Last weekend, promoters Jimi Devine and Chronic Culture’s Neil Dellacava assembled a veritable Voltron of weed inside a warehouse in the garment district of L.A. to create the Transbay Challenge IV. Part cannabis competition, part traveling roadshow, Transbay organizes friendly competitions to showcase ways the cannabis industry continues to thrive, and offer fans the chance to meet some of the most talked about and up-and-coming brands on the recreational market.

There was an impressive list of sponsors, vendors, and contestants for this fourth challenge, its first foray into the Southern California scene. Sacramento’s CAM, the legendary Capulator, and Doja Pak created the triforce of primary sponsorship, bolstered by brands like Wizard Trees, Sense, Space Gems, Tru Leaf, Turtle Pie Co., Fiore, Heisenbern, and Holy Water, to name just a few. In the face of imposing taxes and price fluctuations, cultivators across the sunshine state continue to push the envelope for genetics and flavor profiles. 

Brands weren’t the only ones bringing out the heat. In the unrelenting Los Angeles summer sun, vendors and organizers filled what breeze there was with the smell of all their best flavors, surrounded by incredible graffiti pieces from artists like Ernest Doty, Bodeck Luna, and Mr. B Baby. Set to go from 2 PM to 2 AM, after selling out of food and drink at Transbay III, organizers stacked the deck with plenty of complimentary bottled water and a delicious three-truck spread (shoutout to Sabrossa Pizza, Oaxaca on Wheels, and College Boy Cheesesteaks).

A colossal shoulder pat goes out to the judges, many of whom sat for 8-10 hours of intense deliberations. The time and dedication they brought to the process were clear from behind the velvet rope. You could see the consideration written on the faces of judges like Ted from Alien Labs, Tasha of Berkley’s CBCB, and High Time’s Jon Capetta. People can say they’d love to smoke weed all day and vote on which strain is the best, but let’s check in on how well their taste buds perform after six non-stop hours of sampling all the newest and craziest creations.

 

Vendors bring all the heat to the LA street 

Exclusive product drops were all over the place. Attendees scored limited edition merch from Mood Trays, Wizard Trees, Broken Promises, Your Highness, Fidels, and more. Crowds lined up to secure a 25th letter box from Deep East (a capsule collection of their newest flavors), one of sixty jars of Capulator’s Cap Junky rosin, or the very first drop of Compound Genetics Glitterbomb clones complete with optional NFT. Alongside these exclusives were award-winning offerings like CAM’s Kush Mints, which won at The Secret Session, MOCA’s Wookies, which won the State Fair’s award for highest THCa, and Sense’s Pink Certz, which won at the last Transbay Challenge in San Francisco. 

Delivery partner Alpaca Club was on hand to offer a central pickup point during the event. Attendees only had to scan a QR code to shop from the menu and wait for their pickup text, with most orders ready within 15 minutes. I have to make a point of mentioning how affordable the organizers and vendors priced everything. For any cannabis fan, this was a big come-up. People had a veritable choose-your-own-adventure of ways to walk away with a gram of rosin and an eighth for $100 or less. 

As the sun dipped below the roof of the warehouses, the Southern California crowd started piling in. For these fans, Transbay offered the opportunity to not just hit the like button on these new products, but sample them with the team that put so much time into making it happen. Dab bars from Rosin Tech, plus emerging recreational market brand Mountain Man Melts blasted terps into the colorful sunset as Luxe Roll Bar served people massive joints of Lumpy’s new flavors like Caramel Apple Haze.

 

The Winners of Transbay LA

As the night’s ceremonies kicked off, trophies were awarded to the winners of the last Chronic Culture/Jimi Devine event, the City Wide Smokeout, where three flower brands and rosin companies paired up to create a set of competing hash holes. Fifty lucky people judged them for best flavor and high while touring the sights of San Francisco, declaring CAM’s Tres Pesos w/ Hash & Flower’s Honey Banana as the standout winner. 

Afterward, it was time to announce who would take home the title of “best in show.” The flower competition was, in Devine’s words, the “biggest Transbay field ever.” A whopping 21 entries faced judgment, and afterward, Fidel’s KMZ (Kush Mints x Zkittlez) was the emerging winner. Known primarily for making Hash Holes, a sizable pre-roll with a snake of delicious rosin running down the middle, a lot of people messaged me to say they didn’t know they even sold straight flower. This brand and its 30-year-old owner have been on a rocketing upward trajectory. While accepting his trophy, he relayed how this was just the start of consumers tasting several strain combos he’s been hard at work on and learning how Fidel’s is a brand just as rooted in cultivation as production.

Transbay’s concentrate competition was no less challenging. With the rise of popularity Rosins and Water Hash have been experiencing, the playing field had around half the entries but was an equally intense competition of taste and quality. When the smoke settled, LA Family Farms, a last-minute addition to this Transbay Challenge, took home the gold. Their Randow Belts (Moonbow x Zkittlez) beat some well-established names in the dab scene to take its place at the top of the q-tip heap. Having disappeared from the retail menu early in the evening, it seemed even the crowd could tell this was something special. 

 

What’s next for the Transbay Challenge?

With a fourth chapter of Transbay in the books, one has to wonder where Devine and Dellacava will set their sights on next. Regardless of where they choose, you can be sure they’ll be joined by many of the cast of part four, regardless of location. That’s one of the most exciting things about this franchise – how the duo always manages to bring out brands and personalities from all throughout the culture to share special moments with people, many of whom fly in just for the event.

I mean, where else do you get to play Street Fighter with Masonic, ask Filipe from Compound about your new NFT, and share an agua fresca with Josh from Natura before picking up your car from valet parking, all while smoking some of the best weed in California?

 

WRITTEN BY MATT JACKSON