These are a few of my favorite things
My latest favorite gear, an update on Stripe, and starting this year's home grow
I just returned from San Francisco, where I was for the first-ever inaugural SF Weed Week. Shout out to my friend and former editor, David Downs, one of the OGs of OG weed journalists, the week’s founder. It was a resounding success; the mylar art exhibit was inspired (GET THE ZINE), and I ran into and connected with people I have never met in person or whom I haven’t seen in years. It reminded me why I love being part of the cannabis community and documenting cannabis culture as much as I do (deets on the upcoming hash week at the bottom of this letter).
I have a lot of great weed for the first time in years and some new pieces with which to smoke all of it just outside on my porch, which is exciting. But I realize that I’m missing a weed community here in San Diego, as fun as the rest of it is. Even though I like toking alone most of the time, it would be nice to do so in public with like-minded people now and then, and being in the Bay reminded me of that. To that point, I wish we had consumption lounges. I’d love to pop in whenever the mood strikes, and I’d like a change of scenery. Apparently, that’s coming to the San Diego metro fairly soon.
But I’m missing the heads. So I decided to write to you all here. It’s been a while, and I’ve since stepped away from my managing editor duties at San Diego Magazine to become a creative strategist on our content, events, branding, and partnerships side of the business (pssst…we can do some weed biz! jackieb@sdmag.com). It was the highlight of my career to have been the magazine's managing editor, but I’m super excited to move on to this next chapter and, hopefully, make some more money and grow the company.
I haven’t been writing about weed as much, but I have published some pieces here and there, and I continue to be a talking head on various newscasts and in several articles. I’ve started going to events again, too, and it’s been fun and rewarding to connect with people IRL, especially people I’ve known solely online for years.
Oddly, I feel more connected to the culture than ever, probably because I’m operating more authentically in it as a personality or a glorified custie rather than an observer. I’m still documenting, and I have some fun content projects coming up, as well as a book I am working on writing with my agent, but I don’t feel at odds with the cannabis world anymore like I did when I was hardcore reporting. These days, I’m just enjoying it.
In the meantime, life has been good. I’ve been genuinely blessed to have re-upped my stash with some of the finest buds California has to offer—many thanks to Fig Farms, Ridgeline Farms, Wildland Cannabis, Humboldt Terp Council, Humboldt Family Farms, and anyone else who has been generous in sharing their buds with a z-list weed-lebrity (me). I realized I’ve been smoking mids for a minute, and I’m grateful to be reminded of the glory of California cannabis. It’s the promised land, indeed, and I’m mad at legalization for making it difficult for me to get these buds even though I live in the same state. But I feel lucky to be in community with such good and generous growers.
One of the best parts of weed smoking is that you need things with which to smoke it! I’ve been receiving a lot of cool gear lately, and I wanted to share some of my latest favorite things with you.
Bong Candles
Man, I am not usually one for a gimmick, though they are rife in cannabis culture. But this isn’t even a gimmick! Even though it’s cute, it’s just fucking cool! Former appropriately named corporate cannabis designer Megan Stone ditched the suit world to indulge in making soy wax candles that burn in ACTUAL BOROSILICATE GLASS BONGS. Fat beakers, to be precise. They are called Bong Candles, and the names and smells offer cute nods to strains and other things in cannabis culture, like crossfading and spliffs, but she’s also got a wedding set for stoners with upcoming nuptials.
I love candles. I love bongs. And, what’s more, I LOVE beakers. I am really digging the creativity in a lot of the cute, mostly smaller artisan and more creative bongs coming out on the market these days, but truthfully, some of them are designed by, how do we say…people that I don’t really think smoke a lot. The glass catchers get clogged endlessly after one pack, the bowls are way too big for the size of the bong, downstems are stuck in, and so forth. So, I like to display them, but for my daily drivers I tend to use my Mota beaker and a variety of Sour twists (formerly known as the Zong. It stays winning, and I will die on that hill).
SO, imagine this: I’m in San Francisco for 4/20 with a lot of other weed people and writers, and a group of all women were discussing how we all feel the same way about this glut of cute new bongs, and how we’re all just beaker gals. And we banded together to spread the good gospel of the beaker bong.
I get home two days later, open a package, and the lovely Sarah Todd (currently fighting the good cannabis fight in Texas) had sent me a patchouli-scented BONG CANDLE (based in Scottsdale, AZ) as a 420 gift.
I was so taken with it that I immediately bought about six more, give or take, to send to friends around the country, and I suppose they could not ignore me any longer so they generously gave me a discount code to offer you folks until May 31 at 4:20 PM. Use code CANNABITCH for 15% off.
Once they’re burnt down, they can be refilled with wax, or used as a fully functional piece. Stone sells downstems, bowls, and long electric lighters on her site, as well as stash jar candles, too.
Amitha brass cases
New-ish luxury accessories brand Amitha is putting out some very pretty pieces, and I was lucky to snag a few. Among my favorite are the brass joint and lighter cases (they also come in silver). Even the TSA agent at the San Diego airport who looked in it last week before giving it back to me with no problem said it was very nice, and Martha Stewart owns it, too.
G-Pen Hyer
I’m back dabbing again, and so is my husband after a long hiatus. I’d heard whispers that, despite popular doubts that G-Pen could put out an e-rig worth shouting about, that the G-Pen Hyer was a must for torch enthusiasts. Several gear review websites claim the device rivals torch power, which I agree with. It comes with a quartz banger and chamber attached by cord to a small tabletop battery and can be inserted directly into a rig. The chamber lid is magnetic, which I like, and has an annoying and unnecessary tool attached, particularly useless if you use a hot tool of any type. The whole apparatus looks intimidating to the casual user, but once you get it set up, it couldn’t be easier to fire up quickly.
Truthfully, I think the high settings are too high, even for heavy dab bros, and it just torches the material with little to show for it. But the lowest three are beautiful, with even the third level packing a punch and approaching terp-torching temps. I’ve been really enjoying it (I have sworn off Puffco devices, for the most part, and still like my Ispire rig) and even purchased a new Sour Glass glass rig to use with it, blown locally here in National City, CA, since the 1990s. No interest in going back to a torch, personally, and I am enjoying this over some of the fully constructed e-rigs.
Honest Grinder
I made a video about using the Honest Grinder, which is a cinch to use and ideal for grinding a lot at once (I did a whole eighth in this reel). I like the silicone lids and clear base, in particular. I also like that there’s no kief catcher.
But also shout-out to my NorCal Machine grinder. I still haven’t given it up, and I pair it with the Honest stash cases, which I like because they have silicone lids and are easy to pop on and off with one hand.
22 Red in Arizona
Less weed gear than, um, actual weed; when I was in Scottsdale for work recently, I was told I needed to try 22 Red’s Arizona brand, that it was just as good as California’s (and honestly better). For those who don’t know, it’s the brand by Shavo from System of a Down.
I connected with their marketing manager, Anders, who kindly brought me a bag to the conference I was attending, freaking out all the other travel writing guests, who were wondering who the hell I am. He gave me a selection of bubble hash-infused pre-rolls (I AM LOVING THAT THIS HAS BECOME A PRE-ROLL TREND) and a bunch of Indica-dominant eighths. It was gorgeous, beautiful indoor weed, by far and away better than anything I’d smoked in Arizona before. The grower is Stephen Hess, formerly of NorCal and the PNW.
Some of the samples were a little old, from December, but it was still decently terpy, if a little dry, but in great shape for indoor and I’m glad I brought it back home with me so I can still enjoy it. I LOVE trying weed from other states and new-to-me growers, so thanks to everyone who always hooks it up. I recommend this brand if you find yourself in the state, and I’m a little burnt that I don’t have access to Hess’ buds here in California.
Level Hashtabs
I’ve always liked Level’s various tabs of major and minor cannabinoids. I especially love their hashtabs, which are ice water tablets that clock in at 25 mg THC a piece, which is a perfect evening dose for me on most nights. I’m always in favor of hash over isolate oil, so this is the edible product for me at the moment.
AND THE WINNER IS… Best Friends Portable Ash Tray
This wasn’t a competition, but this is 100% my favorite piece of gear right now and it was a HUGE hit up in fire-prone San Francisco over 420 weekend (and in Arizona). LA-area online retailer Best Friends House makes a portable ashtray with a clasp lid, a pop-out leaf joint-holder, an internal bucket that makes dumping easy, and a keychain. They told me they’re redesigning them, so as great as they may be now, apparently, they’re due to be even better. Leave no trace!
YE OLDE STRIPE SAGA
Okay, so I briefly lied. Life hasn’t been all sunshine and roses, but this shitshow story has a devilishly happy ending that was almost worth the stress incurred. If you follow me on social media, you probably caught wind of how this here newsletter was caught in alleged regulatory crossfire (lol). Clare Sausen, who is an excellent cannabis writer and reporter, wrote about my saga for High Times, so you can get the full dirt there.
TLDR; Stripe accused Cannabitch (me) of violating its Terms of Sale, and never directly alleged but alluded to the fact they believed I sold cannabis (or something along those lines) in this newsletter. At first, they said they scanned my subscriber list and found many “restricted” businesses that Stripe cannot process (not my problem). Then, they said I linked to cannabis companies and cannabis accessories companies, which is a violation (it’s not). They blamed it on some vague “federal banking regulations” implemented in January (that they did not definitively reference or spell out) that restricted them from engaging any cannabis companies at all. I responded to all of this with the same answer: “I am not a cannabis company. I write a newsletter and sell subscriptions to that newsletter.” They did not care, denied.
Then, Substack got involved, I made some noise, Sausen asked for comment for High Times, and after they denied me and said they were definitively shutting down my Stripe account at least four times within the course of two weeks, I woke up one morning saying that I’m right, they agree, they’re sorry, and that I can continue processing payments on Stripe.
Anyway, I WON. I beat Stripe. If you have had problems with Stripe and think I can help, I can’t offer you advice because I still don’t know what happened and suspect I only won because I was being a Karen, but I would be more than happy to send you all of my correspondence for reference. Please ask.
Tis the season, gardeners! We’re going to backyard grow again. As always, my husband and I (and now our almost one-year-old son!) grow fully outdoors in San Diego, CA. We grow from seed every year.
GROW REPORT 2024
I’ll update with photos and notes each time I send a newsletter from now until harvest, but we’re just popping now so no visuals to share. We do it a bit later here because seeds tend to get there a bit more quickly than in other regions, owing to our punishing sun.
This year, I’m the lucky recipient of some gift seeds from the one and only Todd McCormick. He gifted us Authentic Sweet Skunk #1, Original Haze (Purple Phenotype), and "Purest Indica" a.k.a. the Steve Murphy Afghan, all of which he sells at AG Seed Co. online. All seeds are from his personal collection.
I’ll also be growing Piff x Honey Bananas (NYC Piff #3) from CHA Humboldt and another yet-to-be-determined pick.
QUICK HITS
If you missed the first-ever SF Weed Week, fret not. The first-ever SF Hash week is happening around 7/10. Here’s the rate card to get involved as a vendor, and I’ll see you there, G-Pen Hyer in hand.
I wrote about a storied and near-mythical cannabis collection, the Nectarball Collection, which is right here in San Diego. It includes full buds of long-gone landraces and other rare strains, like Fallbrook Red and Colombian Gold.
I wrote about Snoop Dogg and weed before we all realized we got punked (yeah, I know).
This was written and finally published over the winter, a missive on women and weed throughout history.
I wrote about practicing shibari postpartum.
and I was quoted in this Rolling Stone piece about the “new” 420, this GreenState piece about weed fashion, and this 4/20 gift guide.
Don’t forget my High on Plants collab! Use code Jackie10 for 10% off anywhere on the site. (The earrings come in other colors, like pink, too! Just black is my collab.)
I’ll be in LA over the weekend of May 5, doing weed things and going to Transbay. Let me know if you’ll be there. Thanks for reading!
Yeah, my bad for restacking an old post I suppose but it was full of so much good stuff!
I’m down to smoke in public and hang with you in SD homie!