Chalice California and the Concentrate Revolution

There is a cannabis revolution amongst us. No, I am not referencing the big corporate takeover of the cannabis industry, nor am I speaking about the proliferation of the industry in places like Washington or Uruguay. What I am speaking of is the concentrate revolution.

Hash, the historic term for cannabis concentrates, can be traced back to medieval times to the Hashassains, a group of Islamic hit men that preferred to smoke hash on the job. The group brought about two prevalent words in our vocabulary: hash and assassin.

Since time immemorial, hash was produced in African and Middle Eastern countries where the grower primarily sifted the cannabis through screens gathering the trichomes and pressing together a hash patty. Often times the hash from places like Morocco or Nepal varied in quality as the strain, grower and producer all played an integral part in the end quality of the product.

Leave it to the North Americans to expand and innovate an age-old process, bringing the cannabis world the exciting extracts known as: BHO, dabs, wax, shatter, etc. This new hash first hit the Canadian market sometime in the early ’00s under the name “budder” and has since taken off onto a whole different plane.

Part of the reason for this hash revolution is due to the cannabis concentrate “artists” who have found a way of producing tremendous concentration of THC levels while simultaneously incorporating the terpene profile, or essential flavor, of the cannabis. This could not happen with older forms of hash production as the loss of terpenes essentially made for a “hash” flavor as opposed to letting individual strains shine with their own profile.

The results are overwhelming. Take a strain favorite like OG Kush, which is almost universally described as having a “lemon fuel” aroma and flavor, and then maximize that flavor tenfold. With the fast growing proliferation of the extract market many mistakes have been made, from dangerously making the product and inadequate ways of consumption, to horrible ways in which the product has been judged. Welcome Chalice California!

The Chalice cup, is not only a competition, but also a celebration of this new concentrate revolution, a vision founded by Dougie Fresh of Hitman Glass and Butane. After attending multiple cups across the globe and being a self-described connoisseur of concentrates, Dougie decided to do a festival of his own: an event representing the best of the concentrate world combined with an almost music festival atmosphere.

Cannabis Now Magazine sat down to discuss the upcoming event, set to be held in San Bernardino from July 12-13, with the man himself: Dougie Fresh

CNM: What is the Chalice California?

DF: Having been to numerous events in the industry I saw a need for an event that allowed more open judging and more of a celebration of the industry, so I took it upon myself to do a new cup.

CNM: What is the line-up for the event?

DF: We are going to have 200+ judges, people and entries from as far as Amsterdam along with a three-day music event.

CNM: Will you be testing the entries for residual solvents?

DF: Yes, we have the apparatus in place to ensure the safety of all the entries.

CNM: Will there be a category for solventless concentrate?

DF: Oh yeah, we actually will be having two special guest judges for this:  Mila the hash queen from Amsterdam and Nikka T out of Colorado who is quite the concentrate artist himself.

CNM: Are you looking for any particular strains, i.e., the next OG Kush or GSC?

DF: Actually I’m looking most forward to the variety; an event like this couples amazing growers with great extract artists and will surely satisfy all.

By Vic

Will you be attending Chalice California? Tell us in the comments below.