Willie Nelson may be a legendary country musician, but he is first and foremost the world’s most famous joint ambassador. Legend has it that he once smoked a joint — what he referred to in his 1988 autobiography as an “Austin Torpedo” — on the roof of the White House with Jimmy Carter’s middle son. Snoop Dogg, another self-appointed sticky-icky spokesman, says that when the two met for an Amsterdam stoner summit in 2008, Nelson showed up with not one but three smoking devices, and promptly puffed him to the floor. (“I had to hit the timeout button,” Snoop later said of smoking with Nelson.) A quick Google search will turn up an entire genre of Nelson portraiture in which the singer is framed by the haze of a freshly lit jay.
All that to say, you might be surprised to hear that Nelson is no longer much of a joint guy. “I use a vaporizer these days,” he told the British magazine Uncut in 2015. “Even though marijuana smoke is not as dangerous as cigarette smoke, any time you put any kind of smoke in your lungs it takes a toll of some kind.” GQ investigated Nelson’s claims later that year, uncovering that, while joints were still very much part of his rotation, a good portion of his pot consumption had shifted to vape pens so as to be more discreet. “And he eats candy or has oil at night for sleeping,” Nelson’s wife, Annie, added.
That the most famous stoner in the world is now exploring more healthful avenues for pot consumption is a sign of the times. According to the cannabis consumer insights firm BDS Analytics, which has logged more than 800 million transactions at dispensaries across Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and California, legal sales of concentrates (vape pen cartridges and dabs), topicals (patches, salves, lotions), and edibles are rapidly outgrowing those of loose-leaf weed product — what cannabis industry types refer to as “flower.” In 2014, the year that Colorado first began selling legal pot, 65 percent of sales revenue came from flower, while only 13 percent came from concentrates. Last year, flower made up only 47 percent of total sales in the state. The new majority of the market is distributed to concentrates at 29 percent and edibles — which barely existed at the dawn of the legal pot movement — at 15 percent. “There’s more choices available to people, and in that respect we’re seeing a lot of evolution in terms of consumption methods,” Linda Gilbert, the managing director of BDS Analytics’ consumer research division, told me. “There is an evolution of looking at marijuana in the consumer’s mind, from being about getting stoned to actually thinking of it as a wellness product.”
And also as a part of everyday life. Where there were once bowls, grinders, and rolling papers, there are now myriad sleek contraptions: dainty plastic oil pens and weed walkie-talkies and smokable iPhone cases. These days, the consumption method of choice may not even be inhalable. Maybe it’s a canister of Auntie Dolores’s vegan, sugar-free pretzels. Or a $6 bottle of Washington state’s Happy Apple cider. Perhaps you go the transdermal route and slather on some $90 Papa & Barkley THC-and-CBD-infused Releaf Balm. No matter the product, the packaging has traded the psychedelic pot leafs of yore for clean lines and Helvetica fonts. (...)
As smoking accessories have modernized in the past 10 years, and as more states have legalized sales, grinding and rolling up bud has gradually become a more obscure ritual. And the era of the hastily rolled marijuana cigarette — crystallized by everyone from Cheech and Chong to Barack Obama — is slowly coming to a close. “If you fast-forward 10 years and look back at the cannabis market, I’ll take a guess that in some ways we’ll think about consuming cannabis flower like we think about consuming a cigar now,” said Alan Gertner, the CEO of Hiku, a Canadian cannabis producer and retailer that aims to make pot consumption more mainstream. “It’s a ritual, it’s a heritage moment, it’s about celebration. But ultimately cannabis flower for any individual is somewhat hard to interact with. The idea that a 20-year-old is going to learn to roll a joint is sort of ludicrous.” (...)
As wellness-mania swept the nation, pot-trepreneurs saw a chance to capitalize on a portion of the estimated $3.7 trillion market worldwide. Over the past few years, cannabis and its nonpsychoactive byproducts have taken the form of medicine: inhalers designed to dole out exact dosages, supplements, patches, and tinctures. Though state laws still prohibit pot-related companies from advertising on any mainstream platform, many of them now see the value of building recognizable, commercially viable brands. The idea is that to encourage more first-time pot consumers, the point of entry must be significantly less complicated than it used to be. That can mean anything from offering a prerolled joint to a pill you take before going to bed. “Right now the market is still dominated by hardcore stoners,” Micah Tapman, a cofounder and managing director at the Colorado investment firm CanopyVentures said. “If they’re hitting something they want 50 milligrams. Whereas the new consumer that is coming up will be a much lighter-weight consumption. The soccer mom demographic is probably going to gravitate toward the very discreet vaporizers or topicals. They’re not typically going to want a bong sitting on their coffee table.”
In other words, less horticulture, more convenience. Gertner, who previously worked as a head of sales at Google before starting his own coffee, cannabis, and clothing brand, likens the current weed consumption landscape to that of the North American coffee market in the last 30 years. People smoke joints for the same reason they used to drink only plain black coffee: potency. “It was basically like: How quickly can I get caffeine into my system?” Gertner said. As companies like Starbucks introduced new nomenclature around coffee and a reworked guidebook for how to consume it, people began to see the beverage differently. “The coffee experience is now grounded in community, as opposed to grounded in the idea in just straight-up caffeine consumption,” Gertner said. “You went from a world where we optimized for potency to a world where we started to optimize for brand, convenience, and taste. You’re not necessarily drinking a Frappuccino because of caffeine content, you’re drinking a Frappuccino for other reasons.” The cannabis market is on a similar path of mass consumption. The earthy taste, smell, and delivery of weed smoke are being muted and manipulated. Just like drinking Frappuccinos, that means customers are sometimes ingesting extra calories or unsavory fillers in the process. And like most artisanal coffee brands, these professionalized cannabis brands can also charge a premium. The joint will always have a place in weed culture, but advanced technology has made it functionally outdated. “You start to think of this future where you say, I can have a cannabis drink, why would I smoke a joint?” Gertner said.
by Alyssa Bereznak, The Ringer | Read more:
Image: uncredited
All that to say, you might be surprised to hear that Nelson is no longer much of a joint guy. “I use a vaporizer these days,” he told the British magazine Uncut in 2015. “Even though marijuana smoke is not as dangerous as cigarette smoke, any time you put any kind of smoke in your lungs it takes a toll of some kind.” GQ investigated Nelson’s claims later that year, uncovering that, while joints were still very much part of his rotation, a good portion of his pot consumption had shifted to vape pens so as to be more discreet. “And he eats candy or has oil at night for sleeping,” Nelson’s wife, Annie, added.
That the most famous stoner in the world is now exploring more healthful avenues for pot consumption is a sign of the times. According to the cannabis consumer insights firm BDS Analytics, which has logged more than 800 million transactions at dispensaries across Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and California, legal sales of concentrates (vape pen cartridges and dabs), topicals (patches, salves, lotions), and edibles are rapidly outgrowing those of loose-leaf weed product — what cannabis industry types refer to as “flower.” In 2014, the year that Colorado first began selling legal pot, 65 percent of sales revenue came from flower, while only 13 percent came from concentrates. Last year, flower made up only 47 percent of total sales in the state. The new majority of the market is distributed to concentrates at 29 percent and edibles — which barely existed at the dawn of the legal pot movement — at 15 percent. “There’s more choices available to people, and in that respect we’re seeing a lot of evolution in terms of consumption methods,” Linda Gilbert, the managing director of BDS Analytics’ consumer research division, told me. “There is an evolution of looking at marijuana in the consumer’s mind, from being about getting stoned to actually thinking of it as a wellness product.”And also as a part of everyday life. Where there were once bowls, grinders, and rolling papers, there are now myriad sleek contraptions: dainty plastic oil pens and weed walkie-talkies and smokable iPhone cases. These days, the consumption method of choice may not even be inhalable. Maybe it’s a canister of Auntie Dolores’s vegan, sugar-free pretzels. Or a $6 bottle of Washington state’s Happy Apple cider. Perhaps you go the transdermal route and slather on some $90 Papa & Barkley THC-and-CBD-infused Releaf Balm. No matter the product, the packaging has traded the psychedelic pot leafs of yore for clean lines and Helvetica fonts. (...)
As smoking accessories have modernized in the past 10 years, and as more states have legalized sales, grinding and rolling up bud has gradually become a more obscure ritual. And the era of the hastily rolled marijuana cigarette — crystallized by everyone from Cheech and Chong to Barack Obama — is slowly coming to a close. “If you fast-forward 10 years and look back at the cannabis market, I’ll take a guess that in some ways we’ll think about consuming cannabis flower like we think about consuming a cigar now,” said Alan Gertner, the CEO of Hiku, a Canadian cannabis producer and retailer that aims to make pot consumption more mainstream. “It’s a ritual, it’s a heritage moment, it’s about celebration. But ultimately cannabis flower for any individual is somewhat hard to interact with. The idea that a 20-year-old is going to learn to roll a joint is sort of ludicrous.” (...)
As wellness-mania swept the nation, pot-trepreneurs saw a chance to capitalize on a portion of the estimated $3.7 trillion market worldwide. Over the past few years, cannabis and its nonpsychoactive byproducts have taken the form of medicine: inhalers designed to dole out exact dosages, supplements, patches, and tinctures. Though state laws still prohibit pot-related companies from advertising on any mainstream platform, many of them now see the value of building recognizable, commercially viable brands. The idea is that to encourage more first-time pot consumers, the point of entry must be significantly less complicated than it used to be. That can mean anything from offering a prerolled joint to a pill you take before going to bed. “Right now the market is still dominated by hardcore stoners,” Micah Tapman, a cofounder and managing director at the Colorado investment firm CanopyVentures said. “If they’re hitting something they want 50 milligrams. Whereas the new consumer that is coming up will be a much lighter-weight consumption. The soccer mom demographic is probably going to gravitate toward the very discreet vaporizers or topicals. They’re not typically going to want a bong sitting on their coffee table.”
In other words, less horticulture, more convenience. Gertner, who previously worked as a head of sales at Google before starting his own coffee, cannabis, and clothing brand, likens the current weed consumption landscape to that of the North American coffee market in the last 30 years. People smoke joints for the same reason they used to drink only plain black coffee: potency. “It was basically like: How quickly can I get caffeine into my system?” Gertner said. As companies like Starbucks introduced new nomenclature around coffee and a reworked guidebook for how to consume it, people began to see the beverage differently. “The coffee experience is now grounded in community, as opposed to grounded in the idea in just straight-up caffeine consumption,” Gertner said. “You went from a world where we optimized for potency to a world where we started to optimize for brand, convenience, and taste. You’re not necessarily drinking a Frappuccino because of caffeine content, you’re drinking a Frappuccino for other reasons.” The cannabis market is on a similar path of mass consumption. The earthy taste, smell, and delivery of weed smoke are being muted and manipulated. Just like drinking Frappuccinos, that means customers are sometimes ingesting extra calories or unsavory fillers in the process. And like most artisanal coffee brands, these professionalized cannabis brands can also charge a premium. The joint will always have a place in weed culture, but advanced technology has made it functionally outdated. “You start to think of this future where you say, I can have a cannabis drink, why would I smoke a joint?” Gertner said.
by Alyssa Bereznak, The Ringer | Read more:
Image: uncredited
