Calling All Pot Sommeliers

[Hash Zeppelin]

Just gather other growers and start catalogging as much info as you can about strains, hash grown and made in your region.

If I can get everyone to do there region then we can piece them together to make a region map. that is a start. Then we can start calissifing indoor bud by grow method.

 

[Flux451]

Associations and an open forum are very important and powerful items. If things were looked at through a direct democracy, perhaps more sovereign control, people would necessarily be more educated and motivated to keep involved. I feel structure truly fears a dynamic public consensus

The Chinese say (I wouldn’t know though) the Shen or spirit upon reaching certain signified experiences and having a certain design, will want to follow the right path

The inherent complexities with a Sommelier system with MJ are dissipating. Masters are not underdogs to crews or shouldn’t be (ship of state coincidences sure) and surely have a small network or like level minded folks, only before legalization it would be kind of Mafioso to get many to congregate at the same times - even electronically. We all have to will ourselves to have the most beneficial affect on our physical and mental climates, you see this all happening around you, yes some perfectionists are neurotic but – its about your long term vision and counsciousness

I love the idea though – The US of A was upheld by its strong associations and groups, curing our individualist and otherwise cutthroat means. Ultimately this is my relief for humanity, if we really start to think together - we must swap out information asymmetries and axe production for sustainable and holistic markets - also, this should be some sort of renaissance and not just a green wash campaign or fascism unveiled as progressive social policy, but an honest assessment with transperency and open (multiple) channels

It is interesting, very few locations have a lab that can test for chemical systemics, potency, genetics etc... however I do see this as a more rabbi kind of supervision

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

^great insight man. I tell you what that is the best idea yet. I would now like to structure the system around democracy. Voting on the leader of the organization is a great idea. It gets people to join, when they have a say. Plus they can pick the "masters" like we pick supreme court judges.

just no campaigns donations. we dont want it to be a bought out system like the US government. Also popular vote only, no electoral college ever. Also term limits stay.

This is exactly why I started this forum. so many people have had great ideas already, and they just keep coming. the logistics of something like this is huge and will take a lot of minds.

 

[mrgrowmez]

Masters will show themselves through action, creating status will lead to bickering and trolls etc.... we are all counter horticulturists....need we be more?

 

[ZEROorDIE]

social hierarchies dont usually work out so well. in this category history has consistently repeated itself. once a person gains power they usually have no desire to give it up

food for thought

 

[Flux451]

Social hierarchies do create pathology... all hierarchies are holarchies, difference is a holarchies "is a hierarchy of holons (anything atomistic to complex in composition, a being) – where a holon is both a part and a whole." and everything is nested with each other - some are more encompassing (emergent) but all have aspects of their descendent foundations (lesser holons are apart of pinnacle structure)

Everything is apart of this holarchy, hierarchy does have powerful and bad connotations however they are only maintained through force / deception / stagnant structure - I CANT GO FOR THAT, and we can do much better, rather then free market politics and ship of state means, people are starting to have more of an integrated worldview. Whole Picture stuff

Imagine all us people

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

^more good insight man. Have you read about italian, french, and american wine classifications? Also have read about the somm system. I think you will find them very interesting.

there is no limit to the number masters that there can be, and the only power that comes with it is that people take your opinion more seriously than others, plus you get free food at any 5 star restaurant you go too. its an industry respect thing.

And yes masters will distiguish themselves, otherwise they wouldnt be picked to have the title.

also there is no real scary power in the postitions. they arent even payed. the only people who have any power here are the mods, and I doubt they get payed either.

this is really an act of public service.

The power of the organization comes from the fact the together as a group (small American growers) we are smarter, more educated, and more experienced with weed than any large corporation could ever be because we are the people that have been providing the nation with pot since 1776.

If a company wants to be successful in the industry it will require them to be aproved by us. maybe not by law, but by social law for sure. we arnt gonna stop passing to left in a circle, or smoking stuff from good breeders and growers, I dont know anyone who prefers shwag over dank.

It is like the BBB (better business bureau) for weed combined with consumer reports for weed. IC mag is already an online mag and could be adapted to add a section for this. GN said he would do it if we could get enough people together to start it.

thanks for joining in yall.

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

http://regulatemarijuanalikewine.com/regulate-marijuana-like-wine-act-2012/

REGULATE MARIJUANA LIKE WINE

A California Voter Initiative - 2012

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/jan/31/regulate_marijuana_wine_wins_62

"Regulate Marijuana Like Wine" Wins 62% in CA Poll

A voter survey commissioned by California's Regulate Marijuana Like Wine (RMLW) initiative campaign suggests the initiative could win at the polls in November -- if it manages to make it onto the ballot.

RMLW is one of handful of proposed 2012 California marijuana legalization initiatives, all of them ill-funded. For any of them to make the ballot, they have to come up with more than 500,000 valid voter signatures by April, a task that is considered almost impossibly to accomplish by volunteer efforts alone.

RMLW commissioned the poll in a bid to show potential funders it could win in November, and with these poll results, the campaign can now make that argument. California initiative watchers estimate that it would take between $1 and $2 million in paid signature-gathering to make the ballot.

The statewide poll of 800 likely voters conducted by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates found support for the initiative at 62%, with 35% opposed and 3% undecided. No cross-tabs have been made available.

The poll found even higher levels of support for more general critiques of current drug laws and the level of attention California law enforcement pays to marijuana. Four out of five respondents (80%) agreed with the statement, "State and federal drug laws are outdated and have failed, therefore, we need to take a new approach that makes sense for today," while 71% agreed that law enforcement spends too much, time, money, and resources enforcing marijuana laws.

If RMLW were to pass, the California Legislative Analyst's Office has projected "savings of potentially several tens of millions of dollars annually to state and local governments of the costs of incarcerating and supervising certain marijuana offenders," as well as potentially generating "hundreds of millions of dollars in net additional tax revenues related to the production and sale of marijuana products."

"There is no policy that is more discriminatory or wastes more tax dollars," said RMLW treasurer Steve Collett, who hailed the poll results. "This initiative helps farmers, reduces prison overcrowding, relieves burdens on the courts, generates revenues for the state, and frees up police to work on real crimes."

The results also encouraged Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) co-founder Jack Cole. "LEAP believes the citizens of California are far ahead of the federal government in assessing a policy that will reduce death, disease, crime, and corruption, when they register 62% support for the initiative Regulate Marijuana Like Wine," he said.

Proponents of the competing marijuana legalization initiatives are working to set up a joint meeting, a so-called "Cannadome" in the Bay Area for mid-February. Whether these new poll results will make any difference in forging unity then remains to be seen.
CA
United States

 

[mrcreosote]

Not to be a negative Nellie, but don't breeders already have a rating system in place?

The ones that are still selling seeds vs. the ones that are no longer in business?

Example: Your 10 may be a 5 to me and vice versa.
I think there are too many environmental variables and personal preferences to unequivocally say "These x strains from these x breeders are the top 10." or something like that.

Another example would be the 'insider' rankings of the Academy Awards and Grammys.
I see a lot of stuff that raises a buzz in the media that is then translated into fashionable, and a picture or song that is hammered crap (to me anyway) in reality becomes the big winner that is an embarrassment when all the hype runs out.
Naturally, one could say the same about fashionable and The Peoples Choice Awards as well.

In the end, a breeders work will stand on it's own by the quality of their product and the public's desire to part with their coin to have it in their stable.
Guys and gals with tuxedos and a towel ain't gonna change that, nor should they try.

Then again, I could be missing your point here too. My proletariat egalitarianism and my free market demons often conflict.
Schizophrenia is a beautiful thing. Never a dull moment...

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

you are missing the point a little. It has nothing to do with being fancy or having a set scale with one strain always being the best to compare to.

The point is to have a community that keeps legal companies down to earth and honest. For instance, if Phillip Morris wanted to start selling weed there would be a respected body of people in place to call them out when they sell shwag laced with nicotine as "dank"

Another purpose is just for entertainment, and education. Smoke reports are both. Also strain Linage can be kept track of in an official data bank.

a third reason for this is, Bringing the wealthy class to smoking weed is one of the best things you can do to assure the ending of prohibition. The more people with big bucks that enjoy it the more they won't fight against it. If you can come up with weed they deem as " a delicacy" then you can make big bucks too. In the past I have sold many bottles of wine in the $500-$2000 range on the reg for years. I have sold bottles over ten thousand.

I have drank the majority of the wines on this list, and the people that bought them and drank them with me also smoke my herb. They are the ones that sparked this idea.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/...4988.html#s463475&title=1978_Montrachet_24000

 

[flubnutz]

i would LOVE to see a good, big, diverse group of very experienced pot consumers giving their opinions on commercial breeder strains. as long as they're not getting freebies from the breeders, no payola.

the challenges: it would be difficult to differentiate between the strain and the grower, the grower has so much influence on the end product. you also want to make sure the grower is growing the real deal, not some personal cross or other source. sort of an "appelation controlée". funding would be an issue ... you couldn't have seed vendors supporting it, they'd pull their cash if the product they carried was getting dissed. you'd want more of a "consumer report" idea, no ads (like the old Mad magazine ... no ads, so they could light into anyone )

judges would be a cinch, there are (at LEAST) a dozen guys on IC mag whose opinion i'd value.

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

we would also want scientist to do tests to see if there is any chemical additives made to make it addictive, or smell like a turkey t.v. dinner, or any other crazy shit that would cause health issues.

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

I would say this- hierarchical societies since their very creation have created more problems than one could begin to imagine. If they have failed so miserably in the world already, I am opposed to seeing one introduced in the marijuana society.

 

[Danksta]

Good idea. This would have to be organized in Europe first-hand and on a person to person basis. You could then bring it over when the time is right. Although I do agree with Shakira ^^^.... the organization would sooner or later become corrupt.

 

[catalyte]

cool concept!

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

there is nothing corrupt in the world of wine. It is about a personal enjoyment of wine and the quest to try them all (like pokemon for alcoholics.) There is multiple sources of people that rate wine by taste, but they are magazines, not the sommeliers. Rating in that world means classification. for instance in weed it has already started, with sativa, indica, afganica, ruderalis. etc. Then it's sub class hazes, kushes. then blends in wine are called meritage. In weed we name our blends strains or pheno's like skunk or blueberry

The first thing you learn when learning about wine is that it is all objective. then you learn the right wine is the one that goes with the food or occasion the best. Then you learn to refine your pallet. then you learn there is something good in every price range if you know what you are looking for.

 

[ZEROorDIE]

i was wondering what happened to this thread the other day.

its cool to see some people taking intitiative to maintain the quality of pot whether or not big companies end up getting ahold of it.

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

^it keeps prices and competition fair as well. It keeps artisan producers from getting shoved out.

 

[mrcreosote]

Ok Hash,
I see where you're going. An independent group of growers who describe and rate current offerings would be a very good thing provided that it could be truly independent.
Let's face it. How many consumer magazines, say electronics as an example, who never have a bad thing to say about an advertisers product while a non advertisers wares are mercilessly hacked to death.

I'm in. Sign me up for the apprenticeship program.
Hopefully, they'll come up with a classier moniker than 'Buzzmeister'.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

i like this idea...im involved in the wine industry and find the market interesting and drawing many similarities to marijuana...

i dont know too much about wine other than what the blends are made with...but i know a ton about marijuana so id like to consider myself a "marijuana sommelier" lol...

sign me up..when and where is the testing i want my grade already!