Hemp Sex Lube, Guitars and Everything In Between at NoCo Hemp Expo

The NoCo Hemp Expo took over Colorado Springs last week, with hundreds of hemp and CBD crusaders descending on the prestigious Broadmoor resort for three days. Full of roundtable discussions, including the behind-the-scenes story of how Major League Baseball partnered with Charlotte's Web CBD, and a massive vendor hall devoted to all things hemp, the NoCo Hemp Expo showcased everything the powerful plant can be used to make, from clothing fibers and athletic rubs to guitars and sex lube.

Westword photographer Jacqueline Collins went to the Expo to document all of the fun stuff going on in the hemp industry, and also visited the small pavilion devoted to the rapidly growing trade of supplemental mushrooms. Here are some of our favorite examples of what these power plants and fungi can do:

Hemp fiber
Hemp fiber material can be mixed with cotton or wool for a more sustainable, longer-lasting clothing material. Although China and India, neither of which prohibited industrial hemp as the United States did, have dominated the hemp-clothing industry for decades, North American and European hemp processors are trying to catch up — and so are lawmakers.

In Colorado, Governor Jared Polis's administration secured a state partnership with Patagonia in which Colorado farmers provide hemp for Patagonia's line of hemp clothing. Plenty of American-sourced hemp textiles were on display at the NoCo Hemp Expo, including a live demonstration of weaving.

Edibles
Hemp-derived edibles rose in popularity after Congress legalized hemp in 2018, but the real boom came a couple of years later. Hemp companies soon discovered that they could convert CBD, a non-intoxicating cannabinoid that can be grown abundantly in hemp, into various forms of THC. Producers have since made use of the loophole allowing such THC products to be sold outside of licensed dispensaries, and hemp-derived THC edibles have become a visible part of the NoCo Hemp Expo.

THC edibles derived from hemp carry intoxicating effects similar to those of marijuana-infused edibles (and trip drug tests, as well), and can be found in all of the same forms. Trojan Horse Cannabis, a Commerce City-based company specializing in hemp-derived THC products, displayed gummies, seltzers and powdered drink mixes at the NoCo Hemp Expo.

Guitars and musical equipment
The NoCo Hemp Expo is organized by Morris Beegle, a former music promoter, so it's no surprise that musical equipment made from hemp showed up at the conference. In fact, Beegle's Silver Mountain Hemp brand makes custom guitars, cabinets, straps and knobs, with hemp as the main production component, and his company isn't the only one doing it. The guitars and related equipment can be created with hemp-based fiber mats or wood and are considered more environmentally friendly than their traditional counterparts.
Sex lubricant
Hemp-derived cannabinoids like CBD are easily infused into oil, and CBD oils have been shown to help with vaginal pain experienced during sex. Several companies have jumped on the new trend over the last several years, including Squirt, a sexual lube made with CBD-rich hemp oil.
Food and feed
Industrial hemp and hemp seeds can be milled into flower, turned into plant-based protein and made into feed for farm animals, and all of those applications were on display at the NoCo Hemp Expo. Manitoba Harvest, a company that specializes in hemp-based foods like protein powder, fiber supplements, granola and roasted hemp seeds, showcased several of those products to expo visitors.

Mushrooms
Mushrooms aren't just for trippy experiences and pizza toppings anymore. Supplemental or beneficial fungi such as cordyceps, lion's mane and turkey tail mushrooms have taken off recently thanks to their potential for brain power and mental health, The Last of Us notwithstanding, and the NoCo Hemp Expo has welcomed the growing sector over the last couple of years. MyCoLove Farm, a mushroom cultivation in Fort Lupton, specializes in tinctures, or liquid extractions, of mushrooms.