First Annual Kush Cup

By Jef Tek All Photos by Kaara Heywood

“Michelle loved you and would be proud, she would be proud of all of us right now”, was all that I managed to blurt out in front of the energetic crowd. I should have said so much more….

Who, What, When and Where? Why, is the easy one – WEED! This is the story of the First Annual Kush Cup. Who created it? Cancer survivor Mark  Klokeid,  founder of Kush.ca, and affectionately known to me as simply “Med Mark.”

Now Mark, also known as The Weed Guy, hit the ball right out of the proverbial park in his freshman foray into the awe inspiring, lung-busting world of weed judging contests. This one was held on July 27th, 28th & 29th, 2012, right here in sunny Vancouver B.C., in many undis- closed locations, (kept secret until the last minute). The weather was astonishingly absolutely perfect and so was the buzz. I mean it, the quality of medicinal marijuana keeps getting better and better and therefore harder and harder to judge.

Treating Yourself was one of the biggest sponsors of the event and Marco Renda asked me personally to cover it for the magazine. This private party held for Health Canada licensed marijuana (marihuana) growers, patients and caregivers, as well as guests and friends was a complete success, on many fronts, in this reporter’s viewpoint. Although the event was not sold-out, a great time was had by one and all. The only real complaint rumored was that some of the music venues went too late into the wee hours of the evening. (The flip-side of that argument would be to have 200 stoned people with noth- ing to do at 10:30 p.m., and that wouldn’t be very cool, again, in my humble opinion). I personally  did not make it to any headliners due to my own arthritis and an hours’

commute back home each of the three nights. Hey, I did the best I could and have nothing but fond memories and some sweet pictures taken by my girl, Kaara. It would not have been the same without her support, I wish remem- bered to thank her to the crowd on Sunday night. Thanks Kaara, it would have not been the same without your smiling face. Great photos, too, kudos!

Speaking of people to thank, Sandra and Advanced Nutrients – Remo, the Urban Grower officially launched their new website; Urban Grower Marketplace (UGmarketplace.com) as well as videotaped just about every second of the three day event. A google-search of UrbanRemo will let you watch the whole event in 5 minute clips, thanks Remo! (He even does his own edit- ing, wow!) All of the bands and most of the festivities were filmed by Remo, Sandra, or both,  plus  Shaw  TV  was there as well filming the main festivities. Check out video’s at UrbanRemo, UrbanGrower and seek UGMarketplace.com for your grow shopping  needs. Thank you internet!

Thirteen strains of crystal covered connoisseur grade cannabis were entered for a maximum of 250 lucky peo- ple to sample and vote on. There were also three cannabis

extracts entered. (Also known as budder, or butane extract; the methods are resulting in cleaner and cleaner product every year.) I just did a budder toke that literally brought me to my knees, sweating profusely and watch- ing the grass breathe for a spell before rejoining my sens- es. Our thanks to Chris for that hit! Wow, what a great gathering.

The event was promo’d on Vancouver’s very own Rock 101 radio station and Mark and his crew even did a live spot on the Brother Jake Morning show….

I was sitting in my Jeep waiting for my girl who was in the Doctor’s office, listening to the radio, eating a long john, having a coffee, toking up, when I suddenly heard Marks friendly-familiar voice floating over the airwaves just a week before the event. I remember getting goose- bumps and hoping everything turned out all right for  him. I know Mark’s winning battle with cancer and his good heart were fueling his attempt to carry the medici- nal torch my departed wife Michelle so proudly sported like her trade-mark “Medicinal” tee shirt. Mark’s dreams were big, but his support was bigger and everyone pulled together for a spectacular revision of reefer madness at it’s    finest.    Michelle    Rainey’s    legendary 2002-2005

Cannabis  Culture  “Toker’s   Bowls”  set  the  bar pretty

high, and this was no small concern in our hosts’ eyes. Michelle would be proud, and so am I, I wish to person- ally thank Mark for doing this, good job….

Friday afternoon kicked off the marijuana marathon with everyone checking-in, getting their goodie bags and their

laminates, then puffing tough with each other. Things  were a tad behind but when you are basically dealing with stoners, provisions must be made. During this time Redbeard and his whole glass blowing brigade were set- ting up their humongus oxygen and acetylene tanks for blowing all the trophies right there in real time in front of everyone to watch and enjoy.*

With bands such as Southern Death Threat, Incura, Rascalz, and Swollen Members with Moka Only,  we  all got a real treat. I love live music and smaller, private ven- ues, especially venues where copious amounts of heavy marijuana smoking are not only tolerated but it is encouraged and even expected, is what I’m talking about, Nice! The bands all rocked our bones as hard as the strains rocked our brains. Free budder tokes were copi- ously given, and billowing weed smoke filled every single venue permeating the air in pungent fragrant flagrance.

Mark pointed out during his pre-awards speech that July is the driest month to get anyone to enter a cup in, he wholeheartedly thanked all who entered… Most growers take the summer off or are waiting for their summer crop to finish in July. Everybody smokes more weed in the summer time! We were honored and privileged to be a part of this historic gathering…

Michelle came to me in an early-morning dream just four days before the Kush Cup, she was beautiful, happy, radi- ant and sweetly asked what seemed to be a group of us, “why don’t we enter the cup?”… I immediately woke up, called Sandra and Remo to ask them how much product

was required to enter. As it turns out Mark was at there house just then so he answered 250 grams. I went into my cured stash and weighed it up. Well, 260 grams were in that bucket! After consulting with Kaara, who readily agreed, “why don’t we enter?” I called them back and entered the Afghani Bullrider as an indica, even though we all know it is technically a sativa-indica hybrid.  During the voting process Marks’ staff  actually  wound- up fighting over the heritage of the bullrider, whether it was a sativa or an Indica – most of them thought it was just too powerful and up-lifting to be categorized an Indica, what do I know? I just grow it! God, we love this strain; hash-like and dank, with a skunk overtone to mel- low that rush right out with a never ending ceiling. Great medicine.

Saturday afternoon was the best bud friendly boat blast that no self-respecting cup or bowl can really due with- out. We were treated to an overcast morning that just blossomed into perfect yachting weather, neither too windy nor too blisteringly hot, we were the ones doing all the blazing with massive, finger-sized Remo joints being fervishly passed all over top deck. DJ Kiwi was down on the lido deck spinning pot friendly  sounds  and  Med Mark even had his Father, a retired caterer, come out of retirement and feed us freaks for the weekend. His mom, sister and ever her bf were enlisted into servitude for the weed-kend.

After the four hours of floating fun, (only one seasick soul), a few groups broke off and feasted on Granville Island food and Kaara girl and I went to the beach for a

bit of sunshine recreation to go with our festival fun. All during this time there were constant comings and goings at the collectives’ secret headquarters graciously provided by the infamous Guppy and his son Burt. Everyone was free to come and go in their own directions for a bit. Later, Saturday night was music and another pot friendly venue where we got rocked for the second night in a row. It was a long ride home that night for us, with the high- way squishing down to just one lane before opening back up for no apparent reason, way to go – department of transportation! Why would anyone need to use the high- way on a summer weekend anyway? Silly me, where was I? Saturday was long and overflowing with medicinal freedom and fun. Wow.

Sunday started slowly for those of us who water, fertilize and even harvest before each day’s judging activities even begin, YEE HAW! Growing is not a  job  it  is  a  lifestyle. We arrived at Guppy N Sons’ “factory” just in  time  to vote, get our cards punched, and then we were shuffled off to another venue for the actual awards ceremony. The Klokeid’s provided a free roast beast dinner for all to devour, cooked to perfection in a garage no less,  way to go old Food dude! Hey you got the Weed guy and the Food Dude! Family is important. After  feasting  Mark  took center stage and thanked all his sponsors, and lastly thanked Michelle for her inspiration. It was such a nice feeling to be among so many good friends, I’ll never for- get it.

There are always things to improve and new strains to try, by the way, it all makes sense now…

ENTRIES

Here is a list of strains, whom they were grown by, and the letter assigned to each by The weed Guy and staff:   H- Chocolope – Rocky Mt. Kush A- G13 – Remo G- Afghani Bullrider – Jef Tek B- Congolese – Healing Tree S- Black Water Kush – Remo R- Blue Cheese C- Real OG F- Texada Time Kush X- OG Kush E- Tru Blue Z- Bubba Kush Q- Exodus Y- Grapefruit P- Cookie Kush D- Super Kush One gram bags of each of these strains were given to each Cup Judge to try and vote on. The ballots were handed out Sunday afternoon and over 90 votes were cast for their top three strain choices and top extract choice. Separate sativa and Indica awards were given out because Mark is a gener- ous guy who really appreciated every single entry. By creat- ing two categories for cannabis, in essence he gave out two more cups and two more first-place bubblers. Thanks again to Redbeard for all his expertise, his crew set up shop and blew all the winning glass on-the-spot! That is fantastick. Three wicked hash oil bubblers went to each first-place winner. *(A separate story accompanies this article detailing the whole glass experience.)

Or so it seems, because even though we had entered the Afghani Bullrider as an Indica, I suddenly found myself stammering, when Mark awarded the Afghani Bullrider 2nd place in the sativa category, because quite frankly, I was confused, I was surprised, I was a little bit shocked – and I was most definitely extremely stoned! This was  why I suddenly found myself stammering into the micro- phone that bit about Michelle being proud of us. She would but I should have said so much more, I could have said so much more, I think I was trying to report on this contest and not become a part of it. Because.

The number one rule of journalism is that when you are enlisted to report on a story – you, under no circum- stances, are to become part of the story – unless – AND ONLY unless you are one Hunter S. Thompson, R.I.P., I however, broke this rule. Sorry Marco, and sorry to my loyal readers, we won Second Place with the Afghani Bullrider in the first ever Kush Cup! Take that, it  isn’t even a Kush, remember what I said about room for improvement? I meant me.

My new friend  Chris  extracted  the win for extracts.  Yes, I said it! He did this with the acknowledged help of the Urban Grower and he won the show with his super- smooth budder which used UG Kush/Rockstar/Blue Cheese shake as a base. Urban Grower received First and Second Place with G-13 and Black Water Kush in the Indica category. Rocky won First Place in the Sativa cat- egory with his Chocolope which smells like a candy bar. We were all honored and humbled once again by our gracious host, our very own Weed Guy,   Mark  Klokeid. He is feverishly looking forward to next year already.

See you there the last three days of June and the first day of July, Canada (CANNABIS) Day, that is four days of

lung crushing fun!. Thanks again to Mr.  Marco  for  ask- ing us to cover the cup. Without you we may have missed out on a very important part of our lives. There were three distinct times during the Cup that I experienced that wondrous feeling of being completely “among friends” and that doesn’t just happen everyday for us. I cannot stress enough the importance of cultural bonding, and I think this was the message Michelle was trying to express with her legendary Tokers’ Bowls. When we gather great things happen and the world gets a little bit better.Thanks, I’m so grateful.

Thank you one and all for making this journalists year a lot better!