The 2017 High Times Cannabis Cup was not simply another stop on the expanding Cannabis Cup circuit. Held in Amsterdam from November 19 through November 22, 2017, the event marked High Times’ return to the city where the competition had begun in 1988 and celebrated the 30th anniversary of the original Amsterdam Cannabis Cup. Three years had passed since the troubled 2014 edition, when authorities prevented the traditional expo from opening and effectively ended the Cup’s uninterrupted 27-year Amsterdam run. High Times had spent the intervening period concentrating heavily on events in the United States and other international markets, making the 2017 return deliberately nostalgic.
Yet the revived Cup did not simply recreate the huge convention-style events of the 2000s. High Times partnered with the existing Amsterdam Unity Cup, adopted a four-day coffeeshop-crawl format, and centered nighttime events at the Melkweg. Any attendee with the appropriate judging pass could visit participating coffeeshops, evaluate competition entries and vote. The awards show on November 22 was hosted by longtime High Times cultivation editor Danny Danko. The resulting competition was streamlined into five official divisions: Coffeeshop Flower, Coffeeshop Neder Hash, Coffeeshop Import Hash, Seed Company Flower and Seed Company Hash.
The winners combined some of Amsterdam’s most established coffeeshops with international breeders that had come to define the modern cannabis market. Original Dampkring won Coffeeshop Flower with Blackberry Bliss, DNA Genetics captured Seed Company Flower with S1, Grey Area took Neder Hash with SB Ice, Bagheera won Import Hash with Mango Haze, and Devil’s Harvest topped Seed Company Hash with Devil’s Glue. The result sheet was much smaller than those of the sprawling Cups before 2014, but it offered a revealing snapshot of what Amsterdam cannabis culture looked like when High Times finally came home.
Returning to Amsterdam After the 2014 Breakdown
The significance of the 2017 event makes more sense when viewed against what happened three years earlier. High Times’ continuous Amsterdam run had stretched from the first organized Cannabis Cup in 1988 through 2014. During that period, the Cup had grown from a small invitational involving Dutch seed breeders into a weeklong cannabis festival with concerts, cultivation seminars, huge expos, glass competitions, product awards, hash categories and international celebrity guests. But Dutch enforcement became increasingly difficult to navigate. Police raided the expo in 2011, and in 2014 the planned vendor exhibition was stopped before it could properly open. High Times subsequently shifted most of its attention toward expanding legal and medical cannabis markets elsewhere.
By 2017, High Times explicitly framed Amsterdam as one of the iconic homes of cannabis culture and announced that its Live & Legal Cannabis Experience Tour would return there for the 30th anniversary celebration. Rather than attempting to rebuild the giant trade-show format that had become difficult to stage, organizers focused on the element that had originally made Amsterdam unique: visitors moving through the city’s coffeeshops and judging cannabis available from established local businesses. High Times described the event as a Cannabis Cup Crawl in which attendees themselves could judge the competitors.
The Unity Cup Helped Bring High Times Back
The Amsterdam Unity Cup was important to the comeback. The local event had emerged while High Times was absent from Amsterdam, preserving a public-facing coffeeshop competition during the gap between the 2014 and 2017 High Times events. Contemporary reporting described the 2017 High Times Cup as effectively joining forces with that existing Unity Cup infrastructure rather than starting from zero. Judges who had already purchased Unity Cup passes were incorporated into the High Times event, while the Melkweg served as the evening venue.
That arrangement made the 2017 edition different from the classic Cannabis Cups immediately preceding the hiatus. There was no giant PowerZone-style expo and no long list of product, glass, booth, CBD and vaporizer trophies. Instead, the format was concentrated around flower, traditional imported hash, locally produced Nederhash and seed-company entries. In some ways, that made the 30th-anniversary Cup closer in spirit to the original competition than the enormous commercial festivals of the 2000s had been.
2017 High Times Cannabis Cup Winners in All Official Amsterdam Categories
High Times’ official results and the current Cannabis Cup archive agree on the five competitive divisions and their podiums. The table below reflects the 2017 Amsterdam Cannabis Cup, not the separate 2017 High Times events in California, Michigan, Canada or the later World Cannabis Cup.
| 2017 Amsterdam Category | 1st Place | 2nd Place | 3rd Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coffeeshop Flower | Blackberry Bliss — Original Dampkring | White Fire #6 — Grey Area | Sunset Sherbet — Voyagers |
| Coffeeshop Neder Hash | SB Ice — Grey Area | Red Ice — Original Dampkring | Cookies & Cream Isolator — Green Place |
| Coffeeshop Import Hash | Mango Haze — Bagheera | Asli — Original Dampkring | Don Perignon — Green Place |
| Seed Company Flower | S1 — DNA Genetics | Orange Diesel V3 — Lady Sativa Genetics | Sunset Sherbet — Pheno Finder’s |
| Seed Company Hash | Devil’s Glue — Devil’s Harvest / Devil’s Nectar / Suver Nuver | The Juice — Crockett Family Farms | SO G Kush Waterhash — Soma’s Sacred Seeds |
The official 2017 Amsterdam result lists do not document separate Indica, Sativa, Hybrid, Glass, Product, Booth, CBD or edible competitions. Those categories were common at other High Times Cups during the same period, but they should not be imported into the Amsterdam results simply because they existed at the 2017 SoCal, Canada or World events.
Blackberry Bliss Gives Original Dampkring the Main Flower Trophy
The central cannabis result of the anniversary Cup was Blackberry Bliss from Original Dampkring taking first place in Coffeeshop Flower. It defeated Grey Area’s White Fire #6 and Voyagers’ Sunset Sherbet. That podium brought together three names deeply connected with Amsterdam’s high-end coffeeshop culture and reinforced the city-specific character of the comeback. Rather than the overall trophy going to a large American legal-market producer, the most visible flower award belonged to an Amsterdam coffeeshop.
Original Dampkring’s performance was especially strong because it also finished second in Coffeeshop Import Hash with Asli and second in Neder Hash with Red Ice. In other words, Dampkring reached the podium in all three coffeeshop categories and won the most prominent flower division. That breadth made it arguably the defining coffeeshop competitor of the 30th-anniversary event, even though other businesses captured the two hash championships.
Grey Area Wins Neder Hash and Places Second in Flower
Grey Area had one of the strongest Cup histories of any Amsterdam coffeeshop, and 2017 added another important chapter. Its White Fire #6 took second behind Blackberry Bliss in flower, while SB Ice won the Coffeeshop Neder Hash category. The double podium showed that Grey Area remained competitive across both flower and locally produced resin despite the dramatic genetic and technological changes that had occurred during the years High Times was away from Amsterdam.
The winning hash also illustrates how the Dutch concentrate tradition remained distinct from the rapidly evolving American extract scene. By 2017, High Times competitions in California and other U.S. markets had extensive categories for live resin, solvent concentrates, rosin and vape cartridges. Amsterdam retained the older Neder Hash terminology, preserving the local tradition of concentrates produced from Dutch-grown cannabis. Green Place’s third-place Cookies & Cream Isolator connected that heritage with newer genetics and ice-water extraction language.
Sunset Sherbet Appears on Two Different Podiums
Sunset Sherbet appeared twice in the 2017 results. Voyagers placed third in Coffeeshop Flower with the cultivar, while Pheno Finder’s took third in Seed Company Flower with its own Sunset Sherbet entry. That repeat appearance reflects how decisively Cookies family and dessert-oriented genetics had spread across the international market by the late 2010s.
Only three years earlier, Cookies Kush had won the final Cup of the uninterrupted Amsterdam era. When High Times returned in 2017, Sunset Sherbet—a cultivar belonging to the broader Cookies-influenced genetic world—was represented on both sides of the competition. The Cup had always documented major changes in cannabis fashion, and the move from Haze-dominated winners in the 1990s and 2000s toward Cookies, Sherbet and dessert-profile varieties was unmistakable by this point.
DNA Genetics Wins Seed Company Flower With S1
The Seed Company Flower championship went to DNA Genetics with S1, ahead of Lady Sativa Genetics’ Orange Diesel V3 and Pheno Finder’s Sunset Sherbet. High Times and DNA Genetics both independently record the same result. Surviving official event material identifies the winning cultivar simply as “S1,” without providing enough pedigree information to justify attaching a more elaborate lineage to the name. For historical accuracy, it is better to preserve the competition name rather than retrofit an uncertain genetic explanation.
For DNA Genetics, the victory carried special weight because Amsterdam had been central to the company’s rise. DNA’s own history describes founders Don and Aaron establishing themselves in Amsterdam and winning their first High Times Cannabis Cup award in 2004 with L.A. Confidential. During the following decade, cultivars associated with DNA and Reserva Privada—including Chocolope, Kosher Kush, Tangie and Holy Grail Kush—became regular fixtures on Cannabis Cup podiums. Winning Seed Company Flower during High Times’ anniversary return therefore connected the company’s modern success directly with the city where it had built much of its international reputation.
Orange Diesel V3 Gives Lady Sativa Genetics Second Place
Lady Sativa Genetics finished second with Orange Diesel V3, another result reflecting the flavor-driven direction of modern breeding. The cultivar later won the Sativa category at the 2017 Homegrown Cup, providing independent evidence that the Orange Diesel selection was performing strongly in Amsterdam competitions during the same period.
Its placement also fit the broader genetic trends visible at the 2017 Cup. Citrus, orange and dessert aromas had become major breeding targets. Tangie had dominated competitions only a few years earlier, and Orange Diesel V3 represented a continuation of that interest in intense, recognizable terpene profiles. By contrast, early Cannabis Cups had often been dominated by broader family identities such as Skunk, Haze, Northern Lights or Afghan.
Devil’s Glue Wins Seed Company Hash
The Seed Company Hash category went to Devil’s Glue from Devil’s Harvest, with the official results specifically crediting extraction by Devil’s Nectar and Suver Nuver. Crockett Family Farms’ The Juice took second, while Soma’s Sacred Seeds placed third with SO G Kush Waterhash. The inclusion of extractor credits was a clear sign of how concentrate culture had evolved: winning resin was increasingly understood as the product of both genetics and specialized processing.
Soma’s third-place finish provided an especially strong connection to older Amsterdam history. Soma had been participating in Cannabis Cup culture for decades and was associated with cultivars such as NYC Diesel and Amnesia Haze long before solventless extraction became one of the dominant areas of cannabis competition. Seeing Soma’s Sacred Seeds on the 2017 hash podium linked the revived Cup directly to the breeder generation that had shaped the classic Amsterdam years.
Crockett Family Farms Brings Modern American Genetics Into Amsterdam
Crockett Family Farms’ The Juice finished second in Seed Company Hash, continuing the company’s considerable High Times competition record. Earlier in 2017, High Times had inducted Crockett Family Farms into its Seed Bank Hall of Fame, specifically highlighting the success of Tangie and Strawberry Banana and the numerous competition awards those genetics had accumulated.
Crockett’s presence highlights how different the international relationship had become since the earliest Cups. During the late 1980s and 1990s, Amsterdam was often the place where genetics from around the world were collected, hybridized and commercialized. By 2017, successful American breeders were returning to Amsterdam with established brands and competition reputations of their own. The genetic exchange had become fully two-directional.
Bagheera Wins Import Hash With Mango Haze
The Coffeeshop Import Hash championship went to Bagheera with Mango Haze, followed by Original Dampkring’s Asli and Green Place’s Don Perignon. Import Hash was one of the categories most closely connected to old-school Amsterdam cannabis culture. Long before modern concentrates, the city had built its international reputation partly on hash imported from traditional resin-producing regions, especially Morocco and areas stretching across Central and South Asia.
The continued existence of a dedicated Import Hash category in 2017 made the anniversary event feel distinctly Amsterdam. At High Times events in American legal markets, concentrate divisions were increasingly organized around extraction methods and cannabinoid profiles. Amsterdam still separated imported traditional hash from locally produced Nederhash, preserving a classification rooted in the city’s own history.
Green Place Remains a Consistent Hash Competitor
Green Place reached third place in both coffeeshop hash divisions, with Don Perignon in Import Hash and Cookies & Cream Isolator in Neder Hash. It did not repeat the headline flower victories of its 2013 Rollex OG Kush championship or the major podium placements it accumulated during the years before the hiatus, but the two 2017 trophies demonstrated continued strength in resin.
That consistency matters when looking across the broader Amsterdam timeline. Green Place had been one of the businesses most regularly represented near the top of late-era Cup results, competing with Barney’s, Green House, Grey Area and Dampkring. Its continued presence when High Times returned after three years helped make the event feel like a genuine continuation of the Amsterdam tradition rather than a completely new competition wearing an old name.
Devin the Dude, Lord Digga and King Shiloh Provide the Soundtrack
Music remained an important part of the revived Cup. DNA Genetics hosted a 30th-anniversary party at the Melkweg on November 20 featuring Devin the Dude, Ruste Juxx and Lord Digga, with DJ JSE. DNA’s event record also notes that Voyagers and Pheno Finder’s were associated with another night featuring King Shiloh and its sound system.
Other contemporary coverage identifies Roots Riders among the artists appearing during the four-night program. The mixture of hip-hop and reggae-oriented sound-system culture was consistent with decades of Cannabis Cup history. Earlier Amsterdam Cups had hosted everyone from Patti Smith and Jefferson Starship to Redman, Kid Cudi, Peter Tosh tributes and The Wailers. The 2017 return used the Melkweg to reconnect with that tradition without attempting to recreate the enormous festival schedules of the early 2000s.
Danny Danko Hosts the Anniversary Awards
The final awards ceremony was hosted by Danny Danko, one of High Times’ best-known cultivation editors and a familiar figure from earlier Cannabis Cups. High Times specifically documented Danko hosting the Wednesday-night finale after four days of coffeeshop judging.
His role was symbolically appropriate. The 2017 Cup emphasized continuity rather than reinvention. Bringing back a longtime High Times personality to announce the winners at the Melkweg reinforced the idea that this was a homecoming for the institution itself, not merely another European cannabis event.
Why There Were Fewer Categories Than Earlier Cups
Anyone comparing the 2017 results with 2012, 2013 or 2014 will immediately notice how much shorter the winner list became. Earlier Amsterdam Cups often contained separate Indica, Sativa and Hybrid seed-company divisions along with multiple hash classes, CBD awards, product competitions, glass trophies and Best Booth. The 2017 official results contain only five categories.
That smaller structure was a consequence of the event’s design. The revived competition was based primarily on coffeeshop judging and the Unity Cup partnership, not a giant expo filled with accessory manufacturers and seed-company booths. The result was arguably more focused: flower and hash returned to the center of the competition, the very products around which the original Amsterdam Cup had been built.
A 30th Anniversary, Not 30 Consecutive Amsterdam Cups
The language surrounding the 2017 event can be confusing. High Times called it the 30th anniversary of the first-ever Cannabis Cup, while some historical winner databases describe it as the “30th High Times Cannabis Cup.” Both reflect the timeline beginning in 1988, but 2017 was not the 30th consecutive annual Amsterdam event. The uninterrupted Amsterdam sequence had ended with the 27th Cup in 2014, followed by a gap before the special 2017 return. High Times’ own modern history explicitly separates the continuous Amsterdam era from the special 2017 and 2018 editions.
That distinction actually makes the anniversary more interesting. High Times was not pretending nothing had changed. The 2017 Cup showed that the event could return to Amsterdam in a smaller form adapted to the regulatory and commercial realities of the time.
The Cannabis World Had Changed While High Times Was Away
Between the 2014 and 2017 Amsterdam Cups, regulated cannabis markets in North America expanded dramatically. High Times staged competitions across California, Colorado, Michigan, Canada and other locations, and the product categories at those events grew to include edibles, topicals, vape cartridges, CBD products, infused flower, multiple concentrate classes and specialized solventless hash. By 2017, the High Times brand was operating a genuinely international network of cannabis competitions rather than relying on one Thanksgiving gathering in Amsterdam.
The Amsterdam comeback therefore served a different purpose. It no longer needed to be the one place in the world where High Times could stage a major cannabis contest. Instead, Amsterdam had become the historic homecoming event—a celebration of the city that had made the entire Cup concept possible.
Legacy of the 2017 High Times Cannabis Cup
The 2017 Amsterdam High Times Cannabis Cup succeeded because it did not try to pretend the previous three years had never happened. The enormous expo era had passed, American legal markets had become central to the High Times competition circuit, and cannabis genetics had shifted heavily toward Cookies, Sherbet, Glue and terpene-driven hybrids. Yet Amsterdam still had something the newer events could not reproduce: three decades of coffeeshop culture and a direct connection to the origin of the Cannabis Cup itself.
Original Dampkring’s Blackberry Bliss won the main coffeeshop flower trophy, DNA Genetics’ S1 captured Seed Company Flower, Devil’s Glue won Seed Company Hash, Bagheera’s Mango Haze topped Import Hash and Grey Area’s SB Ice took Neder Hash. Sunset Sherbet appeared on two podiums, established Amsterdam businesses remained competitive, American breeders stood alongside European seed companies, and performers including Devin the Dude, Lord Digga, King Shiloh and Roots Riders brought the Melkweg back into the story. The awards show hosted by Danny Danko completed the anniversary homecoming.
Three years after the troubled 2014 finale appeared to close Amsterdam’s Cannabis Cup history for good, 2017 proved that High Times could still return to its birthplace—just in a different form. The Cup had begun in Amsterdam as a relatively simple contest built around cannabis, breeders and judging. After decades of growth, commercialization and international expansion, the 30th-anniversary edition unexpectedly returned to much the same idea: four days, a map of coffeeshops, flower and hash to judge, music at night and a room full of people waiting to find out what had won.
