⭐ Mila "The Hash Queen" Jansen ⭐

Mila Jansen, famously known as the "Hash Queen," is an icon of the global cannabis community. Born in Liverpool in 1944 and raised mostly in the Netherlands, she became a central figure in Amsterdam’s 1960s counterculture. Her life story, detailed in her autobiography How I Became the Hash Queen, spans from high-fashion boutiques to the peaks of the Himalayas.

In 1965, Mila opened Kink 22, a boutique that pioneered miniskirts in Holland and attracted celebrities like Tina Turner. In 1967, she converted the shop into Cleo de Merode, a teahouse that is now widely regarded as the precursor to Amsterdam's world-famous coffeeshops. While hashish was never sold there, it was openly shared among patrons, which eventually led to police scrutiny.

Mila left Amsterdam in 1968 and spent the next 14 years traveling through the "Hippie Trail," trekking in the Himalayas and spending winters in Goa with her four children. During this time, she learned traditional hand-rubbed hash-making (charas) and sustained her family by exporting handmade clothes and traditional textiles to the West.

Mila returned to Amsterdam in the late 1980s and revolutionized the industry with mechanical inventions that replaced centuries-old manual labor:

The Pollinator (1994)
 Inspired by the drum of a tumble dryer, this was the first mechanical device to separate trichomes from plant matter.
Ice-O-Lator (1998)
 A system of mesh bags that uses ice and water to extract high-purity resin glands.
Bubbleator (2005)
 A specialized washing machine designed specifically for water-and-ice extraction.

Through her company, The Pollinator Company, Jansen continues to influence the "solventless" extraction movement. She is also the organizer of Dab-A-Doo, a prestigious international competition for cannabis concentrates. For her decades of innovation and advocacy, she was named one of the 100 most influential people in cannabis by High Times.