AtlantiCann’s Msiku takes top prize in first annual Cannabis NB Cup

| David Brown

Cannabis NB announced the winners of their Cannabis NB cup today, with the top prize going to First Nation’s owned AtlantiCann in Nova Scotia.

The contest, announced in July, featured eight different varieties of cannabis flower from growers in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI. Consumers were able to purchase a judge’s kit with eight-eighths of cannabis and a form for ranking the products. 

Six hundred judge’s kits were available for purchase through Cannabis NB stores, with judges asked to score products for Best in Grow, Runner Up, Honorable Mention, Best Looking, and Best Experience. Each box comes with a “judge’s book” that allows them to score each variety of flower based on an array of attributes such as bud structure, visual appeal, trim, taste, smoothness, ash, and more.

The Best in Grow in this first Cannabis NB Cup went to Msiku’s ICC x Kush Mints 11, with Crystal Cure’s Farmers’ Series Tiger Bomb getting runner up. Msiku is a brand produced by First Nations owned Nova Scotia producer AtlantiCann, while Crystal Cure is a New Brunswick based producer who also processes for at least one micro cultivator in New Brunswick.

AtlantiCann operates as a three-way partnership with the Mi’kmaq First Nations of Nova Scotia controlling 51% of the company.

Honourable mention for Best in Grow went to Ritual Green’s Lemon Haze, produced by Mernova Medicinal in Nova Scotia. 

Msiku’s ICC x Kush Mints 11 also won the Best Experience category, while Crystal Cure’s Farmers’ Series Tiger Bomb won Best Looking.  

Jonathan Wilson, the COO at Crystal Cure says that while he had hoped to win Best in Grow, he’s happy with the results and with the contest itself. 

“Obviously not the results we were looking for,” says Wilson, “but great results for our team to celebrate and to use to get better. Msiku is regarded as one of the best, quality-wise, so this is well deserved for them. It’s a great cut and well grown.”

Christine Halef at AtlantiCann says their team is understandably very happy with the results.

“We are truly humbled by the results especially in the company of other great cannabis producers,” says Halef. “This is a culmination of the hard work and passion from our amazing team here at Msiku. We are so proud of them and very thankful for the support we get from our cannabis consumers.”

On their Instagram page, the company posted:

“This is an amazing honour and we are so proud of the flower we are putting out. Of course none of this would be possible if not for our amazing team! It is no easy task growing cannabis at this level. Our team shows up every day at 6am, ready to push the Canadian cannabis industry forward. Sharing their passion and creating some of the highest craft quality cannabis in the country!”

Featured image of the Msiku team with their ICC x Kush Mints 11 in Halifax