2025/2026 Flower Connoisseur Tournament: By the Numbers

Thirteen brands. Sixteen strains. Four rounds. One champion.

The 2025/2026 Cannabis Cult Flower Connoisseur Tournament brought together some of the best cultivators and flower in Missouri. Championship entries were identified only as CHCP1 through CHCP4 until the results were revealed, and Connoisseurs rated each strain on structure, aroma, flavor, smoothness, and effects.

When the final scores were counted, Farmer G claimed the championship with PieScream, finishing with an 8.50 overall rating. But the final standings only tell part of the story. Looking across every round revealed extremely close finishes, category standouts, and a clear difference between what appears impressive on a label and what judges actually rewarded.

The Road to the Championship

The tournament began with three qualifying rounds featuring four brands each. Amaze advanced from Round 1 with Bull Dance, VIBE won Round 2 with Peanut Butter Parfait, and Farmer G took Round 3 with Showtime.

Those three winners joined defending champion Local Cannabis in the Championship Round. Each brand submitted a new strain for the final pack:

• Farmer G: PieScream
• Local Cannabis: Cherry Runtz
• Amaze: Spritzer
• VIBE Cannabis: Chem Reserve

PieScream earned the highest score of the Championship Round and brought the tournament belt home to Farmer G.

The Complete Strain Leaderboard

PieScream finished as the highest-rated strain of the entire tournament with an 8.50, followed closely by Local’s Cherry Runtz and Amaze’s Bull Dance, both at 8.40. Farmer G’s qualifying entry, Showtime, finished fourth overall at 8.37, giving Farmer G two strains inside the tournament’s top four.

VIBE’s Peanut Butter Parfait rounded out the top five with an 8.31. In total, nine of the 16 entries earned an overall score of 8.00 or higher, showing how competitive the field was from the opening round through the Championship.

The Closest Calls

Two of the tournament’s biggest decisions came down to one tenth of a point or less.

Round 2 produced the closest qualifying finish. VIBE’s Peanut Butter Parfait scored an 8.31 and defeated Robust’s Apples & Bananas #7, which finished at 8.22, by only 0.09 points.

The Championship Round was nearly as close. PieScream’s winning 8.50 edged out Cherry Runtz at 8.40 by just 0.10 points. Across the entire judging process, the championship was decided by only a tenth of a point.

The Nose Knows

The strongest pattern in the tournament was also one of the simplest: the aroma leader earned the highest overall score in every round.

Amaze’s Bull Dance led Round 1 in aroma with an 8.62. VIBE’s Peanut Butter Parfait led Round 2 at 8.42. Farmer G’s Showtime posted an 8.47 in Round 3, and PieScream recorded the tournament’s highest winning aroma score at 8.77 in the Championship Round.

Across all four rounds, the strain judges rated highest in aroma also became the overall winner. Appearance may create the first impression, but throughout this tournament, aroma was the most consistent sign of a winning entry.

Flavor and Effects Leaders

Local’s Cherry Runtz earned the tournament’s highest flavor score at 8.16, narrowly ahead of Bull Dance at 8.12. Notorious’ Coal Creek Kush finished third in flavor at 8.06, while champion PieScream placed fourth at 8.05.

The effects category produced a different leader. Curio’s Blissful Wizard earned the tournament’s highest effects score at 8.42, despite finishing 14th in the overall standings. Showtime followed at 8.36, PieScream at 8.35, and Cherry Runtz at 8.33.

That difference matters. A strain did not have to win its round or finish near the top overall to deliver a category-leading experience. Each part of the judging process captured something different, and several entries stood out in ways their final ranking alone would not show.

The Highest-Terpene Strains

PieScream did not just finish first with the judges. It also had the highest reported terpene percentage in the tournament at 5.81%. Showtime ranked second at 5.15%, followed by Apples & Bananas #7 at 4.46%, Marshmallowz at 3.40%, and Cherry Runtz at 3.04%.

All five of the highest-terpene strains finished with overall ratings above 8.00. Four ranked inside the tournament’s top six, and the two highest-terpene entries both came from Farmer G.

The Highest-THC Strains

The THC leaderboard told a much different story.

Amaze’s Spritzer had the highest THC percentage in the tournament at 35.40%, but finished eighth overall with an 8.20. Chem Reserve ranked second in THC at 31.11% but placed 15th overall with a 7.70. Apples & Bananas #7 was third at 30.34% THC and finished sixth overall at 8.22.

Champion PieScream tied for fifth in THC at 29.39%. It did not need the highest THC percentage to earn the tournament’s highest overall rating.

THC vs. Terpenes: What Tracked With the Judges?

When the lab results were compared with judges’ overall ratings across all 16 strains, terpene percentage tracked with the final scores more than twice as closely as THC percentage did.

THC percentage had a -0.24 correlation with overall scores, a slightly negative relationship within this tournament. Total terpene percentage had a +0.55 correlation, showing a moderate positive relationship with the judges’ ratings.

That does not mean terpene percentage alone determines quality, and correlation does not prove that one measurement caused a score. What it does show is that, in this tournament, higher THC numbers were not a reliable shortcut to a better experience. Aroma, flavor, smoothness, freshness, and effects all played a role, and the final results reflected the complete experience rather than one number on a label.

One Tournament, Plenty to Learn

The 2025/2026 Flower Connoisseur Tournament showed exactly why the Connoisseur Pack format matters. Thirteen brands and 16 strains competed throughout the tournament, and the results came directly from the people experiencing the flower.

Farmer G earned the championship, PieScream finished as the tournament’s highest-rated strain, and aroma correctly pointed to the winner in every round. At the same time, the category results gave recognition to strains that excelled in flavor or effects even when they did not advance.

Thank you to every participating brand, every Connoisseur who submitted ratings, and every retail partner who helped bring the tournament to consumers across Missouri.

The next Flower Connoisseur Tournament is already taking shape. Brands and dispensaries interested in participating or partnering with Cannabis Cult can contact us to get involved.

Must be 21 or older.