Pubdate: Sun, 30 Jun 2013
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Gordon McIntyre
Page: A10

POT GROWERS 'MIX IT UP' FOR CUP

Besides the right amount of THC, what goes into award-winning
pot?

"A lot of TLC," said marijuana grower Sean McKay. "I've been a
cannabis cultivator for quite some time. Experience helps."

Marijuana has complex cannabinoids and other chemicals. It's the
experiments of mixing various types of pot together and seeing what
you get that folks at the Kush Cup are voting on.

The Kush Cup started Friday and wraps up on Sunday, with people
sampling various blends and strains of marijuana and voting on the
most potent.

McKay has won two first-places at the Kush Cup, and four other
first-places at competitions in Toronto, Amsterdam and Spain
(Spannabis).

McKay's strains come through trial and error, like many a good
genetics project.

"I mix it up, I have multiple strains," he said. "I've got Bubba Kush,
what I just won with in Toronto is UBC Chemo Kush, I've also won with
Blue Cheese, which is a European strain. We've got some MK Ultra."

McKay genetically engineers his plants the old-fashioned way, the way
Gregor Mendel engineered peas. No Frankenweed here.

He tweaks the amount of THC (tretrahydrocannibinol), undergoes his own
experiments and when he likes what he's created, a new strain with a
new name is the result.

The Kush Cup (Kush is a subset strain of marijuana, named after the
Hindu Kush mountain range in Asia) has expanded in its second go-round
to include a B.C. Health Expo in an attempt to reach a wider audience.

Housed inside the Forum at the PNE, there are the usual booths
promoting horticultural equipment and nutrients, water pipes and other
pot paraphernalia.

But there are booths for jewelry, alternative health products, an
oxygen bar (the Timber is nice, hints of balsam pine needles),
anti-oxidant tests, steering wheels locks - a typical exhibitors area.

There's a beer garden, like any good expo would have, but there is
also a smoking tent (for those with a medicinal user certificate),
where Enrico Bouchard shows off his Sublimator.

For the uninitiated, pot can be inhaled smoke-free in a
vaporizer.

"What I did," Bouchard said, "I took the vaporizer molecules down to
gas molecules.

"It gives you quicker absorption."
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MAP posted-by: Matt