The Highlife Cup 2013

The Weather Gods were kind to the festival

The mood was good right from the start at the Westergasfabriek site when the results of the Highlife Cup 2013 were announced - first at 17:45, and later at 19.45 - in two blocks of fifteen minutes each.  In the VIP tent sponsored by Dutch Passion and Soft Secrets, one could, provided one was fortunate enough to obtain a VIP ticket, personally try out all 91 samples of the 2013 Cup all day long under the inspiring leadership of Eric the Magician, who brought along two large Vaporizers specially for the occasion. The VIPs were able to make their preferences known on large laminated menu cards, and were then either given a piece of that weed or hash to roll a joint themselves, or offered a prepared Vaporizer containing their test sample.  This was purely intended for recreational use, and not for points, as these had already been distributed in the days before by the secretive jury.

Highlife readers went totally crazy

In terms of participation, there were a few more companies than at the 2012 edition, including many established names. Major players in the cannabis world like Dutch Passion, Sensi Seeds, Paradise Seeds and Royal Queen Seeds competed with relative newcomers like Senzimilla Seeds and Dizzy Duck Seeds.  Coffee Shops like Mississippi and Missouri from Maastricht won many awards last year and hoped to repeat that success again this year. The jury this year had more than eight weeks to carry out their blind tests. Fortunately that long period of time allowed for a stable and particularly clear result.

The most notable winner, with no fewer than three awards, was the recently founded seed company Senzimilla Seeds. With their Amnesia Haze in the Bio category they obtained an impressive score of 413.5 points. A first prize was also awarded to the company in the important category C (Autoflowering strains), where it won a deserved first place with its Cheese automatic, by no less than 12 points difference with the number two in the same category.  Finally, Senzimilla Seeds also came in third place in the category G, hash extractions, with its Amnesia Glass Ice-o-lator.

Like last year, coffee shop Blue Bird from Amsterdam also did a great job at this year’s Cup. With a first prize in the category B (Hydro) for its Chocolope and a good third place in the Bio category with its OG Kush, the shop demonstrated its sheer quality. Its Cups from 2012 were therefore not mayflies.

Thomas of Serious Seeds was delighted with the first Cup for the new strain Serious 6

The Paradise Seeds crew

The usual suspects were also back again, who year after year take the stage to re-claim their well-deserved awards. Dizzy Duck Seeds and the eponymous coffee shop from The Hague have become regular fixtures at the Highlife Cup. This year they again won three awards, while their Skunkberry Gold hash managed to amass the most points.

Established names also made an appearance this year, with nice strains. Dutch Passion won first prize in the Bio category with its Jorge’s Diamonds and Paradise Seeds managed to win first prize in the Haze Hydro category with its bestselling DelaHaze.  Luc from Paradise Seeds caused quite a stir on stage when he spontaneously decided to give away Paradise seeds for free to the public, who stormed the main stage in large numbers after the announcement. Luc distributed the seeds like a true pop star, during which he was repeatedly close to being trampled by the crowd. Fortunately, he managed to recover like a real stage pro, because Luc is almost always present when prizes are being handed out.

Tan received the Cup of Cups on behalf of Royal Queen Seeds!

The biggest surprise of the day was perhaps the announcement of the winner of the winners, the champion of champions.  The highest award did not go to a weed strain but to a BHO hash extraction from Royal Queen Seeds. A soft as butter but spectacular hash produced using butane gas specifically for the Highlife Cup 2013, called the Royal OG Kush Blend.  A hash-wizard of Royal Queen Seeds reportedly used the best OG Kush-species of the company to make this outstanding ‘Budder’ BHO (Butane Honey Oil) hash, awarded absolute first prize by the jury. The difference with the equally spectacular White Russian Ice-o-Lator from Serious Seeds was a clear 3.5 points, but if we look at the third place in this category, a not unimpressive Amnesia Haze Ice-o-Lator, we see a massive 32 point difference! This was unprecedented in the Highlife Cup.  You could say that the jury elevated the two strongest extraction hash strains head and shoulders above the rest of the samples.  Bad news for Dutch politicians Opstelten and Teeven and their cronies, because the choice of especially high THC values is exactly what these men are hoping to fight.  High THC levels are however popular among cannabis users, underscored by the results of this Highlife Cup 2013.  For next year, the organisation has already announced that a separate Overall Winner Cup will be created for the hash strains, so they no longer have to compete with weed types.  There will also be a separate category reserved for the increasingly popular Kush strains, which will slowly but surely conquer the market in 2014.

All in all the Highlife Cup 2013 was a great success thanks to the dedication and tight organisation of the VOC and their Cannabis Liberation Day, and we certainly hope that the cooperation will get a sequel next year.

See you there!

The jury 2013:

Chairman: Cliff
DJ Cobus - Radio 2<> Muller & Müller
Eric el Mago
Arthur – Mountain High 
Curt – Advanced Nutrients
Tan - Cannabis College
Derrick - VOC
Andy Pyrah - YouTube 
Piet Groen – Soft Secrets
Tom – Soft Secrets
Borja – Soft Secrets

Highlife Cup 2013 results

BIO

1 Jorge’s Diamonds
Dutch Passion (405 points)
2 Serious 6
Serious Seeds (402 points)
3 OG Kush
Coffeeshop Blue Bird,
Amsterdam (398 points)

HYDRO

1 Chocolope
Coffeeshop Blue Bird,
Amsterdam (390,5 points)
2 Magic Mango
Dizzy Duck Seeds (388 points)
3 Jacky O.
Gout (383,5 points)

Autoflowers  

1 Cheese automatic
Senzimilla Seeds (400,5 points)
2 Purple Orange
Dizzy Duck Seeds (389 points)
3 Power Haze automatic
Bio-G-Power (387 points)

HAZE BIO

1 Amnesia Haze
Senzimilla Seeds (413,5 points)
2 Liquid Gold
Cremers, 
Den Haag (405 points)
3 Power Haze
Bio-G-Power (398 points)

HAZE HYDRO

1 Delahaze
Paradise Seeds (402 points)
2 Mexican Haze
WeedSeedShop.com (400,5 points)
3 AMG
Coffeeshop Kosbor,
Maastricht  (399 points)

Traditional hash

1 Skunkberry Gold
Dizzy Duck Seeds (404 points)
2 Tidghine
Coffeeshop Roxy
Amsterdam (383 points)
3 Pure White Cheese
Coffeeshop Missouri,
Maastricht  (381 points)

Hash extractions

1 Royal OG Kush Blend
Royal Queen Seeds  (443 points)
2 White Russian Ice-o-lator 
Serious Seeds  (439,5 points)
3 Amnesia Glass
Senzimilla Seeds  (407,5 points)