American Autoflower Cup Recap & Thanks

American Autoflower Cup recap & thanks! Big ups & respect to everyone who played a part in the success of our first event!

American Autoflower Cup Thanksp

Let’s start with the sponsors who contributed to the awards, came to the event to have fun & network!

• Gregory Brandt w/ Haggard Extracts signed up right away & is always a supporter. Since the first LA Secret Cup to Chalice & many events thereafter, he’s been my right hand man & friend! Much luv
• Across International contacted me when they saw it was going on. They sent a huge box of swag for all the guests, and their team is made up of all awesome people! Part of the fam that walks the corporate life, it’s a very difficult balance to support the culture and succeed financially, we need more like them.
• CHAMPS Trade Shows has been family since the Treating Yourself days! I’ve had so many adventures in Vegas & even made it to Atlantic City for their events. It’s the best trade show in cannabis & for almost every kinda company in the industry w/ new & expanding areas like mycology too! They donated a booth worth over $3k for our prize. It could be the best prize I’ve ever awarded at any of our events.
• Rosin Tech – Solventless Concentrates made a big splash with live rosin pressing & some of the tasty extracts that are popular now. Paul saw me at Emerald Cup & didn’t even know about the event but wanted to express gratitude for our events of the past. They were on board as soon as I asked, powerful. Their support is substantial because of their status but more importantly they represent the culture in a positive way!
• Mr Nice Seedbank & Research is OG as well. White Widow, Super Silver Haze, & White Rhino are just some of their creations. Shantibaba has been in the game longer than us all & their legacy strains are part of the legendary history of cannabis genetics & breeding innovations. Their team was a bunch of great guys who love the culture, proud to have y’all there!
• Delacrème LA has been part of our Secret events since early on & we used his family home for judges & VIP at our second run in LA! They have an incredible array of flavors as well as mouth melting delicious edibles. Happy they could be a part of it all!

More thanks for sponsor support that just helped out without wanting to display.

• Skilletools & Rig Rags has been there for me before I started RigRags and after it was beyond my control. Skilletools is the OG tool company for dab culture & they are the current owners of Rig Rags too, my company, the OG for cleaning your dab tools and the best alternative to stickers for branding. Always there for me!
• Zob Glass Mathematix Glass Hvy Glass Infamous glass has been like a second fam for a long time. We made Chalice entirely in their building, we got prizes for various Secret Cup events there & they have played a role in more business than y’all know. It was an extreme honor to have their glass as awards for the best AutoFlower growers!
• Swerve Swervin & Cali Connection have been a part of the culture since the start as well! We won the best product award for the first domeless nail at their booth in the Bay Area HT Cup in 2012 where they took a bunch of prizes. Great effort over the years has got them where they are today, well done.
• Chacha Vavoom & Summer Rain Pelletier w/ Jimmy & the 420Nurses have also been in the game since before basically 3/4 of you. They were at the first Hemp Con and doing activism when it wasn’t fun and it wasn’t the cool thing to do, but it WAS the important thing. How much of all the elders efforts gave us the current state of the industry vs how much respect and support they receive in return… I’m extremely grateful for their continued support & wish them all the best of happiness for their family!

These other sponsors were brought on by the team & I was lucky to learn more about what they do.

• Fast Buds is an incredible company. Their genetics are underrated imo and I think some of you expert farmers might be able to achieve incredible results with their seeds. They had so much stuff for judges awards we needed a second bag just to hold it. They are on the come up, get on board now. Fabulous.
• Mephisto Genetics is the king of AutoFlower & they won our best breeder award. So many growers that had things to say were handed their foot to put directly in their mouth after seeing their strains & genetic variations. This is where the entire industry of autos is going so get with the program or lose 80% of your customers in the future.
• Sana Packaging & Tree Hugger Containers provided the packaging materials & their companies are about positive efficiency in using things that are sustainable for the environment. Infinity
• Medical Alliance also contributed to the packaging efforts & was a big supporter of the event.
• Encore Labs did a magnificent job with testing and enabled our ability to eliminate failed entries from the judges kits, does ANYONE else do that? ReCreation of our accomplishments in the past, will public testing results ever be a standard again?
• Heartrock Mountain farm was also part of our judging process and represents California AutoFlower from the small farmer perspective. Numerous farmers told me to talk to them & they had an excellent knowledge of true value of new autos
• LeafWorks DNA gave us the opportunity to participate in the advancement of genetic testing in cannabis & a step toward being able to identify plant DNA without a doubt
• Humboldt Seed Company has some impressive genetics and was one of the most established companies I saw doing autos. Their confidence for the future was so strong it even surprised me, and they were predicting an upcoming apocalypse for the large majority of photo period genetics. The more we have experienced growers doing the work, the more authentic the results will be.

We had a number of other companies support the event in a variety of ways, big thanks to

• The Cure Company
• Natures Lab Extracts
• MERRY JANE
• Ganjapreneur
• The High Rise Co
• Dank City
• The Emerald Media Group
• Blunt Network
• Cannabis Business Executive
• The Highest Critic

Next up is a big thank you to our judges that really participated the most and showed genuine gratitude for their role. Also, just FYI, our judges got paid to judge in addition to having their accommodations covered & all the rest. This could be the absolute most respect we ever got to show legitimate judges at an event ever.

• Joey Burger is one of the most knowledgeable farmers I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. His efforts for local farmers and regenerative techniques is potentially unequaled & it was a pleasure to include his perspective after our long history
• Daniel Morford was recommended as a judge by numerous farmers from Northern Cali & in their area he is well respected for AutoFlower
• Nick Bradley has been a part of our events in the community for a long time and with his history at places like Harborside & knowledge from the new corporate cannabis side of the industry was a great value
• Jenny-Beth Hope Dills also has a unique perspective that comes from a history with one of the major AutoFlower breeders as well as the business corporation angle that is vital for distribution and retail
• @SincerelyCali is also a farmer but this time it is from the SoCal region & as such has his own preferences that are more relevant in the lower part of the state. His positive attitude mixed with knowledge makes a great judge
• Jessica Russo aka PotHead Princess gave us a more general perspective from more of a consumer background but with personal experiences around some of the leading grows and growers in California. She also has a following of consumers and industry personalities that brings great exposure
• Lastly, I myself was also a judge, but I decided to give this blind testing a real run by collaborating with my friend Eric Cooley who began losing his vision when we were in our 20’s & is now legally blind. His results were my scores for smell and for taste while I did the appearance & we both discussed the effects for those scores. Anyone ever have a legit BLIND judge before?

Lastly but certainly not least is our entertainment, venue and hosts.

• Adam Illouz was the man, our team loved him and his energy. My host at the first LA Secret Cup & long time friend. HashbarTV to the Bowlympics & much more. He and Tim do The Secret Sesh & have always showed respect to The Secret Cup as the original secret event. This was a big achievement for me to be able to bring it back like it was.
• Angela Mazzanti did our social media plugs right and really pumped up the event in a way only a celebrity type of influence could. She was responsible & respectful, slight change from her normal vibe but shows she can class it up when the time is appropriate. We did some of the stuff together to make it more authentic and genuine. Big ups.
• Green St. was our venue and their unique office building event center experience is unlike anything else in cannabis for now. In a way it’s like a event in a building every day as they have numerous offices and brands that are based out of their location. The floor plan is large enough to house a decent number and their efforts to incorporate art with the comforts of home really makes it feel warm. The variety of displays from the local brands gives the look a wild spin almost like a giant coffee shop in Amsterdam albeit with bright lighting. Their team put in extra effort at the show to make our event come together big!
• @DJ Pirumov killed it with the hip hop we all love, quality lyrical underground. He has been a part of the team I worked with for a while internationally and it was a pleasure Kennedy Williams was absolutely amazing. Her voice is what real singers strive for & their overall performances gave the event a level up on class and current music appeal. This was very different from our events but shows a maturity that reflects the growing character of legal cannabis consumers.

American Autoflower Cup Recap

So, how’d the event go? Well let’s start with the perspectives of the house brands at the venue. People I never met, who didn’t really care much about me in previous passings, cornered me to tell me how impressed they were and said things like “best event I’ve ever been to here (Green St.)” and others who pitched various collaborations & focal points for media campaigns featuring myself and the history of authenticity in cannabis. It seems we had an excellent mix of legit long time true cannabis practitioners from the medical days & prior with the newly passionate recreational cannabis brands & personalities that are changing the face of what marijuana is like mainstream. Our long time supporters who have been to all of our events were there & blown away. There’s one guy I’ve seen at Secret Cups all over the world, I don’t know his name, he barely knows anyone in the industry & he shows up to all my stuff. This guy loves it on another level, he’s from some other country and many of you have seen him too. His opinion… we hit the next level w/ this. People who know me were more than quick to give respect and encouragement. How many said they want to be a part of everything we do… 100% of them & a bunch who slept on it too. Overwhelming sentiment of respect and innovation that wasn’t based on new ideas but the rebirth of a legacy in a new way that might be able to bring events back to where they were once going I have a lil bit of a desire to throw some people under the bus… There are too many people in this biz that will shake your hand but won’t have your back I saw numerous people at Emerald Cup that shook my hand, gave me a big hug, told me they’d support anything I do, confirmed their contact info with me, said they would be a part of the event and accepted the details with big big talk & when the time came they ghosted or backed out with their tails between their legs… just like I remember the love I also remember the frauds I still love you and your fake asses, I’ll be here to take your apologies and welcome you back just like I’ve done so many time in the past. Things we can do better, there are a few. I know what they are & for the most part only industry people that do the events had any constructive criticism. Our audience was blown away, all our merchandise got swooped up so fast that the whole night people were asking for anything with our branding on it. They didn’t just want free stuff, cuz I offered other companies stuff, no no they ONLY wanted ours. Real recognizes real. If I left anyone out I apologize. It’s a big list here & I did my best. Thank you to all the homies who came down, you know who you are and what y’all mean to me. Proud of this, don’t sleep 😉 more to come.