Cannabis

A housewife. A kid in college. A grandma with glaucoma. What do they have in common? They all love old-school gangsta rap. And according to rap legend Snoop Dogg and prominent design firm Pentagram, they’re all potential customers for premium smokeware dubbed Pounds. advertisement advertisement In an increasingly crowded competitive market, as states legalize cannabis, companies are turning to branding and design to differentiate themselves–and to make sure cannabis doesn’t appear to be a commoditized product. While Famous Brands did the industrial design on the bongs themselves, Pentagram built out the complete brand identity. It’s the second collaboration between Snoop and Pentagram–the first of which was dubbed Leafs by Snoop, a series of strains of cannabis that’s still on the market. “The way Pounds came about was, after Leafs, they wanted to branch out into smoking accessories,” says Oberman. “‘Leafs by … [Read more...] about Snoop Dogg unveils the Chanel perfume bottle of bongs

When the movement to push the city of Los Angeles from keeping its money at Wells Fargo grew in 2017–as in other cities that decided to pull money from the bank because of its fake accounts scandal and funding of the Dakota Access Pipeline–organizers of the campaign realized that they faced a challenge: Where to put the money next. advertisement advertisement The largest city accounts are too big for small community banks to handle, so divestment from one major bank typically means moving money to another major bank that likely has social responsibility issues of its own. In addition, even ethical smaller banks aren’t directly accountable to the public. L.A., along with other U.S. cities, is now considering another option: a public, city-owned bank that would keep money inside the community, and follow a socially and environmentally responsible charter. “This started as a divest campaign,” says Phoenix Goodman, cofounder and policy director for … [Read more...] about The Growing Movement To Create City-Run Public Banks

Snoop Dogg, aka Snoop Lion, aka Snoop Doggy Dog, doesn’t make any bones about it. He loves pot. The rap icon has just launched Leafs by Snoop, a brand of cannabis-based products including custom flavors of buds, edibles, and concentrates, and he has tapped Pentagram’s Emily Oberman to craft its visual identity. advertisement advertisement It’s a big opportunity: legalized marijuana is the fastest growing industry in the U.S., and it is believed the industry will be worth $11 billion by 2019, up from $2.5 billion today. Competition is fierce, so to make Leafs stand out, Snoop no doubt realized he needed to lend his product more than his name: he needed to use design as leverage. For Oberman, the designer behind The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Saturday Night Live, the task was to create a visual identity that eschewed the “rasta, crunchy, hempy, outlaw look” plaguing most marijuana products. “We wanted it to appeal to a broader … [Read more...] about Pentagram Brands Snoop Dogg’s New Line Of Weed

In 2015, pot began to grow up. With legalization elections anticipated next November for between 5 and 10 states, companies are thinking about how to attract new customers, especially older and female ones. It’s too early to know for sure just how well their efforts are working, but they have released products that seem more informed by attractive, minimalist design than by the drug’s more familiar seedy image. Call it the sex-toy strategy. advertisement advertisement With that in mind, here are some gift ideas for the grown-up stoner in your life: Leisure & Travel Colorado-based Mary’s Nutritionals sells transdermal patches containing a chemical found in hemp and marijuana, called cannabidiol (CBD) which fans believe have medicinal properties. (According to the U.S. government, hemp is defined as marijuana with only a tiny amount of THC, the main psychoactive ingredient.) The brand’s black and white “ye olde apothekary shoppe” motif … [Read more...] about Gift Ideas For The Grown-Up Stoner In Your Life

Consider True Romance. advertisement advertisement The Quentin Tarantino-penned movie still holds up, but a few elements have aged poorly since its debut in 1993: Aerosmith on the soundtrack; the excessive use of the “n-word”; Christian Slater. Watching the movie in 2015, the thing that seems most out of sync with our times is Brad Pitt’s blink-and-you-miss-it cameo as Floyd, Michael Rapaport’s lazy, hazy roommate who lies on the sofa all day watching TV and ripping hits off a honey bear bong. A slow, dimwitted stoner? That’s so 90s. Now we are living in the age of the Alpha Stoner, a time of almost preternaturally productive potheads smoking, vaping, and nibbling their way to the top of their respective games. One of the most visible fields to catch Alpha Stoners at work is in entertainment, where several high profile (har har) movies, shows, and web series have floated into the public consciousness on a cloud of weed smoke but have eschewed the … [Read more...] about The Rise Of The Alpha Stoners