Flipping the Script: Why We Built a Skill-Based Hash Competition
Everyone has an opinion on hash. The traditional cannabis cup is built on those opinions: a panel of judges samples the entries, scores them, and the winners are the products that panel liked best. Even the best-run cups, with blind judging and careful scoring rubrics, are measuring preference.
We wanted to measure something else. On Sunday, May 3, 2026, Grassfed and Dr. Dabber presented the first Hash Flight Tournament at Berbere Imports in Inglewood: a blind, multi-round smell and taste competition with no judges, no panels and no brand bias. Just your palate against the field.
From opinion-based to skill-based
An opinion-based competition asks, "Which hash is best?" There is no wrong answer, which is exactly the problem: a judge's palate, mood and familiarity with a brand all shape the result.
A skill-based hash competition asks a different question: "Can you tell these apart?" That question has a right answer. Either you can identify a cultivar by its aroma and flavor, or you can't. So we built the Hash Flight Tournament around sensory skill instead of taste, and let the results speak for themselves.
How the blind hash tasting works
Each competitor receives a Flight Manifest listing every cultivar in the round: the brand name, the cultivar name, its genetics, and an empty numbered box. The samples are then served in a randomized order that does not match the manifest. For each sample, the competitor:
- Puts on an eye mask
- Smells the jar, blind
- Removes the eye mask
- Tastes the sample on a Dr. Dabber Switch Go
- Writes the sample's number in the box next to the cultivar they believe it is
One wrong answer and you're out
Once every sample in the round is evaluated, the manifests are scored. To advance, a competitor has to match every sample correctly. One wrong answer means elimination. There is no partial credit, and no one to persuade.
Round 1 ran as three simultaneous groups: one on the main tournament floor, open for every guest to watch, and two in the VIP room. Round after round, the field narrowed, with a live web-based scoreboard tracking every round in real time.
A hash competition that doesn't rank brands
This is not a brand competition. The brands provided the testing material; they were not being ranked against each other. That matters: it lets premium solventless hash serve as the test, without turning the day into a popularity contest. The only thing on the line was the competitor's nose.
What was on the line
The field was capped at 300 competitors, and no industry experience was required: the tournament was open to anyone 21 and over who believed in their sensory skills. First place took home $3,000 cash, an enrollment in the Ganjier Product Certification, a Dr. Dabber device and a sponsor goodie bag. Second place earned $500 cash, a Dr. Dabber device and a goodie bag, and third place a Dr. Dabber device and a goodie bag.
Beyond the competition, the day brought hash brand sampling, glass artists, a wellness area and food vendors to Berbere Imports' indoor and outdoor space.
The debut of the Dr. Dabber Switch Go
The Hash Flight Tournament was also the debut of the Dr. Dabber Switch Go, nearly a month before its wide release. Every competitor tasted their samples on one.
A huge thank you to Dr. Dabber for presenting the tournament with us, for supporting it from the start, and for providing their devices ahead of the release. A blind tasting is only as fair as the device every competitor tastes on, and theirs made it possible.
Why skill matters for hash culture
Solventless hash has grown up. Live rosin and ice water hash carry the aroma and flavor of the plant they came from, and the people who love them can taste the difference between cultivars. A skill-based competition turns that knowledge into something you can prove, and gives connoisseurs a reason to train their palate, not just defend their favorites.
It is the same idea behind our guided Hash Flight tastings and the cannabis bars we bring to private events: slow down, pay attention, and let the cannabis speak for itself.
The results
143 competitors entered. Only five matched all four cultivars in Round 1. Round 2 added a fifth cultivar, and no one matched all five, so the podium went to the most correct answers, with the fastest finish in that round breaking ties.
Bob Lafleur of Team Terp Koozie took first place, Cesar Alquezada second and Ezequias Altamirano third. Congratulations to all three, and to every competitor who put their palate on the line. The full results are on the tournament scoreboard.
What's next
The inaugural Hash Flight Tournament was designed as the foundation for future tournaments. Follow along at hashflighttournament.com and thehashflight.com, and if you would rather bring a dab bar and an experienced budtender to your own event, see our cannabis bar for private events.
Trust your nose.
