Cannabis cup

Expogrow Cannabis Cup (Irún)

A Basque trade fair with a long September habit, a pandemic detour to Málaga, and an Open Cannabis Cup in its 2022 finale.

171results on record
2012–2023years in our data
12editions
92matched to strains
Irúnlatest location

01Beginnings

Expogrow is a cannabis trade fair based in Irún, a town in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa. Local press calls it an international business fair built around cannabis, with Irún as its main base since 2012¹. It usually runs at the FICOBA fairground, which the 2022 return announcement called the event's habitual venue¹.

The fair also kept to a season. From 2012 on it normally took place in September, and the organisers said they wanted to go back to that month in 2022¹. A trade-show listing records a 2013 edition at FICOBA from 13 to 15 September 2013². The sources used here do not say who founded the fair or why, and they do not explain where the Open Cannabis Cup came from.

02The story so far

By 2019 the fair looked a little different. A listing names Plantasur, Positronics, Kannabia and El Punto Eres Tú as organisers, with FICOBA as the venue³. It ran in April 2019, a spring slot for a fair better known for September, with four pavilions covering more than 5,000 square metres and over 180 brands from around the world³. Press counted it as the eighth edition¹.

Then the pandemic hit. The organisers chose to take a break in 2020¹. In 2021 the classic Irún fair did not happen because of health instability, though Málaga hosted a very different outdoor version adapted to pandemic conditions¹. Later that year, organisers announced a return to Irún for 9 to 11 September 2022, billed as the tenth anniversary of the event's 2012 start, and opened exhibitor registration¹.

The ninth edition took place in Irún from Thursday 8 to Sunday 11 September 2022, with Thursday reserved for professionals. Press reported more than 10,000 visits and noted that the fair had regained its traditional dates⁴. It counted 125 exhibiting companies, over 500 brands represented directly, and more than 1,200 professionals on the Thursday business day⁴. One listing instead gives 9 to 10 September³. The sources do not settle the difference, but the press report is the more detailed account.

03Culture and atmosphere

The 2022 floor mixed commerce and conversation. Seed banks were again among the most prominent parts of the fair, alongside exhibitors covering lighting, cultivation systems, cosmetics, food and accessories⁴. Spain and France were the best-represented countries, and exhibitors also came from the Netherlands, Belgium, Britain, Switzerland, Colombia, Italy, the USA, Guadeloupe and Morocco⁴. The business day added speed meetings and product presentations, with more than 25 talks and projects involving over 90 companies and 140 people⁴.

Debate had a place too. In 2022 a political forum organised by the Luz Verde party hosted sessions on cannabis law, and speakers included Spanish MPs and the head of Malta's regulatory authority⁴. On Saturday 10 September 2022 the fair hosted the launch of a book by Albert Titó and Víctor Segués, written while they served a prison sentence over their cannabis-regulation activism⁴. Music filled the evenings. In 2022 French Touch Squad opened the Saturday line-up, Turbulence stood in for Anthony B, and Basque band Iseo & Dodosound were the night's highlight⁴. The 2019 edition had a one-night festival on 27 April headlined by Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra, with a two-day ticket listed at 20 euros³.

Awards close the show. The 2022 edition ended with the Premios Expogrow industry awards, joined by the IX Open Cannabis Cup, which was also split into five categories⁴. That is the only mention of the Cup in the sources used here, and they do not name its category winners. Among that year's industry awards was a posthumous honour for activist Fernando de la Figuera, collected by his daughter⁴.

04Where things stand

The latest dated source available is a press report on the ninth edition from September 2022, which judged that Expogrow had not disappointed⁴. The sources used here do not cover any later edition, so this page cannot say what happened after that autumn.

The fair's current status is unclear. An undated listing says the event has been cancelled and will no longer be held³. It gives no reason, and it sits awkwardly beside the fact that the September 2022 edition did take place. Because the listing carries no date, the fair's current status is not confirmed. If you know of a later edition or an official statement, that is exactly the kind of detail worth adding.

05What comes next

The sources used here show no announced future edition of Expogrow or its Open Cannabis Cup. The last plans on record are the ones that led to the September 2022 return to Irún¹⁴. An undated listing suggests the fair may have been cancelled, but it gives no date or explanation, so this page does not treat that as settled³. Until an organiser or a dated report says otherwise, the fair's future remains an open question.

The results, in our data

CannaLib holds 171 results from this cup across 12 years (2012 to 2023), 92 of them matched to a strain in the catalogue.

Recent first-place strains

Year	Strain	Category	Entrant
2022	Autoblack Cherrie	Best Autoflowering	Seeds Stockers
2022	Bananaz	Best Hash	Zurefarms
2022	Izozki	Best Indica	Bask Triangle Farms
2022	Tropicana	Best Sativa	Grow Professional
2019	Tropicanna Cookies	BEST SATIVA «SPECIAL FRANCO LOJA PRIZE»	ASOC. SERVICE
2019	Sticky Dream	BEST INDICA	POSITRONICS
2019	Super Cheese Express	BEST AUTOMATIC	POSITRONICS
2019	Sour Ripper	BEST EXTRACTION WITHOUT SOLVENT	RIPPER SEEDS
2019	Pihaze	BEST VARIETY CBD	CBD BOTANIC 1997
2018	Colombian Jack	Best Sativa	Kannabia Seeds
2018	Francos Cheese	Best Indica	Green House
2018	Chem Pie	Best Extraction with solvent	Ripper Seeds
2018	Kritical Red	Best Automatic	Mr. Hide Seeds
2018	Dead Cheese	Best Extraction without solvent	R-Kiem Seeds