SMOKING JACKET ONE
The cannabis contest scene has positively exploded. Every month, there seems to be an announcement for the next no-holds-barred, winner-take-all, no-guts-no-glory slam fest. Within this growing list, a handful from within the hash community is turning things on their head by molding a more relaxed kind of contest that’s just as much about bringing the community together as it is about securing bragging rights. The Smoking Jacket is one of these events. A private, catered competition run by the popular podcast The Hashish Inn, The Smoking Jacket brings together a community of dedicated dabbers for multiple days of education, judging, and tastings, all for the love of hash. Last year, attendees, competitors, and expert judges sat family-style as they worked through 25 unmarked entries to see who would walk away with a custom jacket.
These experts included some of the hashiest minds of our time, including Cuban Grower, Brandon from Third Gen Farms, Danny & Pepe of Ogre Farms, Flynn from Wooksauce Winery, and Simplee Adam, winner of the 2022 Ego Clash for Melt. Besides the experts and competitors, a small number of public tickets were available for people who wanted to experience the event and judge the entries. On a podcast episode after the event, creators Shoragim and Adam discussed how they want this to be a shared experience as well as a friendly fight. They understand that for some people, the cost is a little prohibitive, but they also stressed that this isn’t just a contest or event but something much more like a solventless symposium. It was during a planning session for one of the highly successful Coffee and Donuts events that they both started unpacking this idea of a community gathering of hashmakers. As more and more ideas kept being added – like podcast recording, guided tastings, catered lunches, and gift bags, it was clear they had unknowingly created a whole new project.
When you first hear about a competition called “The Smoking Jacket,” you think of the Master’s Golf Tournament and its iconic green championship jacket, but the inspiration for the event is actually a classic piece of outerwear that’s been around since the 1700s. Smoking jackets were used to keep your clothes from smelling like smoke and to protect you from the dangers of falling ash or cinders. Over the years, like smoking hash, this iconic piece of fashion has fallen in and out of favor, but participation has always made you part of a certain crowd. This crowd of attendees received a custom kit with the entries, a gift bag that included a gram of full melt, as well as full food and beverage service for two days.
To tailor such a lavish event, the major duties were split between Shoragim, who handled logistics and event coordination, and Adam, who helped oversee the creation of the judging criteria. Thanks to them and their indispensable team, once you walked through the entryway of The Smoking Jacket, everything was taken care of. Cold storage for your terps, rigs/torches was available through guest services, and a barista was ready to serve you coffee before you hit the dab brunch. Once you find your spot, tableside menus detail your lunch and drink options. For competitors, intake, and portioning were all handled by the event, which then handed out custom pelican case judge’s kits to the crowd along with their scorecards.
The scoring sheet, which was shared online and has been used in other events around the country, was made with basic reaction scores to things like smell, taste, and appearance, almost a roundup of your gut reactions. Followed by sub-categories that you can use to express more nuanced qualities and help you break a tie between entries. To get everyone familiar with the system, a series of guided tastings allowed attendees a rare chance to interact while learning how to score an entry as a group. Cuban Grower, The Real Cannabis Chris, Humphrey Hashish, and Simplee Adam all brought exclusive offerings, taking the time to explain where each course came from, how it was grown, washed, and blended, and the inspiration behind the jar.
Though admittedly not a brand new concept, “guided tastings” are popping up around the event scene. Just sitting down and smoking some of this hash is an incredible treat, but to have the maker sit down with you and explain the journey it took from the garden to the jar is an inside the actor’s studio moment. As we try to break people away from our tiny screens to participate in activities, it’s these intimate shared experiences that will, in my opinion, be most memorable. The Smoking Jacket was a special moment where that hash you’ve been staring at online is right there in front of you, being held by the hands that put the plant to the press. People who attended got to sit side by side with serious artists of the industry, many of whom came from outside the state to participate in this inaugural edition. We shared meals, grabbed each other coffee, and bonded over shared nerdiness for dabs.
Longtime supporters of the hardest-working hash makers in the world, Shoragim and Adam, have a genuine positivity and passion for their scene that makes Smoking Jacket more than just an event. It honestly feels like summer camp the way you sit down at a table in the morning, have fun all day, and then wave goodbye to a whole new set of friends you can’t wait to see the next day. People are expressing a strong desire for these smaller settings now that events have fully ramped up. Large festivals will always be popular, but two-to-one people say they prefer these private gatherings where you can really engage with people and walk away with not just new memories but shared memories.
Even though only one person can walk away with the champion’s coat, there are two other ways of winning at the Smoking Jacket. Along with their prized Expert Judge’s Choice, there’s also a People’s Choice determined by the public judges and a Maker’s Choice taken from only the competitor’s scores. This means a hashmaker can have something that might not capture the judges’ fancy, but their fellow artisans or the hash-lovin’ public might easily see it as something award-winning. It’s nice to see three different perspectives (judge, public, and craftsman) all represented. It gave everyone a sense that their votes mattered not just in terms of scores but also in terms of respect for their opinion and position in the scene. That’s something this had, which many other events are working to achieve, recognizing the identity and contributions of everyone who walks in the room.
As a journalist wandering the room, you could see the look of concentration on people’s faces as they took their role in this seriously, inspecting each jar with quiet contemplation. At the end of the two days, top honors from the experts went to The Real Cannabis Chris for his Guava Pie #2 Reserva Privada. People’s Choice went to Dammit Bobby for Oishii #7 rosin, a new Archive Seeds release. Maker’s Choice was Helios Hash for their Chem Brulee + Rainbow Belts rosin. Though the contest is currently only set for rosins, the organizers expressed that they want to leave it open for melt to walk through the door once they have another year or two buttoned up.
Like its first year, The Smoking Jacket II creates an amazing opportunity. Along with their judge kit, attendees receive another fully catered, fully stocked experience – even rubbing alcohol and butane are supplied. The competitor list, now increased to 30, had every spot snapped up within minutes of being released online, prompting the creation of additional public judging tickets and GA tickets to attend the awards ceremonies. Oregon’s cannabis community is expected to come strong with tastings by Yashi Melts, Kush Kirk, and Mushmelts. This three-day affair is planned at Archive’s new private event space. With a competitor list that includes Athena, Terp Wizard, and Solventless Refinery and recruiting Slite23 from Spain to be an expert judge, we can’t wait to see what other surprises are planned for the second year of this unique hash celebration.
SMOKING JACKET TWO
Smoking Jacket’s second event was an auspicious occasion held at the home of the well-known cannabis brand Archive in Portland, Oregon. This year featured more names, an added day, and even more hash to smoke. Attendees were given more time to review their kits, get comfortable with the scoring system, and connect with one another since, in the end, The Smoking Jacket is somewhat less about the delicious kit in your hands and more about connecting with the people around you. Inside the custom-designed kit, we smelled a lot of Papaya and Z-ish terps and a couple of standout offerings ranging in flavor from funky onions to red icee drink.
The Tastings and Breakfast Bar this year also featured non-competitors like Xen Dog, Mushmelts, and Zap Solventless with fellow Oregonians Dammit Bobby, Barry’s Bubble, and judges Yashi Melts and Kush Kirk. If I had to pick a favorite from this section, it would be the Chem Dog from Mendocino’s Resin Ranch, which was so good I had to go in for seconds. More than just hash, the crowd also received food tastings from Terp Taffy as well as Pua Extractions and Amanda from Yashi Melts. Onstage discussions ranged from cultivation panels to live podcast recordings, a Q&A with Fletcher from Archive, and even an appearance from the Hot Dabs Podcast, who showed up to make volunteers spin the wheel to see if they’d be taking their hit at 550, 600, or 700 degrees. Even though the California competition crew was out in full effect along with the Oregonian local community, Michigan made its presence well known this year with a number of incredible competitors, including one who took home a big prize.
The five prizes went to four deserving people. Last year’s champ, The Real Cannabis Chris, brought home the Public and Makers Choice with his secret recipe, officially titled The Jordan #23. After securing his first-ever competition win last year, this man has been on a streak, now securing the prize from both people and peers in the crowd. The final three on the podium represented an experienced judging panel with refined palates from Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington, and even Europe, with the addition of Barcelona hashmaker Slite23. In my opinion, these finalists show that range of preference instead of one type of profile sweeping the dais. Coming in Third is Trichome Tortoise, whose cut of Superboof bred by Blockhead Buds has been helping people remember what they loved about citrus terps. Second place winner is Turtle Trees, a respected Oregon heater who’d never competed in any hash competitions before but who swept the judges’ scores for Bay Exclusive’s OG Pie Breath, a clone-only strain as the seed company no longer exists. The 2023 First Place winner joining the velvet jacket gang is Michigan’s Fort Wendy, who brought the heat with a Yellow Zushi that won the collective hearts of all seven judges and many of the people at the tables.
Speaking of which, you could find some out-of-control jars on display across the picnic benches. Professor Sift’s Pink Yuzu was high on the list, along with the Tear Gas from Michigan’s Spin Melts, a Pear Boba from Yeti Melts/Simplee Adam, and a Rainbow Belts 3.0 from Colorado’s Rufus Rosin. After watching this second year, with its larger crowd and more days, you can see this ambitious but small team handled the growth spurt gracefully but still will have some growing to do, yet it was comforting to see that with more people, there was still that prevailing feeling of camaraderie and respect at each table I sat down at.
Follow on Instagram: @actionmattjackson @thismokingjacket @thehashishinn @coffee.donuts.adam
All photos credit: Mitchell Peterson, aka Extracts Daily
