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On the pod today: Molly Mathias, the founder of Go Easy—a cannabis lifestyle brand based in Dallas that’s making self-care a little more accessible and a lot less complicated.

We love a good reinvention story, and Molly is truly an inspiration. A former CPA, realtor, and retail business owner, she decided to trade spreadsheets and cubicles for creativity and connection, opening her dream concept during the middle of the pandemic (not exactly easy!). But Go Easy isn’t just about selling super cute bongs and CBD products (and they are cute)—it’s about creating a space where self-care is approachable, judgment-free, and, dare we say, joyful.

While many brands lean into luxury or exclusivity, Go Easy celebrates the everyday. After making her own lifestyle shift during the pandemic, Molly wanted to normalize the joy of slowing down, reconnecting with yourself, and finding beauty in daily rituals. Whether it’s a perfectly designed bong, a gummy that actually tastes good, or just a moment to breathe, her philosophy is simple: self-care doesn’t have to be complicated—just go easy.

More importantly, Molly keeps her price points accessible because working-class ladies deserve to light up in style, too. Take her Dirty Martini Bowl, which is just $35, or her latest drop, the Good Day Bong, for $69—proof that a good time doesn’t have to break the bank.

Molly’s story is a testament to the Lone Star State spirit: bold, resilient, and unafraid to carve out a space where others might hesitate. We talked about what it’s like to build a business from scratch in an industry that’s still finding its footing—especially in a state like Texas, where cannabis culture toes an unusual line depending on where you are and how “friendly” the locals are about it.

With the recent election and Dallas voters passing measures to decriminalize small amounts of cannabis, Texans are left wondering: what’s next for legalization? Despite its reputation as a conservative state, Texas might just be the perfect place to spark meaningful change.

And as we head into Small Business Saturday and Green Wednesday, Molly reminds us that supporting local businesses like Go Easy isn’t just about shopping—it’s about uplifting brands that bring creativity, community, and care into our lives. Whether it’s designing bongs with generous bowls (because yes, Texas does everything bigger) or crafting the best-tasting gummies around, Molly’s work is a love letter to the idea that self-care should be care-free

🎙️ Listen, like, and share the episode here.
📸 Follow Molly on Instagram here. Shop and sign-up for the Go Easy newsletter here.

Have someone in mind who should be on the show? Drop us a line at itstheweedwitch@gmail.com.

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Truth be told, the lifestyle industry doesn’t give much lip service to some of the issues it enables—be it the alcohol industry and alcoholism, the fashion industry and shopping addiction, or the cannabis industry and rising mental health issues that the plant potentially harms as much as it helps.

Using any of these consumables doesn’t automatically make someone an addict, but that doesn’t mean they’re without risk. As new generations become exposed to plant-based medicine being marketed as a recreational product during a time when the country faces a larger addiction and mental health crisis, there’s a growing demand to address some of these heavier topics that challenge us.

On the pod today: noted cannabis industry O.G. and founder of the eponymous global lifestyle brand, Jane West. Over the past 10 years, she’s evolved from hosting a Denver-based cannabis event series to making national headlines for her high-profile collaborations and cannabis advocacy, pissing off local politicians, and even having her brunch event raided by a SWAT team. Following her court case, she founded Women Grow while on probation, which remains the largest professional networking organization in cannabis, and is now black woman-owned. Most recently, she’s expanded her high-end smokewear line to New York State, and can now be found on the shelves at Gotham and the Travel Agency.

She joins the Pipe Dreams podcast fresh off her guest appearance on the “Is it just weed?” episode of Dr. Phil Primetime addressing marijuana addiction where we’re introduced to two families that have suffered from cannabis-induced psychosis, an anti-legalization activist and emergency room physician, the Executive Director of the National Cannabis Industry, and West, representing the rest of us—all brought on to address a pretty complicated and nascent issue squeezed into a 40-minute segment. Given that she was frequently cut off on the heavily edited segment, I thought she deserved a few extra minutes on the mic.

In pop culture, there’s a tendency to make light of “a trip gone wrong” because—for the most part—cannabis is pretty harmless compared to other substances. It’s true that research is starting to show that opioid use and death has actually declined in states with legalized cannabis use and that cannabinoids have incredible health benefits that are still actively being discovered. But realistically, it’s also fair to say that weed isn’t “just weed” anymore—you can still end up in the hospital for anxiety attacks through overconsumption, which is becoming an increasing phenomenon as THC percentages rise in the recreational market.

The push for recreational cannabis has decimated the medical market where education and compassion care were paramount, creating a huge shift towards a limitless market that looks strictly at the bottom line to push products catering to what consumers want rather than what they need. Kids aren’t just getting a dime bag of ditch weed and rolling joints like back in the day—they can easily order vapes and dabs with medical grade THC percentages through their phones without the adequate education to help them make informed decisions due to online censorship.

Unregulated product is now just as susceptible to being laced with fentanyl as any other drug, while conditions like cannabinoid hyperemsis syndrome and questions surrounding addiction are becoming more prevalent, leaving the industry with a sobering responsibility to itself and the communities it claims to want to help. Righting the wrongs of the past War on Drugs has equally put the formation of a D.A.R.E.-style drug education replacement program in a bit of an impasse about addressing drug mixing and addiction, inviting people with huge platforms like Dr. Phil to draw up their own narrative.

On the latest Pipe Dreams podcast, West shares her perspective as a longtime advocate following the twists and turns of the industry to discuss the challenges, opportunities, and silver linings for creating a socially responsible future cannabis landscape. Listen, like and share the episode. Follow Jane West on Instagram and browse her stunning glassware over at Flwr.Shop.

Have someone in mind that you think should be on the show? Drop a line at itstheweedwitch@gmail.com.

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Remember how exciting it felt back in 2017 for those five whole minutes when millions of people around the world flooded the streets to march for women, and then two seconds later, Trump decided to give a noted rapist a permanent seat on the Supreme Court? Ugh, I hate it!

Sexism is alive and well, which is annoying because I have a very long list of things I would rather be doing than fighting anti-choicers—a chore that never seems to go away, no matter how many times I tell them to fuck off or how many Taco or Bev abortion fundraisers I participate in. Watching our fundamental, hard-earned rights being stripped bare since Roe vs. Wade was overturned in 2022 has been nauseating, to say the least, becoming such a shit show that it’s given writer Jessica Valenti enough material to make a whole Substack for it called Abortion, Every Day..

Abortion obviously doesn’t make it into the food, travel, or weed worlds that often as a hot button issue, but our latest guest has the makings of a hero: bringing reproductive rights and recipes to the front burner as a leading voice in cannabis.

On the show today: Mary Jane Gibson, a prominent female voice in cannabis media and former culture editor at High Times, who has been tracking the legalization and culture of medical marijuana and adult-use cannabis since 2007. After writing at High Times for over a decade, she now writes at-large at outlets like Rolling Stone and Vox where she covers cannabis culture, psychedelics, arts, entertainment, news, and cutting-edge trends. She is also an award-winning actor and playwright, and a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada.

After penning an article on sexism in the cannabis industry, Gibson predictably received an onslaught of shitty comments from fragile dudes throwing tired “make me a sandwich” jokes. Rather than grin and bear it, she decided to take their advice and do just that: make delicious, nourishing, sandwiches all for herself, while educating the masses about the horrific rollback and daily assault on reproductive rights. Evolving from a clapback into a full-fledged project, “My Sandwich, My Choice” has gained the attention of over 30K followers on Instagram and 14K followers on TikTok as Gibson uses the platform to sling sandwiches with a statement. Most recently, she’s added a Substack (which you should absolutely subscribe to).

“I really started it as a little passion project to make a sandwich for myself and each sandwich is a different topic,” she says. “It just so happened that Roe vs. Wade had just been overturned, so a lot of these sandwiches are about the reproductive rights situation around the country—in Alabama, IVF, or a woman in Oklahoma being prosecuted because she didn’t have a medical marijuana card for her fetus—there’s just so much to be mad about. So, to make sandwiches and talk about it is just my way of hopefully bringing a little lightness to it so people can digest (ahem) the topic.”

On the latest Pipe Dreams podcast, Mary Jane shares her journey from theater kid to High Times editor, cultural commentator, reproductive rights activist, and legacy sand-weed-witch. Listen, like and share the episode. Follow Mary Jane on Instagram, TikTok, and Substack. And make sure to follow The Weed Witch for all of the latest and greatest.

Have someone in mind that you think should be on the show? Drop a line at itstheweedwitch@gmail.com.

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There’s nothing like pouring your heart, soul, and wallet into your debut book only launch it during the worst timing possible—be it a travel book during a global lockdown or a book a psychedelic Judaism during the height of the latest iteration of the never-ending Israel-Palestine conflict. At the same time, these are exactly the critical moments when uplifting books that inspire new thinking are the most needed.

On the show today: Madison Margolin, a journalist covering psychedelics and spirituality, and the author of Exile & Ecstasy: Growing Up with Ram Dass & Coming of Age in the Jewish Psychedelic Underground, a memoir-meets-Gonzo journalism endeavor that was released on November 6. Madison is also the host of Be Here Now Network's Set & Setting Podcast, as well as the co-founder of both DoubleBlind Magazine and the Jewish Psychedelic Summit, whose work has been featured in Rolling Stone, Playboy, VICE, High Times, Lucid News, and Jewish publishing house and production studio Ayin Press, where she works as an editor curating psychedelic stories and interviews.

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Exile and Ecstasy takes readers on a trippy coming-of-age journey through Margolin’s early years growing up within "HinJew" community surrounding Ram Dass—author of Be Here Now—and in the cannabis legalization movement, laying the groundwork for going inside New York's Jewish counterculture and the Hasidic underground, and somehow coming full-circle to find unexpected intersectionality between the Jewish and psychedelic experience.

Living on the fringe within the Jewish and psychedelic worlds, she uses journalistic reporting to offer practical, yet mystical ways to integrate psychedelic experiences into the everyday to feel connected, grounded, and reconcile “seemingly disparate experiences of spirituality and psychedelics, with traditional religion.”

She joins the podcast to discuss her book, the multitudes of Judaism, the concept of psychedelic lifestyle beyond drugs, and her visit to Ramallah just days before October 7 to meet with Arabs and Jews using psychedelics to resolve ancestral trauma.

Listen, like and share the episode. Follow Madison on ⁠Instagram⁠ and grab her book here⁠. And make sure to follow ⁠The Weed Witch⁠ for all of the latest and greatest.

Have someone in mind that you think should be on the show? Drop a line at itstheweedwitch@gmail.com.

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Before jumping in, extending a HUGE apology to Lana and Hayley at Sackville & Co. because this podcast recorded back before Fashion Week is embarrassingly belated. Naturally, I planned to edit this sorely overdue segment the first weekend in October, so obviously that got tabled for a bit. But their story is so good that I had see it through the finish line. So, when you listen, pretend it came out in September as intended and that you’re the one who is catching up with podcasts, not me. Bonus: they have a Black Friday sale going on for 25% off right now!

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Sackville & Co. came onto my radar back in 2019 during the first wave of the Green Revolution being fronted by forward-thinking women and queer people bringing beautiful wares to the mainstream to redefine the future of cannabis. Founded by Lana Van Brunt and Hayley Dineen in 2018, the New York-based cannabis lifestyle company and multidisciplinary product design and production studio stood out for its ooh-ahh accessories like their shiny gilded grinder and sleek joint carrying case fit for the stiletto stoner crowd.

Bringing impressive pedigrees in design and fashion to cannabis lifestyle seemed like a natural fit—one desperately needed during a time when sneaking into a down ‘n’ dirty head shop was the only way to get a decent hitter that would inevitably be stored in a stale stash box rather than proudly displayed on a coffee table. Van Brunt, the former Director of Experiential Marketing, Head Talent Buyer and Director of Business Operations at VICE Media, and Dineen, who worked in product design and development for luxury brands through the United Nations ethical fashion program to create programs for Vivienne Westwood, Stella McCartney, and Karen Walker, brought a new vision to cannabis where users no longer needed to sacrifice form for function.

Since then, the company has grown exponentially, exposing cannabis culture to a new generation of consumers thanks to collaborations with Wu-Tang’s GZA and streetwear brands like Sundae School and Carrots Carrots that sell out almost instantly at each drop—but also a more mainstream, older demographic gravitating towards the plant.

While the growing number of beautifully crafted smokeable objets d’art have helped to normalize, destigmatize, and ease consumers’ apprehensions about dipping into world of weed, the road to success hasn’t always been easy. In fact, they almost lost the company.

After only five months of being acquired by a public company in late 2019, the company changed leadership and the new CEO didn't see the vision for the brand, initiating an immediate attempt at shutting down of Sackville & Co. along with several other acquisitions. This began the founders’ fight to regain ownership, a challenge exacerbated during the height of the pandemic in March 2020.

Getting entrenched in a ruthless, expensive legal battle is laughably par for the course in the cannabis industry, but there’s a happy ending: ultimately they won their business back and have been running the brand independently (and profitably) ever since. Today, they join the podcast to share their insights on New York’s chaotic market, the changing face of cannabis culture, and their triumphant comeback story.

Listen, like and share the episode. Follow Sackville on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Facebook⁠. And make sure to follow ⁠The Weed Witch⁠ for all of the latest and greatest.

Have someone in mind that you think should be on the show? Drop a line at itstheweedwitch@gmail.com.

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Taste is one of our most important senses, yet the majority of people still don’t have the language to articulate exactly why they love or hate something.

In the past, tasting education was usually limited to restaurant and hospitality trade professionals, most often deferring to rigid French wine classifications to consider the more nuanced principles of how the natural environment or terroir (soil, topography and climate) impacts the expression of flavor within a final product, including how it looks, smells, tastes, and feels. 

However, thanks to the emergence of pedestrian-friendly craft beer education over the past two decades, widespread interest in food culture, and the more recent impact of olfactory loss from COVID, there’s been a renewed interest about our personal relationships with taste. And we now have the ultimate handbook to understanding the science and art behind flavor. 

Joining the podcast today is New York-based Advanced Cicerone, Certified Taster, and journalist ⁠Mandy Naglich⁠, whose latest book “⁠How To Taste: A Guide to Discovering Flavor and Savoring Life⁠,” was released just last month. 

Teaching both consumers and professionals about flavor and service across the beverage alcohol category, her wildly popular tasting classes frequently sell out around the city and virtually. Her work has been featured in Vice, Taste of Home, VinePair, and Wine Enthusiast, and has generated a considerable following on her blog, ⁠Drinks With Mandy⁠, where she breaks down complex topics about taste into digestible morsels of content.

@drinkswmandyDon’t fear the B A R N Y A R D funk 🐄🌾👩‍🌾 At first, I had a hard time describing a slight–at the time I called it–stink on some beers, especially wild and sour ones. I knew stink was the wrong word, because I enjoyed it. It added depth to the aroma, the same way that delicate rotten notes makes the smell of gardenia intoxicating. I learned that the pros called this animal complexity “funky” so I stuck with that description for a while. It a wine tasting in California that finally helped me connect the scent with my words. The Somm said, “A little bit of animal, some damp wool or hay, you’ll find that in rustic Bordeaux. But once it becomes chicken droppings or wet dirty dog, then that’s a problem!” That precarious balance aligns perfectly with the science of fermentation behind these flavors. Wild yeast, Brettanomyces, creates the array of barnyard in your glass. When other yeasts are responsible for the bulk of fermentation the Brettanomyces (Brett) contributes just a few subtle notes to the overall flavor profile. But when it has a chance to run wild that’s when you get a glass full of the worst of the barnyard. 💩 The rise of natural wines means more wild yeast making it into the market, and more wine drinkers learning to love barnyard flavors. Fans of the Trappist beer Orval have been loving the sweaty horse blanket twang of Brett for years, long before (some) winemakers decided a little funk was alright! 🍷🍺 Have you ever heard someone describe a drink as tasting like barnyard? Did you think that was a good or a bad thing? If you’re interested in tasting some fun and funky beer yourself join me in Portland, Maine at @allagashbrewing on July 14! We’re talking my new book How to Taste and trying some of the brews in their barrel cellar. Info at the liink in bio 📚 #winetasting #beertasting #cicerone #fermentation #brettanomyces #wset

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Today, she shares the story behind her unconventional job, a look at some of the unexpected research that landed in her book (mustard in brownies?!), and how taste can create daily opportunities for joy in the every day.

Listen, like and share the episode. Follow Mandy on ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠ and ⁠YouTube⁠. And make sure to follow ⁠The Weed Witch⁠ for all of the latest and greatest.

Not so long ago, my good friend and Pipe Dreams guest, Natalie Smith, shot me a text asking for bubbler recommendations. For the unfamiliar, bubblers fall within the water pipe category of cannabis smokeware, relying on water filtration to deliver a smoother hit. Think of it as a portable bong that fits neatly within the palm of your hand.

Owning a bubbler says something about you as a stoner. It’s a very specific pipe, not exactly the type a novice would gravitate towards. This is the kind of piece that regular smoker would look into after realizing, “You know, I guess I’ve been smoking for awhile. Maybe it’s about time to have some consideration for my lungs.”

From a functional perspective, bubblers require a lot less effort to hit than a bong because of their smaller size, which is easier on the lungs to avoid those much-dreaded coughing fits and gives the user a better sense of control. While compact in size, it’s not exactly inconspicuous and looks deceivingly more complicated than it actually is. In fact, many are just plain ugly.

Despite swimming in an excess of papers, precision vaporizers, one-hitters, pipes, bongs, dab rigs, and chillums from covering luxury cannabis accessories for the past several years, somehow bubblers just dropped off my radar. Being asked about where to find the coolest ones threw me for a loop, but in a very endearing way so that I appreciated the challenge. After all, what was happening in the world of bubblers anyway? I decided to investigate.

Until recently, I’ve only owned one bubbler that coincidentally came with a story. While recording their album Spirit Youth and performing at one of the 2010 summer music festivals (Pitchfork or Lollapalooza?), I gave refuge to dream pop indie band The Depreciation Guild, who crashed on the living room floor of my Humboldt Park apartment in Chicago. During the week or so that they stayed with me and my roommate, they introduced us to the concepts of Tommy Wiseau, Metallica’s Some Kind of Monster, and bubblers. It was a pretty great summer. Actually, now that I think about it, this album still owns. Give it a listen.

I can’t recall the reason why they gave me the bubbler—maybe to replace a glass pipe or just as a thank you—but it didn’t matter. I was entering a new phase of my life as a person who owned a bubbler. The gesture felt a bit mystical, like tarot cards, where they’re supposed to be bestowed upon you rather than purchased. Just another sign from the universe guiding me on my endless journey of becoming a weed witch and living the weed witch lifestyle.

Though the bubbler wasn’t quite my style, I loved it anyway and named it Bong Crosby. It stuck with me through several apartments until I handed it off to another roommate in need of a new piece. Even so, for years I held onto it, it collected dust, mostly shoved into a back corner, tucked behind books on a shelf, or hidden within a French oak wine crate I transformed into a makeshift classy stash box and humidor. Parting with it seemed to be more of a symbolic loss than a functional one. After all, I didn’t have the incentive to remember to use it in the first place; it didn’t go with my apartment.

So, back to the question at hand: where are all the cool bubblers? Once the least attractive smokeware you could possibly buy, the green rush of 2018 and 2019 gave rise to the influx of cool, aesthetically-pleasing functional smokeables that catapulted the mainstreaming of cannabis culture. And as I began my search for the ultimate cool bubbler, I received a tip to check out a brand—that I am now delighted to introduce!

On the pod this week: Riley Brain, founder of Wandering Bud, a Kansas City, Missouri-based ceramics studio that specializes in home decor for cannabis connoisseurs. She also takes the crown for producing the most beautiful bubbler worthy of every coffee table: the Billie, an abstract-inspired vessel that functions as a water pipe, but easily disguises as a flower vase.

Much like me, it was a failed search for a water pipe that could be beautifully displayed at home that led Riley to starting Wandering Bud in 2016. Feeling inspired after a summer spent in Portland, Oregon during the year that recreational cannabis legalized, she decided that she was done with playing “hide the bong” every time her parents would drop by and time to figure out how to make pieces that would fit with the design aesthetic of her apartment.

After scouring Craigslist for kilns, she borrowed $700 from her grandfather and started experimenting with an Etsy shop until it grew exponentially. At the time, cannabis was still illegal on both sides of the state lines in Missouri and Kansas, so pioneering a cannabis accessories brand in the Midwest was a risky endeavor.

“I did my first in-person event in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2018 and was really nervous because we hadn’t voted on medical yet. I was nervous to see just how the community would react seeing these beautifully designed pipes and bongs just out at an art fair next to paintings,” she says. “And the reaction was really positive. I didn’t get a single person giving me a side-eye or anything like that. This was in a really progressive, liberal part of Kansas City, but still, I was heartened by that.”

Given that California and New York often dominate the conversation surrounding U.S. cannabis, the cultural impact of cannabis in middle America often gets lost in the mix. It’s easy to forget that Missouri passed legislature to legalize medical cannabis in 2018 and became the 21st state to legalize recreational marijuana last November, which is why it might surprise you that the state surpassed the $1 billion sales mark within the first three months of legalization in 2023. That’s a lot of secret stoners! It’s also a lot of tangible data that will likely impact future federal legalization.

As a medical user with Crohn’s disease, she was among the first wave to join the Missouri medical program and establish a local name brand. After a few renderings, the Billie bubbler was born and became an instant cult classic. Leaving her day job as a music school teacher in 2018, Riley decided to go all-in on the the brand and pursue Wandering Bud full-time. Today, she employs a team of seven female artists who make one-of-a-kind smokeware and accessories by hand and regularly partners with artists like Whitney Manney and Joe Bradford for limited edition runs of collector items.

“People are kind of shocked to hear that I used to be an elementary music teacher. I did not go to school for business or for ceramics. So, this is a major career pivot for me,” she says.

She’s also generated a pretty large social media following where she shows off her wares and fields questions—including the hefty price tag on some of Wandering Bud’s more high-end pieces as part of their progressive labor model.

“As it grew and I started hiring employees, I thought a lot about what kind of employer I wanted to be. And paying artists fair wages is something that I think I should be doing. So we do,” she says. “That is largely the reason that our pieces are priced the way they are. They're completely handmade by artists in our studio in Kansas City. That means we're paying artists fair wages for their work in the U.S. and yeah, that costs money. People on social media will oftentimes push back on our pricing and I'll just say, ‘You know, our employees like to be paid in money, not in good vibes. So, that's the reason that they're priced the way they are.’”

On the latest Pipe Dreams podcast, Riley discusses how she quit her day job and built her skills to chase her pipe dreams, the method and thinking behind her form-meets-function designs, her tips for enjoying Kansas City’s cannabis scene is like (come visit the studio! Check out The Nelson-Atkins Museum!), the joys of home growing, smart ways to side-step the social media censorship police, and a solid argument for cleaning your wares before and after every use.

Listen, like and share the episode. Follow Riley on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube. And make sure to follow The Weed Witch for all of the latest and greatest.

Have someone in mind that you think should be on the show? Drop a line at itstheweedwitch@gmail.com.

Welcome to the The Weed Witch coven. If you liked this post, click the heart button below and consider upgrading to a paid subscription. Fall down the wrong rabbit hole? Click here to unsubscribe.

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the delay. Turns out pursuing an intensive certification program while embarking on a wellness journey no one asked for takes up a considerable amount of time. Fortunately, I had a clear morning, some Mac 1, and a solid amount of can-do inspiration from this week’s guest to power through this beautifully sunny wake ‘n bake. Now you have a new podcast episode—you’re welcome!

On the show today: Lulu Tsui (that’s pronounced SWAY), Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer at On The Revel, a curated educational and networking experience series aimed at fostering an inclusive, collaborative, and flourishing cannabis sector. She is also President of the Cannabis Media Council, an organization dedicated to destigmatizing and normalizing cannabis using the power of traditional media (which coincidentally just had its first ad placement for its “I’m High Right Now” campaign featured in the latest Vanity Fair!). On top of all that, she’s the User Experience and Research Advisor at Oakland Hyphae, the minds behind the Oakland Psychedelic Conference and Psilocybin Cup. This woman knows how to get it done.

Lulu is a force and a true wandering weed witch full of cannabis magic, both literally and metaphorically. Immigrating to the U.S. with her family in 1980 from northern China, Lulu was taken under the wing of cannafamily aunties and uncles within the “super hippie utopia” of Eugene, Oregon. Rooted early within the subculture gave her a unique line of sight into cannabis and psychedelics before they became global behemoths, laying the groundwork for her unconventional career.

Preferring the bright lights of the city to small town living, she jumped into the tech industry in 1994 where she began working as a user experience designer and researcher long before these jobs titles even existed. Flash forward to 2015 when she was at the University of Washington, many of her friends had entered the legal cannabis game and tapped her to help optimize seed-to-sale tracking software. Deciding to stick around, she joined a budding Tier 3 grower and producer where she was able to truly dig into the supply chain while working on the fringe of new market expansion.

While many jobs require a considerable amount of business travel, in the cannabis industry it can often feel like time travel. Getting an upper edge on cannabis R&D across the U.S. and Canada, she spent the past 16 years bouncing between California and New York while living the dream: a bi-coastal lifestyle supported by a job you actually love. Still, as the industry moved at rapid-fire pace into the future, she often found herself facing a very tired and outdated dilemma: being the only one in the room who looked like her.

“A lot of women are out in the front of the house in the marketing, advertising, media—I really got to experience the supply chain side,” she says. Suddenly, everything clicked and all the pieces began to fall into place.

Even as markets add restorative justice efforts to their newly minted legal landscapes, diversity remains a huge problem within all of them. Which is why Lulu’s work with On The Revel is so essential. When she met co-founder Jacobi Holland in 2016, she says that it was the first time she felt like she could have a real, honest conversation about the things they were seeing and experiencing. Joining forces, they decided to help amplify these discussions between New Yorkers and entrepreneurs invested in cannabis to push towards building an inclusive, diverse, and vibrant community.

“At that time, there were a lot of meetings about advocacy, there were meetings about investing and fundraising, which just didn’t make sense back then, but there was no one there talking about the ground truth of what was happening in these different markets,” she says. “Jacobi has come up from janitor to analyst in Colorado with Mindful—one of the first vertical operators. It was the first time I met someone in New York talking about his truth from his experience and what he was seeing.”

Truth and transparency are the ethos that drive On The Revel events, where information is power and the goal is to empower those who want to join the cannabis industry with tools for success. Bringing together legacy operators, legislators, and everyone in-between, the events touch every facet of the industry, from how to work with aldermen in your neighborhood to open a dispensary and getting venture capital for your business to frequently asked legal and internal housekeeping questions, like how to file taxes and the importance of meeting proper codes for the Fire Department.

“Please, please, please always do your due diligence. Don’t be afraid to ask if someone is a good partner,” she stresses.

Above all, the event is all about building a community of dope people. That includes: rappers like Vic Mensa, whose brand 93Boyz is Chicago’s first black-owned cannabis label; former NBA player-turned-CEO Al Harrington of Viola; New York rapper Styles P, whose Juices for Life and Farmacy for Life stores are serving low-income neighborhoods with high quality food; an introduction to New York’s first CAURD recipients; and a very, very long list of excellent brands and incredible resources. A quick scroll through their YouTube page reveals a robust feed of TedTalk-style discussions on virtually every entry point for a career in cannabis. Bonus: the events are super affordable, because business opportunities shouldn’t be limited to the wealthy.

“New York has always had cannabis here, so it’s always been part of culture,” she says. “It’s just been really beautiful to see friends that we’ve been waiting for this moment in New York to come online to actually start doing it.”

On the latest Pipe Dreams podcast, Lulu discusses watching the rise of cannabis coast-to-coast through a variety of lenses, the challenges legacy operators are facing who want to legitimize their businesses against the gray market, the overlap between cannabis and psychedelics, using UX to get to know plant medicine users, her opinion on the New York roll out, what makes cannabis culture here unique, getting elders on board to shape the next generation, plus the rituals behind her weed witch lifestyle (she swears by drinking moon-activated Tiger’s Eye crystal water).

Listen, like and share the episode. Follow On The Revel on Instagram, YouTube, and their Dope People community portal. Mark your calendars for the June 22 Buyers Club event at Basilica Hudson in Hudson, NY, and on August 26 when they’ll be hosting their annual block party at Restoration Plaza in Brooklyn. And make sure to follow The Weed Witch for all of the latest and greatest.

Have someone in mind that you think should be on the show? Drop a line at itstheweedwitch@gmail.com.

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It’s not every day that Pipe Dreams gets a celebrity interview, but a little green fairy magic came through for our favorite high holiday! Also, make sure to peep the latest Consumption Lounge for all your Weed Witch-approved 4/20 picks.

On the show today: Our lady of the leaf, the iconic Laganja Effing Estranja graced us all with a 4/20 blessing (just as she casually whisks off to Thailand, too. So sad it’s not me going!). Read more about the history of 4/20.

Best known for competing on season 6 of RuPaul’s Drag Race (where she served one of the show’s most sickening entrances), Laganja Estranja is the drag persona of Jay Jackson. But beyond being a world-renowned drag artist, she also has an incredibly impressive and lengthy list of achievements as a TV personality, choreographer, music artist, cannabis advocate, and all-around LGBTQ+ icon. And if she has her way, she’ll be adding Broadway to that list in 2025.

Before all the lights and cameras, Jackson was a U.S. Presidential Scholar in The Arts who earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance and choreography from the California Institute of the Arts. Growing up in Texas within a culture where cannabis was stigmatized as the Devil’s Lettuce, it was only after she moved to California where she recognized the plant as medicine and learned about the essential role that the LGBTQ+ community played in legalization.

Realizing that creating visibility and space as a cannabis diva could be an accessible platform for activism, she’s become an outspoken advocate. Capturing international attention, she’s been able to help educate the masses on many issues surrounding the plant and is now never without a kind bud.

“In the beginning of this when I decided to be Laganja Estranja, I didn’t realize the magnitude that would come with it. I never thought people would one day be waiting in a meet-and-greet to meet me with joints. It’s a beautiful thing that happened that I’m so grateful for, but my activism with cannabis is sort of a happy mistake,” she says. “When I moved to California, I learned that the reason we had medical cannabis was because of the LGBTQ+ community and their fight to get our brothers and sisters that were suffering from AIDS a different type of medicine. And so I felt this calling and like there was this homage I had to pay to my ancestors by becoming Laganja Estranja.”

Cannabis is obviously not just part of her persona, but also has a major presence in her life. In addition to her successful line of cannabis-inspired apparel, accessories and home decor, she recently collaborated with fellow “Drag Race” star Trixie Mattel on the ExtravaGANJA makeup collection as well as created a signature water pipe with Empire GlassWorks.

Since catapulting her career on “Drag Race,” she’s made cameos on everything from “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Germany's Next Top Model,” and “Bong Appetit” to being the covergirl of New York Magazine’s June 2019 The Most Powerful Drag Queens in America issue.

In addition to dancing and designing, the girl can sing! And rap, too! She credits Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott among her top inspirations and says if she had to dance for her life, she’d choose “Work It.”

“Love her for so many reasons. She’s not only an icon in the hip hop community, but she was also really the first person in my opinion to take hip hop to that next level and make music that was, yes, for pop culture, but also infuse a message,” she says. “That’s something that really inspires me as a musical artist.”

On the latest Pipe Dreams podcast, Laganja talks terps and discusses how she built her multi-hyphenate career, her plans to bring back Laganja’s Dance School, a look at the debut of her musical Miss Step, the cultural shift from overconsumption to educated dosing, how her relationship with the plant changed as she transitioned, and why she’ll never fly with weed ever again.

Listen, like and share the episode. Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. And make sure to follow The Weed Witch for all of the latest and greatest. Have someone in mind that you think should be on the show? Drop a line at itstheweedwitch@gmail.com.

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As a legacy grower turned founder of one of the country’s fastest growing national cannabis brands, Lex Corwin has never known a life outside the industry. 

“I was always kind of an entrepreneurial kid—and also just a very misbehaved one. I always had a fascination with cannabis and a natural affinity for it,” says Corwin, CEO and founder of the queer-led, family-run cannabis company, Stone Road. “Some people will ask, ‘How long have you been in the industry?’ And it’s like, I’ve been in the industry my entire life since I was 16 in 2009.”

Raised in New York, he got his first taste of growing by learning the ins and outs of organic agriculture his junior year of high school at The Mountain School in rural Vermont, an immersive working farm program where students learn to grow everything they consume. 

After finishing the program, he returned to New York where he ordered some cannabis seeds from Amsterdam and started growing weed on his neighbor’s property located on—you guessed it—Stone Road in Connecticut. What he ended up with was virtually unsmokeable East Coast ditch weed, of course, but you have to respect the process. 

“The weed was SO BAD that I had to go get an ounce of good weed and an ounce of tobacco. I mixed them all and sold Stone Road spliffs my junior year of high school and into my senior year. And that just kind of started it for me,” he says. “I loved selling weed and having it and growing it, so it was a very natural pathway for me.”

Since then, he’s had a little practice. Today, he and his COO Sabrina Wheeler put out nothing but top-shelf, sun grown bud under Stone Road’s label, which now retails on the shelves of over 400 outlets throughout California, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, and Michigan, plus New York, New Mexico, and Connecticut expansion in the works.

While sustainability initiatives are often the first to get cut with lean operating models, Stone Road remains a brand with values despite its growing footprint. Perched on top of a hill, Stone Road’s greenhouses in Nevada City, California take up a mere half-acre of their 57-acre wild property and operate using biodynamic farming strategies (minus the whole burying cow horns filled with manure moonlight rituals associated with biodynamic winemaking).

Sticking to his consume-what-you-grow organic farming ethos, the family-run farm is working towards closing the loop of using what’s on the property to cultivate plants, including making their own compost teas, opting out of crop sprays in favor of leveraging predator mites and beneficial fungi, operating as a no-till farm to create a nutrient-rich, living soil and micro ecosystems tended to by Mother Nature and water sourced from an artesian well.

Not only are these methods better for the environment, but they yield a more terperne-rich product. (You can also swing by the farm to check it out for yourself May through September by sending them a nice note here).

Taking things a step further, the company’s distinctive packaging doesn’t just look great, it’s ecologically conscientious. Always looking for ways to be more sustainable, the company is moving to eliminate as much caustic, petroleum-based plastic across its supply chain as much as physically possible, eliminating their thin shrink wrapped boxes and moving to zero plastic tins.

“We weren’t going to grow in this really, really sustainable, environmentally-friendly fashion and then put it into a plastic doob-tube. That just wasn’t what we were going to do design-wise, stylistically,” he says. “For us that meant finding glass with a cork top tube, finding cardboard boxes—things that are going to break down in a reasonable amount of time. Just not caustic, petroleum-based plastic that’s going to be on this planet for 10,000 years.”

Being on the forefront of legalization, Corwin has also had a unique line of sight between the old and new ways of doing business in cannabis. Taken under the wing by old hippies who taught him everything about organic farming and running a business, he cut his teeth in the cannabis space in Portland, Oregon, before starting Stone Road with two friends at the impressive age of 23.

Jumping from making handshake deals on hand-rolled spliffs and watching the rise of the medical market from the West Coast and Denver to building a national brand means he’s seen it all, including notorious Wild West business tactics.

As most cannabis farmers will tell you, California has been experiencing a bit of a crisis where many dispensaries have been sitting on invoices of up to a year and sometimes longer, screwing over farmers and manufacturers. In fact, he’s currently dealing with about a dozen lawsuits over unpaid bills upwards of $700,000 each.

“Honestly now looking back at it, people cared more in the legacy market. At least in the medical days, you’d show up with Stone Road joints and you’d get paid, and that was it,” he says. “You’re inherently disadvantaged because 20 percent of the operators we sell to—who are good people and communicative—they just don’t have the money and are holding on 200- or 350-day-old invoices of all products that we had to pay tax on, test, grow the damn thing, manufacture it, where everyone is making money on it except the farmer.”

On the latest Pipe Dreams podcast, Lex discusses how he’s been able to successfully implement a lean seed-to-store sustainability model as an independent farmer with multi-state operations, diving into the challenges of running a cannabis business in existing and emerging markets, and creating a truly inclusive marketing campaign.

Listen, like and share the episode. Follow Stone Road on Instagram. Have someone in mind that you think should be on the show? Drop a line at itstheweedwitch@gmail.com.

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You’ll also have access to the podcast, including sit downs with legendary author and journalist Alia Volz, Kush Queen cannabis impresario Olivia Alexander, incomparable chanteuse Tammy Faye Starlite, Chicks vs. Stigma owner Brenda Hernandez, multi-disciplinary artist Natalie Smith, and culinary cannabis content creator, Christina Wong. Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive guides, features, tips, and more.

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Plus, if you’re looking for an easy weekend getaway in the Hudson Valley and Catskills, I’ve got a book about that, too. And I also teach pilates, because if you’re going to embark on a weed-induced GOOP wellness journey, might as well go all in. OK that’s my spiel, let’s get into it.

Greetings from New York, where we just celebrated two years of cannabis legalization on March 31. Can you believe it? Only a few weeks away from the day we all know and love (ahem), we’re finally living in a brave new weed world filled with cool dispensaries, stoned yoga, and puff ‘n’ paint studios, where you can wander through upstate hemp farms, take a weed cruise or live your best unemployment life. What a time to be alive.

In case you missed the news, the first woman-owned dispensary Good Grades opened in Jamaica, Queens, and Gotham dispensary opening downtown this spring; William Jane joined the round of new dispensaries in upstate in Ithaca, New York; six dispensaries are coming to Staten Island (still not convinced it’s reason enough to shlep to Staten Island, but good for them); plus the grand opening of The House of Cannabis THC NYC, a permanent multi-story museum in SoHo. That’s not even touching the countless THC-laced festivals, events, brands, and other experiences popping up everywhere.

There’s so much going on, in fact, that it’s time to check in with another local who has their finger on the pulse of East Coast cannabis.

Joining the Pipe Dreams podcast this week: entrepreneur, art collector, and speaker Kristina Lopez Adduci, founder and CEO of House of Puff, a female-led, Latine-owned cannabis lifestyle company based in New York. She is also the host of At Home with House of Puff, a YouTube channel where she breezily walks viewers through tips on everything from how to decarb flower to distinguishing legitimate dispensaries in New York City. Think: Giada at Home, but with weed—the lifestyle show we always wanted, but never got from Food Network.

Best known for their sleek hitters, stylish papers, and other artist-inspired designs, House of Puff was among the East Coast pioneers that saw an opportunity to elevate the accessories space during the Green Rush of 2018. After all, cannabis is not a fleeting trend; it’s a way of life and it’s never too late to upgrade your lifestyle. Since the company’s launch, House of Puff is going strong with over 60 successful SKUs sold across all 50 states and abroad in Canada, Europe, Thailand, Switzerland, and Australia.

For anyone who dreamed of gracing their coffee table with something a little nicer and more mature than a cheesy bong blazed out with marijuana leaf decals, House of Puff is truly a form-meets-function brand. Their line of elegant, individually hand-crafted stoneware is eye-catching, durable, and worthy of any collectors’ stash—but not without purpose. “Art touches everything we do,” she says. “We like to say that we sit at the nexus of art, cannabis, and social justice.”

Before founding House of Puff, Kristina kickstarted her career working for The Michael J. Fox Foundation, where she raised over $25M and co-chaired their Young Professionals group. Her first venture, a media company called Art Zealous, helped make art collecting more accessible for her generation. And her lengthy list of impressive extracurriculars include serving on the Whitney Museum Contemporary Board, the Guggenheim Acquisitions Council, and helping to form the Young Patrons group for the American Folk Art Museum.

An active member of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, she puts her money where her mouth is about addressing operational equity in the industry, uplifting BIPOC artists like Chris Wilson and Paula Flores through House of Puff artist collaborations that support causes they care about.

“Once an artist sells a painting, they can never make royalties for that painting again. And we know how difficult it is for some artists to have steady income,” she says. “So, with our rolling papers artist series, we license the image from them, we put the artwork on the rolling papers, and every time we sell a pack obviously the artist gets a portion, but one level up from that—because social justice is so important to us—we have a giveback component.”

For Paula Flores, House of Puff has been working with the Pachamama Alliance to support sustainability in the Amazon, while their most recent collaboration with Chris Wilson—a formerly incarcerated artist who spent some time in solitary confinement—supports Solitary Watch, an organization trying to eradicate solitary confinement in the U.S.

As a mom and a Latina woman, Kristina is also passionate about destigmatizing cannabis usage for women by holding space for the canna-curious and canna-nervous.

“There are definitely moms at the playground where I wear my House of Puff hat and Buy Weed From Women sweatshirt, and do I get eye rolls? Yeah, for sure. But the only thing I can do is educate them on what weed has done for me as a woman, as a mom, as an entrepreneur, what it’s done for my family, and especially those suffering from either mental illness or physical,” she says.

On the latest Pipe Dreams podcast, Kristina discusses the cultural intersection of cannabis, art, and fashion and how that inspires House of Puff’s product designs, finding her speed as a mom and Latine leader in cannabis, business advice on building an equity cannabis brand, skirting around restrictions on social media, her two cents on the rollout in New York, and tips on how to live your best cannabis life.

Listen, like and share the episode. Follow House of Puff on Instagram and subscribe to At Home with House of Puff on YouTube. Have someone in mind that you think should be on the show? Drop a line at itstheweedwitch@gmail.com.

Welcome to the The Weed Witch coven. If you liked this post, click the heart button below and consider upgrading to a paid subscription. Fall down the wrong rabbit hole? Click here to unsubscribe.

About a week ago, a care package showed up in the mail containing the most stunning brick of lemony shortbread bars, each studded with a colorful bouquet of sugar pasted edible flowers and hemp leaves that look like they were torn straight out of the pages of Real Simple—but with a certain magical ingredient.

Cannabis, she said with a faint whisper.

I instantly recognized the Botanical Bandit Shortbread Bars as the work of Christina Wong, an L.A.-based award-winning storyteller, seasoned PR and communications pro, writer, and culinary cannabis content creator (say that five times fast!) who has spent over a decade working with well-known chefs, restaurants, hospitality, and cannabis brands. Not only were they featured in her recent spread in High Times, but they also made a cameo on Fruit+Flower Unfurled, her popular Instagram and newsletter where she showcases gorgeous edibles and other elevated ideas for fans of the high life that are completely devoid of pretension.

Bookmarking the recipe, at no point did I imagine that I’d actually get to try them. And yet, here they were. Mine. All mine. What a blessing.

Fruit+Flower Unfurled

Recipe: Botanical Bandit Shortbread Bars

This recipe is featured in the December 2022 issue of High Times Magazine! Puff-puff-pass it on. These soft, crumbly shortbread bars have become my favorite cookies to make as they taste just as delicious as they are beautiful. I’ve made variations with earl grey + lavender, lemon + rosemary, and black sesame + coconut…

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3 years ago · 3 likes · 1 comment · Christina W.

Among the extremely small coterie of cannabis food writers, Christina has been on my algorithm since we connected last fall at the Luxury Meets Cannabis Conference in New York City. A veteran of the farm-to-fork world, she was Director of Communications at Tender Greens and helped expand the brand to New York City before moving into cannabis as the Director of Communications at Papa & Barkley, the parent company of edibles brands P&B Kitchen and Papa’s Select.

Today, she is a partner and recipe editor of ⁠The Clever Root⁠, a digital publication about culinary cannabis, drinks, hospitality, and everything that grows. She also co-hosts ⁠Mogu Magu⁠, an AAPI culture, food, and cannabis collective and is a member of the HiVi Higher-Ups community, an inclusive community of cannabis advocates and activists, as well as ⁠Depressed Cake Shop⁠, a non-profit organization that raises awareness for mental health through baking.

In many ways, she embodies the ideal eco-system for both industries: filled with creative individuals who value craft, quality, flavor, ethics, and hospitality. She possesses a certain curiosity about terpenes and techniques with the mindset that could only come from someone who has really spent a considerable amount of time in the kitchen. Years beyond the humble pot brownie, these are the evolving conversations that need to be had and the basis of my former ⁠Baked To Perfection⁠ column: challenging professional chefs to make cannabis edibles on par with what you’d expect from a restaurant.

Using the same analogies and terms sparked by the farm-to-fork movement that uplifted the mass interest in sustainable, local and organic agriculture, she’s an expert at cutting through the complex scientific, bureaucratic, and referential “weedspeak” dominating the conversation to help consumers lean into the culture and make educated purchasing decisions.

Creators like Christina, Wendy Zeng, Rachel Burkons of Altered Plates Hospitality, Topher Jacobs of the Hawaiian Alchemist, Jamie Evans of The Herb Somm, and Dope Kitchen have built their cannabis edibles brand presence on Instagram with quirky, fun, educational, and inspiring photos and videos for people who love the lifestyle, want to give it a chance, or are ready to welcome back friends into their homes again with something a little nicer than hitting a bong on your friend’s couch (not that there’s anything inherently wrong with that). For those who wouldn’t dare show up to a party with a shitty wine or love a good D.I.Y. project, this is the kind of lifestyle content that’s been missing from cannabis culture.

Still, platforms like Instagram and TikTok remain a blessing and a curse for content creators like her. While these platforms have supported countless food and alcohol creators to develop huge, profitable marketing arms, the social media giants are far less-friendly to cannabis content creators than Twitter or LinkedIn. It’s no secret that The Weed Witch was erased from Instagram last fall and unable to recover the account. Using the hashtag #weedwitch or any derivative of cannabis will almost certainly get flagged, shadowbanned, or potentially kicked off the app. As a result, many creators have back-up accounts, refer to the plant as *catnip* or use emojis.

At the same time, these challenges have only pushed her creativity and connections within the community.

“They’re so delicious. It’s such a fun experience, too,” she says. “I think that cannabis is so beneficial in so many ways that I want to encourage more people to be open, be curious, and experiment.”

On the latest Pipe Dreams podcast, Christina discusses how she crafted her career from corporate restaurants to content creator, the trials and tribulations of consumption lounges and third spaces, how cannabis is bringing together AAPI community to overcome cultural stigmas and strengthen family ties, the time she accidentally consumed a quad dose (70mg), and an introduction to a lowkey OG: Chinese hemp goddess, Magu.

Listen, like and share the episode. Follow Christina on Instagram and subscribe to her newsletter, and make sure to follow The Weed Witch for all of the latest and greatest. Have someone in mind that you think should be on the show? Drop a line at itstheweedwitch@gmail.com.

Welcome to the The Weed Witch coven. If you liked this post, click the heart button below and consider upgrading to a paid subscription. Fall down the wrong rabbit hole? Click here to unsubscribe.

As some of you know, I started a podcast in October 2021. Maybe you forgot. It’s OK, I don’t update it very regularly, which should give you some lead time to catch up with sit downs including legendary author and journalist Alia Volz, Kush Queen cannabis impresario Olivia Alexander, the incomparable Tammy Faye Starlite (who coincidentally has a show coming up at Joe’s), and Chicks vs. Stigma owner Brenda Hernandez.

On the show this week: Multi-hyphenate artist, creative and self-identifying weed witch Natalie Smith. Based in Los Angeles by way of Chicago, she has an interdisciplinary practice that mixes painting, drawing, installation, video, writing, and curating. Her work covers the intersections of space, geometry, and the spirit realms, exploring the ways in which our experiences and bodies operate in isolation within ourselves and as a channel of communing with others.

Back in August 2021, I invited Natalie onto The Weed Witch podcast—which did not exist at that point—ahead of the debut of her show “Nothing Within or Without” at Bad Water, a gallery in Knoxville, Tennessee. Natalie was among my coterie of art school friends who used cannabis during a very different time in weed culture, and I wanted to hear about her pipe dreams. How does “being under the influence” influence her creative process?

Predictably, I dropped the ball, the show came and went, and after several nudges, I finally handed her the mic two years later. The reason for this was two-fold. First, “Nothing Within or Without” came out in 2021, a time when society was dealing with messy emotional processing and personal growth in the midst of emerging from what felt like a trauma-induced isolation sensory deprivation tank (well, at least some of us did). Second, her work sounds cool. It requires extracurricular reading. Inspired by Dutch Jesuit mathematician and astrophysicist Georges Lemaître, the installation is conversationally poetic, tackling topics of existence and death, sacred geometry, ancient fertility, the womb, and tree of life. You know, the kind of complex ideas you’ll never find casually streaming within the algorithm.

Exploring the depths of our own subconscious and blurring the lines between realities can be a terrifying, exhilarating, and enlightening journey—which is why psychosomatic plants have historically fueled abstract creative projects and astronomical/astrological revelations throughout time (plus, an influx of sophisticated functional art within the cannabis space in more recent years). Having just gone through my own psychedelic-inspired existentialist dive into John Horgan’s “Rationalism Mysticism,” and Linda Goodman’s “Star Signs,” in 2020 after my cosmic little stint as a weed astrologer, I was curious about the ancient rituals, symbolism, and sacred private practices behind this new project.

As we make our way through Pisces season, Natalie lights up a joint and has a casual chitchat about vesica piscis and the lack of Pisces in her chart, her favorite mind-altering substances, the occult and Devil’s Lettuce, being the lone stoner in your friend circle, discovering your inner weed witch, and for all the hackers out there—her new email password!

Listen, like and share the episode below. Follow Natalie and her art on Instagram, and make sure to follow The Weed Witch for all of the latest and greatest. Have someone in mind that you think should be on the show? Drop a line at itstheweedwitch@gmail.com.

Welcome to the The Weed Witch coven. If you liked this post, click the heart button below and consider upgrading to a paid subscription. Fall down the wrong rabbit hole? Click here to unsubscribe.

Hi readers,

Happy Halloween! Ah, Halloween. The costumes! The candy! The annual resurfacing of those insufferable urban legends about spiked candy to spook children and terrorize families! As if anyone would waste drugs on children. Well, at least most people wouldn’t. Except this lady. Don’t be this lady.

Enough tricks, here’s a treat: tomorrow kicks off Dia De Los Muertos, an ethereal two-day Mexican holiday that reunites the living and dead during the hours when the veil between the natural and supernatural worlds is at its thinnest. Ooh, is that a chill or is it just me?

Elaborate altars known as ofrendas (offerings) are erected and filled with the deceased’s favorite food, beverage, and photos. Should any of you build me one of these to honor me after I pass, make sure it contains only the finest snacks and top-shelf beverage (and no uggo photos! Thank you very much!).

Also, a gift: an appropriately thematic playlist! Enjoy!

Obviously, being that this is peak weed witch season, let’s take a moment to acknowledge the multitudes of brujas abroad, including Louisiana weed witches, Samhain, The Friendly Grim Reaper of East Harlem, Nuyorican Curanderas, as well as anyone celebrating National Men Make Dinner Day and World Vegan Day (they might be witches, too. Who am I to judge?). Did I forget anyone? Sorry about that, if I did.

While the overall tone is little lighter this year, I’ve decided to eschew a predictable esoteric dip into the occult and instead take a quick stroll down memory lane through the nightmarish purgatory of reality: living through the COVID hellscape in New York City, a time that transcends the chills of fiction (though, arguably, a real modern Dickens story for the ages: “It was the best of times (because everyone left), it was the worst of times (because everyone died)” OK bye).

Like many others, I was traumatized and did not want to die of COVID, so traveling was not particularly front-of-mind. Of course, that didn’t stop other food and travel writers, and social media influencers—particularly those based in states fronted by politicians who thought it would be helpful to downplay the threat of COVID while also hoarding resources—from taking advantage of the incredibly handsomely desperate deals offered by empty airlines and hotels while gaslighting the rest of us trapped in lockdown in the process. A publicist confided in me that she trusted New York City journalists who were not traveling the most. You know, because it was reasonable to have nothing to write about during a raging pandemic.

Still, we could all dare to dream, and that dream was future travel. Given that I had just written a book about travel in Hudson Valley and the Catskills, obviously I wanted to go somewhere else, preferably very far away. So, I settled on Mexico City, with a stopover in Houston.

Even though I didn’t book my flight and accommodations until 2022, I was excited and terrified. After all, most information seemed anecdotal and untrustworthy on a basic level, and I had never been to this destination. Prior to the trip, I reached out to Mexico-based psychedelics journalist and author Michelle Janikian who connected me with Brenda Hernandez, owner and educator at feminist head shop and sex boutique, Chicks vs. Stigma. Coincidentally, while I was on hiatus this summer, the shop temporarily closed, but I am still posting my interview with Brenda because her insights on what’s happening in Mexico’s cannabis scene and how women are changing the conversation are incredibly valuable.

Witchcraft has a pretty storied history throughout Latin America, but one thing I think is interesting is that the practice is a bit of a creole based on personal rituals. I thought about this a lot given that I had started paying attention to this idea of “weed witchery” prior to the pandemic and the rise of self care while we were left to our own devices. Herbalism, magic, psychic arts and ancestral practices remain deeply embedded and prevalent cultural forces, and yet, cannabis—plant medicine—still struggles to break the mold in terms of public perception beyond stoner dude tropes and the War on Drugs.

In many ways, Brenda is an unconventional weed witch. She harnessed the power of plants to heal her mother, herself, and her community. She created a coven of likeminded women and gender non-conforming individuals who needed a safe space to develop their own practice and tap into their own inner strengths. And like the witches before her, she fights against cultural stigmas and stands up for what she believes in: a world free from judgment.

Listen here for the interview.

So, what does a dream weed witch trip to Mexico City look like? Read on to find out.

The Weed Witch Guide to Mexico City

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This is Pipe Dreams by The Weed Witch, a newsletter, podcast, idea sampler platter and content wildcard featuring stream-of-consciousness tales and divine wisdom from free-thinking societal outliers, a.k.a. the weed witches.

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What do Nico, Marianne Faithful, a scandalous country singer named Tammy Faye Starlite and a fallen-from-grace Israeli pop star named Tamar have in common? The answer is one woman: Tammy Lang.

Selling out shows across the country, she’s best known for producing an extremely NSFW repertoire includes smash hits like “God Has Lodged A Tenant In My Uterus” and “Did I Shave My Vagina For This?” Frequently immortalized within the New York Times theater pages, her work has been celebrated in unexpected places like Palm Springs, Nashville, Pittsburgh and the far stretches of New Jersey.

Among her other crowning achievements: she has fearlessly gone nude on the Howard Stern Show and co-starred alongside Oscar winner, Allison Janney, as a regular on Guiding Light where she played a “wacky maid.”

Emerging from the darkness of COVID, Tammy has joined forces with director Rachel Lichtman to help bring her latest production Yesterday, Today and TAMAR back to the stage in New York City last fall, and is looking to pick up again this spring.

Could this be the year of Tammy Lang, capturing the hearts and minds of impressionable youth and discerning critics? Find out as we explore how she moved from here to there on this episode of Pipe Dreams.

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DRY MOUTH JANUARY GIVEAWAY: VESSEL

Who deserves to get high this month? You do! January isn’t over and you have a lot of resolutions to make—so enter now!

As some of you know, my mailbox is a real wildcard: folding bicycles and adaptogenic beverages to skincare and weed accessories. Some of these are good, some are not so good, and some of them you can’t even buy. Some of them are just too good not to share. I use and abuse them, trying to assess which are worth the hype. These, my friends, are worth it.

Vessel, a luxury cannabis smokeware company with a plant-touching line, Cardiff Labs, recently sent over a few of their latest vape pen batteries outfitted with a sleek design and some of the smoothest pulls I’ve tried. And these could be yours! To celebrate Dry Mouth January, I am giving away two of these vape pens to a couple lucky Pipe Dreams readers.

To enter, send a letter explaining your most awkward stoned experience. It’s that simple. This could be the first time you ripped a bong, having your stash discovered by your parents or kids, or getting so high that had a traumarama embarrassing moment. Send your entry with your name to itstheweedwitch@gmail.com. Make it count! If you share on social media, tag @itstheweedwitch and three friends. Because that’s how contests work. Paid subscribers get an extra entry, so subscribe now!

Welcome to the The Weed Witch coven. If you fell down the wrong rabbit hole, click here in order to unsubscribe. If you love it, consider upgrading to a paid subscription.

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This is Pipe Dreams by The Weed Witch, a newsletter, podcast, idea sampler platter and content wildcard featuring stream-of-consciousness tales and divine wisdom from free-thinking societal outliers, a.k.a. the weed witches.

Just like NPR, content for this newsletter is viewer-supported thanks to folks like you, along with limited affiliate links from vetted partners to ensure quality, original content. Upgrade now to a paid subscription for the full experience.

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Louisiana exists as a cultural dichotomy: not-so-subtly thriving between the extremes. A place as rich in culture as it is lacking in resources, the vibrancy of New Orleans often has the shinier face of tourism as the boozy temptress that lures with two distinctive culinary traditions (Creole and Cajun) seemingly suspended in time amidst the French Creole architecture, the Yat drawl, its storied and haunting history. The way it prevails through its colorful traditions as its interwoven landscape of backwoods and bayous is consistently in the throes of climatic chaos.

Yet, its future lies within its past: the deep roots of cannabis history embedded within the grit of American counterculture somehow escaping the contemporary conversations of reefer madness, including its ties to jazz, black culture, spirituality, witchcraft, and multi-generational plant medicine healers.

“My grandmother always said we were witches now, there's nothing to prove,” says Olivia Alexander, CEO of Kush Queen. “I was born in Louisiana, my family's from Louisiana. We're the only people in our family who have ever left. I love being from there. There's so much food and amazing culture and history and cannabis history.”

This week’s Pipe Dreams brings a different type of “South by Southwest” connectivity through a thriving Los Angeles wellness brand shining a light on her Louisiana roots.

Kush Queen first landed on my radar during a heavy self-care phase in early 2019. The CBD bath bomb brand had just lined up a pretty perfect collaboration with fashion powerhouse, Alice + Olivia. Balt salts and bath bombs weren’t new, but finding either with dispensary-worthy quality was something worth talking about.

Since then, the Los Angeles-based brand has grown substantially in both in its cannabis and wellness offerings, including THC and CBD topicals, edibles, elixirs, tinctures, and currently on board for the future of psychedelics. But that doesn’t mean the path to success was easy. Alexander’s business might be in California, but her heart is in Louisiana. That’s why she’s giving back.

Long before launching a multi-million dollar, multifaceted brand specializing in CBD and THC-infused products, Olivia spent her formative years in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley—an ecologically devastated stretch of land dubbed of its concentration of petrochemical facilities. It seems fated that Olivia’s cannabis brand would become a consumer-friendly, accessible link between the plant medicine currently on the forefront of scientific advancements helping cancer patients.

More: All In The Family: Growing Up in a Weed Brownie Family w/Author Alia Volz of "Home Baked'

For Alexander, her latest line of Swamp Queen products, the Spirit of the Bayou is an ode to her Louisiana roots. From mixing essential oils with her mom to launching a national brand through a journey of healing. During the pandemic, Olivia Alexander took to social media to speak out about everything, really. Her experience living with bipolar, transitioning off pharmaceuticals, championing for LGBTQ+ and women’s rights, being vocal and open about having an abortion, and other hard hitting topics.

“I've been on this crazy journey with psychedelics with cannabis, my own journey of healing. Yeah, I get high—of course I do. But it's about healing. It's about treating my bipolar disorder, a bunch of inner child work, therapy and trauma healing, and really thinking long and hard about what was driving me. Then, we made these experiential products that we hope transform people to their own place, from the inside out.”

As her success grew, carving her own path with an award-winning line of bath bombs, pain relief lotions, edibles, wellness supplements, and skincare took off meant dealing with the inevitable: industry drama and backbiting from friends-turned-haters. Instead of backing down, she decided to lean in and use it to her advantage.

“One of my childhood friends turned into one of my biggest haters sent a barrage of hateful messages to me. The day that I was on the cover of the weekend edition of the LA Times, she said, ‘You’re white trash and your brand should be called swamp queen.’ We were sitting around laughing and we we’re like, ‘It’s actually a brilliant idea. Let's fucking do it.’ And that's how it was born.”

And thus, a Louisiana Weed Witch becomes a bonafide Swamp Queen.

Here on this week’s podcast installation of Pipe Dreams, Olivia Alexander gets real about growing up in Louisiana and her modern connection to its powerful history, the magic behind her fast-selling Spirit of the Bayou brand with a bath bomb engineered to smell like fresh rainwater, finding life after pharmaceuticals in the world of cannabis, and her perfect vision for the ultimate Kush Queen canna-spa.

FAQ: "How Do I Make Weed More Equitable?”

Interested in helping to right the wrongs of the past towards a more equitable future for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ forerunners? Check out these organizations;

• The Last Prisoner Project: Let’s get people out of jail for minor cannabis crimes and help reform the War on Drugs.

• Cage Free Cannabis: Make sure your weed is doing some good to the environment, economy and repairing communities.

• Cannaclusive: Calling for racial justice in corporate cannabis.

• Women Grow: Creating safe, inclusive pathways for women in weed.

Welcome to the The Weed Witch coven. If you fell down the wrong rabbit hole, click here in order to unsubscribe. If you love it, consider upgrading to a paid subscription.

Subscribe now

This is Pipe Dreams by The Weed Witch, a newsletter, podcast, idea sampler platter and content wildcard featuring stream-of-consciousness tales and divine wisdom from free-thinking societal outliers, a.k.a. the weed witches.

Just like NPR, content for this newsletter is viewer-supported thanks to folks like you, along with limited affiliate links from vetted partners to ensure quality, original content. Upgrade now to a paid subscription for the full experience.

Subscribe now

Hey everyone,

We did it! We are officially a newsletter and a podcast in this Substack journey joining forces with Anchor.FM. Nearly two years into this horrifying/magical foray into a brave new world, as promised, I decided to reach out and connect with other unconventional types breaking the mold in a new interview series. Better late than never!

Just in time for weed witching season, today's guest is Alia Volz, author of Home Baked, My Mom, Marijuana, and The Stoning of San Francisco—a journalistic memoir that came out last year that is a riveting tale worthy of becoming National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist.

In her book, Alia documents growing up in a weed family during the Reagan administration, the racist undertones of the War on Drugs, how the "Sticky Brownies" empire helped San Francisco's first LGBTQ+ medical patients during the AIDS crisis, making decisions based on the occult, watching the legal landscape shift from a community to a corporate culture, and, of course, brownies. Give it a listen, like and share.

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Question of the Week: What’s a weed witch? Discuss among yourself in the comments.

FAQ: "How Do I Make Weed More Equitable?”

Interested in helping to right the wrongs of the past towards a more equitable future for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ forerunners? Check out these organizations;

• The Last Prisoner Project: Let’s get people out of jail for minor cannabis crimes and help reform the War on Drugs.

• Cage Free Cannabis: Make sure your weed is doing some good to the environment, economy and repairing communities.

• Cannaclusive: Calling for racial justice in corporate cannabis.

• Women Grow: Creating safe, inclusive pathways for women in weed.

Welcome to the The Weed Witch coven. If you fell down the wrong rabbit hole, click here in order to unsubscribe. If you love it, consider upgrading to a paid subscription.

Subscribe now