For years, cannabis competitions celebrated flower and traditional hash while butane hash oil remained largely outside the official awards structure.
1988–2008: No Love for Oil
From the first Amsterdam Cannabis Cups through the end of the 2000s, High Times trophies primarily went to flower and traditional hash. Hash oil existed, but it did not have the same recognition within the competition structure. The original account describes early BHO culture as operating through platforms such as Erowid and forums including Overgrow and ICMag. Extractors shared information, equipment ideas and personal experiences. However, there were no established testing standards, no widely recognized safety standards and no separate Cannabis Cup category for BHO. BHO remained an underground specialty rather than an officially recognized competition discipline.
Early 2000s: Hashmasta Kut Develops the Titanium Curve
During the early 2000s, Hashmasta Kut, also known as HMK, developed the titanium Curve. The original design consisted of a swing-arm titanium plate paired with a glass vapor curve. It represented an early approach to consuming concentrated cannabis using specialized equipment rather than conventional smoking methods. According to the original account, HMK's design helped establish the technical foundation for later vapor-swing equipment. The combination of titanium and glass created a recognizable configuration that would eventually be refined by other makers.
From the Curve to the VaporSwing
The original account credits modern manufacturers with refining HMK's design. The companies and individuals identified are:
Top Shelf Extracts
Jeff Nameless Malinovitz
Jose Medrano
Their work developed the original Curve concept into the VaporSwing. The distinction between the original design and the later refinement is important. HMK established the underlying swing-arm titanium concept, while the later collaborators developed the product that won. The original account points to the wording in the official product recognition: "vaporswing – original design by hmk." This acknowledgment directly connected the winning equipment with HMK's earlier work.
2009: Amsterdam's Cannabis Cup Changes the Conversation
At the 2009 High Times Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, the VaporSwing won the Product Cup. According to the original account, it became the first BHO-specific tool to win a High Times trophy. The award represented a major moment for concentrate culture. A piece of hardware associated with the underground BHO scene had entered the mainstream Cannabis Cup environment. The victory also recognized the people responsible for developing and refining the equipment. The original design credit to HMK preserved the connection between the early titanium Curve and the winning VaporSwing.
Judges' Lounge: The Earwax Demonstrations
The VaporSwing's recognition was not the only important moment at the 2009 event. Top Shelf Extracts demonstrated BHO in the judges' lounge. The original account specifically identifies the concentrate as "earwax." These demonstrations took place outside an official competition category. Instead of submitting the oil for a dedicated award, Top Shelf Extracts introduced judges to the product through live demonstrations. According to the original account, Daniel de Sailles later said these demonstrations changed the opinions of skeptics in real time. According to the original account, these sessions helped sell the idea that clean BHO could be a legitimate cannabis product. The demonstrations helped bridge the gap between underground extractors and a wider cannabis audience.
2010 and After: Concentrates Receive Their Own Category
By 2010, new U.S. medical Cannabis Cups began adding dedicated concentrate categories. The original account describes this as an important separation between solvent extracts and traditional hash. Previously, different forms of cannabis concentrates had been discussed together or evaluated without a dedicated structure. The new categories created a separate judging lane. Early on, BHO products took multiple top positions. This helped establish concentrate competitions as a permanent part of cannabis awards.
The Colorado Market and the Rise of Concentrates
The original account also connects the development of concentrate equipment with the changing cannabis market. When Colorado's legal market began in 2014, concentrates represented about 17% of sales. A few years later, they exceeded 20%, reaching roughly 31% by late 2018. The caption connects that growth with several developments:
Closed-loop extraction systems
Dab bars
The expansion of oil culture
The growing market created additional demand for concentrate-specific equipment and products.
From Forum Language to Mainstream Cannabis Media
Before concentrate competitions and product awards, much of the language surrounding BHO circulated through forums. Extractors and consumers discussed different textures and products within smaller online communities. After the VaporSwing victory and the creation of dedicated concentrate categories, High Times and other publications began using terms such as:
Wax
Budder
Shatter
Dabs
According to the original account, this helped move oil culture from a forum-only subject into a national cannabis category. The West Coast became particularly important to that expansion.
Legacy: The First BHO Hardware Trophy
The 2009 VaporSwing victory represented more than a product award. It recognized a piece of concentrate hardware rooted in Hashmasta Kut's earlier titanium Curve design. The judges' lounge demonstrations by Top Shelf Extracts helped introduce BHO directly to competition insiders, while by 2010 dedicated concentrate categories were emerging in U.S. medical competitions. The original account identifies the 2009 Amsterdam award as an important moment when BHO-specific equipment moved from the underground into mainstream competition recognition.
YouTube Video
Sources
nuggnotes. "The 1st Time BHO Hardware Won a Trophy: High Times Cup 2009." Instagram, 20 Nov. 2025, https://www.instagram.com/p/DRTzWrqkQ7m/.
The original Instagram post behind this article.
"2009 High Times Cannabis Cup: Super Lemon Haze Repeats, the Smugglers Cup and the Legacy of Tom Forçade." Kind Green Buds, 16 Sept. 2026, https://kindgreenbuds.com/culture/2009-high-times-cannabis-cup/.
Annotation: Verifies the draft's central claim — its winners table for the 22nd Cannabis Cup (Amsterdam, Nov. 22–26, 2009) lists the VaporSwing first in the Product Cup, ahead of the Incredibowl i420 and Green House's Strain Hunters DVD, and notes High Times later recalled people taking hash-oil hits from the device at that year's expo; the category is recorded here as the "Product Cup," not "Best Product."
"High Times Cannabis Cup: History, Competition, Culture and Legacy." Kind Green Buds, https://kindgreenbuds.com/culture/high-times-cannabis-cup/.
Annotation: Verifies the frame of the draft — the Cannabis Cup began in Amsterdam in 1988 under Steven Hager with a handful of judges, Skunk #1 from Cultivator's Choice won the first Cup, the early competitions centered on flower and hashish, and the first U.S. Cup followed in San Francisco in 2010, which High Times credited with exposing a wider audience to newer extract styles.
"Dab Tool Origins: The Birth (and Death) of the Male Joint." The Dab Lab, https://www.thedablab.com/the-dab-lab-blog/dab-tool-origins-the-birth-and-death-of-the-male-joint/.
Annotation: Verifies the hardware lineage — Hashmasta Kut ("HashMasterKut") and his sister are the most commonly attributed pioneers of the glass/titanium skillet and vapor curve, the HMK Vapor Curve and Skillet remain the era's most-referenced pieces, and the design matches the draft's description: a glass or titanium plate on a swing arm, heated with a torch and swung beneath a borosilicate vapor curve; the article never mentions the VaporSwing, Top Shelf Extracts, or any Cannabis Cup award.
Tanem, Nick (Nikka T). "A History of the Solventless Dab From the Guy Who Pioneered It, Nikka T." Interview, MERRY JANE, https://merryjane.com/culture/a-history-of-the-solventless-dab-from-the-guy-who-pioneered-it-nikka-t/.
Annotation: First-person corroboration from a scene participant — Nikka T states that Hashmasta Kut originally designed the titanium skillet, that Daniel de Sailles of Top Shelf Extracts was one of the first guys to promote it (then based in LA), that the titanium skillet arrived around 2009, and that "earwax" was one of the first concentrate terms in use around 2009; he does not describe any judges'-lounge demonstration at the 2009 Cup.
"High Times Medical Cannabis Cup." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Times_Medical_Cannabis_Cup.
Annotation: Verifies the draft's 2010 claim in substance — the first U.S. Medical Cannabis Cup (San Francisco, June 19–20, 2010) already included a dedicated Concentrates category (1st: Leonard Moore Cooperative's Ingrid; 3rd: 7 Stars Holistic Healing Center's Granddaddy Purple Wax), and the 2011 San Francisco event added a separate Non-Solvent Hash category alongside Concentrates.
Peacock, Ryan. "The Colorado Market Part 2: Colorado's Array of Cannabis Products Evolves Rapidly Since Legalization." Shanken News Daily, 19 Mar. 2019, https://www.shankennewsdaily.com/2019/03/19/22683/the-colorado-market-part-2-colorados-array-of-cannabis-products-evolves-rapidly-since-legalization/.
Annotation: Reports BDS Analytics' Colorado breakdown — concentrates were 17% of total cannabis sales in 2014 and about 31% of the market in the 11 months through November 2018; this supports the draft's "exceeded 20% a few years later" but contradicts its "approximately 10–15%" figure for 2014.
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