Believe it or not, craft cannabis is still grown in Mendocino County. And on May 4, the public will have an opportunity to mingle with the stalwart survivors of what can only be described as a systematic mishandling of what could have been the county’s ticket to prosperity.
The Mendocino Cup, sponsored by the north-county based Mendocino Producers Guild and long-time cannabis farmers, activists and visionaries Nikki Lastreto and Swami Chaitanyawill be the first cannabis competition in the county in many a year. It will be held at the Willits Grange from 2:15 until 8:00 pm.
The contest, according to Lastreto will feature a single category: sun-grown cannabis flower grown by the astonishingly few legal growers left in Mendocino County who, against all odds, successfully wove through the tangled warrens of local, state and federal regulations, survived one of the most precipitous price drops of any agricultural product in recent history and learned on the fly to navigate the complexities of marketing and branding while facing the fierce, inequitable competition from unregulated operators and the mechanized mega-farms to the south.
Lastreto moved to Mendocino County in 1998- called, as many were, to be a part of the community forming around Laytonville’s legendary Area 101, owned by Emerald Cup founder Tim Blake.
“I loved this place. The parties at Tim’s got me up here, along with selling weed in San Francisco,” she grins. Lastreto and Swami were involved with “The Cup” from the formative days, sitting around Area 101 trim tables envisioning a combination birthday/cannabis harvest party for local farmers. The pair served as judges for the first competition and right up to the Emerald Cup’s last hurrah, held in Oakland last year. Lastreto and Swami watched the event evolve from an “only-Mendo, only-flower” competition attracting a few hundred guests at Area 101, to a gargantuan contest attracting tens of thousands of attendees and featuring 46 different cannabis entry categories, with farms and producers from all over the state competing for the coveted awards.
Having retired their cannabis brand, Swami Select (“We can lose money without paying the government taxes to lose money,” notes Swami), Lastreto is ready to throw a party.
“I’m the kind of person that likes to be doing something. With the Emerald Cup, we did a lot of the decorating, creating the Area 101 lounges over the years. We love making people happy,” Lastreto continues. “The few small farmers that are still licensed are really struggling. Most are a little younger than Swami and me, and somehow, they afford to keep going.” Lastreto started wondering how she could support the small farms, and got together with Traci Pellar from the Mendocino Producers Guild.
“We thought, ‘Why not put on a Mendo Cup for licensed farmers?” Lastreto spoke to Time Blake, who loved the idea. “Tim plans to be at the event.”
The competition will focus on what many identify as the crème de la crème of cannabis: sun-grown, full-season plants grown with no lights and no covers. “These are the people who really care. They are growing for quality, not for bulk,” Lastreto continues.
“We want to help those second and now, third-generation families who have been growing for years and developing their own cultivars in the county: mothers, daughters, fathers, sons, grandchildren,” says Lastreto. “We want to put a spotlight on Mendocino, right where it all began.”
Mendocino County took a different path than Humboldt, which allows larger farms. “We’ve always had a focus on quality, and Humboldt has produced quantity. Because we have a 10,000 square-foot limit- a quarter acre at most, our farmers must take good, intentional care of their plants. Many use organic, living soil- what we call conscious growing methods. That’s what we want the world to know.”
Dispensary owners from the Bay Area have been invited, along with cannabis aficionados from across the country. “This is the cannabis that people used to get,” says Swami.
No cannabis will be sold at the event. Farmers will be on hand to meet the public, display their samples to see and smell, and share stories of their farming practices. “It will be like meeting the author of a book,” says Swami. Beloved Mendocino-grown comedian Shari Glaser will be making people laugh, and delicious “stoner snacks” will be provided by Chef Dan. And of course, there will be an authorized outdoor consumption area, “which I suspect will be very popular,” smiles Lastreto.
Currently, 30 farms have entered the competition, with 12 spaces remaining until the April 14th deadline. The judging will take place, of course, at 4:20. There will be six winners selected- the top five entrants and the best breeder. As 20-year veterans of the Emerald Cup, Lastreto and Swami are looking forward to the judging.
“If there’s one thing we know how to do, it’s cannabis judging,” Lastreto smiles.
The judging will happen the day before the event, in Laytonville.
“We have 13 top-notch judges. Some judges are former Emerald Cup breeders and winners. Others are Ganjier certified.” Both Swami and Lastreto are members of the Ganjier Council, an organization that trains and certifies cannabis sommeliers and business specialists. Prior to judgement day, the judges will participate in a Zoom lesson where they will receive a combination of Emerald Cup judging protocols and information from the Ganjier program, which Swami teaches.
Compared to judging 640 samples in a month for previous Emerald Cups, the judges for the Mendo Cup will experience “high times” with significantly less pressure.
“At the Emerald Cup, they’d put us together and it was like choosing the Pope,” smiles Swami. “There would sometimes be screaming and shouting, but Nikki and I were professionals by then. It really was like the Vatican, because we’d open the door, announce the winner and all the white smoke poured out.”
“The Mendocino Cup will be a blind tasting. We’ll divide the judges into 3 groups and give them ten samples in identical unmarked jars. From there, we’ll choose the top four,” says Lastreto.
There is a “palate cleansing” process during judging. “Smelling coffee beans brings your scent back to baseline,” says Lastreto. “If you smell the back of your hand, that’s your zero, your reset,” says Swami.
People often ask how Swami and Lastreto managed to smoke so many Emerald Cup samples in such a short period of time and still determine the most outstanding entries.
“We are judging several things,” says Swami. “Appearance, aroma, flavor and effects. I would look at every sample with a 10x microscope. Then we look at the unbroken bud, the broken bud, the ground up bud. How strong is the smell? How complex? How unique? Same with flavor,” he continues. “I’d take a ‘dry hit’ where I puff on a joint prior to lighting it. That’s where you can taste the off-gassed terpenes. Then, with smoking- how thick is the smoke? How complex is the flavor? How unique? Is it fruity, floral, gassy, chemmy or earthy?” Terpenes make up 40% of the scent of a cannabis strain, but there are many other aromatics produced by the plant.
“There are aromatics called flavorants that in some ways are most determinative of the smell,” says Swami. Esthers, like in wine create fruity smells. Floral scents are from phenols. Additionally, says Swami, the genetics of cultivars produce different terpenes depending on where the plant is grown.
The flower will be judged using a numerical score, with “effects” receiving a double amount of points.
For years, Swami and Nikki spent time working to improve the laws and regulations governing cannabis cultivation. They have been members of the Mendocino Cannabis Policy Council, the Mendocino Appellations Project, the Origins Council and more, and spearheaded the branding and marketing of Mendocino-grown cannabis. “We used to attend the Board of Supervisors meetings every month. We have an industry that is world famous. This county is still considered to produce some of the best cannabis in the world. If we would have been selling any other product, the county would have bent over backwards to give us breaks,” Swami continues.
Recently, Swami attended Spannabis- one of Europe’s largest cannabis fairs. “It was held in Barcelona, and it was mostly about seeds. There were 50 different countries represented there. And they knew who we were. We were treated like celebrities,” says Swami.
Alcohol and tobacco kill thousands of people every year, and yet cannabis, which does not is still burdened with a plethora of “sin taxes.”
“Fentanyl is federally classified as a Schedule 3 substance and cannabis is still classified as Schedule 1,” Swami notes. “Cannabis doesn’t kill anyone.”
For the event, Lastreto is creating a festive, simple and sweet atmosphere, with minimal focus on politics. “But we will have a goose with some golden eggs on display,” she smiles.
“Our property is worth half as much as it was two years ago. This event is trying to help those small farmers who are struggling and deserve recognition,” says Swami.
“We had to be so private back in the day. This is a chance for the community to come together and see each other- that we are still here, hundreds of friends, still with that sense of community after being underground in our secret society for so many years,” says Lastreto.
“This is the revival meeting of the church of cannabis,” Swami concludes. “Spread the word, go to your dispensaries and ask for Mendocino Grown.”
No tickets will be sold at the door. This is a 21+ event. The deadline for licensed sun-grown farms to enter the competition until April 14. Tickets for the event may be purchased online at mendocinoproducersguild.org. For information phone (707) 357-5693.
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