The High Times Cannabis Cup Arizona: People’s Choice Edition is back in the Grand Canyon state and it’s been refined to be bigger and better than ever before, presenting Arizona’s finest cannabis. People’s Choice means that anyone can participate in the judging process regardless of expertise and background. Arizona will be the last stop of the 2023 year for Cannabis Cup: People’s Choice Edition competitions, with crowd-sourced judging beginning in November.
Who will win the titles for the best cannabis products in Arizona? You be the judge. The event will be the second Cannabis Cup that is open to the Arizona public after going virtual in 2021, and the event will host the largest pool of judges in the state’s history, providing an ideal way for brands to get their products into the hands of consumers in the state.
Past winners include Alien Labs, Connected, Shango x True Harvest, Item 9 Labs, Baked Bros, and Ediquette Edibles.
This year’s event is recreational only, and all products must be licensed by the Arizona Department of Health Services (AZDHS). Judge Kits go on sale on Saturday, Nov. 18, and Judges can login to the Judging Portal and critique products based on flavor, bouquet, potency, burnability, and so forth. Judging deadline is Sunday, Jan. 21. Winners will be announced via a digital Awards Show on Monday, February 5.
This year will feature more categories than ever before, expanding the palate of taste and smell to exemplify the best and most potent cannabis Arizona has to offer.
High Times Cannabis Cup Arizona: People’s Choice Edition Categories
The High Times Cannabis Cup Arizona: People’s Choice Edition will feature products from 12 different categories including Indica, Sativa, Hybrid, and Sungrown Flower, Non-infused Pre-Rolls, Infused Pre-rolls, Non-Solvent Concentrates, Distillate Vape Pens & Cartridges, Live Resin & Rosin Vape Pens, Edibles: Gummies & Fruit Chews, and finally Edibles & Non-Gummies.
The quantity limits are set: Entry quantity requirements are 228 one-gram units of flower, 228 2-gram pre-rolls, 228 vape pens or cartridges. Infused Pre-Rolls will be capped at a max of one-half gram concentrate and 2.8 grams of flower. There will also be 228 half-gram units of Solvent Concentrates & Vape Pens. (We will not accept any one-gram entries of Solvent Concentrates & Vape Pens, and batteries required for carts.)
Entry quantity requirements in other categories include 100 half-gram samples of Non-Solvent Concentrates, and 100 samples of Edibles with 50 mg of THC max. Entry fees are $250 for one entry, non-refundable, $100 per entry for two entries, and $100 per entry for three entries. High Times will waive all entry fees for top-tier sponsorships.
The good people of Arizona voted to legalize adult-use cannabis in 2020 via the statutory provision Prop. 207, found in Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) Title 36, Chapter 28.2. This voter initiative allows adults over the age of 21 to possess, purchase, transport, or process up to one ounce or less of cannabis, or five grams or less of cannabis concentrate. This is what makes events like the Cannabis Cup: People’s Choice Edition possible.
In the face of COVID-19 with events being forced to shutter across the globe during 2020-2021, High Times once again proved its resilience despite statewide lockdowns across the country. We’ve reinvented our renowned competition to let all those at home get in on the fun and crown the region’s best.
High Times Cannabis Cup: A Background
High Times Cannabis Cup was originally created by former High Times editor Steven Hager over 35 years ago. Back then, the Cannabis Cup was originally held each November in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
In 2014, after 27 years in operation, Amsterdam held what was likely the final High Times Cannabis Cup in that country, due to increasing pressure on cannabis businesses and a 2010 raid by Dutch police that took place at the Cannabis Cup. The Netherlands, once known as a safe haven for cannabis smokers, is not what it used to be. Eventually it moved to the states, and the first U.S. Cannabis Cup was held in 2010. Around 2018, Cannabis Cup shifted its winter schedule in November to mostly summer and spring events.
High Times has become a multistate operation and now holds People’s Choice Edition Cannabis Cups in Illinois, Colorado, Oregon, Oklahoma, Southern California, Northern California, Michigan, Massachusetts, Nevada, and New Mexico. The High Times Cannabis Cup events frequently feature live music, educational seminars, and showcase cannabis-related products from cannabis-oriented businesses. The High Times Cannabis Cup New Mexico: People’s Choice Edition this year, for instance, will feature Method Man and Redman as headliners and will be hosted at the Rio Rancho Events Center in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Each Cannabis Cup event is different based on local restrictions.
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