They came. They rolled. They quizzed. And in the end, one awesome local emerged victorious in our annual contest of budtender prowess.
For the second year in a row, we invited a budtender from each dispensary in Central Oregon to compete in our friendly competition that tests budtenders' knowledge and skill, in four different rounds. It's fun and maybe a little nerve-wracking—but we think it's also a good way to get people from this emerging industry to get together, to share knowledge and to celebrate the passage of Measure 91 in 2015, which legalized recreational marijuana in Oregon.
Since a competition like this requires some neutral ground, the friendly folks at Bend's Indoor Garden Center—known also as BIGS—were cool enough to let us hold this year's Budtender Olympics inside their space. Thanks to them, and to all the enthusiastic budtenders and dispensary peeps who came out to watch the competition!
Read on to find out more about the competition, who won—and maybe even take our Budtender Olympics quiz to test your own canna-knowledge.
Preliminaries
Contestants
Hunter Chalker
Dr. Jolly's
Pritesh Patel
DiamondTree Madras
Jeremiah Kellar
DiamondTree West Bend
Jodie Brosius
DiamondTree East Bend
Chase Antonich
High Desert Botanicals
Jack Paulsen
Creative Crops
Hobey Weston
Molly Kelly
Cannabend
Cody Graham
Miracle Greens
Round 1
Test Your Cannabis Knowledge
A tie between Cody Graham from Miracle Greens and Jodie Brosius from DiamondTree East Bend, each with two wrong answers.1. According to one study, on average, a typical joint uses .32 grams of flower. Using that average amount, how many joints would you need to smoke to get through 1 ounce?
80
67
87.5
107.8
2. Cannabis is indigenous to:
Central and South Asia
North America
South America
Africa
3. How much THC is contained in cannabis used to produce industrial hemp?
5 percent
Less than 1 percent
Less than .75 percent
1.75 percent
4. In 1985, THC levels averaged about 3.5 percent, but by 2006, the average levels were:
9 percent
16 percent
8.8 percent
8.5 percent
5. How long can detectable levels of THC be found in the body?
Write-in:
6. How did 420 become associated with celebrating marijuana?
Police code for marijuana use
No one remembers or knows
It was the time teens in Northern California in the '70s would light up after school
It's the number of chemicals in cannabis
7. Which country was the first to legalize marijuana?
Jamaica
Netherlands
Uruguay
Canada
8. What was the Oregon Measure that legalized recreational marijuana in Oregon?
Measure 90
Measure 91
Measure 191
Measure 11
9. What do you call the tiny red-orange hairs on the cannabis flower?
Trichomes
Strands
Pistils
Bud bristles
10. What is a trichome?
Translucent, mushroom-shaped glands on the leaves, stems and calyxes
Small nodes that produce pistils
Large, iconic outer fan leaves
The technical name for cannabis flowers
Answer Key:
1. C
2. A
3. B
4. C
5. From a week to a month or longer
6. C
7. C
8. B
9. C
10. A
Round Two
Joint Rolling
In this round, budtenders were tasked with rolling a stellar joint that combined the elements of craft, creativity and smoke-ability. While it's not technically a skill budtenders have to possess in order to do their jobs and serve customers, it shows some stoke for cannabis. Plus, it's a super fun round to watch—and judge.
Round Three
I.D. The Strain
Strains included:
Chemtang, Electric Dog Sh*t, Fresh Glue, Girl Scout Cookies x2, Gorilla Glue, Grandaddy Purple, Jack Herer, White Tahoe Cookies.
This year's victor: Pritesh Patel of DiamondTree Madras, guessing six out of nine correctly.
Round 4
Eyeball Weigh
Results
Winner, Winner, Let's Go Get Dinner
Second place went to Hunter Chalker of Dr. Jolly’s for his good showing in two rounds.
Third place went to Molly Kelly of Cannabend for getting votes from four out of six judges for the best joint.
All the winners walked away with swag from BIGS, Crater Lake Spirits and Stars Cabaret. See you at the Olympics next year, budtenders!
