Chalice California 2016: the festival of concentrates

The Chalice Festival is America's largest event focused on the cannabis concentrates elite. Its 3rd edition took place from July 8 to 10 in San Bernardino, California, and also welcomed glass and music competition professionals.

In 3 years, the Chalice has rapidly evolved into a Californian festival not to be missed. This 3rd year saw the arrival of our biggest line-up to date. Big names from the US rap, dab and glass (glasswork), with numerous stands and even more monstrous dabs.

While the materials of choice for this kind of event are quartz and titanium, this year's musical theme revolved around platinum. The Chalice played host to Wu-Tang Clan on Saturday night. The previous day saw shows by alternative rockers Cake, and Zach Deputy opened the stage on Sunday.

The most eagerly awaited event, however, remained the cannabis competition. It now hosts flowers, concentrates edibles (space food) and topicals (cannabis creams and ointments). Some 300 judges from the public and 50 nominees reviewed the products submitted, which had to pass pre-selection tests to meet the imposed quality standards. Many participants were disqualified after the tests. Of the 64 participants in the weed category, the organizers disqualified 20 for mold, pesticides or other pathogens. The solvent-based concentrates category fared better, with only 17 of the 79 participants disqualified.

Setting the bar so high is also a quality criterion for the festival and for the judges. And avoids bad producers who care little about their consumers.

Addison DeMoura, co-creator of SteepHill Labs (a cannabis testing laboratory) and judge at Chalice, admits that the competition is fierce this year. «60 competitors for concentrates can be a bit overwhelming. Usually, when I have 60 samples, I can eliminate 20 or 30% after a first test. Here, it's all good.

Judges were also provided with competition test kits, well beyond what exists for the High Times Cup or the Emerald Cup.

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New concentrate culture

The founder of the Secret Cup, Daniel de Sailles, promotes events on the cannabis extractions for over 5 years. For him, Chalice 2016 marks a new milestone in the cultivation of concentrates.

«The first event was totally underground. Year after year, more and more people became interested in events around concentrates and the extractors themselves. It's becoming a kind of celebrity contest.

In the center of the village, glass artisans demonstrated their art by displaying their finest pieces. Some of the game's big names were on hand, and always available to talk, or drop a little dab.

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