Judge Dooby

The state of cannabis competitions in Oregon is one step above blatant favoritism. Judging is rushed, industry judges have too much previous exposure to strains, and most of them can't even seem to agree what "good" means. While we wait for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission and the Oregon Health Authority to hammer out cannabis rules, there's nothing stopping the state's cannabis industry from creating protocols that could be used as the basis for judging at all competitions. Let's do that together.

Give judges more time per strain.

When judging wine, most experienced judges spit samples out, so as not to get drunk and have it affect their senses. The cannabis industry says fuck that, the effects are part of the experience, which means what takes alcohol reviewers a few hours should take days and weeks for cannabis. While the time needed can vary, a general rule is to dedicate one to two hours to each flower strain, 45 to 90 minutes for oil concentrates, and three to four hours for bubble hash. Good competitions will recommend judging no more than eight flower, 12 concentrate, or six bubble hash entries a day, and allow seven to 10 days between delivery of judges' kits and the due date for reviews.

Randomize each judge's sample kit.

It's far too easy to share numbered entries on social media and unfairly influence other judges, but organizers would be crazy to crack down on judges sharing the fun. Instead, create a master sheet of entries, with names, products, categories and a randomized number for each judge.

Set a lower residual solvent limit for concentrates.

These are championship, best-of-the-best strains. If producers can't ensure their best stuff is clean, what does that tell us about the rest of their crop? Washington has a 500 ppm limit, Colorado is just over that, and Oregon is looking to require about that. Competition entries at 20 percent of allowable state limits is a no-brainer for high-end competitions, and ensures entrants will take the extra time needed to produce their best.

Get rid of numbers-based awards.

We know the strain with the highest THC percentage might not give the best high, so why in the hell do competitions bother with awards for such metrics, especially ones that can be easily gamed by picking a specific part of the plant? Labs are not standardized, making results feel more subjective than objective. Cannabinoid numbers are a guide to potency, not a foolproof way to judge quality. Let's stop pretending otherwise.

Make judging criteria public.

Cannabis events attract more than growers, processors and retailers, so why not share the characteristics entries are judged on? As the cannabis audience grows from heavy users who know their stuff to more casual tokers, educating novice palates could quickly equal more engaged users. For flower, we recommend appearance (intact trichomes, trim job), aroma, taste, ash and effects. For oils or bubble hash, appearance, taste, melt or residuals, and effects.

Cool? Great, see you at NW Cannabis Club's PDX Challenge in March, where I'll be judging.

Willamette Week