Cannabis Cup 2008

Day 1

Team BC Chillum took the Barney's shuttle to the Powerzone and took to flyering the place while Barney's got their booth set up. Barney's Farm, consistent winner of weed/hash categories, has the largest both set up in a prime location on a stage. We would be pulling buckets for them using their sativa entry, Utopia Haze, a strain from Brazil that had the Amsterdam underground buzzing for months. Barney's is known for some killer weed, and supposedly this was the best strain they'd ever had. We were really excited.

Show started at 3 but it took us a bit longer to get the booth set up so we took to passing out flyers in the line. A lot of people were excited. Gravity bongs are old school. It's the shit we used to make in college back in the day, McGyvering crazy tools to get high. I remember it was a joke in college how I couldn't get high, so people were always offering me weed telling me, this is the shit. All I would get is a sore throat. When someone showed me how to build a gravity bong with a standard head shop bowl and a gatorade bottle, it was like a life-changing moment--there was my life before getting high, and there was my life after. I'm convinced the world would be a better place if everyone could get high at least once in their life so they could understand that it's possible to see things from a different perspective.

The show started and immediately we had a big crowd around us. We pulled bongs non-stop and just a pinch of weed, we had seasoned smokers splayed out on the couches below us, their minds in a completely other place.

A gravity bong high is something completely different from a pipe, bong, joint or vaporizer high. You only need a pinch of weed, less than what you would put in a pipe or a joint, and since 100% of the smoke gets pulled into the bottle and you're using water pressure to stream the smoke at your mouth while you inhale instead of suck, it's a more natural way to take in the smoke. Because you're more relaxed by inhaling instead of sucking, it hits your longs in a less forceful way and travels right to your head. The high starts out strong, but then you get a sensation of being lifted for about 20 minutes. Then you float for a few hours somewhere between the moon and infinity. I'm never more curious, creative, open, joyous than when I'm floating after a gravity bong hit. It doesn't hit my body as harshly as a joint or a pipe, but it hits stronger, cleaner and more distinctly than a vaporizer or bong.

We've been pulling them out of a giant glass Jack Daniels jug with the bottom cut off (diamond saw then polished), but I do compare the high to a classy whiskey (my choice, Highland Park 21 year). It starts off intense and smoky...but just as you feel like you're being overwhelmed, it's a smooth, light, cheerful finish.

People loved the taste of the weed and how smooth and distinct the gravity bong hit was. We didn't sell as many as we'd hoped, but it was just the first day and it was great to just get people to try it out and get high.

We loved that so many people were excited to see us, saying that they used to make something like this back in the day. People would get really excited sharing the different ways they would construct gravity bongs. I think every smoker has a nostalgic place in their hearts for GB's if they've ever done them before.