Category: <span>420 Recs</span>

Cash Only’s 420 Recs: Maya Kendrick, Adult Film Star

March 25, 2023 Published by SDZ News

Maya Kendrick is a cool ass stoner chick based in L.A., who’s known for her adult film work. We met through mutual friends and I quickly became a fan of her Instagram, which features snapshots from her mellow day-to-day life — hitting the bong, hanging with the cats, lots of hot girl ring light selfies, etc.

Maya entered the smut industry in 2016 and has appeared in hundreds of scenes and movies since. She took a brief hiatus from working this past November to “get mommy milkers” — as she explained on Twitter — so we thought now would be a good time to publish a very fun conversation with the performer and pot lover.

Over the course of an hour phone call, Maya explained how smoking weed in high school felt like a totally different high, bravely admitted that she doesn’t know how to roll joints, and also detailed the first time she tried DMT. She was accompanied by some trippy scientists at a crypto conference, and the bros blabbed about shooting mice with lasers while she laughed her ass off throughout the trip.

This was a very fun conversation with a very lovely person — thanks Maya!

What was your first time smoking weed like?

Maya Kendrick: My first time smoking weed was on a trail in the park across from my house with a bunch of my friends during the summer after eighth grade. It was in Washington State. So we were smoking weed out of an Arizona Iced Tea can and I remember being very paranoid cuz there was some sort of park maintenance person whose truck was parked nearby. They were wandering around the area and I was like, “We’re gonna get arrested by this park ranger for smoking weed!” I was so scared for absolutely no reason. That man definitely didn’t give a shit.

Did you get stoned during this first time smoking?

I was slightly high, but I was more just in love with the experience of doing something I wasn’t supposed to. I had been so eager to rebel in some fashion. And then the second time I smoked weed was out of a cheap purple plastic bubbler. And that time I got insanely high. I did enjoy the experience. I wasn’t scared or paranoid or anything. I just had a great time, and everything was a million times funnier. I was happy.

Did it become a regular part of your life from then on?

Every Saturday, when I hung out with my friends, we would try to sneak away from whoever’s parents and smoke. We would sit under a blanket on a deck and hotbox it. Back then, we’d get so stoned. Like fucked up. Getting stoned in high school feels like a different drug. It’s different and I wish I could get that stoned now. I have a vivid memory of being high in high school and one of my friends drove me to my house so that I could pick up clothes, and we were already high. And when I left, I kissed my mom on the mouth. I was so stoned, that it seemed normal. I didn’t know how to operate my body normally. And I was like, “She’s going to know I’m high. I haven’t kissed her on the mouth in like eight years!” [laughs]

What’s your day-to-day consumption like today?

Some days I wake up and start smoking right away. Other days, I wait until later in the afternoon. Generally, now, any type of weed I smoke makes me tired. Even if I’m smoking sativas, it makes me sleepy unless I’m also on Adderall. How weed affects me just changed maybe like a year and a half or two years ago. Before, I used to be able to dab. I used to exclusively dab for years. I still do it occasionally, but I don’t do it as my main method of consumption anymore. I feel like I have no tolerance these days. I will smoke a sativa joint and be like, “I need to take a nap. I’m kind of sleepy.”

What’s your preferred way to consume these days?

I smoke out of a bong and I vape a lot. I can’t roll anything, and I’ve never been able to roll anything. And now I feel that that ship has sailed. I live in a state that sells pre-rolls, so why try now? I admire other people who can roll, though. I genuinely think of it as a skill set. My hands just are too dumb — it’s not gonna happen.

Do you have a preferred type of flower, whether a specific strain or just a certain flavor profile?

I actually don’t. I kind of like everything [laughs]. I’ve always just been like, “The more weed, the merrier.” I’ve never had a favorite anything. I like it all. I’ve never felt like, “Oh I want to be this specific type of high.” I’m willing to gamble.

Where do you buy weed in L.A.? Any particular dispensary?

For years, I went to this dispensary deep in the Valley in a strip mall that had no signage or anything. It just said “dispensary.” All the girls there were so hot and I became friends with them all; it still makes me mad that I never got any of their Instagrams. Now, they’re just, like, in the wind. This dispensary didn’t tax anything, and I’m pretty sure they were just very, very sketchy. But the weed was great and reliable. And I went there literally once a week for two and a half, maybe three years. Then I went back one time and everything was gone and it was just boarded up.

What about today? Where do you get your weed?

I immediately pivoted to ordering delivery. Grass Door is my preferred dispensary for delivery. It’s just so easy. They also have sales all the time and I love a sale. It makes me feel better about buying a dumb amount of weed. I’ll buy a few half ounces of different stuff and then I’ll get a few disposable vapes. Sometimes I smoke less weed when I’m busier. Some days, I’ll smoke an eighth. I haven’t smoked flower in like three days. I occasionally try to take a tolerance break. It used to be so hard for me. I couldn’t even think about not smoking for like two days. Today, though, I can take a break if I’m busy — that’s easy. I’ve definitely matured in my relationship with weed, whereas before, I was just like dabbing all day, every day.

Are there any types of weed products, like ephemera, grinders, or pipes that you like?

I really like my grinder. It’s from Sackville and Co. It’s the one that doesn’t have a kief catcher. It’s my favorite. I’ve had it for like a year and a half, and it’s indestructible. I like that you don’t have to grind up weed everyday. I’ll just grind up weed every three days and it will fill the grinder. It was the biggest barrier in getting me to transition from dabbing to flower. I was like, “I have to make myself enjoy this. So let’s get a bong that I like. Let’s get a grinder that I like.” Then it was easier to transition into using flower regularly.

Do you just stick to weed, or do you like psychedelics, too?

I do psychedelics sometimes. I did shrooms once in high school and had a really great experience with it. I just don’t take them regularly because they’re time-consuming. I did acid for the first time last September, and I was super wary of it. I was really nervous. So I only took like half a tab and then like basically nothing happened. Occasionally, I’d be like, “The ground looks a little weird.” [laughs] I’d be into trying more now. I’m no longer scared.

And then I tried DMT for the first time that same night, and I really liked it. I hit a DMT vape pen. I was at a mountain retreat in Denver after a crypto conference. This guy was really selling me on DMT because he was very into it. He said it only lasts 20 minutes and if you don’t like it, you don’t hit the vape again. So I tried it. I don’t really mind that it tastes like plastic; I can get over that [laughs]. And I had the BEST evening. We were sitting on this deck in the Colorado wilderness watching the sunset and I vaped DMT for like three hours. It was so fun and so funny.

I didn’t really know any of the people I was with, and they were mostly these insane scientists talking about experiments they used to do on mice where they would shoot them with certain lasers. I was just sitting there laughing — it was funny that they were talking about their actual jobs as scientists. I was just like, “I don’t know why I’m here. I do porn. I am so unqualified to be listening to your science experiment talk.” So I just sat there, did more DMT, looked at my hands, and cracked up. “Thanks for the DMT, babes!” You know?

I’m curious if weed plays a role when you’re performing in adult films. Do you ever smoke before getting to set?

Yeah, I definitely have. I used to always dab before set because by the time my makeup was done, I wouldn’t be as high anymore. I was like, “I’ll just sit there really high and get my makeup done for an hour and a half and then I’ll be slightly less high and I’ll go to work.” So I used to do that all the time. Now I will vape outside on set. But for a long time, I didn’t smoke weed on set because the producers were so strict, specifically like with the girls.

Was it a consent issue thing? Like they were worried you’d be incapacitated or something?

They were worried that I would be a worse performer. They were not worried about consent. They were worried that my performance would suffer. They were more worried my eyes would look fucked up [laughs].

Does weed make you perform differently?

Sometimes it’d make me more comfortable. Like, I can do everything that I can do sober when I am stoned, you know? I don’t think it’s great if I’m doing scenes where I have to do tons of dialogue and acting — weed won’t help me reach my peak performance. But for gonzo stuff, I don’t think it affects me negatively. It’s almost like a background thing. I can be high and do high-performance sex; that’s not an issue. After all, I used to smoke weed at six in the morning and then go to the gym with my old porn agent.

What about in your personal life? Does weed make sex more enjoyable for you?

Yeah. I think I like both. There’s definitely some times when I’d like my head to be as clear as possible. I like being high when I have sex and I like being sober when I have sex. I feel like I do both equally. I smoke weed more before I do escorting work — way more than I smoke weed before shooting porn. I’m generally an anxious person. So whenever I smoke weed, I am typically more relaxed. I was never anxious on set, but I can be when meeting a client. So I usually smoke a little bit before meeting them to calm my own nerves. Not that there’s anything to be nervous about. I’m just a nervous type of person [laughs]. Porn made me nervous during the first 30 scenes or whatever, and now it’s 300 later so I’m not nervous doing it anymore.

What activity do you like to do after you’ve gotten stoned?

I like to do the dishes and laundry when I’m really high. Dishes are my favorite calming activity after I’ve gotten too stoned. Sometimes if I’m really high, I’ll just walk into the kitchen and while it wasn’t my intention to do them, that’s where I end up. It feels nice. It’s meditative. Sometimes I’ll listen to music while doing it; sometimes I won’t listen to anything. Or I’ll do my laundry and then I’ll come inside and I’ll smoke weed and play video games. And then 30 minutes later I get up and fold the laundry. And then I come back and smoke more weed and play more video games. It’s a nice little routine. I’m often accidentally productive when I’m stoned. I’ll get distracted into a productive task.

What about something you like to watch while high? Anything particular?

I really like the YouTube channel Good Mythical Morning. This is kind of a corny answer, but it’s these two dads who have a daily talk show on YouTube that they’ve been doing since I was right out of high school. It’s funny, it’s short. I don’t have to think about anything, and it always makes me laugh hysterically. I’ve been watching it for like over 10 years. I watch it basically everyday without fail.

Have you ever met them or spoken to them online?

I haven’t, but I did fuck one of their employees one time [laughs]. When I first moved to L.A., I followed a bunch of the crew members and show producers on socials. I thought that one of them was really hot, so I followed him on Twitter and then he hit me up one night when he was drunk with his friends. And I was like, “Yes, I need to capitalize on this opportunity. This is what I moved here for: to fuck random crew members from this weird YouTube show.” [laughs] I don’t know if the hosts know who I am now, but I hope the crew member told them, “Hey, me and my friend tag teamed this porn star.”

Do you prefer any type of music or radio shows while stoned?

I generally listen to the last 10 songs that I’ve liked on Spotify. So there are some songs from Father’s new album. I love this song called “If We Were a Party” because it reminds me so much of Miley Cyrus, circa 2012. I can’t get that one out of my head. I’ve also been into hyperpop the last few years. I love the new Harry Styles album. I was a big One Direction fan as a teenager. That’s basically the gist of my music consumption.

Do you like reading while you’re high?

I usually read the news or articles that I see retweeted on my Twitter feed. Whatever catches my eye. I follow a lot of people who are into crypto and stuff and sometimes I’ll just look at somebody’s feed and try to understand what they’re saying [laughs].

If you could smoke anywhere in the world that you have not been to, where would you want to sesh?

If I could go anywhere in the world, I’d go somewhere in Thailand with an infinity pool. Sounds like a nice answer. I just got my passport last year, so I’m eager to travel. Plus, Thailand has reformed its weed laws — no more death penalty! They’re trying to capitalize on the global weed market.

Last question is if you could smoke with any person dead or alive, who would be in your dream blunt rotation?

I’m gonna go with Anthony Bourdain and John Waters. It would just be so interesting. I don’t want to squander this opportunity on someone like Snoop Dogg, though no offense to Snoop Dogg.

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Cash Only’s 420 Recs: Brett Heyman, Founder of Luxury Cannabis Line Edie Parker

March 18, 2023 Published by SDZ News

This article was originally published on Cash Only. Sign up for the newsletter here and follow Cash Only on Youtube, Instagram, and Twitter.

Like her cannabis company’s slogan, Brett Heyman is “here for a good time.” The founder of accessories brand Edie Parker — as well as its luxury cannabis arm, Flower by Edie Parker — has an infectious confidence and sense of humor that exudes “life of the party” energy.

During a video interview, the brains behind one of the more stylish weed lines had me cracking up in earnest — a rare treat for an introductory chat over Zoom. Edie Parker has been described as the “Coco Chanel of Cannabis,” and that makes sense; Coco was funny on top of being fashionable, too.

Heyman’s vibe made it very clear how a former fashion exec (she used to spearhead PR at Gucci, and previously worked at Dolce & Gabbana) could achieve the not-so-simple task of merging haute couture and cannabis under one seamless umbrella. The boss knows what she likes and what she wants, from her personal consumption preferences, to her thoughts on design and culture. Her convictions trickle into a cohesive vision, which in turn inspires good products and an exciting brand.

As such, Flower by Edie Parker offers a myriad of products, including tabletop lighters, sexy handmade ashtrays, flavored crush cones, wearable one-hitters, and premium flower (currently sold in Massachusetts and Illinois). Their releases sometimes remind me of Jonathan Adler’s tastefully absurd, drug-inspired decor — but more youthful and femme. In any case, Edie Parker ephemera is ideal for potheads and fashion enthusiasts alike. (They’re also charitable; peep The Edie Parker Foundation.)

In our interview below, Heyman sounds off on how her husband originally sparked her adult relationship with cannabis, explains how the couple does at-home R&D on their pipes, and speculates about the future ties between weed and fashion in NYC.

What was your first time smoking weed?

Brett Heyman: I haven’t answered this in a while. It’s embarrassing, but I started smoking weed for a boy. I was in high school and I was a little bit afraid of drugs — I had very, very conservative parents. They had me thinking that cannabis was really bad, anything that was illegal was really bad. Certainly any other type of drug was really bad. And I was very into music. I played guitar, I loved the Dead. I loved all these things that made my parents very uncomfortable, so they were distrusting.

I did a lot of ceramics in high school, and I won the pottery award, so I would come home with ceramic little mushroom things, little pottery pieces that I made. And my dad would always come in and like lift them up because he was always looking for drugs. And the irony is I didn’t do drugs.

And then I had not a boyfriend, but a best friend who I really liked. We were like Ross and Rachel — his words. But he smoked a lot of cannabis. And so I started smoking pot through him when I was in ninth grade. It definitely took me a while to figure out how to use weed in a way that worked for me. I’m still like this as an adult, where less is more for me. I like to have a little bit of cannabis a lot of the time, you know? I never like to be ripping a bong or dabbing. I don’t do any of that. So I have a very good relationship with cannabis now, but it took me a long time to figure it out.

At what point do you think you fell in love with the plant? When it wasn’t just a rebellion or recreational thing?

I’m gonna sound like such an anti-feminist, but again for a boy [laughs]. A different boy, totally different boy, who’s my husband now. So I had a relationship with cannabis through high school and college, but again, it would be the kind of thing where I’d get really drunk — or I would do other substances — and then I’d smoke cannabis in order to go to bed.

It wasn’t until I lived in New York City that I truly got into cannabis, but it wasn’t immediate. What happened was I went on my first date with my now-husband. I had agreed to go to lunch with him. That day, I didn’t eat breakfast, I exercised in the morning, and then I had two martinis at lunch… and that was it; I never left his side. But after lunch, we decided to go home and watch Almost Famous. He had cannabis at home and I was like, “Oh, I haven’t smoked in a while. Great.”

We used this ridiculously obnoxious pipe with a girl’s butt on it, which we still have. So I smoked with him and I think it was the first time where it was the right amount of weed. Maybe he had better stuff than I’d tried before. Anyway, it finally felt like having an adult relationship with cannabis. Not getting crazy, but just enjoying the plant in the way that I enjoy it now. So I think I fell in love with it then. We started dating when I was 26, so that’s the age I developed a real relationship with cannabis.

*Brett Heyman, photo via* *Marijuana Venture*

What’s your day-to-day use like now? Are you a nighttime smoker? Is it a medicinal tool?

I mean it’s not just medicinal for me; I really like the pleasure aspect, too. I like to smoke either a little bit or have a gummy before I go to bed. Those Wyld gummies are really good for sleep; I love those. But mostly, my relationship with cannabis is still the pleasure of it. So I really love combining sex and cannabis, especially when you’re married for a long time. You just need something to spice it up, and make it feel like, “Oh, this still feels good.” Just kidding [laughs]. We have a house in the country now, and we take a lot of walks. So we’ll smoke a little bit of cannabis and then I’m like, “The green is so beautiful, and it’s different every season!” My husband is my partner in all of that and he loves it. I think it’s really like a pleasure center for me, but I do use it for bed.

I wanted to ask you about the Edie Parker flower line. Do you have any current favorite strains?

The real, tough truth is that I don’t get a lot of Edie Parker all the time because we only sell it in Massachusetts and Illinois. So no, I don’t have a favorite Edie Parker strain, unfortunately. But I think our goal is to offer flower that inspires really consistent, good experiences — not just weed that will knock you off your chair. So things like THC percentages in the low 20s. As I said, I don’t like to be so stoned where I can’t see straight and have to lie down. So it’s about offering a consistent experience. Obviously, sometimes I want to feel headier or sometimes I want a body high, but both are options with the flower we sell.

Do you have a preferred consumption method when you do use flower?

I like to smoke. Well, I like to smoke a joint, but just like a little bit — for me, one or two puffs of a joint is perfect. And that is my favorite consumption method. I’ve never talked about my husband so much in an interview, but we also have this really romantic tradition where our brand makes a lot of pipes, so we are always testing them. Very sweetly, he likes to fill up the pipe for me, light it, and then give me all the cool smoke after he takes the hot hit. That’s so thoughtful. No one ever did that for me before, but he always does it. He’s like, “Oh, let me hit it first, and then you just take all that beautiful, cool smoke.” So we do that a lot — R&D for our products, as a couple.

Of all the ancillary products that you make, which one do you personally use most?

Um, I’m kind of lame. I’m not like a good joint roller, so I use the pipes a lot. But also, we have these cones that I think are great — and we just launched crush cones, which have a flavor profile. I like those and think it’s really nice to have something that’s functional and quick and New York-y. I like things to be quick and efficient, so I like the cones and use them. I like the pipes, obviously. I also love our tabletop lighters and have one in every room. They’re really pretty, there’s an ashtray built in, and they’re handmade. They’re labor-intensive products that last forever. They combine our heritage of being this handbag and accessory brand that went into cannabis. So products like this have that obvious marriage and compatibility. I just love these things.

Are there any brands out there that you think are kindred spirits to Edie Parker? Brands that you respect what they’re doing.

I mean, I respect everybody that’s doing it because it’s so hard for sure. But I love Pure Beauty and think they’re doing interesting things culturally. Their collaborators are interesting, their photographers are interesting. I think that’s amazing and I love that. And what I think we do is help with that conversation around the mainstream-ification of cannabis, like using collaborators from different industries — whether fashion or art — to just put a different spin on cannabis. Pure Beauty does that, too.

I also like Houseplant. I think they’re doing an incredible job with accessories. They have very different aesthetics than us, but their stuff is amazing. Seth [Rogen] has really created something special and popular; it is amazing how their stuff sells out so quickly. I also really like 1906. I love a 2.5mg THC product, so I really like the THC pills they make.

I would say you’re one of the pioneers or trailblazers when it comes to combining fashion and cannabis in a high-level way. I’m curious if you think that type of synergy between fashion and cannabis will continue to either evolve or feel more omnipresent in the future.

Totally. But it’s a layered answer because a thousand percent I think it’ll happen more. First off, one of the reasons fashion is important is because it’s very much reflective of what’s happening at a specific time. Maybe we don’t always see it, but we do when we look back in the rearview mirror. So I think fashion is important in that way. And I think that what is happening now culturally, with social justice and criminal justice reform and all that… cannabis is what’s happening. So I think there will be more synergies with fashion because of that.

I also think that New York will be transformative. I think there are so many fashion creatives working in New York. I think there are so many creatives, many whom I know personally, and they smoke a ton of cannabis. And now that New York has legalization, soon there will be a lot of people in fashion who dip a toe in the cannabis space, whether through collaborations or otherwise. I think that will absolutely happen. Culturally, these things will be synergistic and really important.

I’m noticing it myself. Like Laquan Smith had a fashion week party, and a delivery service I know was there giving out pre-rolls. That felt like something that would not have happened five years ago.

Totally, Laquan Smith, Brandon Blackwood, and others. These are people who are very public about their cannabis use. They’re giving out cannabis at events. They will definitely do cannabis collabs. They’ll partner with somebody and have a cannabis launch. So I think, yes, absolutely. I don’t think big brands like any LVMH brands will touch it for years, but I think it will absolutely continue to happen with the independent creators in New York.

Is there any activity that you like to do when you’re really high? Whether a particular hike, digging on Etsy, or going to a particular restaurant with your husband?

I don’t like to go to restaurants when I’m stoned. I like to watch TV in bed. I like to take walks in our backyard. We have lots of trees and pretty flowers in Connecticut, so I like to do that. As I said, I like to have sex while high. And then shopping while high is a real problem for me. It happens a lot, especially when I smoke to go to bed and then I sort of delay going to bed and instead buy a fuck ton of stuff online. I end up having to return so much. My penchant for shopping online while high can be problematic.

What about something you like to watch when you’re stoned? You mentioned The Real Housewives before, but what city?

Okay, great, thank you for asking that specific question. I need to watch that show if I’m too high because it calms me down like nothing else. I find Housewives very comforting. I don’t like the weird, Jesus-y Republican cities. So I don’t like OC. I don’t like Dallas. But I love Beverly Hills, New York, Atlanta, Potomac, and New Jersey.

I love The Real Housewives because the show makes me laugh. I make this joke that there are no roles for women in Hollywood over 40 other than the Housewives. This is where all these women go to work and die at a certain age. And they’re just so unaware of the joke. They take themselves so seriously, and I find that to be a trainwreck that I cannot stop watching. I think feeling compelled to watch it all the time is a real waste and I will never get those hours back, but I love it.

What do you like to listen to when stoned?

Definitely music, not so much podcasts. I have a problem where I feel like music stopped being good after the mid-90s. I’m having a big Mr. Mister resurgence, which is very weird. It’s a little bit like my high shopping where I’ll hear a song, it will remind me of a whole genre that I haven’t listened to in a while, and then I’ll do a deep download and have a whole ’80s or ‘90s-era dance party by myself. I am a real secret singer by myself, too. So anything that I can sing at the top of my lungs. So I’m listening to Annie Lennox again, as well as music that I can dance and sing to alone. That makes me very happy.

What do you like to read when high? Any books, magazines, or particular writers?

I read articles in The New Yorker and The Atlantic, but it takes me days. I’m a slow reader. I just bought the new David Sedaris essay book and I’m obsessed with him. So anything humorous like that. If I’m high at night and I’m not shopping, I’ll read something like that to go to bed. I like to read the news. It’s a tug of war with myself because I get sad reading the news and it makes it hard to get out of bed after, but I feel that I have to be informed and confront what’s happening. So I read a lot of news.

My last question is if you could have a dream blunt sesh with anyone alive or dead, who would be at your pot party?

Who do I like? I like a humorist. So I feel like someone like David Sedaris would be fun, although I don’t know how fun he would be when high. Who do I admire? Maybe someone like John Lennon, who I’d just like to meet. Also, John Waters, Jesus, and Chris Hemsworth (but only as Thor).

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Cash Only’s 420 Recs: Zach Harris, Weed and Skate Writer

March 11, 2023 Published by SDZ News

This article was originally published on Cash Only. Sign up for the newsletter here and follow Cash Only on Youtube, Instagram, and Twitter.

I am proud to share my name with Zach Harris, even if weed industry people sometimes get us confused. After all, I regularly worked with the Philly-based writer for years while I was editor at Merry Jane. Harris was one of our main contributors, and we’d often be CC’ed on the same emails, so marijuana media mix-ups were par for the course.

But ZH is his own man — a unique Zach with strong convictions, a well-oiled cortex, and the lungs of an ultra-marathon runner. For real, this guy can smoke some fucking weed. It always blew my mind that the dude would chief at least a dozen or two joints a day, yet still be awake before me and always hit his deadlines.

Me and Harris collaborated a lot, including on several features I’m proud of to this day: His screed against “moon rocks,” caviar, and tarantula joints; a deep dive into the secondary market for rare and discontinued Backwoods flavors; and the very first investigation of the “mysterious vaping illness” (later dubbed EVALI) which was spurred by fake and bootleg THC cartridges. This last scoop went viral and led to coverage on Rolling Stone, NYPost, and countless other publications before the topic became a national news item.

These days, Harris still writes about weed and skating for publications like Complex, but mostly does consulting and copywriting for cannabis brands like Cookies, Viola, Elyon, and more. Not too long ago, he conceived and executed an exclusive partnership between Cookies and Spitfire Wheels, celebrating pro skater Kader Sylla. Zach is also very good at Twitter and is a must-follow for anyone who’s into authentic cannabis culture.

We’re grateful to consider Harris a pal and co-conspirator, and the weed lord made some time to talk about his pot preferences with Cash Only. In a fun interview, Zach discusses his morning joint rolling rigamarole, shouts out some heady growers, and also gives the nod to his brother Malcolm’s upcoming book. The Harris family is full of heads, what can I say! Big ups to Zach H. — you’re a real-deal stoner with a beautiful brain.

Photo by Zach Sokol

Do you have a current favorite weed strain? How do you like to consume it?

Zach Harris: Lately, I’ve been smoking a lot of sun-grown First Class Funk and Horchata my family grew in NorCal and then some indoor London Pound Cake. I try to switch up flavors pretty frequently, but I’m typically into the more funky, gassy, savory strains.

Consumption-wise, I’m usually smoking a bong or dab rig at home and then personal-sized joints whenever I’m outside. We’re still in a pandemic, so I’m not passing my joints to anyone, but I’ll usually have enough on hand to give you your own persy joint if I like you. Sometimes, I smoke joints at home instead of the bong. I’ve also been rolling a lot of hash holes lately, which is just a joint with a rope of rosin in the middle — very heady and popular these days. They’re great for when I’m really trying to smack myself in the face. In general, I like to roll joints.

What’s your day-to-day consumption like? Bring us through a day in the life of your lungs.

I’m definitely an all-day smoker; I like the label “stoner.” In the morning, I try to match my French press with a bowl or joint for each cup of coffee from like 8 am to noon, so that gets the day going. Then I’ll roll about 8 or 10 joints before I leave the house. I have this cool joint case that I got at a flea market a while back, and I feel a little naked if I’m out and I don’t have that with me at least half-way full. I also think the process of rolling joints is really meditative — you get in a good zone.

If I’m at home most of the day working, I’ll keep packing bong bowls or doing dabs pretty steadily. And then if I’m out and about, I’m smoking those 10ish joints I rolled earlier at the regular pace of a cigarette smoker — like half a pack a day haha. I used to smoke a bunch of cigarettes when it was less acceptable to smoke weed in public, but like five or six years ago I quit cold turkey and just replaced that habit with more weed. Plus, these days no one gives you shit for smoking weed in public, so I just keep smoking my joints. If I’m outside and I run out of rolled ones, I usually have enough supplies in my tote bag to roll more, so I’ll do that.

Do you have any favorite weed products — any particular papers, grinders, or whatever? What makes them special?

I’m a big fan of simplicity and simple stuff that works. I like a two chamber grinder. I don’t need a keef catcher; I want the keef to stay with the weed, where it belongs. I usually roll with 1 ¼ size Vibes or Element papers with the Raw perforated wide tips. Those perforated wide tips are key. I want the crutch on my joints to be the size of a cigarette filter, not a tiny nub that you can’t actually hold between your fingers.

At home I use a bong from Heir. They sent me one in 2019 when I was writing a lot of product reviews and I’ve sworn by it since. It’s incredibly easy to clean, super sturdy, and works every time. The other product I use a lot from my time on PR seeding lists is the PuffCo Peak Pro. Don’t need to say much about that one; it’s a spaceship dab rig and it is perfect.

Last but not least, my parents live out in California and they have a friend who’s a sick woodworker, and she recently carved me a custom rolling tray, so I use that every day. Thanks mom and dad!

Which cannabis brands impress you these days — whether due to their products, their aesthetics, or something else.

Honestly, most of the flower I smoke comes from a super small unbranded family farm, but when it comes to branded weed, the two California companies I’ve worked closest with — Cookies and Viola — have impressed me with their product, but also the people and approach. As a freelancer, I would also like to say that they both pay on time, which is way cooler than any packaging.

As far as other branded flower, I really dig the Mom’s Weed from Huckleberry Hill Farms in Humboldt, Gummiez and The Menthol from Compound Genetics, and I’m really stoked to check out the new menu of strains from my friends at The Rare — their Olive Wagyu is one of my favorite Gelato profiles and their packaging is always some of my favorite.

I also recently tried a couple strains from Green Bodhi that were both really great — shoutout to those guys, they’re doing things right.

*Zach Harris at Washington Square Park on 4/20/22*

What activity do you like to do after you’ve gotten stoned?

I’ve been really into bowling lately, and taking joint breaks every few games is a really good way to get your head right. Same with the beer league softball I’ve been playing lately. Smoking a joint between innings in the dugout is great. I also like skateboarding, biking, and going on walks while I’m smoking weed. The best stuff to do while you’re stoned is the stuff you can do while you’re actively smoking, because I’m always gonna want to smoke another one. I’m the guy who is always gonna ask “Can we smoke here?” no matter what we’re doing, so whenever the answer is yes, that’s what I wanna be doing.

Can you recommend something to watch while stoned?

Can’t go wrong with TV procedurals. Whether it’s Monk, Burn Notice, Law & Order (any flavor), or Hawaii 5-0, the best shows to watch while you’re stoned are things that you can watch without much context. So many of the premium cable or streaming site shows are just overly dramatic roads to nowhere, man. They’re all so dark — like not even in content, but in how they’re shot; I can barely see what’s going on half the time. Much better off with a few episodes from season 3 of the early 2000s network dramedy Las Vegas starring Jimmy Caan — he’ll spend 45 minutes sussing out a gang of motocross-riding card counters or something like that. Much chiller.

What do you like to listen to after smoking? Any albums, radio shows, or podcasts?

I think we’re in a pretty incredible golden era of rap music in every corner of the country. I’ve been listening to a lot of the Detroit wave like Veeze, Icewear Vezzo, GT, Babyface Ray, 42, and those dudes. Then the Flint guys, like Rio, Sleazy World Go from Kansas City, and Memphis heads like Glorilla, Key Glock, and of course Young Dolph. Ummmm, Fivio, DThang, and the scene in New York is cool. I’m also still listening to a lot of Drakeo the Ruler and Ralphy — that LA sound. Then finally, I like the scene of guys killing it out here in Philly — OT7Quanny, Poundside Pop, RB Cat, and a bunch more. There’s so much good music out right now.

Can you recommend something to read after smoking?

Can I ever! My brother, Malcolm Harris, is getting set to release his third book, Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World, in 2023, so you should pre-order that now. And while you’re at it, grab his first two books, Kids These Days: The Making of Millennials and Shit Is Fucked Up and Bullshit: History Since the End of History. Yes, he’s my brother, but he’s also an incredible thinker, writer, and stoner, who has an uncanny ability to break down super complex subjects in a way that is fun, funny, and radicalizing. If you’re bummed at how things are going in the world and you want to know how they got this way, Malcolm’s books will make some things click. Seriously, go buy all his books right now.

I’ve also recently read a couple books by some skate friends that are really awesome. The Most Fun Thing from professor Kyle Beachy is a great compilation of short essays about life, love, and skateboarding. And Top of Mason is a novel by pro skater Walker Ryan that reads super fun and fast. I read it on the beach in Miami and it was perfect.

Who’s in your dream blunt rotation? Dead or alive.

Gotta give an obligatory shoutout to my family, because they all smoke just about as much weed as I do, but we don’t all live in the same city. So when we all get together, those are my dream sessions.

But that’s not a very fun answer, so let’s go with John Cardiel, Klay Thompson, Kylie Minogue, Young Dolph, and Megan Thee Stallion. That would be a sick crew.

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Cash Only’s 420 Recs: Melissa A. Vitale, the OG Weed and Sex Publicist

March 4, 2023 Published by SDZ News

This article was originally published on Cash Only. Sign up for the newsletter here and follow Cash Only on Youtube, Instagram, and Twitter.

Melissa A. Vitale is one of the rare publicists whose emails I will read start-to-finish, regardless of the topic. The brains and namesake behind the firm MAVPR and Pressboxx has a gift for making press outreach feel intimate, fun, and collaborative. There are no guilt-trips, passive aggressive follow-ups, or desperate “spray and pray” approaches from the cannabis and sexual wellness expert. Part of the reason she’s so good at her job is that Melissa makes an active effort to get familiar with writers and their personal interests, so when she does reach out, it’s usually about something up my alley.

And damn does MAV get results! I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen glowing, authentic coverage of her clients in top-tier outlets— from Rolling Stone and New York Mag, to the New York Post and Fox fucking News — and smiled to myself, knowing Melissa was the low-key finesser behind the scenes. And, as her site notes, the coverage usually focuses on “education over sensation,” which is essential for normalizing plant medicine and sex positivity in mainstream media.

Melissa has overseen campaigns for admirable cannabis companies like Her Highness, Binske, Elixinol, and TOCA, as well as sextech and luxury intimacy brands like Pure for Men, ZALO, and Upko. She also rolls one of the best spliffs in New York and will treat you like royalty if you’re lucky enough to have a meeting at her home office (which has not one, but two epic balconies).

The Italian stallion also has great taste, and she generously made some time to chat with Cash Only about her weed preferences. Below, MAV breaks down her perfect spliff recipe, recommends a crystal ball pipe, and flexes her pot picnic chops — an activity she can get ready for in a matter of minutes. Thanks Melissa, you are a ganja goddess and an amazing human <3

Photo by Chad Johnson, courtesy of Melissa A. Vitale

Do you have a current favorite weed strain? How do you like to consume it?

Melissa A. Vitale: For the past three years my go-to strain has been Space Queen. I’m a spliff enthusiast — 95% Space Queen with roughly 5% Danish Export Tobacco, hand-rolled in Bob Marley classic rolling paper with a RAW Classic tip. I’ll be cutting out tobacco by my next birthday and I’m looking forward to switching up my consumption methods.

Do you have any favorite weed products — any particular papers, grinders, or whatever?

Neither of these recs are clients of mine, but I was recently given a Grounded Crystal Ball Pipe from Sackville & Co, and after figuring out how to smoke it, it quickly became my favorite piece in my house. Like tons of other folks in cannabis media, the Flower Mill has also captivated my heart; if you identify as a regular consumer or stoner, I recommend the Premium Flower Mill.

Which cannabis brands excite you from a marketing/PR perspective? What companies or public figures are killing it in terms of their online presence?

I love brands like Her Highness, DomPen, and KIVA who are finding ways to incorporate their brand ethos into compliant packaging. Cannaclusive is an incredible organization with an awesome online footprint and engaging community — plus, their co-founder Mary Pryor is a boss babe who I’m perpetually in awe of.

Does weed help you professionally? How do you utilize the plant during office hours — what tasks does it help with?

I smoke throughout my work day; cannabis helps me stay focused, creative, and drowns out the distractions.

What activity do you like to do after you’ve gotten stoned?

I’m an avid picnic’er. I can be ready with a blanket, cooler bag, speaker, snacks, a bottle of wine, and spliffs in a matter of minutes. Let me know where to meet you! I’ll smoke while in transit and then settle in to smoke, eat, drink, and enjoy the outdoors all day.

Can you recommend something to watch after smoking?

I’ve been having a bit of a Matthew McConaughey moment, so stuff like Fool’s Gold, We Are Marshall, and Lincoln Lawyer have been my recent go-tos.

What do you like to listen to after smoking? Any albums, radio shows, or podcasts?

My music taste is all over the place. I’ll listen to anything from rap to country, with an embarrassing amount of Taylor Swift in between.

Can you recommend something to read when high?

If you’re into romance and fantasy, check out Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe, a gorgeous graphic novel series about Hades and Persephone.

Who’s in your dream blunt rotation? Dead or alive.

It’s on my bucket list to have Snoop Dog smoke one of my spliffs. For a dead sesh, I’d have to pick Jesus.

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Brian Blomerth’s Last Rip: Why The Illustrator Quit Weed After a Dave Matthews Concert

February 18, 2023 Published by SDZ News

This article was originally published on Cash Only. Sign up for the newsletter here and follow Cash Only on Youtube, Instagram, and Twitter.

Brian Blomerth is a brilliant artist and arguably the premier psychedelics illustrator this side of the Mississippi. A torch carrier of R. Crumb and other heavy hitters from the underground comix scene, Blomerth has become the go-to Micron maestro for anything pertaining to plant medicine and related subcultures, including recent commissions by The Grateful Dead, Phish, and Tame Impala.

More importantly, Blomerth is the author/illustrator behind the two greatest visual histories on mind-altering substances: Bicycle Day, his faithful retelling of how LSD was invented, and Mycelium Wassonii, which tracks how magic mushrooms were introduced to Western culture. As I wrote in an earlier article about these tripped-out tomes, these are perfect children’s books (at least in format) that are made for adults who are curious about psychedelics and their evolution throughout the U.S. zeitgeist. Both are essential reads, and you should buy a copy here!!!

These intros can sometimes be a bit long-winded, and I could write a whole book on the ingenious nature of Blomerth’s craft, so I’ll try and keep things brief. I have worked as Brian’s editor and co-conspirator on and off since 2014 — he used to pen a weekly comic for me when I was working at VICE, as well as different one when I was editing Merry Jane — and I’ve written about him and his work numerous times. He’s also a close friend and one of the best storytellers I’ve ever met.

Due to his reputation as the “trippy illustrator guy,” you’d maybe expect Brian to be a regular consumer of the substances he renders in pupil-dilating ink. But alas! Despite making art for pot brands and cranking out dozens of comics about a weed-smoking firedog, Blomerth himself avoids the devil’s lettuce. (He does, however, make it a tradition to consume acid or mushrooms at least once per calendar year.)

I’ve always known that Brian does not enjoy smoking weed, but I was never quite sure why. I had a feeling there was a good story behind his breakup with the plant, and decided to call him up to learn the backstory for this edition of Cash Only. As expected, the tale behind his last hurrah with marijuana was stranger than fiction and undoubtedly “Blomerthian.” Turns out that a fateful, nightmarish experience at a Dave Matthews concert was what scared him straight.

I don’t want to spoil any more details, so you’ll just have to read on. Big shouts to Blomerth. I’ll never ask you to hit the spliff, but I still prefer to be in your company while I’m really baked.

Blomerth photographed on Halloween a while back by Zach Sokol

*A Brian Blomerth weed illustration commissioned for Merry Jane way back*

What’s up, Mr. Blomerth? Let’s talk about your relationship with weed.

Brian Blomerth: When I first started working for you at Merry Jane, I remember you asked me, “Are you pro weed or anti weed? As long as it’s one of the two, we’re good. Doesn’t matter which” [laughs].

That is correct. Let’s jump back a second, though. What was your first time smoking weed like?

Shit, man. I remember people in high school doing the “honey blunt-in-the-microwave” type of garbage.

What’s a honey blunt?

You’ve never heard of a honey blunt? Are you kidding me? Am I insane? You roll a blunt, then break open the Dutch Master and put a little honey on it, and then it briefly goes in the microwave. You microwave it for like two seconds and then smoke the thing. I remember some kid in my high school being like [*nasally voice*] “And thaaaat’s a honey blunt!”

My friend’s mom was gone so we smoked a honey blunt at her place. Then I watched my friends skateboard terribly in front of the house. I was maybe 15. I think I got high, but I don’t remember it being anything special or whatever.

*Brian Blomerth and Kate Levitt (GOATs), photo by Zach Sokol*

What about the first time you were actually stoned, like memorably stoned?

It had to be in college. Those are the weed experiences that really stick out to me and have good tales related to them. Are you ready for this? One of the first times I remember getting very, very high was in college and I was looking at all my own drawings. I was like, “What the fuck is this shit?” It was a real confrontation with my ego. I was staring at my work and thought, “It’s unfair to make anyone look at this garbage.”

There was another time, or more like a week, when I was into hash. We were smoking hash and went to a river, and my friend put his two fingers in his mouth to make himself gag — like, as a bit — but him doing that made me actually throw up. And I was pissed because I had just eaten a nice sandwich for lunch. “Goddamn it! I’ll be starving in an hour.”

Did you enjoy being high, despite the vomiting situation?

I think so, yeah. There was another time that week where I smoked a bunch of weed, ate a whole bag of Doritos, and then also threw up. It was fine, but looking at my drawings while high made me way too paranoid. It was too confusing for me. It didn’t change my art practice or anything, but it just freaked me out [laughs].

One of Brian’s panels from a “Frisbee F.D.” comic we did, back when I was editing *Merry Jane*

At what point were you like, “This shit is not for me. I don’t like weed”?

I can tell you the exact moment, and this story’s wild. I was working at the dorms at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. This woman comes up to me and is like, “Hey, I’m giving staff members free tickets to see Dave Matthews in this basketball stadium, do you want them?”

I said, “Yes, give me 8 tickets,” and she said, “OK, cool.”

So she gives me 8 tickets to see a Dave Matthews acoustic set. Me and my whole cadre of friends were like, “Hell yes. It’s time to smoke some fucking WEED before we go to this thing.”

Apparently, we smoked so much weed that one of my friends was convinced we’d also done Robitussin. That’s how high we were; he thought we were Robo-Tripping. I know for a fact that we had just smoked weed, though. No, sir, it was just weed.

So we go to the basketball stadium, and Dave comes out and he’s going nuts. It’s just Dave and this other acoustic guy, but the other guy has all these filters and shit so he can make his guitar sound like a violin or whatever. But the show starts, and all these frat guys are grinding on their girlfriends super intensely. Immediately, I was thinking, “This is too fucking heavy for me. This is insane.” This was before Obama got elected, right? And here’s where things get a little offensive and crazy…

Brian Blomerth, photographed by Zach Sokol

Please, continue…

Dave was wasted out of his brain, and I don’t know if you know anything about him, but he’s an on-and-off alcoholic. He cut his teeth in Charlottesville, and it’s maybe 45 minutes away from Richmond. So you’d always meet people, like professors or whoever, who had tales about Dave Matthews being wasted and doing something crazy.

For example, I had one friend who delivered him a canoe at 8am one morning, and Dave was holding two Budweisers, one in each hand. My friend was like, “Sick, he’s going to give me one of these beers.” But Dave did NOT give him a beer. My friend even reached his hand out to take the second beer. He thought it was for him and he’d get to enjoy a morning beer with Dave Matthews — but no dice! Dave pulled the beer away from him, gave him a look like, “What the fuck?” and just pointed to where he wanted the canoe on his property, despite having both hands full.

One more local story about Dave and then I’ll return to my own tale. OK, so my friend is at this bar in Charlottesville, and she thinks there are a bunch of jackets under this table. She’s got her feet like resting on these jackets. And at the end of the night, she looks down there and it’s not a bunch of jackets… it’s Dave Matthews passed out [laughs]. I swear to god! Completely blacked out, under the table.

So what happened at that Dave Matthews concert you got really high for?

So we’re at the show, and it’s before Obama was elected. Dave’s like, “The whole worlddddd’s rooting for Obama! We got Irish people being like, [*bad Irish accent*] Lickety-di-Obama! We’ve got African people being like, Click-clack-click-clack-Obama!” He keeps going, and I’m just sitting there like, “What the flying fuck is this? What the fuck is he talking about?” And then Dave goes, “The Chinese are saying Ching-Chong-Ching-Chong-Obama!” The audience is cheering after each line, and I’m increasingly weirded out by all this and how racist it is.

He then goes: “OK, I wrote this song about Obama. It’s called ‘Crash.’” And then he plays the infamous song, “Crash.” Everybody cheers, and I’m just like, “What the fuck does this mean? This is the END of me and weed. I am so fucking confused and freaked out right now.”

I look around and people are still cheering, but it meant nothing. It was like, “What does this statement even mean? What does Obama have to do with ‘Crash’? What is going on here?”

From then on, I decided I’ll never smoke weed again [laughs].

That’s wild. Isn’t “Crash” about coming inside of someone? Like, that’s in the lyrics.

Yeah, I think so. I’m pretty certain. And that makes it all the more twisted. Also, it’s called “Crash” and he got all these anti-Obama people to be hype, all these pro-Obama people to be hype. It wasn’t even English! What language is this man speaking, and what is he trying to say? And everyone was so into it, despite the overt racism.

So Dave Matthews scared me straight. You’d think he might have scared me away from alcohol and all the other shit, but for whatever reason, I thought, “This is the weed’s fault. Not Dave Matthews’ fault.” And yes, I realize this is a problem with Dave Matthews and not a problem with marijuana, but I just couldn’t handle Dave and marijuana together. It was just too much.There you go: Cash Only…. [laughs].

Another panel from defunct Brian’s comic series, “Frisbee F.D.” RIP…

Did you ever smoke weed again, or was this really your last hurrah?

I did smoke one or two other times after a friend was like, “Come on, Brian! Please.” That kind of shit — alright, alright, I’ll take a little sippy-sip. And it was fine. It was OK. It mostly makes me very paranoid and stressed out. I confront my life way too much when I’m high. I don’t think that’s good for me. I’m one of those people.

I bet a lot of people imagine you smoke based on your art, but I think it’s way tighter that you’re the trippy psychedelics-focused illustrator who doesn’t smoke weed.

That’s what I love to hear. Yeah, weed’s cool. It’s just too confusing and it makes it hard for me to focus. I really respect your style and people who smoke weed and can just blaze through monotonous tasks. I think that’s fucking awesome, but it doesn’t work for me.

What’s your favorite weed-related image to illustrate? You’ve done a thousand at this point.

I can’t remember if I drew this for you or another publication, but drawing the actual plant and the leaves is obviously super fun. I did a full 18” by 24” illustration of the plant for someone once, and it was tight, but they told me they couldn’t use it. So I like drawing the plant. It’s a very pretty plant.

Another image I commissioned Brian to draw for *Merry Jane*

What drugs do you enjoy doing these days? I remember you telling me that you usually do psychedelics just once per year.

Yeah, it’s still a once a year thing. But I enjoy that annual trip quite tremendously [laughs]. Part of my once a year rule is that I can’t try very hard to seek them out. So it’s typically when someone just randomly presents the opportunity, like someone saying, “Hey, I’ve got these tabs for $20 a pop, want to buy one right now?” I don’t actively plan a trip; it usually comes to me.

In the middle of COVID shit, I found a huge bag of mushrooms on the ground. But I was like, “You know what? This ain’t me right now” [laughs]. I left them there for someone else to find. I thought it’d be way cooler for someone else to come across because I wasn’t in that space. I was in a weird spot, housing-wise, and I knew I couldn’t be that high at the time. It would have been nightmarish — and don’t get me wrong, nightmarish can be good sometimes — but I was just not ready for something like that right then.

What would it take to get you to smoke again today?

Not very much, I’d just have to want to do it [laughs]. Not that much. If the right opportunity presented itself. Like if someone cooked an elaborate-ass meal and was like, “The only thing that would enhance this meal and truly make it the greatest thing ever is this weed I grew,” then I’d smoke the weed. If it was a scenario like that, I’d be like, “Yes, this is beyond acceptable.”

*A Ram Dass-inspired panel of “Frisbee F.D.” by Brian Blomerth*

What are your general thoughts on weed culture in 2022? Anything about the current weed zeitgeist that you have an opinion on, one way or the other?

I wish you could go into a weed store and buy really crappy weed. Like 1960s weed. I know I’m not original in this thought, but I wish there was access to dirt weed. Shit that makes you want to wear a different colored outfit, you know? There should be more shake around. I want the type of nug you find hidden in a record sleeve that’s like decades old. If I was to smoke weed again, that’d be what I look for.

What about the aesthetics of weed? Do you have any opinions about the imagery used in weed branding today?

If I’m being honest, I haven’t looked that hard. The only thing that’s annoying for me is that I’m kind of over working with weed brands on illustrations. It’s confusing, and the brands never know what they want. They never work with me a little bit to figure out something that will work for them. They always move the goal post. I’ll work for them on a single project for a long time, and they can’t bring it through the finish line. I don’t want to do that anymore. I want it to be one-and-done for those types of gigs. It’s too much and too confusing.

Brian Blomerth x Kate Levitt, photo by Zach Sokol

If you were to return to weed, who would be in your dream blunt rotation?

It’d be funny to smoke with three Dave Matthews. Literally three clones. That’d be such a nightmare, three Daves. I don’t think I could handle that, though. That’s a triple threat. I think my casual “I don’t smoke weed” stance would be converted to a strong anti-weed stance if I smoked with three Daves. Yeah, every time I wanna get scared straight again, I’ll smoke with three Dave Matthews.

If I’m being more serious, I like listening to gurus talk, so maybe the Maharishi and all his transcendental meditation vibes. He’d be way too intense, but it’d be fun to be like, “Nah just chill man.” He’s got a good voice, too.

You know what? I wanna go with people who have amazing voices. So let’s add Orson Welles. It’s all about listening to beautiful tones while you’re smoking. We need a lady, maybe someone with a gravelly voice. How about Delilah Rene, from “Delilah After Dark.” If you listen to mom radio, like adult contemporary, she comes on at night and has this really soft voice and she’s crying a lot. She’s cool. She plays love songs and takes dedications from callers. And people call in and talk about the pain in their life and then ask for Matchbox 20 to be played [laughs]. Let’s also add Diane Rehm from NPR and “On My Mind.” She also has a great voice.

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Cash Only’s 420 Recs: Michael Vegas, Iconic Adult Star and Pot Lover

February 11, 2023 Published by SDZ News

This article was originally published on Cash Only. Sign up for the newsletter here and follow Cash Only on Youtube, Instagram, and Twitter.

All photos courtesy of Michael Vegas.

Michael Vegas is like the adult film version of the Dos Equis Man — just add an extra X, and boom, you’ve got the most interesting man in porn. The performer, director, “anal guru,” and happiness expert has many talents, though his boyish looks and undeniable charm have undoubtedly led to him becoming one of the most famous NSFW entertainers in the game.

As the saying goes, “the scoreboard doesn’t lie”: Vegas has racked up over 350 million views on Pornhub and nearly 500 million views on xVideos, though the true count is likely higher once you factor in pirated rips of his content. He’s performed in countless videos, directed dozens more, and embraces all varieties of kinks and fetishes across the spectrum of sexuality — he calls himself “PigDaddy,” after all.

But outside of being a smut legend, Vegas is a deeply fascinating dude with an attitude that exudes “zen master” vibes. From his on-screen presence in both his adult work and social media, to the way he talks about his day-to-day life, the guy is the absolute opposite of insecure. At 38-years-old, Vegas is truly a blissed-out and authentic human. Real charisma is when you’re consistently yourself, and people still gravitate towards you like a moth to a flame. Michael’s got that magnetism in spades, and talking to him feels like a session with a chill-ass life coach — and one who doesn’t proselytize, either!

Over a long and extremely enjoyable phone call, Vegas cracked me the hell up while discussing his intimate relationship with weed. He also reminded me of how miraculous this plant medicine can be. In 2006, Mike got in a horrific motorcycle accident that left him comatose with a broken neck and spine. Vegas is allergic to opioids, so he started using medical marijuana to treat his injuries. “Oh my god! Suddenly, I didn’t even have to think about my pain anymore. My thoughts were free. It became a life-changing tool for me,” he explained.

From there, we pivoted to many topics, each increasingly interesting. Vegas talked about how learning to juggle also changed his life and benefited him in so many ways that he could “write a dissertation on it.” He gave his therapist a shout-out, as she just published a new book on polyamory. He also discussed listening to ASMR porn when you’re high, as well as a deep house mix that Diplo made using his DJ Hanzel alias. And before we wrapped things up, Vegas noted his longtime admiration (and attraction) to Martha Stewart, and hypothesized what a romantic tryst with her might be like. Heated lube dispensers and ball doilies, anyone?

This is one of my favorite Cash Only interviews to date, and I want to say a big thank you to Michael Vegas! Read the whole thing below.

What was your first time smoking weed like?

Michael Vegas: I was 15-years-old the first time I smoked weed. I was over at a friend’s house and his dad was out of town. We got a hold of a little bit of whiskey, and his brother was a weed smoker, so we got a little nug — maybe a gram’s worth of weed. We smoked and got fucking BAKED! We sat in his brother’s room and played N64 GoldenEye all night. I remember running away from Oddjob, going in circles and staring at the screen while going, “Whoaaaaa…. what’s going on?” Then, whatever happened after GoldenEye, I woke up the next morning in a lawn chair in the backyard, wearing a beanie and sunglasses in my underwear. I feel like my first time smoking somehow involved time travel.

So, from the first time you smoked, you knew you liked weed?

I couldn’t really tell if it was the weed or the whiskey that really made a cleavage. Probably the whiskey, knowing what I know about weed now. However, the forgetfulness could also be chalked up to either, but probably the alcohol. It was fun, it was a good time. Later on, I smoked weed a little bit here and there. It was a bad kid thing to do, and I needed some rebellion. But I didn’t have a need for weed at that point in time. I wasn’t feeling stressed or pain or lack of hunger, or so many other things I now use weed to manage.

I was kind of not into weed, I was even against weed, for a long time. It made my friends lazy! My best friend would just sit around and play video games all day, when we used to go ride bikes and do skateboard shit. I was that dog in the PSA commercial watching his boy deflate. It was a love-hate relationship for quite a while.

At what point did weed become a regular part of your life?

Well I knew that if I smoked, I would get mega-stoned and couldn’t really do anything after. But in 2006, I got in a severe motorcycle accident. I broke my neck, my spine, and ended up in a coma. Hard times. Hard times for a while. Years and years later, maybe like 2010, I was sitting around in my house and I was in so much discomfort that I had to figure a way out. And I’m allergic to opioids and opiates. So I said, all right, I’ll try out some weed. Anything to get me out of here, man. Anything to get me out of this body, to get me out of whatever has happened to me.

So I smoked a bunch of weed, and the pain went away. That was great. Then I kept doing it, I kept smoking weed more and more to get through the pain. And then finally, I was able to start functioning while high. I wasn’t so stoned anymore. It’s like drinking: you learn to be drunk. I learned how to be a little bit stoned. You have to learn to take a Darvocet or a Norco or whatever pain pill. That doesn’t mean you want to be high, laying on the sofa! You try to find a dose for you that works like medicine so you can function like a human being again.

I finally figured out the right amount of weed to consume and at what time to consume it, so I wasn’t all fucked up. And then, oh my god! So many benefits. Not just a lack of pain — I didn’t even have to think about my pain anymore! My thoughts were free. I didn’t realize how much of my mental capacity was occupied trying to ignore what my body was feeling.

Once I got past that, I realized I could think clearer. I am such a scatterbrain. My brain races and goes all sorts of places, so when I started smoking weed, my brain finally slowed down and I could manage my thoughts and get a hold of myself. I could learn things better because I could go slower when trying to process information. Holy fucking shit! I realized everything I was told about weed was a lie. It became an absolutely life-changing tool for me.

In 2017, I started going to weed events. Semi-formal things, where distributors were meeting each other and they were giving out weed. We were galavanting with the good times of weed, and one of the places we went to featured the Surgeon General, or former Surgeon General, speaking on how effective THC is at healing trauma in our veterans.

I don’t care who the fuck you are: mom, dad, teacher, friend… this guy’s the goddamn Surgeon General and he’s telling you how effective this medicine is at healing some of the people we’re supposed to respect the most? You better listen to this guy!

So now that we’re in 2022, what’s your relationship with weed like today? Are you a morning smoker, an evening consumer?

Per recommendation of Dr. Bradley from Sublime, I smoke two joints in the morning, two in the afternoon, and it makes me feel all right [laughs]. Oh, Sublime…

But really, I smoke a lot. I’ve discovered I smoke more when I’m with other people. When I’m on my own, I feel the stoned effects more because I’m not trying to quell what’s going on with me as much. It takes less weed to get me stoned when I’m alone.

So I wake up and smoke weed all day! But I’m also like, “Fuck man, I’m 40, I probably shouldn’t be smoking at all. Maybe I should use another consumption method?” Well, I’m actually 38. I turn 38 tomorrow.

What are you smoking, exactly? And what’s your preferred consumption method?

I’m a big fan of joints. I like that I don’t have to clean ‘em. I like that I don’t have to clean up after smoking one. I like that it doesn’t taste burnt because I’m not hitting resin regularly. Smoking out of a brand new pipe’s cool, I like that. But I don’t want to have to get this motherfucking oily ash all over my hands, trying to clean it out all the time.

Once you learn to roll a joint, why would you do anything else? People buy pre-rolls, and I’m like, “No, don’t do that. I will roll you a joint. I’ll put keef on the outside, whatever you want. Just stop using pre-rolls full of shitty weed.”

I like joints because you don’t have to keep smoking them. You can put them out whenever. You can borrow a lighter, and that’s all you need. There are so many benefits. You hand someone a joint and it’s way cooler than handing them a couple nugs of weed, right? So that’s the way I like to go.

Also, you gotta love a dab. I recently bought an electric nail, or an electric skillet. I’m supposed to get a Puffco for my birthday. One of my cameramen has one; he brings it to set and I love it so much. When I’m at home, and I’m not trying to recharge batteries and stuff, we have a sweet little dab rig with a quartz banger and a carb cap that has those little balls that swirl around in it. It’s got a coil, too, that sits below the quartz banger and heats it up, so you’re not getting hits that taste like metal. I set it to 575 degrees so you get to taste all the terpenes without burning ‘em up. I like that you can control the heat with dabs, so you’re not wasting all the plant material.

You’re a connoisseur, huh? You know what’s up!

Absolutely. Anything I do, I try to perfect it as much as possible. I like to be an expert, and I like to get better at anything I do. I pay attention to what’s going on, so if I do a hit this way and it’s average, I’ll note it. But if I use a different temperature or hit it another way, and it works really well, I’ll probably tell someone. “Hey man, check this out…” I’m just trying to perfect the technique.

*Michael Vegas photographed by* *Allan Amato*

Do you have any preferences when it comes to terpenes, or are there strains you tend to gravitate towards?

J1, XJ-13, Blue Dream, Wedding Cake, Runtz. It switches up a lot. We typically buy a quarter pound at a time because we have that sweet weed connect with a distributor, so we can get wholesale prices, which is glorious. So we’ll try a quarter pound of this, a quarter pound of that. The plug has great, organic stuff. I will say my favorite indica strain is Louis XIII. You’ve gotta get some. It’s excellent for pain management, and ideal for when you want to be stoned out of your mind! It’s the only strain where I’ll be like, “Let’s go smoke some weed,” and I’ll load a bowl or roll a joint, and hours later I’ll find a half-smoked joint or half-full bowl. It makes me so stoned that I’ll wander away and forget I was smoking weed.

Do you want to shout out any plugs?

Shannon, that’s my fucking weed lady! Shout-out Shannon. She’s got it going on. Also, a shout-out to Kake. I’m wearing one of their t-shirts right now, and they hooked us up with a bunch of vapes to try out.

Do you ever consume weed prior to performing or shooting content?

Yes, because I’m always smoking weed [laughs]. I’ll share a joint with someone on set prior if they like to smoke. I will always ask scene partners if the smell affects them, or if they’re allergic to it, or whatever else first to make sure they’re comfortable. It’s just like wearing perfume or cologne. Ask the people around you how they feel about it, too.

Does weed help you perform or make you feel more comfortable on camera?

It helps me get out of my head, and it helps me not sweat the small stuff in a way that’s very conducive to boners. As a professional fucker, I can tell you that if you start thinking too much, your dick is not gonna work. So smoke some weed. Get high and then fuck.

What activity do you like to do after you’ve gotten really stoned?

Juggling. For real. I spend a large majority of my free time juggling. Juggling clubs, juggling balls, juggling fire. Slow arts. If you’ve ever seen dudes at raves with glow sticks or whatever, I can do all that. It’s an obsession, and it’s helped me in so many other areas of life. I could write a whole dissertation on juggling.

When I was 12, I wanted to learn how to juggle, so I begged my parents for some gear, and I promised them I would learn. But then I didn’t because it’s really hard and I didn’t know how to have patience and not get frustrated with things. Remember, I wasn’t smoking weed yet. Then years and years and years later, I ended up meeting this guy named Marvin Ong, who they call Master Ong. He’s a juggling god, and he knows all the other juggling gods. I started making friends with this group of people who are extraordinarily skilled — best in the world type stuff — and it unlocked my brain in a new way. I saw human potential differently than I’d seen it before.

Juggling helped me understand movement better. I was a stiff dancer before juggling, but it has helped me with timing, it’s helped me learn how to play guitar better, it’s helped me learn to learn better because there’s an immediate feedback system for if you did the moves right. It’s replaced the extreme sports that I used to do and which gave me a lot of bodily injuries. I get the same “living on the edge” satisfaction from juggling that other things gave me before. Plus, it’s all about progression and growing. Those are positive things.

Fuck, I could talk about juggling all day. It’s an obsession and I think about it all the time. If I’m sitting in traffic, the energy behind my eyes will be tracing sacred geometry, because those are the actual patterns you move in for juggling. So I’m practicing when I’m not even doing it!

I have a small tangent about sacred geometry and juggling: If you watch someone juggle and you see the traces of what they’re doing, you’ll see sacred geometry. So like slow arts and glow sticks and all that — and if you’ve taken maybe a little too much LSD — you’ll see sacred geometry in real life! And when you make your body go through those motions, your brain starts to understand sacred geometry in a way that touches your soul. Everybody should juggle!

Can you recommend something to watch while really high?

Midnight Gospel! So good. Pendleton Ward, the dude who also did Adventure Time, is a genius. It’s got some really deep shit in it. Not only will you get involved in all these beautiful, existential conversations that he has with experts of all areas, but the animation is such that you can’t tell how they did it. Did they animate this insane thing you’re watching first? Or did they have the conversation first? And if they had the conversation first, how did they get on such fucking crazy tangents that somehow all fit together in the end? I’m still trying to figure it out, but it’s so fun to watch. It helps you heal, it helps you deal with death, and it helps you understand life and loss and so many things we need to get better at as humans dealing with our own humanness.

What about on the adult side? Is there any particular type of pornography that you think goes well with being stoned?

Whatever gets it up for you and gets that blood pumping! Maybe ASMR stuff. We’ve been producing a lot of ASMR content for Adult Time, so if you’re into listening and watching then that’s a very neat experience. We’ve got these cool ASMR mics that make things show up in stereo and surround sound if you’re wearing headphones.

What about music? Any go-to albums, DJs, rappers, etc? What do you like to listen to when you’re stoned?

Ugh, I have such eclectic musical taste. We were recently at a piano bar, and I picked four different songs, and the pianist didn’t know any of them. They were popular once, but I guess not mainstream enough today!

Let’s see, I love EDM and I love dancing. It’s great for getting up, moving around, and exercising, especially when you’re stoned. It’s also great for juggling, because it works like a metronome and I can keep my timing nice and right. I fell in love with trance initially, but I’m more into deep house and electronica-type stuff. I don’t love hardcore. I don’t want to feel like I’m getting kicked in the temple when I hear the rhythm. I like keeping it at 120-130bpm or lower. Here’s what you should listen to: On SoundCloud, there’s a mix called the “One Deeper Mix” by DJ Hanzel, which is actually just Diplo doing a deep house set. It’s an hour or hour-and-half-long journey that is a masterpiece.

[*German Accent*] “What’s up this is DJ Hanzel! I wanted to play a sick one hour set, but they only gave me 30 minutes. Why? I don’t know. But let’s get into it anyway and: Go. One. Deeper.” That’s how it starts [laughs].

I also love world music. Give me an accordion, gimme some horns, give me a brass section and some strings. I listen to a LOT of what I call “soundtrack music,” but it’s orchestral jazz from the ‘60s and ‘70s. It borders on psychedelic music, and it’s out there.

What about things you like to read when you’re high?

I’m always on Reddit, so I’m not even going to count that. Always in a Reddit hole. My eyes have a really hard time tracking text, which is part of a learning disability I’ve had my whole life. So reading is not my go-to activity; movement is my go-to activity.

That being said, I want to go ahead and plug this: My therapist, Kate Loree, recently wrote a book called Opening Deeply, and it’s the newest polyamory book on the market. God, it’s good! And not just because it’s my therapist. I’ve heard her say these things for years, and I’ve been trying to share this knowledge. Finally, it is all in book form, and I can now share it easily via Amazon or what have you.

Who’s in your dream blunt rotation?

I always know who my alive person is, but I’m not sure about dead. Bob Marley would be cool. I’d like to smoke weed with Johnny Cash. That guy is real interesting. What a wild life.

For living people, Martha Stewart. That’s my go-to. She follows me on Twitter, and has for years. I thought it must have been a mistake, but apparently not. Love you, Martha. I want to smoke with Snoop and Martha together, too, of course. Pass it to the left hand side.

People always ask me, “What celebrity do you want to have sex with?” and I also always say Martha Stewart. Can you imagine the curated experience she would give you? There’d be like fucking ball doilies and dick coasters and thigh pillows and a lube warmer that descends from the ceiling. She’d think of everything! Also, as a side note, I bet Martha gives great head.

Any last thoughts you want to add about weed?

I love it. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. If you’ve been told it’s the devil’s lettuce, maybe look into what people are actually saying about it, compared to what our government has tried to tell us about it through programs like D.A.R.E.

Follow Michael Vegas on Socials:
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LinkTree

The post Cash Only’s 420 Recs: Michael Vegas, Iconic Adult Star and Pot Lover appeared first on High Times.

Cash Only’s 420 Recs: Trey Smith, Music and Marijuana Journalist

February 4, 2023 Published by SDZ News

This article was originally published on Cash Only. Sign up for the newsletter here and follow Cash Only on Youtube, Instagram, and Twitter.

Trey Smith is perpetually chill. The writer, video host, and Twitter lord keeps it a buck and says what’s on his mind both IRL and URL in a manner that could easily be described as unruffled.

That’s not to say he’s jaded or unenthusiastic, but rather Trey is the embodiment of maintaining your composure and staying cool as ice, even when you’re chopping it up with public figures as diverse (and famous) as Michael Imperioli and Eric Andre.

For years, Trey was a defining voice at the now-sadly-defunct Noisey. The man did it all there: he used to oversee the platform’s socials, wrote countless articles, hosted the popular video show “The Noisey Questionnaire of Life,” and was the go-to talent for anything involving weed. His mellow charisma makes him ideal for starring in 420-related content, as Trey can stay lifted without missing a beat or punchline.

Some of his hazy highlights included the series “Smokables,” which featured Trey making DIY smoking contraptions, such as an ice bong in the middle of a blizzard, a potato one-hitter, and a crab leg pipe. This dude is pretty much the MacGyver of marijuana, and he did the lord’s work by teaching us how to, say, turn a Pringles can into a smoking device.

Trey is a great guy with great taste, and we’re lucky to call him a pal. The journalist recently made some time to hop on the horn and discuss his pot preferences with Cash Only, which includes his go-to bodega for buying weed, some seriously heady book recommendations, and his favorite Japanese market for satisfying the munchies.

What’s your current favorite weed strain and how do you like to consume it?

Trey Smith: I stopped kind of paying attention to strains, especially because in New York where weed’s not regulated yet you’ve got people selling you, say, Sour Diesel, and it’s different depending on where you get it. If I’m at a dispensary out of town, I’m usually looking for some kind of haze, like something sativa-heavy.

Are you a daytime smoker?

Yes, I’m a wake-and-baker. One of the first things I do when I wake is smoke. I’m that type of smoker. Usually a spliff. One cool thing about the whole Wild West of Weed situation we have out here is that the guy at one of the spots I buy from is very, very generous. So $50 quarters, that type of thing. It’s a pretty good situation. I’m a spliff guy 90% of the time, and I eat edibles sometimes. I was just in California and got some of those infused beverages like Cann and Wunder, which are pretty great. I’ve also been getting into these STIIIZY pens, like the disposable ones. I really enjoy them, and you get at least 150 hits per pen. They cost like $30 and you can just get another when you finish one.

When you say your local guy in NYC is generous, are we talking about a bodega, an exotic snacks shop?

It’s one of those weed bodegas, one of the ones that popped up since weed got legalized and shit.

Have you been to one of the gifting dispensaries yet? You live pretty close to Gifted.

Yeah, I’ve checked it out. They’re a little steep with the pricing, and I don’t feel like buying an NFT just to get weed. The store is very well put together, and it looks great in there. So no disrespect, it’s just a different type of weed purchase.

And the weed from these bodegas is sufficient; it’ll do its job. It’s a one-stop shop, man: I go get my weed, I go get my snacks, I get my beverages. I’ll pick up edibles from them, too.

Do you have a go-to munchies snack?

Nothing particular. Just whatever the hell I’m thinking about at the time. I get weird cravings. It might be chips, it might be Korean fried chicken. Sometimes I want to crush an entire can of Pringles, you know? There’s this new Japanese grocery store in Williamsburg called Ten Ichi that I fuck with, too. That place whoops ass, man. I like those drinks that have the little ball in the bottleneck. I can’t speak or read a lick of Japanese, so I can’t tell you what’s in that shit, but I’m not mad at whatever it is.

What activity do you like to do after you’ve gotten really stoned?

Sometimes, I’ll go rock climbing at one of those new rock climbing gyms near The Lot Radio in Brooklyn. It’s fun to be baked and try to figure out how to move your body to get to the next point on the wall. It seems like it’d be hard while you’re stoned, but climbing is mostly about doing strategy in your head and trying to figure out your next three steps ahead. And when I’m that high, my mind is racing anyway, so I may as well channel it into something good. Getting up there is the easy part, but getting yourself down is what’s tricky. They also have an outdoor wall, and when you get to the top of it, there’s a great view of the East River. The place is built for having fun.

Can you recommend something to watch while really high?

For some reason, if I’m really high, I’ll regularly put on Heat — the Michael Mann movie. It’s a great “dudes rock” movie, you know? It’s for the boys. Like there’s that serial killer subplot that comes out of goddamn nowhere at one point. I’ve seen it at least a dozen and half times. The bank robbery scene gets me every time.

I’m also in the middle of rewatching King of the Hill, which I’ve also seen at least a dozen times. I feel like that show never got the credit it deserves. It’s maybe the best thing Mike Judge has ever done. It’s about an All-American, flag-loving dude who you’d think would have terrible politics, but he finds out he was more left-leaning than he thought he was in pretty much every episode. There’s one where they have a girl stay at their house, and they didn’t realize she was a call girl. And then Hank defends her from her pimp and sees the humanity in her. Stuff like that. He’s got good values.

Can you recommend something to listen to while smoking?

I’ve been listening to 22GZ; he’s probably my favorite New York rapper right now. Nardo is also funny as shit. He’s from Jacksonville, Florida. Florida, in general, has a really good hip-hop scene right now. Flint and Detroit, too. Michigan rappers always have really dark senses of humor, like Sada Baby and Bfb Da Packman. Packman’s got that lyric, “Stop cappin, my dick ain’t that big.” I interviewed him once and asked about the shirt he wears in the “Free Joe Exotic” video that says “HIV Positive.” All he said was, “Don’t worry about it” [laughs].

I also went to Coachella for work, which led me to get back into some pop shit. I liked this guy Weiland who put out an album called Vices. I’m always curious about what’s popular on the radio. I’m mostly genre-agnostic. If I’m feeling it, I might put on some metal and shit when I’m stoned.

Can you recommend something to read once stoned?

Right now, I’ve been checking out our former colleague Kim Kelly’s book, Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor. I was on a big nonfiction kick a few months ago, so I was reading stuff about class politics and radical movements in American history. There’s this book White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg that’s really good. Also, Blood in My Eye by George Jackson, which is an all-timer for me.

I’ve been reading a bunch of music books, and I highly recommend Assata Shakur’s autobiography. She was a Black Panther who was accused of killing a cop, and basically had to escape prison and flee to Cuba. One more: Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. That was one of the most fun reads I’ve had in a long time. It’s about a fictionalized band that’s based on Fleetwood Mac. It’s formatted like an oral history, but it’s fiction. It’s an interesting conceptual approach. It’s like 300 pages, and I got through it in like two days.

Who’s in your dream blunt rotation?

That’s a tough one because I’m smoking when I do everything, so if you’re around me there’s a good chance you may be in my rotation. If I had to pick one person right now, I’d say Angus Cloud from Euphoria. He seems like a chill dude. He’d sit there and only talk if he had something to say — “I’m not here to bother nobody; I’m here to be cool.” I imagine he has that type of vibe.

Follow Trey Smith on Socials:
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Cash Only’s 420 Recs: Tracie Morrissey, Internet Sleuth and ‘Pot Psychology’ Host

January 28, 2023 Published by SDZ News

This article was originally published on Cash Only. Sign up for the newsletter here and follow Cash Only on Youtube, Instagram, and Twitter.

I wait with bated breath for the day Tracie Morrissey announces she’s working on a memoir. A legend who helped build (or hone) Bust, Jezebel, Broadly, and VICELAND, Tracie is a seminal voice in media who’s undoubtedly shaped the online publishing zeitgeist throughout the past couple decades.

Tracie is known for many things, but during the pandemic she started posting sleuth-like deep dives on her Instagram Stories about the bullshit spewed by various minor league celebrities, which led to many calling her an “Instagram Detective.”

These informal but thorough investigations have included her flagging the time two cast members from Vanderpump Rules called the police on their POC colleagues, suggesting that actress Jameela Jamil has Munchausen Syndrome and that she lied about having an illness, or calling out Hilaria Baldwin for faking (or at least extremely exaggerating) her Spanish identity.

Tracie’s celebrity scrutiny goes beyond viral every time, and though she’s got plenty of haters, they’re yet to prove her wrong. As a result, I kind of think of her as the Jane Meyer of D-List celebs, in the best way possible.

On the danker side of her oeuvre, Tracie co-hosts the excellent podcast Pot Psychology with her best bud and former Gawker editor Rich Juzwiak. She also runs the cannabis ephemera and lifestyle shop Pipe Dreams (great name), which offers delightful pot products like this hamburger grinder and an acrylic stash box made in collaboration with Edie Parker.

Tracie is an OG head with strong convictions, and this goes for her succinct-but-sweet 420 Recs. Below, she discusses her favorite bong that is yet to be knocked over, listening to yacht rock, and her very on-brand dream blunt rotation featuring both Elizabeth Holmes and Harvey Fierstein. Enjoy, and thanks Tracie!

What’s your current favorite strain? How do you like to consume it?

I don’t know if I have a favorite strain. I prefer indica dominant hybrids. I’m sort of the same way about weed as I am about wine. I’m not an expert, but I know that I like it. My favorite way to consume is via bong or bubbler — particularly this iridescent cobra bong that I sell. It’s little and perfectly-sized for my hand and I’ve never ever knocked it over, which is a big deal for me.

What’s your current favorite weed product?

I love flower!

What activity do you like to do after you’ve consumed said weed product?

The most frequent activity I do while stoned is podcasting. I co-host a podcast called Pot Psychology with my best friend Rich Juzwiak. We get high and talk about pop culture. It’s hard to explain but easy to listen to.

Listen to “Pot Psychology” on Apple Podcasts, or subscribe to the Patreon

Can you recommend something to watch while stoned? And explain why you like it.

I watch everything stoned. But I highly recommend Raised by Wolves on HBO Max. It’s about how Earth was destroyed by a war between religious zealots and atheists, and a pod of androids and human fetuses were sent out to another planet to try and start humanity over again.

Can you recommend something to listen to while stoned? And explain why you dig it.

Yacht rock. I like to chill.

Can you recommend something to read once stoned?

Takeout menus.

Who’s in your dream blunt rotation?

My dream blunt rotation would be Dionne Warwick, Amy Sedaris, Elizabeth Holmes, and Harvey Fierstein.

Follow Tracie Morrissey on Socials:
Pipe Dreams Shop
Podcast
Instagram
Twitter
Website

The post Cash Only’s 420 Recs: Tracie Morrissey, Internet Sleuth and ‘Pot Psychology’ Host appeared first on High Times.

Cash Only’s 420 Recs: Mark Moran, Top Dog at Equity Animal

December 31, 2022 Published by SDZ News

This article was originally published on Cash Only. Sign up for the newsletter here and follow Cash Only on Youtube, Instagram, and Twitter.

Mark Moran wears many hats. Formerly known as an investment banker, reality star on Fboy Island, and “Employee No. 1” at Litquidity — one of the premier accounts in the extended FinTwit universe — Mark has since created Equity Animal, an investor relations firm that is kicking ass and taking names.

Mark is also one of my favorite on-screen media personalities. For example, take his appearance at Bitcoin Miami alongside Serena Shahidi (aka @glamdemon2004), which is arguably the best video tour of the cringe-filled conference to date. After a half-dozen watches, I still laugh at the scene where Serena touches up her make-up while Mark rides a mechanical bull “longer than CNN+ existed” in the background.

Thanks @itsmarkmoran for showing me around Bitcoin Miami! It’s a privilege to capture such a classic dynamic on camera (finance bro + girl who dropped out of fashion school and has no idea what is gong on) pic.twitter.com/nWd3KsV9Fc
— youngest known hag (@glamdemon2004) May 4, 2022

Mark is clearly a funny guy with strong convictions, and this applies to his thoughts on cannabis. In a phone interview with Cash Only, the media personality weighed in on Wall Street employees’ evolving relationship with weed, his ongoing love of late night edibles consumption, and more. He also recounted the time he accidentally connected a coworker with a drug delivery service called Tech Support, when the kid just wanted help fixing his computer. Cheers, Mark!

What was your first time smoking weed like?

Mark Moran: I was around age 17 when I first smoked weed. I remember coughing for eight minutes straight and then sweating nonstop. I had hit a gravity bong, and immediately had no idea what was going on. When it hit me, I thought the feeling was interesting. Then you do more, and you do more, and by the end of it, I was coughing less. I had never felt like that, and I was with a bunch of people who were more seasoned, so they seriously laughed at me — and then I laughed at myself, too.

Did you go through a stoner phase in high school?

I didn’t because I was playing sports the whole time. I think I only smoked once or twice in high school. And in college I was drug tested all the time because I was running track. For any division one athlete, you get tested a lot, so I couldn’t indulge. It wasn’t until grad school when I started dabbling, but even then it wasn’t regular. When I started working in banking, though, I started to smoke and eat edibles as a way to relax in the evenings because I was high-strung all the time.

Honestly, I got way more into edibles than smoking — even now. I’ll often structure my day where if I have rote tasks to do, like emails or whatever, I’ll save it for the evening so I can eat an edible and have a nice buzz going when I sit down to finally type. That’s when I’m most creative — during the evening, relaxing, staring out the window, and then being able to type and write stuff. I’m not much of a writer, but this window is when I come up with content ideas, concepts, or show ideas. That’s one of my favorite things to do.

Also, I like to tweet when I’m stoned in the evening. If you were to run the Twitter analytics of when I’m high versus when I’m not, I’m getting so many more likes when I’m high. Twitter is a big social experiment to me, where some people want to take it seriously, some people want to be insightful, but I’m the opposite of insightful (which is on brand for me). I’ll blast out 30 tweets in two hours, and they get crazier and crazier. Most of that humor I would have never thought of sober. You can see the progression of me getting stoned if you read through my tweets at night.

When you worked in finance, were you drug tested? Did your coworkers smoke?

You’d always have to take an entry drug test when you started a new job. They’d test for weed because it wasn’t legal in New York at the time. I’d read all these forums where people in finance would ask if they’d actually test for weed. They stopped drug testing across the board like two years ago, though.

What’s interesting, though, is that finance is a very buttoned-up industry, but once you get close to people, you kind of realize that a decent percentage of workers (especially workers who are very good at their jobs) are high while they’re doing it. The kids who can sit in front of a computer all day and do Microsoft Excel or financial modeling for 18 hours? They’re high for a lot of it. And that’s the way a lot of them relax or cope with stuff. Also, if you were a pothead all throughout college, you’re not going to be stopping once you start working at a big investment bank.

It’s funny because you associate finance with coke and stimulants — and people definitely do that — but a lot of people in the industry like to unwind with weed in the evenings. It’s a way to relax, and everyone is so high-strung. People do keep their weed use to themselves, though, compared to other drugs. Workers would rather have their officemate know they’re taking stimulants over smoking weed. Weed still has negative connotations associated with it in suit-and-tie workplaces.

So weed is not a social drug within the finance community? It’s a private tool.

Yeah, it’s more of a private thing. I think a lot of it has to do with finance people not being super social. Like you’re not sitting down with your colleagues and getting to know each other. There’s always this work veil of who you are, even if you’re getting drinks with your colleagues. There’s a line you never want to cross with personal intimacy. I think this got broken a bit during COVID because you’re working all the time, and there’s no boundaries between work and relaxation, and your office is feet from your bed. So I think a lot more people started smoking, or smoking more, during COVID. The downside is you can get high in the evening, get assigned more work unexpectedly, and then the next morning you’re like, “What the hell was that email I sent last night?” [laughs]. But people need a way to relax! Especially when you have a stressful job and you’re at your breaking point. I think weed helped a lot of people during the pandemic.

Where do you get your weed in NYC?

So my weed delivery service is called Tech Support. If you want edibles, you have to message them, “Hey can I get tech support for .edi files?” When I was working at Centerview Partners a few years ago, the dude who sat next to me was my boy. But one Sunday night he hit me up, and I was already high, and he goes, “Yo, can you send me tech support’s number?” I say sure and send it to him. He hits me up a little bit later and says, “They’re asking who referred me.” I tell him to say my name and they say cool. Then, they ask him, “So what type of files do you want?” He hits me back and is like, “Dude, did you just refer me to your drug dealer? I wanted tech support for my computer!” I might have peed my pants a little bit [laughs].

You said you’re an edibles guy. What sort of edibles are we talking about?

They have these Peppermint Patty ones that were my favorite. I’ve definitely taken some weird bodega shit too, and that will put you on your back. I also like Canna-Bricks. The pack has like 400mgs in it, but I take maybe 10-20mg at a time. Sometimes, I’ll take 20mg on a Sunday, but then I’m being hilarious on Twitter, and I’ll take a little more, and then I’m in outer space. That’s always hilarious to me. I like that weed is associated with humor for me.

What activity do you like to do after you’ve gotten really stoned?

I’ve experimented with taking a small edibles dose and then going for a run, and I like it but I don’t love it. My favorite thing to do when high might be going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, literally for hours until I learn everything about the given topic. Most recently, I got really into looking at high school football stadiums in Texas. I’d look at aerial views of all of them, and it blew my mind. Another rabbit hole I got into was looking at plane graveyards in New Mexico. I’d also look at aerial photos, and you’d see thousands and thousands of planes that flew there on their last journey and are now stripped and just shells. It’s fucking wild.

Can you recommend something to watch while really high?

Reno 911. My favorite thing to watch. I’ve seen it so many times. I don’t watch a lot of TV, and I don’t like stuff unless it’s action or comedy. So there’s just something about Reno 911 that resonates with me. There’s layers to it, and it gets more funny with each watch.

Can you recommend something to listen to while smoking?

I have a real cool view from my apartment, where I can see the Empire State Building and other shit. I like to just lay in bed, listen to music, and stare out the window. I start with Usher, and then hit “Create Station” on Apple Radio and I go from there. Later on, I’ll try to find remixes of Dave Matthews Band on Soundcloud and then put those on a playlist. I grew up in Virginia, and they’re from Charlottesville where I went to school, so listening to DMB brings me back — and the remixes are pretty wild.

Can you recommend something to read once stoned?

I really like reading longform journalism in The Atlantic. There’s always something that makes you think. Recently, I read this piece that was my favorite thing from the past year, and it was about how divided we are as a society. And why the next 10 years will be so wild because there’s only a small percentage on the left and a small percentage on the right who control pretty much how everyone else processes information. Ten years ago, you could have very different opinions than your neighbor, but you had to interact with them every day. That would lead people to be more accepting of others’ opinions. Now you can live in a filter bubble where you only get, say, Fox News and the various right wing outlets — and you never have to confront people with different opinions than you, on the internet or otherwise. People don’t have to leave their comfort zone or have their views challenged, which is bad for democracy and society as a whole. I love reading shit like that. And I would never have had the time to think and sit on it during the day, so I thank weed for that.

Who’s in your dream blunt rotation?

Bill Clinton. That would just be hilarious. Martin Luther King Jr. Randy Moss the football player, for sure. He’s a huge pothead. Jose Canseco. People who you just know will say wild shit when they’re stoned. And then Paris Hilton. It would be chaotic and wild to have all these people in the same room smoking. I want us all to smoke in a random-ass airport restaurant, like the CBGB’s at Newark — or the smoking room in the TGI Friday’s at the Miami airport. I want us to be people watching while we’re chilling, and then passersby can come and say what’s up.

Follow Mark Moran on Socials:
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The post Cash Only’s 420 Recs: Mark Moran, Top Dog at Equity Animal appeared first on High Times.

Cash Only’s 420 Recs: Daniel Rodriguez, the ‘Biggest Stoner in the UFC’

December 3, 2022 Published by SDZ News

This article was originally published on Cash Only. Sign up for the newsletter here and follow Cash Only on Youtube, Instagram, and Twitter.

Daniel Rodriguez says he’s the biggest stoner in the UFC: “I probably display that I smoke weed more than any other fucking UFC fighter out there,” he told me during a phone call while in the middle of rolling up a joint.

The mixed martial artist is a loud and proud pothead, and luckily that gels with the UFC. Last year, the organization enacted a policy change and will no longer consider a positive drug test for weed a violation of its anti-doping policy.

This couldn’t be better news for D-Rod, who utilizes the plant to help him stay focused (and entertained) while training nonstop. And the man gets results: After a 7-0 record as a Welterweight in the amateur leagues, an 8-1 record in Dana White’s Contender Series, he stepped up to the big leagues in 2020 with a UFC win, earning him the Performance of the Night award.

“All these fools in the UFC are getting beat up by a straight-up stoner,” says Rodriguez.

D-Rod says he wants to “shine a light on the idea that athletes can be successful and smoke weed,” and he’s pushing that message by partnering with California’s Tradecraft Farms as a brand ambassador. (FYI: Tradecraft Farms, which was founded by Brent Walker and Barry Walker, is a multi-state operator with full vertical ops in California and Oklahoma, as well as an upcoming site in Maine where UFC and MMA have huge followings.)

“The partnership with D-Rod has been organic since we met,” wrote Shadow Becker from Tradecraft. “We quickly realized he was elevating his craft beyond the norm which is what we like to do with our cultivation and brands. The pairing was perfect and together we will continue to push the collaboration between cannabis and Mixed Martial Arts. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come!”

But first, get to know D-Rod a little. In a very mellow interview, the fighter brings us through his weed-laced training routine and talks about being stoned during his most recent UFC match. “It’s like the movie How High; if I train high, then I should fight high.” He also offers some choice West Coast hip-hop recs and explains why he wants to “smoke a joint with the whole world.”

Photo by Petro Papahadjopoulos, courtesy of Tradecraft Farms

What’s your current favorite strain and how do you like to consume it?

Daniel Rodriguez: First off, I gotta say I probably display that I smoke weed more than any other fucking UFC fighter out there. Most people are discrete, but I put myself out there with my weed use. Shit, I’m going to roll a joint as we’re talking. I’m going to get into the zone, bro.

For my favorite strain, I’d say Gelato, I like that. I like pretty much anything that doesn’t get me slumped. That said, most weed doesn’t get me slumped. A lot of people tell me that weed knocks them out, or they’ll ask, “How do you smoke weed and still work out?” And I’m like, “I don’t know how you smoke weed and not work out.” It’s a mental thing for me. I am so focused on trying to be my best that it consumes my mind, whether I’m high or not. I think smoking weed enhances my desire to work. It takes my mind off the pain and gets me in my zone. It’s all mental.

I’m just constantly thinking about trying to grow and get better as a fighter, so smoking weed just enhances that shit. It actually makes me more creative and willing to try other shit. Plus, I train so much that I have to be able to stay entertained doing it — and weed helps with that.

Does weed help you train, regardless of what type of weed it is?

I feel like weed is gonna help me, regardless of the strain. Whether sativa, indica, or hybrid, I don’t really feel a difference. For me, I’ll smoke a fucking joint, which is my preferred smoking method, and then I’ll pop on some headphones, get some good music going, and I can do this training shit all day.

Actually, my schedule is: I wake up, smoke a joint, go work out, eat some healthy shit, smoke a joint on my way to another gym, go work out, and so on. Weed just helps me get through the fucking day.

Everybody knows when I show up to the gym — I smell like straight up weed, bro. I’ll stink it up. They smell me before I even walk in. Weed is my cologne. I’m that dude bumping music and hotboxing my car five minutes before practice.

ufc — Photo by Petro Papahadjopoulos, courtesy of Tradecraft Farms

Do you ever consume cannabis before a professional fight?

Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but I fought stoned during my last fight. It was against Kevin Lee, and I smoked a joint before we left the hotel to go to the venue. It was like two or three hours before the fight. I look at it like this, bro: It’s like the movie How High; if I train high, then I should fight high. And I’ll get high scores.

Didn’t Lee get flagged for taking adderall before that fight?

Ya man. That’s wild bro. And he still lost. It shows that weed beats adderall. I’ve said this before, but all these dudes in the UFC are getting beat up by a straight-up stoner. And that’s me.

Do you have any favorite weed products right now?

So I have a partnership with Tradecraft Farms, and they have some fire-ass weed. They’re good people and the weed is fucking amazing. It’s a growing company and I’m happy to be a part of it and help bring the light to what they’re doing. They just opened a shop in El Monte, California, which is right next to my hometown, and we’re hosting an event on June 4th — a grand opening with a mural, a lowrider show, a band, food, vendors, etc.

As far as weed products, I’m a flower connoisseur — you can call me that. I’m not really a fan of edibles. That shit just hits different, bro. I’ll do the occasional dab at the end of the day after I’ve smoked so many joints. But I typically keep like four or five different strains on me. So throughout the day, I’ll smoke joints with different flower strains in them. If I smoke the same strain all day, the effect plateaus. It won’t hit me as much as when I mix up the strains in my rotation.

Funny enough, I don’t like to mix strains together in the same joint. I tried it recently, and that hit me differently; I was lazy as fuck. That’s the only time weed really gets me slumped.

ufc — Photo by Petro Papahadjopoulos, courtesy of Tradecraft Farms

What activity do you like to do after you’ve gotten really stoned?

Honestly bro, everything I do revolves around fighting. If I have a moment where I can just kick it and be faded and not work out, I’m usually in recovery mode. I’ll chill in the sauna or hang out in the hot tub or an ice bath. Recovery mode is essential to me. Other than that, my life is totally consumed by training. I don’t play video games, or shit like that, you know? I’ll drink beers on my off time, though [laughs].

Can you recommend something to watch while really high?

If I have time to watch something, I’ll check out some stand-up comedy or NBA playoffs. I like comics like Dave Chappelle, Sebastian Maniscalco, Bill Burr, Jo Koy, Jeff Ross. I even like old school shit like George Carlin.

Can you recommend something to listen to while smoking?

I listen to not-so-popular shit. I dig through a lot of music. Lately, I’ve been focusing on up-and-coming rappers from the West Coast. Of course, I still listen to YG and Nipsey, but lately I’ve been focusing on Dom Kennedy, Premo Rice, D Smoke, Polyester The Saint, this R&B artist called Blxst. Stuff like that, real mellow stuff that has positive energy and goes well with a side of bud. I like hood shit too, like RJ Mr. LA, B-Real, and Berner.

Photo by Petro Papahadjopoulos, courtesy of Tradecraft Farms

Can you recommend something to read once stoned?

The Mamba Mentality, which is Kobe Bryant’s book. It’s his personal notes, quotes, sayings, and stories. I love the complete Mamba mentality — situational stuff, like when he injured his achilles and how he dealt with that. I’m a heavy, heavy, heavy LA enthusiast. I’m huge on the vibe and culture. And since I’m from Cali, I really took stuff in from Kobe Bryant. I want to read something on Nipsey Hussle next. I’m into books on positive mindsets and LA legends.

Who’s in your dream blunt rotation?

Anybody alive? I already smoked with B-Real. So definitely Snoop, Berner, Eddie Bravo (my jiu jitsu coach), and Mike Tyson.

I haven’t tried Mike Tyson’s weed yet, but I’d definitely like to get my hands on some. I could see myself running into Tyson at some point with my line of work and career trajectory. Whether I go on his podcast, or he comes on mine, I feel like we’re gonna chop it up sometime soon.

Also, I want to smoke a joint with the whole world! We’ll solve world peace, you know what I mean?

Any upcoming projects you want to plug?

I want to give rapping a try, but right now I’m really focused on training my dick off. Smoking good weed, training hard, and fighting these fools. I’ve been on the sidelines for six or seven months now. I finally gave my body the rest it needed, and now I’m ready to get back in there. People keep asking, “When’s the comeback? When’s the next fight?” So I feel the urgency to get back in there. Everything will come with time. I’m just developing my skills in areas that need work, instead of dropping bombs on these fools all the time.

For more on Daniel Rodriguez, follow him on Instagram.

The post Cash Only’s 420 Recs: Daniel Rodriguez, the ‘Biggest Stoner in the UFC’ appeared first on High Times.

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