Where to score some of that pot culture merchandise
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Researching Sunday’s story on the mainstreaming of marijuana culture, I ran across a lot of pot-themed merchandise, events, books and movies, a few of which were mentioned in the piece, others I discovered too late to include in any meaningful way. Below are a few of the highlights.
Barneys New York in Beverly Hills not only stocks the $78 Jonathan Adler Hashish candle -- scented with black currant, green apple, wormwood, patchouli and moss (which you can score for $10 less at Adler’s website), but also a Cannabis candle by Malin + Goetz ($48), and a Cannabis Santal candle from Fresh (also $48). If you’re scenting yourself and not your room, Barneys also carries an eau de parfum of the Cannabis Santal (3.4 ounces for $75).
Hickey Freeman’s younger Hickey collection has adopted the pot leaf as its logo, and one of the pieces that caught my eye was the red linen pocket square edged with white pot leaves (it’s available in navy blue too). It usually sells for $75, but they are currently on sale at the Hickey website for $30. If you fancy throwing down your hard-earned money on some belt bling or a skull-cracking wristwatch, Lucien Pellat-Finet, a designer who often incorporates the pot-leaf motif into his work, is offering custom-made watches and belts that will run you as much as $56,000.
One of my favorite finds from the inaugural THC Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center was Marley Coffee, (slogan ‘Stir It Up’), a line of gourmet (and USDA certified organic) coffees recently launched by reggae legend Bob Marley’s son Rohan Marley and his friend Shane Whittle. Among the coffees on offer are Lively Up! (a five-bean espresso blend) Simmer Down (a decaf), and One Love (an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe). If coffee’s not your bag, there’s always a420 Energy Drink, which bills itself as the first all-natural, zero-preservative energy shot/chaser on the market and comes in flavors like Orange Kush and Purple Dank.
There seems to be no shortage of reading material either. Two that hit bookstores last year are ‘The Official High Times Pot Smoker’s Handbook’ by David Bienenstock and the editors of High Times (Chronicle Books, 2008) and ‘Pot Culture: The A-Z Guide to Stoner Language and Life’ by Shirley Halperin and Steve Bloom (Harry N. Abrams Inc., 2008).
Although the THC Expo was a first in Los Angeles, it is far from the only gathering of like-minded folks, the granddaddy of them all is the 18-year-old Seattle Hempfest, a cannabis policy reform event that recently drew about 200,000 people.
I wasn’t going to mention pot’s burgeoning popularity on TV here -- until I sat down to watch Sunday night’s episode of ‘Mad Men’ where, in the summer of 1963, some of the creatives at Sterling Cooper decide to smoke the mary jane as a way of inspiring a Bacardi rum ad campaign (oh, the irony). I won’t spoil (too much of) it if you have it cued up in your DVR, but my favorite ‘Mad Men’ line of all time might just be: ‘I’m Peggy Olson and I want to smoke some marijuana.’
-- Adam Tschorn
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Photos from top: Lucien Pellat-Finet’s limited-edition diamond and white gold belt buckle, $56,000; photo credit: Lucien Pellat-Finet. Hickey pocket square, $30; photo credit: Hickey. ‘The Official High Times Pot Smoker’s Handbook,’ $19.95; photo credit: Chronicle Books.