One man is rolling thousands of joints so Michigan can crown its best weed

A new weed competition is ditching sloppy pre-rolls, standardizing everything, and handing Michiganders the power to decide the winners.

MICHIGAN—There’s a guy out there right now whose job is to roll thousands of perfect joints so Michiganders can figure out who grows the best weed in the state.

No air pockets. No canoeing. No uneven burns that ruin the whole experience.

It’s all part of a new cannabis competition called The Billy Awards, which is making its Michigan debut this spring through a partnership led by Michigan-based cannabis brand Voyage Bloom. 

The contest features 23 growers, a limited run of judging boxes, and one simple goal: eliminate the inconsistent pre-rolls that have quietly plagued weed competitions for years.

The problem with judging weed

Michigan already has plenty of cannabis competitions. But if you’ve ever cracked open a judging kit before, you probably already know the problem this competition is trying to solve.

Maybe one joint burns too fast. Another runs down one side. Another is packed so tight it barely hits. And suddenly, instead of judging the weed, you’re judging the roll itself.

According to Voyage Bloom founder Brandon Coffield, that variability is a real problem. The rolling style matters. Even small inconsistencies—like loose spots, tight packs, or uneven airflow—can completely change how a joint burns and how the flower actually tastes.

“You might have a loose spot in a joint roll, and then you take a hit and start hacking,” Coffield told The MichiGanja Report. “And all of a sudden you go, ‘Oh man, this weed isn’t good.’”

So, The Billys is trying something different.

Every entry—23 in total—will be rolled the exact same way by the same person: a nationally recognized joint roller known as Phat Andy, who will personally close and quality-check each pre-roll to make sure they all meet the same standard. The process is tedious. But the idea is simple: If every joint burns the same, the only thing left to judge is the weed. 

What you actually get in the box 

Coffield and his team will release 300 judging boxes at dispensaries statewide, each packed with dozens of pre-rolls made from some of the state’s top flower brands, including Peninsula Gardens, Growing Pains, MichiGrown, Tip Top Crop, Seed Junky, and Information Entropy. 

Each box will retail for about $300 and includes roughly 2.5 ounces of cannabis, already rolled and ready to smoke, plus access to a live award show in Detroit this summer. 

If that sounds like a lot of weed, it is. But that’s kind of the point. Instead of buying an eighth and hoping you picked the right strain, you get a chance to sample a curated lineup of growers side by side, all under the same conditions

“It’s just gonna be a completely new experience,” Coffield said. “There’s no other box out there that’s going to give you the value of this one between the award show and all the hand rolls.”

There’s another twist, too.

Unlike most competitions, The Billy Awards splits its honors between industry judges and consumers. Consumer judges will know who grew what; Michigan’s labeling rules prevent blind packaging on retail products. But industry judges will evaluate the same entries without that information, creating a second layer of results based purely on the smoking experience.

The judging kits are expected to hit dispensaries in mid-May, with limited availability at a handful of retail partners including House of Dank and Supergood. The exact launch date hasn’t been announced, but Coffield expects the boxes to sell out on Day One—so following Voyage Bloom on Instagram and marking your calendar for the official drop date is probably a good idea.

After that, the judging begins. Michiganders will have about a month to smoke and score the entries. Winners will be announced July 9 at The Crofoot in Pontiac, where the best flower in Michigan—at least according to both stoners and industry insiders—will officially be crowned.

And if this first run goes the way organizers expect, it won’t be the last.

“I definitely see this being a yearly thing,” Coffield said.

For now, though, it’s a one-shot experiment: 300 boxes. 23 growers. And one guy rolling thousands of joints until everything burns exactly the way it should.

READ MORE: Is Voyage Bloom growing some of Michigan’s best weed?

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