Chalice Festival with Wu-Tang All Fired Up For This Weekend

Chalice — the premier global event focused on elite cannabis concentrates, fantastic glass, and top shelf music — is set to bubble over this weekend July 8-10 in San Bernardino, California.

After quickly evolving into a mainstay of the Southern California Festival circuit and cannabis culture in its first two years, this third installment showcases CHALICE’s most stacked line-up to date. Many of the biggest names in rap, dabs, and glass will be on-site dropping savage bars and even bigger dabs.

Wu-Tang, Cake, Madlib, Migos and More

Rapper and icon Talib Kweli

While the materials of choice in the sprawling medicating area will be quartz and titanium, the theme for the music this weekend will be platinum.

Chalice’s packed musical lineup will be anchored by the Wu-Tang Clan on Saturday night. Many of the billed acts will feature an undoubtable hip-hop flair, but there will be some other great acts in the mix. Friday night will see alternative rockers Cake close it out, and on Sunday Zach Deputy opens it up with the first performance of the day.

Chalice’s Competition High Bar

A true cornerstone of the event will be the highly respected and anticipated cannabis competition. Over the years it has expanded to now include flowers, concentrates, edibles, and topicals. Roughly 300 judges from the public and 50 appointed are reviewing the entries, which are being held to a high standard. This week organizers revealed that many of the participants were disqualified by the strict lab-testing process. Of the 64 flower entries, organizers disqualified 20 for molds, pesticides, or other pathogens. The solvent concentrate category fared better with 17 of the 79 entries failing.

Long-time concentrate aficionado Addison DeMoura — co-founder of Bedder Investment and Consulting and appointed judge — said competition is fierce this year.

“Sixty entries for concentrates can be a little overwhelming. Typically when I get 60 samples I can go right through it and have a first pass that eliminates, sometimes, 20 to 30 percent of what’s there. On this one — everything’s good.”

DeMoura said the judges kits themselves are next-level compared to judging High Times Cups, The Emerald Cup, and various other events. DeMoura’s, a co-founder of Steep Hill Labs in 2008, said the failure rate for entries made sense.

Chalice California’s Judge’s Pack (via Hitman Dougie)

“Out of 79 samples, if you get 18 or 19 that fail that’s actually below what we see at a laboratory for what comes in. That’s not bad at all — it’s kind of like a regular day at a lab,” said DeMoura who continued, “once you set that bar, of quality control and assurance, it’s there. Whether you’re setting it in fear. Whether you’re setting it in intimidation, whatever you’re doing, it’s better for the entire industry and I think Chalice has done that.

DeMoura said, “From a judge’s standpoint they hit a 10 out of 10, in terms of the way the product and entries worked [Hitman’s founder Dougie Fresh] scared away a lot of the goofballs.”

Concentrates Culture Hits New Heights

The Secret Cup founder Daniel de Sailles has been promoting extract events for five years and said the 2016 Chalice marks a new high point for concentrate culture.

“The first event we had to go completely underground to find a venue. Over the years, more and more people were interested in the events around concentrates and the concentrate makers themselves. It turned into a celebrity chef kind of thing,” said de Sailles.

Fresh off of heavy rotation on Viceland, Mothership Glass will switch from shellfish to baja tacos as they headline the impressive list of glass vendors displaying their wares at the San Bernardino Fairgrounds. Located in the center of the festival, The Glassblower’s Village will also feature live glassblowing demonstrations from some of the biggest names in the game, while meet and greets are fantastic, seeing elite craftsman at work is sure to be a festival highlight for anyone who takes part.

Visit the Chalice California website for more information and tickets.