Setting up a local Cannabis Cup!

Im bouncing around the idea of hosting a local Cannabis Cup here in San Diego on 4/19 and I was hoping I could get some input on my ideas from the RIU community! Ideally the cup would have about 10 strains, 30 judges, and a few sponsors resulting in a event with under 50 people. The overall goal of the gathering would be to showcase the best medical marijuana in San Diego and celebrate cannabis in general. Event would be underground, venue undecided. Here are my notes:

Lab Test
-50 points
-each % THC = 1 point
-each % Other Cannabinoid = .33 points

Taste Test
-50 points
Blind taste test, strains labeled anonymously by number
Categories (10 points each):
· Appearance
· Smell
· Taste
· Smoothness
· Strength


Cannabis Cup
-based on highest combined points
-Top 5 strains get awards:
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Place gets big trophy
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Place gets small trophy
3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Place gets small trophy
4[SUP]th[/SUP] Place gets certificate
5[SUP]th[/SUP] Place gets certificate

“Best of”
-Based on highest combined points
-One award for best Indica, Hybrid, and Sativa
-Winners receive certificates

Peoples Choice
Based only on Taste Test points
· Peoples Choice gets small trophy
· best appearance gets certificate
· best taste gets certificate
· most smooth gets certificate
· strongest gets a certificate

Judges Basket
Goes to the judge with highest % of strains identified correctly
Basket contains .5g of each strain


Growers
Must Supply:
1 ounce of trimmed bud
Application
MMJ Paperwork

Will Receive:
Admission to Cannabis Cup Event
Hit of each strain
Certificate of participation
Full results of lab test done on their entry
Possible awards


Judges
Must Supply:
$35
MMJ Paperwork

Will Receive:
Admission to Cannabis Cup event
Participation in blind taste test
Hit of each strain

Sponsors
Must Supply:
$200 or equivalent supplies
MMJ Paperwork (optional)

Will Receive:
Admission to Cannabis Cup Event
5 minutes speaking time
Hit of each strain (Dependent on mmj papers)

TeamMember
Must Supply:
Help organizing and running the event

Will Receive:
Admission to Cannabis Cup Event
Hit of each strain
compensation (left over $ or bud)

Opening
Welcome
Go over schedule
Blind Taste Test
Judges sample each strain individually
Fill out ballots
Meet and Greet
Free time for all participants to
Sponsors
Each sponsor gets 5 min to present
“Hit of Each Strain”
Everyone samples each strain individually
Growers present their own strains with info
Judges try to match identified strains with strains from blind taste test (winner gets Judges Basket)
Awards
Cannabis Cup
Best of
Peoples Choice
Judges basket

I hope your rich, you need to rent a venue then pay tens of thousands in advertising.

The lab test % sucks because is is biased against CBD, which is highly prized amongst medical patients.

Have you ever produced or organized an event before? Step 1 would be to itemize all projected income and expenses. Once you have a plan to keep out of the red, then proceed with details. Your biggest obstacles will be permits, venue rental, labor, tech and gear, staging, insurance, publicity, and of course legal. You'll need a good team of follow-through type of individuals, and you'll need the skill of delegation yourself.

Hey guys thanks for the input! Just to clarify, this planned to be a underground event with under 50 people involved so I think that helps with a lof of the issues brought up.

marc88101 said:

I hope your rich, you need to rent a venue then pay tens of thousands in advertising.

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The venue is going to have to be on a budget but it doesnt have to be huge. Im trying to think outside of the box, getting a venue donated by a participant or sponsor is a possibility. I also know of a very large cave here in San Diego that is very well hidden and could possibly be used as a cool venue.
I didnt plan on a advertising budget either, since this is a underground and federally illegal event I want it to be as low key as possible and I dont think I should have too much trouble finding 10 growers and 30 judges through the grapevine. Do you have any input on how I can make this happen?

PJ Diaz said:

The lab test % sucks because is is biased against CBD, which is highly prized amongst medical patients.

Have you ever produced or organized an event before? Step 1 would be to itemize all projected income and expenses. Once you have a plan to keep out of the red, then proceed with details. Your biggest obstacles will be permits, venue rental, labor, tech and gear, staging, insurance, publicity, and of course legal. You'll need a good team of follow-through type of individuals, and you'll need the skill of delegation yourself.

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But should CBD be as equally valued as THC? I thought that I was doing something extra for medical patients by making CBD worth .33 points rather then not counting it at all. What do you think a better way to score the lab results would be? I really like the idea of having the Lab Results have equal weight in the final decision as the taste test.

I have organized events with 50 people, but nothing quite as structured as this before. However I know that I am up to the task, and as a business student I have learned a lot of skills that I can apply to this project.

So far I have come up with the basic costs:
$50 per strain to be lab tested. $50x10strains= $500
1 large trophy, 3 small trophys, 19 certificates = $225

and the basic sources of income:
$35 per judge. $35x30judges = $1050
$200 per sponsor. $200x? = ?

That leaves a small but viable budget for a venue and misc expenses

PJ Diaz said:

You'll need a good team of follow-through type of individuals, and you'll need the skill of delegation yourself.

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This is a good point. I think I should add one more category under Admission called TeamMember.

TeamMember
Must Supply:
Help organizing and running the event

Will Receive:
Admission to Cannabis Cup Event
Hit of each strain
compensation (left over $ or bud)

Count me in to help organize, participate and/or judge. I think this sounds like a great idea and should be fun if done correctly.

When were you thinking of doing this? I think you will most likely need some time to get everything organized and all the logistics figured out but you may want to keep the location secret until closer to event time so that the likelihood of "undesirables" finding out will be minimized.

I dont live In S.D, but I hope your event works out for ya bro!

berkman858 said:

Count me in to help organize, participate and/or judge. I think this sounds like a great idea and should be fun if done correctly.

When were you thinking of doing this? I think you will most likely need some time to get everything organized and all the logistics figured out but you may want to keep the location secret until closer to event time so that the likelihood of "undesirables" finding out will be minimized.

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Great! I know that we can pull this off with a little effort. I was thinking April 19th would be a good date, it gives like 5 months for planning plus that makes it a pre 4/20 celebration. What do you think?

As far as a time line there are a lot of things that need to be done in those 5 months.

1. come up with a solid plan
2. find 10 growers to compete
3. sell tickets and get sponsors to rase money
4. rase enough money to test all 10 strains (need $500)
5. get bad ass cannabis cup trophies made (i have already been talking with a custom trophy supplier)
6. secure venue
7. have event

bassman999 said:

I dont live In S.D, but I hope your event works out for ya bro!

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Thanks for the support brotha! Much appreciated, if you have any ideas about how we can organize this cup then feel free to share

We should have a RIU cannabis cup, hope all goes good for you

TheSpiderMite said:

We should have a RIU cannabis cup, hope all goes good for you

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Thats a good idea! If we had a cup based only on lab results we could organize it REALLY easily, although it wouldnt be nearly as much fun without the taste test. It would also be harder to fund because there wouldnt be any judges tickets. However, the growers wouldnt have to donate so much bud for the smoke out either, so instead maybe they could pay a $75 fee ($50 for lab test, $25 for trophies). Everyone could submit their entries to the lab from their different parts of the country, and then winners could be determined and trophies sent out. Everyone would get the lab results from their entry so thats practically worth the $75 right there!

50 people is a party, do it at your house lol.

supchaka said:

50 people is a party, do it at your house lol.

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I would but I live in a condo thats connected to 6 other units so the pillars of smoke might be a issue, plus my living room could hardly fit 30 people haha. It would work out nice if a participant had a spread out house but iv also been thinking a secluded beach may be a viable option, I mean this is San Diego

TheNaturalist said:

Thats a good idea! If we had a cup based only on lab results we could organize it REALLY easily, although it wouldnt be nearly as much fun without the taste test. It would also be harder to fund because there wouldnt be any judges tickets. However, the growers wouldnt have to donate so much bud for the smoke out either, so instead maybe they could pay a $75 fee ($50 for lab test, $25 for trophies). Everyone could submit their entries to the lab from their different parts of the country, and then winners could be determined and trophies sent out. Everyone would get the lab results from their entry so thats practically worth the $75 right there!

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Right now im thinking that this may be a more viable option...

What would be better: one huge and spectacular "Cannabis Cup" or one big "Cannabis Cup" and many smaller awards? Im thinking there will be about a $500 trophy budget but i dont know which way to go with it...

whats the best kind of trophy anyways, cup? plack? medallion?

TheNaturalist said:

What would be better: one huge and spectacular "Cannabis Cup" or one big "Cannabis Cup" and many smaller awards? Im thinking there will be about a $500 trophy budget but i dont know which way to go with it...

whats the best kind of trophy anyways, cup? plack? medallion?

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I think since there will only be 10 contestants then it should probably be 1 huge trophy for "Best of Show" or whatever you want to call it and some plain ribbons or certificates for the other runner up categories. That shit should be cheap.

TheNaturalist said:

Right now im thinking that this may be a more viable option...

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Yeah but not as fun by any means. Stick with your first thought.

Stop biting HIGH TIMES and maybe its time you lay off the Weed Wars channel Danny Danko would bitch slap you son lol.

Berkman, I agree that one big cup would be awesome I mean thats what people are competing for right? Im feeling this 15 inch tall one, the "Ganja Gantlet" or atleast that will fit once it has a big gold cannabis leaf on it haha:

NavySEALsVet said:

Stop biting HIGH TIMES and maybe its time you lay off the Weed Wars channel Danny Danko would bitch slap you son lol.

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Contrary to what you seem to think, High Times is not the only group that hosts cannabis competitions and they dont own the idea. Plus, HTCC is a breeders cup for seed companies to compete and this is a growers cup for people like you an me.

Why shouldnt we get together, have a fat smoke out, and hand out a big trophy? Its going to be a lot of fun and we aint hurting nobody so chill

Boom!

Ganja Gauntlet Flyer: