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There are a lot of ways to grow cannabis.
Some go the body-builder route, pumping their plants full of supplements in cramped rooms with powerful lights to grow gleaming crystalline buds that shimmer with THC.
Others go for the more naturalistic yoga-style route. The Cultivation Classic, which WW is hosting April 30 with Farma and Cascadia Labs, is a cannabis competition open to farmers that don't use any crazy chemicals.
Entrants will compete in three categories: indoor, outdoor and greenhouse. All entrants will be free of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and mineral salt fertilizers.
That got us thinking: In terms of the final product, which of these methods is the best?
We decided to do a horizontal tasting of buds from Sofresh Farms. So we grabbed one-eighth ounces of its indoor- and outdoor-grown Violet Delight. We could not find greenhouse-grown Violet Delight, so instead we got greenhouse-grown Sweet Tooth.
Armed with a silicone bong, pipe and a hot box vaporizer, we took all the time we needed to see how each strain stacked up. Just like any kind of produce, the growing method has a massive effect on taste and aroma. We were shocked to learn which we preferred.
Indoor-grown: Violet Delight
An indoor-grown nug kicked our tasting off. That nug was about the size of a large marble, and glistened with trichomes when hit with a flashlight. Light green sugar leaf and wiry orange pistils made touching the flower a dicey affair, and we felt a little bad grinding it up to toke. Its linalool-derived lavender scent reminded our reviewer so much of a bubble bath he attempted to hot box it, forgetting about the wet laundry hanging to dry. Oops. The smoke, about as thick as a windshield steamed up from the inside, dissipated quickly without any throat agitation. A vape hit tasted like lavender ice cream without the richness of frozen dairy. The high is heady at first, beginning behind the nose and spreading up to the eyes, then to the cheeks, and relaxing in the chest, shoulders and body. Let's liken this to produce available from your trusted, long-term supermarket—minus the GMOs.
Outdoor-grown: Violet Delight
We next tried the same strain, by the same farmer, but grown outdoors. The nugs were denser—in the way cauliflower is to broccoli. It too had sparking trichomes but lacked the light green coloring and extending pistils. Considering this plant was subject to uncontrolled outdoor conditions, it's not surprising it looks so different. The aroma was milder—as if it were somehow diluted, but not worsened. The burn wasn't as clean, though all the ash was white. The smoke was far more voluminous and opaque than its indoor-grown sibling, more of a gulp than a smooth draw. The high, which built more slowly, starts flatter behind the cheeks and nose, then rides a wave up to the forehead and down to the chest. This is like the produce you get from your grandma's backyard garden.
Greenhouse-grown: Sweet Tooth
This product was grown in a greenhouse and tasted of nuts and cheese. It was bright green with orange pistils, frosty with crystals and with well-defined calyxes and sugar leaves. You could have taken it straight to a photo shoot. The smoke was sharp but not grating, and was gone before we noticed to look. The bud itself didn't feel overly dry, but crumbled easily—this almost doesn't need a grinder. Its high goes straight to the forehead and then back to the temples before it propels your chest forward. Ash is almost nonexistent, though what little there was burned completely white just like its indoor-sample cousin. If this were on a store shelf, it would be in the organic, sustainable and super-expensive section where only the best kind of people shop before also picking up a $60 bottle of whiskey.
So who wins? Well, the indoor tasted the best and the greenhouse smelled and looked the best, but we'd choose the outdoor-grown every time. While we're excited to see if another strain can convince us differently—if you're a grower, enter the Cultivation Classic by March 23—it's good to know that growing cannabis is just as much an art as a science, with a whole lot of nature thrown in.
GO: The Cultivation Classic is Saturday, April 30, at the North Warehouse, 723 N Tillamook St. Noon-6 pm. Tickets go on sale March 30 at wweek.com. 21+. Want to be part of Cultivation Classic? Apply here.
Willamette Week