The Emerald Cup has had a monumental rise, growing from a small intimate gathering to a packed venue reaching thousands. On Saturday, May 14th, the 18th annual Emerald Cup Awards will take place at the Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood, CA. Additionally, for the 2022 Emerald Cup Awards, there are new classifications for strains within the long-running award show.
The California cannabis market has a large and diverse market and the Emerald Cup has long stood as a benchmark for the best that Cali has to offer. The new venue at the historic Montalbán is sure to add to the pageantry of this respected competition and awards ceremony.
The 2022 Emerald Cup Awards
The Emerald Cup began as a friendly contest, now it is a prominent cannabis competition that’s been running for 18 editions. In the competition, growers can enter their strains and potentially gain titles for their genetics. It is like how the wine industry has Chardonnays and Merlots judged in their own categories.
Since the dawn of cannabis, made-up identifying names created by seed banks and growers became widely known as ‘strains.’ The previous standards for cannabis, including THC percentage, have blurred the lines of the true distinction in quality, effects, and potency between strains.
The past 17 Emerald Cup Awards have helped the coordinators to make an easy-to-understand cannabis guide. The guide groups classes by dominant terpenes that correlate to the strain’s taste, flavor, and effects.
The goal of classifications goes beyond making titles for strains easier to give out. It is also in place so that anyone walking into a dispensary can more accurately try things they might be interested in. For example, just like when you know you want sweet or sour candy, you may have a bias for what strain you enjoy over other another. Additionally, product classifications can translate among international dispensaries to optimize the consumer experience.
Emerald Cup Judges
This year, Tim and Taylor Blake will judge the competition. They have years of high-level cannabis science experience just like the other judges, Alec Dixon, the Co-Founder of SC Labs, and Dr. Mark Lewis, President of Napro Research.
Importantly, Dixon earned a reputation in the cannabis community with his close relationship between SC Labs and the Emerald Cup. The event has continuously helped raise standards and shapes the approach to cannabis in California. Additionally, Dr. Lewis has years of experience in terpene analysis and laid the groundwork to develop a universal classification system for cannabis.
Emerald Cup Strain Classifications
From exotics to OGs and gas, there is now a metric to classify each kind of strain. For instance, you could classify Grape Ape as a Sweets + Dreams Class as a result of its fruity, sweet, & woody tastes and potential relaxing, couch locking, & analgesic effects. In other words, you can spot a strain by the feeling it may make you feel in addition to the overall flavor profile. Additionally, things like terpene content and indica to sativa ratio also help further identify a strain.
The effects of various strains and their terpenes are known as the chemometrics of each cultivar, or chemovar for short. Chemovars can distinguish a hybrid from a purebred or heirloom plant. This allows for an even more nuanced understanding of the genetics of a plant. Additionally, chemovars allow for differentiators to be identified through lab testing and expert tasting. As a result, this creates “Phytochemical profiles” that can be color mapped and then grouped into separate classes.
New Classifications for Indica, Sativa, & Hybrid Strains
The Jacks + Haze class includes strains that identify with sativa traits. This includes the fruity, pinesol, & haze aroma with energizing, cerebral, & creative effects as well as a dominant terpinolene terpene profile.
The indica variety now has two predecessors: ‘Tropical + Floral’ and ‘Sweets + Dreams.’ The former has a dominant ocimene terpene profile with a sweet, floral, & tropical fruit aroma. Furthermore, the ‘Tropical + Floral’ category includes its calming, soothing, & relaxing properties. The ‘Sweets + Dreams‘ class has a dominant terpene of myrcene and, as mentioned above, has a fruity, sweet, and woody, taste complete with relaxing effects.
Hybrids have also been broken into two new classifications: ‘OGs + Gas’ and ‘Desserts.’ ‘OGs + Gas‘ have either a combination or shifting codominance of terpenes, including b. caryophyllene, limonene, and myrcene. This gives strains in this category a gassy, diesel, citrus, & peppery aroma with uplifting and relaxing effects. The ‘Desserts‘ strains have a codominance of either beta-caryophyllene or limonene terpenes. As a result, the strains have a dessert-like, doughy, & spicy profile with stimulating, uplifting, and comforting effects.
The last classification is the ‘Exotics‘ category. The effects of strains in this class are varied based on co-terpenes and represent the rarest terpene profiles entered into the Emerald Cup competition.
How are Strains Classified?
The Emerald Cup Cannabis Classification System is based on PhytoFacts® and powered by SC Labs. Designed to change the way we talk about terpenes, the system highlights their importance by providing categories for the marketplace. Furthermore, it helps consumers achieve a full-spectrum experience.
There are also four main categories that the judging teams will utilize in the 2022 Emerald Cup classification system. This includes categories like flowers, pre-rolls, solventless concentrates, and hydrocarbon extracts.
If you want to understand how strains differ, you need to know the new vocabulary. Luckily, the advisors of the event placed an easy-to-recall combination of class names. In other words, the classification system names should feel familiar to the industry and consumers alike.
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