work, bands had to do a ton of work. If we knew somebody in a town that we were going to, we’d mail them a bunch of fliers. Back then, you’d pray that the club that you were going to would hang up fliers around town, too. Nothing was guaranteed.

Bands today have so much control over what they do, what’s going to happen and where their careers are going to go. Whereas, I feel like we had a lot less control back then. A lot of dice were rolled compared to now. You can make a post now on social media and then dig into the analytics and know in which city you’re getting a lot of hits. We were just flying in the dark, man.

It’s also a double-edged sword because these bands today do put in a different kind of work and a different kind of stress for them. When you post something and hope that it catches—that stuff wasn’t hanging over our heads back then, it was just playing in the band and seeing what happened.

Vinnie Amico: The hard part today is that there are so many bands out there and there’s so much content and the kids’ attention spans are a lot less. We were only competing with so many bands and so many markets and now there’s a gazillion bands and people’s attention spans are like two seconds, so if you’re not constantly putting out new content to keep somebody interested, you’re almost irrelevant.

High Times: Back then, the music had to drive the ship. Whereas today, maybe social media posts can lead to virality, which can then lead to someone to the music. There are more avenues today for people to find you other than coming to a live show or being at the end of a tape.

Jim Loughlin: There’s a band from Long Island, New York called Adam and the Metal Hawks, and they basically started on TikTok.

The singer has an amazing voice, they started this huge TikTok campaign, got huge on TikTok and got people like Jack Black to respond to a bunch of their videos. This was all really before they went out on tour or released a record. They built up a fanbase before ever doing a tour. Back in the day, you had to tour for years before your name got out. It’s definitely a different world. The other side of that though is you can fail now before you even get out the door.

Vinnie Amico: And can easily make a ton of money on that platform. If they had a million views on TikTok, then advertisers are going to pay them money—sometimes before they ever go out on the road.

Jim Loughlin: Growing up in the ’80s, you’d always hear the story of “demos.” You’d go and see a band that you really liked, and hopefully, you’d be able to get your demo into one of the guys’ hands and they could listen to it. And then the next thing you know, you’re living in Los Angeles and recording out there. Back then it was about getting your demo into someone’s hands, they decide to record your band, you make a record, and then that record sells a ton, and then you go out on the road to support the record.

Vinnie Amico: And you’d make an MTV music video.

Jim Loughlin: When moe. first started, the mentality was just play as much as possible. Play anywhere. If you play at some fucking parade on the side of the road, that’s a gig. Take the gig. We took everything, it didn’t matter.

It’s really interesting to see the Generation X guys who started thinking about music in the ’80s and then started playing in the ’90s and are still playing now. The landscape has changed so many times, it’s incredible.

For us, the bottom line has always been our live show. It’s been our bread and butter and it’s how we know how we’re doing—when we’re standing on stage looking out into the crowd. That’s always been our gauge for how things are going.

Vinnie Amico: It teaches you to be a good band to play every night in front of people. You’ll have shitty nights and you’ll have great nights, but that changes as you get better—you’ll only have one shitty night every once in a while, but most of the nights are good.

If you’re practicing in your garage and making videos and stuff and then you get in front of people and you can’t play, that’s a big freaking difference. Playing live and being a band night after night after night—it definitely trains you and teaches you to be good and to be out there hustling.

High Times: Creatively, where do you draw a lot of your inspiration from?

Jim Loughlin: Honestly, I draw from everything. I can find something interesting in just about any music that’s been released—from pop music to Indian music, everything across the board.

High Times: And how is cannabis part of that process?

Jim Loughlin: When I was younger, I smoked a lot of weed and all my friends did, too. That’s what we did. We sat in my room and got high and listened to music. When new albums would come out, we’d pass around the record cover so everybody could look at the liner notes and all of that stuff.

Looking at it from an outside perspective, it was just a bunch of kids getting high listening to music. But inside of it, it was an experience for us every single time and it made those moments a little bit more important and definitely a lot more fun to remember.

There’s definitely an element of loosening up the brain as it were, and just being able to accept this new thing and get so into it. When you’re a little high, music hits you differently sometimes—especially back when we were younger, and getting high was a new thing. Now when I smoke, it’s just to relax and make sure I can sleep through the night. Though when I’m writing songs and recording at home, I’ll take a couple hits—cause that’s all you need these days—and things just kind of flow a little bit better.

Vinnie Amico: In my case, getting high and listening to things over and over again is how I learned a lot when I was younger. I sit there stoned in my room and would listen to records with my headphones over and over and learn a lot of stuff.

When I became a working musician, I don’t remember ever getting on stage without being high. I always smoked pot before I played. It definitely loosened you up and also freed your mind so that you weren’t so uptight when you played and weren’t so hyperfocused on screwing up.

That being said, now in my 50s, I smoke a lot less, and more into the hobby of growing weed at this point and giving it all away. It’s still a big part of the creative aspect of life, now it’s just more in the “see what you create with the plant itself.”

High Times: Are you guys more Sativa or Indica guys?

Jim Loughlin: I’m Indica. I can’t smoke Sativa anymore. That’s the one that makes me paranoid and schizy and looking over my shoulder and stuff. I’d rather be mellow and “in the couch” as it were. I don’t know why, but Sativa just hits me wrong now. It still gives me that eighth-grade feeling of, “Everybody’s looking at you, man.”

Vinnie Amico: I would agree with Jim, though for me it’s just a matter of how much I smoke or if I take that gigantic hit and start coughing all over the place. If that happens, I know I need to hide from other people because I’m not going to be able to deal with much.

At night, Indica works much better for sure because you know you’re going to be able to sleep versus sitting in your bed thinking about what you said to some girl in eighth-grade that you’re still thinking about.

As part of my grow this summer, I had a Sativa and an Indica and the Sativa isn’t paranoid or freaky, it’s actually a nice clean high—and same with the Indica. It’s very middle of the spectrum.

Jim Loughlin: I can vouch for Vin’s Inica [laughs].

High Times: In terms of touring and recording, any plans for new music?

Jim Loughlin: First of all, the tour we’re on now is the first tour we’ve been on in close to three years. We have Chuck [Garvey] back, which is huge for us. Playing without him was good, it was just weird. I kept having these ghost feelings like I’d lost a limb but I could still feel it.

Now, playing again and playing a lot—the shows have been really good. People are showing up, everybody’s psyched to see Chuck back and everybody’s psyched that we’re playing again. It’s been fantastic.

We also now have Nate [Wilson], which is a whole new flavor for the band. After doing this for thirty years and having something new—almost a new direction and a new breath coming into the band, it’s been really cool. I’m really looking forward to where everything is going to go and how it’s all going to turn out.

Vinnie Amico: This next year is fully packed with shows, rehearsals and getting the band back in its groove and its feet, so next year, we’re planning on writing and recording new music.

Having Chuck back is amazing and the band feels whole again. Nate also adds another aspect of improvisation, so our ears have a new fresh sound we can jump onto and collaborate with. We’re having a great time.

Follow @moetheband and check out https://moe.org for tickets and tour dates.

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With new Zkittlez, Blue Face, Raw Garden gummies and more.

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