I have had some time to reflect on my trip to Amsterdam and after some consideration I have come to this conclusion:
Amsterdam is overrated.
I know I posted a bunch of stuff while there that said it was awesome and that I was getting tore up left and right and for the most part it was true.
But man, did I have to smoke a ton to get high.
I did not really want to say anything while in Amsterdam for 2 reasons.
A) I really like a couple of the coffee shops and did not want to get banned while in Amsterdam.
B) I was in a bit of denial after just having spent thousands of dollars to make the trip possible.
Last year I attended the 2008 Cannabis Cup pretty much as a stoner on a mission. Yes, I had a lot more experience than most when it came to being able to tell fire from schwag, but nothing like this year.
The 2009 Cannabis Cup was a much different trip.
This year I went to the The Cup not only as the owner of MarijuanaReviews.com, but thanks to the success of NUGGETRY, one of, if not the most experienced non-celebrity judge in attendance. (I probably know more than most of the celebrity judges even)
One my flight home last year, I remember thinking “man, this sucks…how am I going to be able to smoke the herb I have access to at home after spending a week smoking the best weed in the world?”
This year, all I can think about is the half joint of NUGGETRY OG that I didn’t have time to finish on the wait to the airport last week and is sitting the car waiting for me.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like the bud in Amsterdam is not good. Sometimes even great. But to be totally honest, it’s not even close to the bud we have in California.
I mean, to the average “head”, I am sure Super Lemon Haze, Chocolope or Vanilla Kush are knock out caliber strains.
But where I come from they are just okay.
In my opinion, the coffee shops and the growers/breeders in Amsterdam have been working with the same genetics for too long. They really need to add some new blood to their lineup.
I am not kidding when I tell you that I must have smoked the same exact Haze cut 5 times and each time it had a different name: Amnesia Haze, S5 Haze, S5 Juice, Ultra Haze, Super Silver Haze. Whatever.
It’s not like they don’t know what’s going on here in the States.
Perfect example is the new menu at The Greenhouse. Right in the middle, on probably the most valuable piece of real estate on the page is a big section for the “new original varieties from USA!”
Imagine that, the biggest and baddest marijuana coffee shop in Amsterdam imports some of its genetics from America!
Not very long ago it would have been unheard of for a coffee shop in Amsterdam to be bragging about anything other than the Dutch strains we all know.
But now it seems like they are going out of their way to make sure customers know they have the same fire we are smoking in SoCal.
Medical Marijuana has really changed the game.
I know herb inside and out and I am 100% sure the strains that Arjan is calling his American Strains were not that. They were renamed dutch strains.
At my shop in San Diego, we consistently stock at least 10-15 strains that I would say are hands down better (much stronger, better tasting, better smelling) than ANYTHING I had in Amsterdam, even the Cup winning Super Lemon Haze. (Actually, all our bud is better.)
I will definitely be attending the 2010 Cannabis Cup next year. Amsterdam is an awesome city and has become our home away from home.
I just hope that Arjan, Derry, and all the other coffee shop owners read this and take it to heart because I have a feeling the economy is not the only reason attendance was down this year. –Chubbs
Related Reviews
2008 Cannabis Cup – A great event that had me smiling for a week straight.
Super Lemon Haze – It’s first of two back-to-back wins. Good job Greenhouse.
The Greenhouse – One of the top 2 coffee shops in Amsterdam as far as popularity goes.
Barney’s – The second of the top 2 shops in Amsterdam. Revised reviews coming of all 3 shops.
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Popular MR Forum Threads
The Official 2009 Cannabis Cup Thread
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lets not turn this into ‘i hate america’ thread dudes,
we’re here to talk about marijuana ,,, the same goes for all the west coast tokers who claim to smoke the dankest shit ,, im happy for you guys that you get to toke on the killa vanilla , but stop being fkin arrogant and ignorant.There are plenty of corners around the globe where ppl r smoking some firey dank (aussies , spanish etc) but they dont go around claiming tht they got the ‘best’ weed or anything
edrag87 says:
December 3, 2009 at 5:49 am
Why competitiveness over who has the best weed?
Because this is a website about extensively reviewing marijuana.
Like, duuuuuuuh?
UHHHHH ?? how wide a spectrum does this site actually cover apart frm amsterdam , bc and cali bud? How many pure landraces have you guys actually tested ?
Seriously man , i dont have any beef with americans , and i know it for a fact there is some top grade reefer you guys toke in the west coast , but to make ignorant claims like only in cali can u get the dankest is fkin bollocks
Its like in tht humboldt county documentry i was watching ,, n the cop is flying over the fields in his chopper , and u can hear em saying ,, this is the best marijuana growing in the world , nobody does it better than us! LOOOL
fuck off ! dnt need tht ignorance ,,
also what i would like to know is if the marijuana is amsterdam is really tht poor during the cannabis cups , why have strains like super lemon haze , utopia haze and la confidential got A+ ratings with rave reviews ? how come the sudden change of opinion in one yr chubbs ?
sorry if i come of as a lil rude ,, not trying to start a war here ,, just inquisitive and opiniated
@5AD3
Mexican cartels? Hamburgers? Fat people? You sound like your the one who is arrogant.
If it wasn’t for the US you wouldn’t have a good damn computer to type on or the Internet connection to post your ignorant comments.
If it wasn’t for us your ass would be speaking german.
Go smoke a cone haze joint with some tobacco in it and chill the f’ck.
@flintsfinest…now com’on mate,your starting to lower yourself to his level…my grandfathers fought in ww2 and that comment is out of order,inaccurate…unless you get your history lessons from american films…and pretty offensive!….be the bigger man an lets talk green not war
increase the peace baby x
nicely said flintsfinest, nicely said.
I think the point alot of us west coasters are trying to express is the strains that we’ve came up with over time are now being watered down and mass marketed in Amsterdam by sneaky sales like arjan. It didn’t really have anything to do with Amsterdam behind the scenes or even Amsterdam as a city. Another point that I’d like to make is alot of people here in the U.S. Have gone to jail creating those strains during the bush administration some of which I would consider close friends. I think most of us Americans just want to see credit where it is do.
now isn’t this post interesting. keep it coming guys
great review of the trip sometimes i feel the same way the best bud i ever got going away was in some dry purple kush just please give me my honorary card next time i come westside!
flintsfinest, you and i make a great tagteam, just wanna point that out.
Chubbs, love the site, great info, well organized, probably use it as much as facebook. After reading your review about Amsterdam I understand the dilemma. U hate to say it, but the AM isn’t what it used to be. So the way I see it, take the info u have, and improve on everything you found wrong, that’s the way you do it when you leave a big company to start your own, we have faith man, keep up the good work
hey all
theres two sides to this
i understand where Chubbs is coming from when he says its not the best in the world. Im personaly from BC and have seen some amazing kush. and yes amsterdam is a little overrated. and yes ive seen better bud back home. but amsterdam is for the the adventure. waken up in the morning knowign your onna trip with your friends. going to breakfast and having your coffee with your morning Roor sesh. around a table with friends. I dont go to amsterdam to strickly judge. even though im very serious about cannabis. I ENJOY THE TRIP, more then i enjoy the buds.
PS: socal has good smoke, actully very good. but i find alot of the strains are cropped out a little early. i rarely see that in Amsterdam coffeeshops. if anything they mature it a bit longer to bring out the full nature of the strain jsut befor it starts to deminish.
I agree that many strains in the states are grown better and more potent. That being said, Amsterdam does have tremendous variety even though some strains arent up to par. There is certain strains like northern lights 5 and original nevilles haze that just cant be found in the states of the same quality as the dutch types. Also, the city itself is so beautiful and different from anything we have here in the US that its almost worth goin just for that. Another point I will make is Hash selection. There is unbelievable copious amounts of hash in Holland. Each shop has 8-12 types of hash coming from exotic locations such as Morocco, Nepal. Almost all hash imported to the US is trash. The only good stuff is highly concentrated gear from growers but its only around in such limited quality. Amsterdam is always a good time, dont expect to smoke the best thing in the world because you will find that in Cali or NYC which will have stuff sent from Cali. lol . OG kush and Chemdawg are the two best strains I’ve had to this date and they come from good old U S of A.
i agree with chubbs
no slander against anyone
Just they need to step it up…
Weed is weed,grown dank or not
If they pushed everything to there potential
everything would be a lot lot better instead of Just “ehh pretty good” when you around danks all your life
you expect danks evrywhere you go, and for some of us..thats not tha case. I have been to Amster twice,first time was amazing,second was ok i guesse..my favorite shop was Rasta Baby, nothing like kicking it with those guys and blazzin
Yes Cali all the way very fortunate to live free and grow in this great state.
you know comments like that make me mad he says that the bud in amsterdam isent as good as cali weed its not like cali growers have some special secret! it can be grown the same anywhere in the world and to put down the growers who put so much effort and time into their products pisses me off
I wouldn’t call it a “secret” but cali just has such a better climate/conditions for outdoor and smaller scale quality organic indoor grows….it beats the bigger commercial grows in amsterdam for sure
I’d have to go with Dam ‘coz at least there its available to everyone, not just people with a certificate that are residents of the Netherlands. For that reason alone i’d have to say no matter how good the green is out there in the states unless you got the resources to actually move to CA become a resident annnnnnnd get the card, your screwed and you can still get busted. So i’d be surprised to hear anybody outside of the States claiming CA is the cannabis capital. However i’m just bitter coz up where I am we can only get hold of blueberry, cheese and a hell of alot of generic. Ah well ce’st la vie.
i also agree with chubbs
im pretty lightweight when it comes to smoking and usually dont need too much to get highh but i had the opprotunity to smoke with chubbs during the 2009 coffee shop crawl and the hash bash 09 and dont get me wrong, i was baked off my ass but under normal circumstances if i were home in san diego smoking some cali medical grade i wouldnt have been able to smoke as much as i did when i was in amsterdam.i noticed i needed alottt more to get me to the level i wanted to be. the different types of hash and keef were great but the quality of the buds were just not as good as home cali weed is all ive ever known thats just my opinion. i wouldnt say amsterdam is overrated because i had a blast and will most definitly be going back. the reason i love it there is because there is a wide variety,laid back atmosphere,beautiful city, and because its legall!!
@casie: Amen!
–Chubbs
The truth is Cali has the best. OK I’m Dutch and have been smoking weed for over 30 years, on my first ever trip to Orange county CA last year I smoked the stongest cannabis i have ever smoked. It tasred like the OG Kush in the GreenPlace coffeeshop but was 100x stronger. The Cali buds are way way stronger than anything in europe.
@Jeevan: Amen.
Not any sort of personal attack on the Dutch growers. We’ve just stepped our game up here in California over the last 10 years.
–Chubbs
Hi, i cant get the point out of this?
Disel x Chem, remember chemD was a Bagseed!
First of all, name your socal strains pls!
There is not even One damn strain directly from USA
Same for Netherlands, all this strain are hybrids from Asia(kasachstan), there it all began about 60 millions years ago.
All we have at the moment are hybrids by Breeders like Sensi, DP, Soma, Mandala, SS and much more.
Calm down people, Cannabis is the wrong Subject to be patriotic!
Even your legendary OG Kush is just an Hype
And dont expect to get Stoned on Haze!
Indica = Stoned, Sativa = uphigh
Go to kasachstan, chu valley, legendary landrace genetics for thousends of years there.
Something like 100x stronger sounds like from a Kiddy.
First of all, Cali genetics are from Dutch.
Second, Cali growers did a great work but to be honest its the Clima&Sun in Cali Outdoor.
More Sun +UV = more resin = More relative THC%.
For me there is more than to be pure “Stoned” from cannabis, thats why i believe OG Kush gained that overhype.
If you only wish to get knockout like hell, go get Herijuana IBL from http://www.sanniesshop.com for example, a low/mid yield Strain with an Hell of Knockout, but be carefull it is to strong for most users.
well put in this post Chubbs!
I have smoked weed and hash in both Cali and Amsterdam. I live here in the Dam but often spend summer in the States.
Firstly I agree that the green in America often is great, but you really can’t compare to ease of access, variety on offer, and general conditions (The Police or sitting in Barneys Uptown with some top ganja, eating great food, watching hot Dutch girls, for instance.)
In my opinion, I have to say overall the MJ over here is just a bit better than in California. Its great what your doing though.