Audio Kush was first introduced to William Hyde on the patio of the Judge’s South Holland beach mansion, where Hyde sat surrounded by jars of cannabis, busy at work sampling entries for Amsterdam’s first installment of The Jack Herer Cup. A former cultivator and budtender, hailing from Seattle, Hyde now works as a Sr. Subject Matter Expert for Leafly where he contributes as a news correspondent and also hosts the company’s What Are you Smoking? podcast.
Hyde reports to favor “complex hybrids with piney and gassy terpene profiles” and enjoys dabbing as his preferred method of consuming cannabis. This preference has earned him the title of “The Avid Dabber”, by which he has become known throughout the cannabis community.
Behind The Scenes With The Avid Dabber
Audio Kush had a chance to speak more with Hyde later in the week at the Hardrock Cafe, site of Amsterdam’s Inaugural Jack Herer Cup. While chatting with Will, we had a chance to learn a bit more regarding just how the Avid Dabber came to be as well as how Will feels regarding dab culture and the way it is perceived in society at large.
You used to work as a budtender. Has that helped you as a judge in the Jack Herer Cup?
Yeah, It’s been a long long time since I was a budtender. I am not going to date myself by saying exactly when, but a solid decade plus! The way having been a budtender plays into judging cannabis or analyzing cannabis just comes from seeing a lot of it. The more you see, the better you get at it. The more comparison you have to other strains and other varieties. I wouldn’t say its a direct result, but experience always helps.
You work for Leafly as well. Can you tell us a bit about your podcast?
I am the host of Leafly’s What Are You Smoking? podcast, a podcast focused on strains and products, mostly from the states, but you will probably see some of the international products i’ve got to sample while I’m here hit the podcast airwaves soon. You can check that out on Spotify, SoundCloud, iTunes, Stitcher, wherever you get your podcasts.
Now I have to ask, what makes one THE Avid Dabber?
The Avid Dabber actually came from the podcast. It was like episode number four, number six I want to say. I was on with a colleague and I mentioned that I was an avid dabber and he basically was like, “you should run with that”. Its kind of been my way of bringing a civilized approach to dabbing and helping people understand dabbing and dab culture because I think people have a lot of really horrible connotations and bad stigmas associated with it when there is actually a lot of proven value and a it is a great way to understand the cannabis plant that much deeper.
Recommended Blogs By William Hyde:
You can follow Will on Instagram @the.avid.dabber.
Read more by Will Hyde on Leafly.
