The Epic High Times Cannabis Cup Journey, From Amsterdam to the Empire State
The High Times Cannabis Cup has come a long way since its scrappy beginnings in 1988. Born in Amsterdam’s smoky coffeeshops and now blossoming into a global competition judged by everyday fans, the Cup’s history is as colorful as cannabis culture itself. As High Times gears up for its New York Cannabis Cup in 2025, poised to be the biggest People’s Choice event in the Cup’s storied run, with winners announced January 16, 2026, it is the perfect time to look back on how this iconic competition became the world championship of weed.
The Cup Takes Root in Amsterdam
Amsterdam’s tolerant cannabis culture made it the perfect birthplace for the High Times Cannabis Cup in 1988.
In the late 1980s, High Times editor-in-chief Steven Hager had a radical idea: create an international festival to celebrate the best cannabis on the planet. Hager drew inspiration from clandestine NorCal harvest festivals where growers compared their finest buds in secret. He envisioned something bolder, a public competition out of the shadows that could push cannabis culture forward.
For the location, Hager chose Amsterdam, the one place on Earth where open cannabis consumption was de facto tolerated. Since 1976, Dutch coffeeshops could sell small amounts of cannabis and allow on-site use under local tolerance rules, so enthusiasts could gather and light up without fear. In November 1988, Hager’s vision became reality. The inaugural High Times Cannabis Cup took place in Amsterdam, planting the seed for an annual tradition.
That first Cannabis Cup was a humble affair by today’s standards. Only a handful of Dutch seed companies entered, and judging was left to a small panel of experts flown in by High Times. Among them was legendary cultivator Ed Rosenthal, a High Times columnist who made the trip specifically to lend his palate to the cause. History was made when Skunk #1, entered by Cultivator’s Choice, took the top honors as the first Cannabis Cup winner in 1988.
(Cannabis lore alert: soon after, breeder Nevil Schoenmakers of The Seed Bank bought Cultivator’s Choice and went on to capture the Cup in 1989 and 1990 with his own strains.)
Amsterdam’s coffeeshop scene proved to be fertile ground, literally and figuratively, for what was to come.
High Times in the High Country: 1990s Expansion
In the early 1990s, the Cannabis Cup evolved from a niche gathering into a full-fledged cultural event. It was not without growing pains. By the Cup’s fourth year, a U.S. DEA crackdown called Operation Green Merchant was targeting seed sellers back in America; even Nevil’s seed business was not spared. To keep a low profile, the 1991 Cup reinvented itself as an Amsterdam coffeeshop crawl, inviting local coffeeshops to enter their house buds. This shift brought a landmark change. For the first time, the public was allowed to judge. About 50 civilian judges voted on coffeeshop strains that year, ultimately crowning Free City’s Skunk as the people’s pick. It was a taste of things to come, giving everyday smokers a direct say in who took home a Cannabis Cup.
Opening up the judging did more than make the Cup fun. It began to shape the cannabis industry itself. “Many coffeeshops and seed companies were made by winning the Cannabis Cup,” recalls High Times cultivation editor Danny Danko. A first-place trophy could turn an unknown breeder into an overnight legend. Amsterdam institutions like Green House and Barney’s became rock stars of the coffeeshop world thanks to multiple Cup wins and a friendly rivalry that had tourists lining up out the door. Up-and-coming seed outfits from around the globe also got on the map after a big win, U.S.-based Rare Dankness and the U.K.’s Big Buddha Seeds among them.
The competition also stoked a fire in growers to innovate. The desire to win a Cannabis Cup made people hungry to find new flavors, higher potency, and novel varieties, which improved the quality of cannabis worldwide. The 1990s Cup scene introduced game-changing strains that are still revered. The frosty White Widow burst onto the scene by clinching the 1995 Cup for Green House, setting a new bar for resinous buds. By 1998–99, Super Silver Haze dominated the sativa category. A decade later, its citrusy offspring Super Lemon Haze made history as a rare back-to-back champion in 2008 and 2009. As cannabis genetics went global, the Cup kept minting classics, from Skunk #1 to Tangie in 2013, that shaped what connoisseurs smoke today.
Counterculture Hall of Fame and Cup Culture
By the mid-’90s, the Cannabis Cup was more than a contest. It was a cultural happening. In 1997, Steven Hager added a new tradition to the festivities, the Counterculture Hall of Fame, created to “celebrate the history of the counterculture by recognizing its saints,” as Hager put it. Each year during the Cup, a pioneering icon of cannabis or radical culture would be honored with an induction. The legendary Bob Marley was the first to receive this posthumous honor in ’97, with his wife Rita accepting. In the years that followed, the Hall of Fame became a who’s who of alternative heroes, from beat generation luminaries like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg to cannabis crusaders like Jack Herer and comedy’s favorite stoner duo, Cheech & Chong. Even High Times founder Tom Forçade got his due in 2009, and Hager himself was inducted in 2012. The ceremony added a thoughtful note to the Cup, a reminder that the cannabis movement has deep roots and storied champions.
It would not be High Times without a party. The Cannabis Cup of the ’90s and 2000s was infamous for its entertainment lineup as much as the buds. Each year’s event culminated in concerts at Amsterdam’s iconic Melkweg, a former dairy factory turned raucous music hall. Past Cups saw live performances from hip-hop and rock legends like Cypress Hill, Fishbone, Redman, and MF DOOM, as well as reggae royalty and cutting-edge artists, all playing to a smoke-filled room of euphoric Cup-goers. The nights before the awards were a nonstop party, making the Cannabis Cup as much a festival as a competition. For many attendees, the annual pilgrimage to Amsterdam became a high holiday. “It is like a pilgrimage to Mecca, a spiritual place for cannabiphiles,” recalls cultivator Kyle Kushman of his first Cup, describing the freedom of lighting up legally in Amsterdam for the first time. The Cup was not just picking winners. It was celebrating a lifestyle and a community that mainstream society had long kept underground.
End of an Era, Crackdowns and Change
Nothing gold stays. By the 2010s, the Amsterdam Cannabis Cup was under new pressure. On November 23, 2011, Dutch police raided the Cup expo, the first time authorities stepped into the event’s space. Cannabis was still tolerated, but a tougher political mood had taken hold. Officers enforced possession limits and seized personal stashes. No attendees were ultimately charged, but the message landed. The freewheeling Amsterdam era was wobbling.
High Times kept the Cup in the Netherlands a little longer, yet planning got harder each year. In 2014, after 27 consecutive editions, Amsterdam’s run effectively wrapped. Stricter enforcement around drug tourism and gray-area supply made the old model harder to stage, while new legal markets in the United States were opening their doors. The Cup returned to Amsterdam for special editions in 2017 and 2018, but 2014 stands as the end of the continuous Amsterdam chapter, as the spotlight shifted stateside.
The Cannabis Cup Comes to America
Even before Amsterdam’s grand finale, the Cannabis Cup had started taking its show on the road. 2010 was a turning point. That year, High Times launched the first-ever U.S. Cannabis Cup events, starting with a Medical Cannabis Cup in San Francisco, California. It was a natural move. America’s medical marijuana scene was booming, and for the first time, a cannabis competition could be held somewhat openly on U.S. soil. The San Francisco Cup in June 2010 was a medical-only event, but it marked the beginning of High Times’ expansion beyond Amsterdam. From there, the Cup spread to other medical states, Denver, Seattle, Detroit, and more, often under the banner of the High Times Medical Cannabis Cup to emphasize patient-focused competition.
The real watershed came a few years later. In 2012, Colorado and Washington voted to legalize recreational cannabis, and by 2014, Colorado opened the first adult-use shops in the U.S. High Times seized the moment. The 2015 Cannabis Cup in Denver was the first recreational High Times Cup held on fully legal American ground. At last, adults 21 and over could openly attend, purchase products, and participate without a medical card. High Times even celebrated by hosting a special World Cannabis Cup edition in Jamaica in 2015, bringing the competition to the spiritual home of ganja.
From 2010 onward, the Cannabis Cup U.S. tour only accelerated. By the late 2010s, High Times was staging Cup events in every state with a strong cannabis program, from California to Colorado, Michigan, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Nevada, and beyond. What started as an underground meetup in Amsterdam grew into a roadshow that mirrored the wider legalization wave. Each regional Cup kept the spirit of the original, showcasing the best local bud and products while adding its own twist. By the Cup’s 30th anniversary in 2017, legalization had gone mainstream, and the Cup was right there in the mix, evolving with the times while keeping its rebel soul.
People’s Choice, A New Era
Just when it seemed the Cannabis Cup had seen it all, 2020 threw a curveball. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down large events. High Times was not about to let the Cup go up in smoke. The team pivoted to the People’s Choice Edition. In place of in-person expos and live judging, High Times reinvented the competition for an at-home experience and opened up the judging process to everyday consumers. How does it work? Through exclusive Cannabis Cup judge kits, packages filled with samples of all the competing strains or products in a given category, sold at dispensaries to any adult who wants to be a judge. Instead of a small panel of 28 to 35 experts, hundreds of regular folks score entries from home. In statewide competitions, High Times offers roughly 228 judge kits per category, which sell out fast.
This crowdsourced model democratized the event like never before. Longtime fans who never thought they would get to smoke a Cannabis Cup lineup now had the power to participate directly. The result was a surge of grassroots excitement around the Cup, even without the big festival atmosphere. By swapping concert stages for scorecards and letting anyone with a passion for pot be a judge, the Cup stayed true to its counterculture roots while adapting to strange times.
2025, The Cup Comes Home to New York
Now, as we look to 2025, the Cannabis Cup is set to reach another milestone that brings the story full circle. For the first time ever, High Times is hosting a Cannabis Cup in New York, and it is a People’s Choice edition open to the public. It is on track to be the largest People’s Choice Cannabis Cup to date, with the biggest judging pool ever assembled for a cannabis competition in the state. For a brand that got its start in New York in the 1970s, bringing the Cup to the Empire State is a full-circle moment rich with symbolism.
Key New York 2025 dates:
- October 10–24: Competitor product submissions in Brooklyn, NY. Apply here.
- October 31: Judge kits on sale statewide.
- October 31–December 31: Judging timeframe.
- December 31: Judging deadline.
- January 16, 2026: Awards show and winners announced.
The Cup will showcase the best legal cannabis products the burgeoning New York market has to offer, with categories that span flower, pre-rolls, concentrates, vapes, edibles, beverages, and more. Unlike the secretive sessions of 1980s growers or the exclusive Amsterdam judge panels of old, this time any qualified New Yorker can step up and be a taste-tester of champions. High Times is essentially telling fans, “This is your Cup now.”
As the Cannabis Cup enters its next chapter, it carries the legacy of all that came before, the vision of Steven Hager and the Amsterdam pioneers, the legendary strains and personalities that defined cannabis history, and the ever-growing community of enthusiasts who propel it forward. From a small room of intrepid judges in 1988 to a statewide extravaganza in 2025 judged by the masses, the Cup reflects the broader journey of cannabis itself. Once underground, now on top of the world, and still a lot of fun. In true High Times fashion, the Cannabis Cup continues to evolve without losing its cool. As we gear up for New York’s People’s Choice edition, coffeeshop crawls swap for deli runs and tulip joints for bodega blunts. One thing remains constant. The Cannabis Cup is where cannabis history is made, one puff at a time.
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