Doctor G at the Cannabis Cup 2000 Chapter 2

The premise of the festival is simple enough. Visit 19 coffee shops and
sample their submission for :flavor, appearance, effect and the like. Over four
days. With late night parties and plenty of distractions. The problems were
obvious, not enough time to sober up. Every product was a gonzo bud, high
potency, with potential for serious brain damage. The one gram samples resulted
in thumb sized joints, or special cone joints. Usually two to a sample. The four of
us should be able to locate 19 coffee shops in several districts in Amsterdam,
remember to have our little passports stamped and review the product. I can't tell
whether it was the flu or the weed but I was really hard pressed to keep up.
By Tuesday I was able to keep up with the kids for most of the day. We
would get up around 7 and head down stairs for breakfast. After coffee and some
food we would examine the list and see where we would be going today.
Although the shops were scattered through old town sometimes there would be
two or three in the same area. There are also many other shops not on the list ,
at times an entire block would have a friendly aroma.
As we got to a shop a decision usually had to be made at the door. We
had established long ago we did not have to buy a sample each, instead we
would; share the rounds, so to speak. So only one of us actually had to spend the
15-25 guilders (7.5-12.00 $US) for the sample and stand in line for the stamping
of the little passports. If the shop was crowded the next person responsible for
the round would take all the passports and the cash and head into the thick of the
crowd. There was always a great haze inside most shops. The ventilation may
not have been the best, upgrades are never easy in a four hundred year old
building, but the crowd was doing its best to overwhelm a hurricane. The dreaded
London pea soup fog has nothing on the crowded hash bar fog in Amsterdam.
If the shop had room and we had a few minutes to relax and look over the
past few samples, we would head in if there was a table by the door or window.
None of the shops would allow the scooters into the shop, too big they said.
Chaining them was a serious consideration. But to what? In some of these little
alleys the only thing available was a plastic garbage can, or someone elseâ??s
motorcycle. Neither were positive choices. Little kids loved the scooters and when
we watched them walk by they would point and pull daddies hand. Daddy of
course would explain and the kids would head off beaming.
Usually we would try to pick up samples from several shops, and only stop
at one or two for smoking. The streets are very small and never go straight for
long, The streets were all named but because of the way they are set with canals
it can be a challenge to get places occasionally, heavily stoned made it extremely
entertaining. We would gather in our hostel room at various times during the day
and then go out and try to gather more samples for the collection, visit the
exhibits at the Pax house ( a former Police station), go to lectures, political
awareness seminars, or visit the house Remberant lived in. There are the most
amazing museums in the city as well as art galleries, opera, music, all the
distractions of a civilized city.
Scavenger hunt for killer bud That's what it's really like. You wander from
shop to shop. Sometimes there are 2 or 3 along one stretch, but most of the time
you stop at one place, sit down, buy a sample, mark it, evaluate it for appearance
and aroma and check the shop over for general atmosphere, knowledge of the
product, pop it into a bag and head off for the next one. With the boys and the
scooters it should be faster but they can't resist playing on the curbs and
cobbles. Sometimes we cover three or four miles on foot between shops. The
sidewalks varied in quality. Some parts of town were vehicle free during the day
which made getting around much easier, sometimes we had to squeeze
ourselves down an alley and find this very friendly shop.
The map the organizers had supplied had all of the names and addresses
as well as a map with those points marked as well as some other interesting
things, The Cannabis College, The Hemp Museum. There are no marked paths
although they also supply some busses to get you from the different hotels to the
shops. If you took a short cut it might not really be so. And there were places in
the red light district where the girls were working at any time day or night.
Now working here takes a slightly different tone. The red light is on over
the glass window of the cubicle. Bored and partially clothed she tries to entice you
into through the full length glass door she is modeling in front of. When a
customer enters, she pulls the curtains and "entertains".
â??Sorry miss we are not interested, we are searching for the mighty â??White
Smurfâ?? product of some coffee shop over that way.â?�
The organizers did provide bus service between the shops and the hotels.
It was always fun to watch these little fifteen passenger busses rolling through the
tiny cobbled streets. Stopped at a coffee shop it was entertaining to watch them
disgorge a line of mostly heavily overstoned individuals who then either wandered
in the street or meandered into the coffee shop; or a combination of the two. As
we were on our own schedule we tried to find the places when they were not busy
and more representative of the true atmosphere of the shop. An additional few
thousand tourists in for a few days tends to change the local environment.
There are so many wonderful fragments of memories. The Cannaboat tour
from the Dolphins was great, the concerts at the Melkweg, the cafes around Dam
square, a pair of bronze breasts set in the cobble stone sidewalk.
Getting to the Pax house for the voting was an immense challenge, after
six days of bonzo bud there were times I was not sure of my own name. We had
kept good records at every shop and we reviewed our notes to help us make our
votes.
Afterwards we agreed that the â??Water Hashâ?� was the best hash. Although
we liked the Vaportech more than the grinders. For the Sativa we were split
between the Cali Mist and the Fast Spear. We all agreed on the Blueberry, yum
yum! Hempire papers got our vote as well as the Greenhouse coffeshop
Glass was hard for us as there are glass blowers in our family, but the
Jerome Baker stuff was amazing. We liked Barneyâ??s Sweet tooth, but it wouldnâ??t
burn well in joints for us., and the White Smurf we labeled as â??dangerousâ?�
2001? The kids will be back and they are bringing my sons mother in law
for the trip. I may not make it to the cup this year due to business obligations, but
I will be back in Amsterdam; maybe early December. I need a little sanity to offset
the madness of corporate life.

I know my long stuff drives some folks crazy , so I broke this into two chapters. I don't think I'll be there this year, but next year I may sail over and moor my boat in the harbor for a month. I really love Amsterdam!
Doctor G

Loved the story, really detailed and overall great!

I can't wait to experience this one day....thanks!

wow man that was proper good ;) Sounds gr8 i too cnt w8 to expeirnce this

Sounds great.