I didn’t know what to expect. I had never been to Europe before and a couple trips to Mexico have been the extent of my foreign travel. But being in Amsterdam felt quite natural. Everyone there speaks English, the locals are friendly and the food is good. Most of the differences were minor… Coke tastes better in the US, people have bikes instead of cars, and you bring your own bags to the grocery store.

The coffee shops were great. You get to select from different strains of marijuana on their menus.  Then you can sit on a couch or at a table and smoke with your friends - just like you normally do, except in public. After being there for 12 days, it feels like I should be able to go into a Starbucks and light up without anyone caring.

There are supposedly limits on how much you can carry with you in Amsterdam and you’re also not supposed to smoke if you’re just out walking around, but those rules don’t seem to be enforced. There’s practically no police presence in Amsterdam, at least from what we saw. Although, they don’t seem to need it… crime is low and people take responsibility for themselves.

The Cannabis Cup wasn’t the organized event I expected it to be. I had imagined all the strains in jars, lined up in a room where you could work your way around and sample everything entered in the competition. In reality, it works more like a coffee shop crawl… it’s your responsibility to go around to the different coffee shops and purchase the strains they entered in order to test and judge them.

But there was a central location for the expo and the voting. This year it was at the wharf in an old warehouse. At least 50 vendors, including 420 Jars and our Gravitron friends, were there. Companies that sell smoking devices were giving out free hits to anyone walking by. Same goes for the seed companies and coffee shops with a booth at the expo.

Most companies were there just to promote their product, but we were there to sell jars. High Times selected 420 Jars to be the Official Stash Jar of the Cannabis Cup. So we did a limited edition commemorative jar featuring the logo from the 19th Annual Cup - a beautiful piece of artwork created by Alex Grey. We had a booth right next to the entrance and the jars proved to be incredibly popular.

After the Cup was over, we spent some time in Amsterdam visiting headshops and meeting with distributors. The trip required a lot of planning and effort, but we had fun, we sold a lot of jars and we made some good contacts in Amsterdam. I’m sure we’ll be going back next year for the 20th Cup. It was wonderful to be in a country that’s open and honest about marijuana.