CULTURE issue
ever EARNED, NOT GIVEN
FOR THAT SPECIAL SOMETHING Someone Special
FLOWER | PRE-ROLLS | EDIBLES | TOPICALS
CONCENTRATES | VAPES | TINCTURES
TWO DAY VALENTINES' SALE
February 13 – February 14
TWO DAY PRESIDENTS' DAY SALE
February 15 – February 16
off all other Panda, Snicklefritz, Dabstract, Sticky Frog, and Hot Sugar
30% off all dabs & cartridges, and 30% off batteries
30% off all flower and joints and 30% off Blue Roots and FlipSide
30% off all flower and joints and 30% off Smokiez
10% off - Wisdom Discount to Guests over 65 30% off - All CBD topicals, tinctures, and capsules 30% off - Daily rotating deals in every category
TAST TAST
At Kaio, we take pride in delivering luxury products tailored for the cannabis industry. Our Melted Diamondline collection is designed to enhance your experience, whether through our disposable products or our premium pre-rolls.
WES ABNEY CEO & FOUNDER wes@leafmagazines.com
MIKE RICKER OPERATING PARTNER ricker@leafmagazines.com | advertising sales
TOM BOWERS CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER tom@leafmagazines.com
DANIEL BERMAN CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER daniel@leafmagazines.com
BOBBY BLACK LEAF BOWL DIRECTOR & HISTORIAN bobbyblack@leafmagazines.com
MICHELLE NARANJO & JACKIE BRYANT COPYDESK michelle@leafmagazines.com | jackie@leafmagazines.com
MATT JACKSON SOCIAL MEDIA LEAD mattjackson@leafmagazines.com
ABOUT THE COVER
Stoner hip-hop legend Wiz Khalifa is known for his music as much as his Cannabis brand, and the Leaf's Tom Bowers was granted special access with Wiz to learn more about his life and career. Los Angeles-based photographer Emily Eizen, whose stunning work you might remember from her smoky cover shoots with Cheech and Chong for our February 2023 Culture Issues, got up close and personal with Wiz. Visit our website, LeafMagazines.com, for more photos and exclusive content from the day!
PHOTOS & CREATIVE BY EMILY EIZEN @EMILYEIZEN INTERVIEW BY TOM BOWERS @MEGABOMBTOM2.0
CONTRIBUTORS
WES ABNEY, FEATURES
AJ AGUILAR, FEATURES
DANIEL BERMAN, DESIGN + PHOTOS
BOBBY BLACK, DESIGN + FEATURES
JACKIE BRYANT, FEATURES
JIMI DEVINE, PHOTOS
JEFF DIMARCO, PHOTOS
LISA DOAN, ASSISTING
DAVID DOWNS, FEATURES
EMILY EIZEN, PHOTOS
MORETA FIONA, PHOTOS
MICHAEL GRATTAROTI, PHOTOS REX HILSINGER, FEATURES + PHOTOS
ELLEN HOLLAND, FEATURES
MATT JACKSON, FEATURES
LENA B. MONAGHAN, AD S ALES + PRODUCTION
MIKE RICKER, PRODUCTION
MICHAEL ROSATI, PHOTOS
JOJO SNAPS, PHOTOS
TERPENE TRANSIT, DISTRIBUTION
TERPODACTYL MEDIA, PRODUCTION
BRUCE & LAURIE WOLF, RECIPES
We are creators of targeted, independent Cannabis journalism. Please email us to discuss advertising in the next issue of Northwest Leaf Magazine. We do not sell stories or coverage. Email ricker@leafmagazines.com to start advertising!
Editor’s Note
Thanks for picking up The Culture Issue of the Leaf!
Cannabis culture has come out of the shadows and into the limel ight, like a seed bursting from the earth to reach for the sun.
What used to be the butt of jokes, the stereotype of slacking a nd the fear of many parents (including my own) has become a thriving, creative and inspirational culture. Cannabis touches all walks of life, from all ages, so it’s not a surprise to those in the know that our community is a vibrant and naturally diverse sesh that’s producing major hits across the world.
On that level, there’s no greater hit taker and maker for this generation of rap fans than Wiz Khalifa, whose story and images we are proud to share in this special issue. My favorite song will always be “Young, Wild & Free,” which came out in 2011 when Northwest Leaf was only a year old. Hearing the new school of hip-hop openly talking about weed with Bruno Mars and the OG Snoop Dogg, who always represented Cannabis, was a smoky bat signal to our culture, signaling that weed was about to go mainstream.
Cannabis went from fringe to trending within two decades, large ly because of the influence it has on artists who are open about t heir use of Cannabis. Surely weed has made great art, from Shakespeare, who was buried with his favorite pot pipe, to Wiz, whose weed taste and feats of smoking are legendary. I’ve got my Khalifa x Stündenglass Gravity Infuser in the bedroom, and it is the closest thing to zero gravity, violently high and floating away like Mr. Mackey’s head in season two, episode four of “South Park” you can possibly get.
When I met the Wiz team at the California Leaf Bowl, a few hour s before they won an award for Best Indoor Sweets & Dreams flower with Point Breeze, they shared a brand desire to be known for their unique strains — vigorously pheno hunted by Wiz — and not to be viewed as simply a celebrity brand.
"CANNABIS WENT FROM FRINGE TO TRENDING WITHIN TWO DECADES, LARGELY BECAUSE OF THE INFLUENCE IT HAS ON ARTISTS WHO ARE OPEN ABOUT THEIR USE OF CANNABIS."
Wiz loves weed, and so do his team members, and seeing the cuts grown in California and Washington by Momma Chan Farms, it’s truly spectacular weed that reinforces the impact of Wiz’s vision on the weed market. My personal favorite? The Baby Turtle!
So, plug into your streaming platform, queue up the Wiz Khalifa greatest hits and dive into the Leaf’s Culture Issue with a hit of your favorite Cannabis, and don’t forget to pass this magazine to your stoner friends! On a final , truly personal note: Please pray for peace in America and in this world. We need it more than ever!
JIMI DEVINE KNOWS WINNERS
With new types of Cannabis being released by breeders at a clip that resembles the speed of artificial intelligence technology, it’s tough to keep up with the strains that will not only pop, but persevere. One person who always has his lungs in the game is esteemed Cannabis journalist Jimi Devine.
AT THIS POINT, Jimi has called more winners than the Associated Press. Often heard saying he smokes weed “in every tax bracket,” Jimi is one of the world’s most renowned experts when it comes to strains and Cannabis culture. A go-to expert for a breadth of Cannabis publications, the influential effects of his predictions for what’s hot cannot be denied. The strains Jimi brings to life on the page go on to win Cannabis competitions and shape the tastes in Cannabis worldwide.
Jimi and I first met more than a decade ago, when I was working as an editor for Cannabis Now magazine, which was based in downtown Berkeley, California. Jimi’s energy has always been infectious, and while the world has changed a lot since then, he has stayed consistent. He wears bright, bold prints, and he has a booming voice and a distinct laugh. His approachability, enthusiasm and refined palate set the foundations for his success as a bon vivant.
HUNTING THE HEAT
California remains the heartland for Cannabis culture across the globe; strains that make it in the Golden State can be found on menus of Cannabis clubs in far-off places like Barcelona, Spain. Originally from Lynn, Massachusetts, Jimi moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2009 with a dream of working in the Cannabis industry. Through connections he had made as a student activist, Jimi landed a job at the Cannabis Buyer’s Club of Berkeley. Founded in 1996, CBCB is the nation’s oldest active Cannabis dispensary and continues to serve as Jimi’s home base for assessing “the heat,” a mission that has taken him around the world as a judge at elite Cannabis competitions.
Since 2019, Jimi’s also been hosting his own Cannabis competitions, such as the Transbay Challenge and Heatquest. At trade shows, he invented an activity called a “weed walk,” which is more of a rapid-fire jog where he goes to each booth and smells all the jars of Cannabis on offer.
Putting in almost five years as the Cannabis columnist for LA Weekly, Jimi’s Cannabis coverage bridged the gap between the famed Northern California Cannabis-growing region of the Emerald Triangle and Los Angeles, the core of Cannabis commerce in California. Through his work selecting and featuring strains that he thinks are winners, Jimi has become one of the most trusted Cannabis chroniclers of our time.
OCCUPY WEED STREET
Once only shared through oral tradition, the stories behind the creation of new Cannabis strains are often misattributed by those who don’t do the work of speaking directly to the source. Jimi’s strategy for predicting the next best thing in weed involves closely following Cannabis breeders and seeing what they’re excited about.
“Sure, anybody can pop a scene that might be their golden ticket, and it might change the game,” Jimi said. “But then in this recent era, you haven't really seen too many bag seeds change the world.”
Jimi explains that Cannabis breeding in the modern era involves advanced selection and propagation processes. The strains that stick have attributes you'd expect, like incredible flavor, but for a global takeover, strains also need commercial viability, and breeders need to be ready to scale up.
“It's not like you’ve got a four lighter in your garage anymore,” he said. “If you're investing all these resources into warehouses, crazy greenhouses, whatever, you lean a lot more on commercial viability than people did pre-Prop 64. Like, obviously, you always wanted to be making money, but also the pound price was so much higher. Commercial viability was a very different thing back then. If you knew it was going to be worth $4(K) or $5K a pound … Obviously, there's a very thin layer of exotics at the very top of the market that maybe still reach those prices.
But it's like Occupy Weed Street; it is the 1% of the 1%. Most of this stuff just doesn't come close to those numbers.”
A BETTER BALANCE
When asked to predict what’s ahead for Cannabis strains and culture, Jimi homed in on the potency of pot and foresees a return to strains with higher THC percentages.
“We're in this, like, weed light era, where everyone's kind of chasing terpene profiles — things that taste good, things that wash good. But in the process of chasing those things, the actual potency of most of the Cannabis we see these days is way down than it was when it was when I got to California, or even when I was back in Boston, the OG era and stuff like that, back when Chemdog was big, when Sours were big,” he said.
“All those things tasted good, but they also hit. I feel like there’s a lot of Z light crosses out there these days that are just like the Bud Light of weed.
“We're
in this, like, weed light era, where everyone's kind of chasing terpene profiles — things that taste good, things that wash good. But in the process of chasing those things, the actual potency of most of the Cannabis we see these days is way down …”
“I think there’s going to be a place for high-impact strains in the years to come as people want to chase that down again. It’s crazy to me right now that that’s just such a back burner part of the conversation and part of the selection process, just actually getting high, and I pray that we’ll see a movement back to a better balance of potency and flavor.”
Jimi rightfully attests that there hasn’t been a big flavor wave in Cannabis since Z — which emerged in 2013 — noting that many of today’s popular strains are Z crosses.
Sweet flower profiles are here to stay, he said, because the consumer market continues to demand strains that taste and smell like candy and desserts.
KEEPING IT REAL
Over the years, Jimi’s been able to forecast the strains that go on to win awards at events like The Emerald Cup and Zalympix. A big part of his success in finding strain trends is because of the relationships he’s established. As he says, he can’t predict the winners if breeders don’t put the weed in front of him.
“It starts back with the breeders' trust that they know — my opinions — I’m gonna be real about it,” Jimi said. “I don’t really put down any strains even if I don’t like it. I feel like you only have so much spotlight to build, so why write about things you don’t like?”
Jimi credits his positivity with getting him access to the coolest things to smoke. Remaining humble, he acknowledges that while his writing sets trends in motion, for strains to become successful, the accolades have to come from multiple channels.
“I think the validation coming from a bunch of different points in the community makes for the best pedigree for a strain, not any one person saying it's fire,” he said.
While he rarely sings his own praises, following the weed world with Jimi as a guide will keep you in touch with the pulse of Cannabis culture. “The cool thing about being me is that I’m me because I spent all my professional career talking about other people,” Jimi said. “It’s fun to create value for people that are putting in so much effort to make these amazing strains for us.”
Purpose
Pleasure
Health Matters
FIRE FOLLOWER BIOVORTEX SEEDS NEW WORLDS
WHEN I THINK of the most cultured Cannabis breeder in 2026, I often return to the work of Jesse “Biovortex” Dodd, who is based in Trinidad, California.
Voted one of the top 50 greatest breeders of 2025 in our poll, Jesse doesn’t just make seeds or chase hype. He sees his breeding work, Biovortex, as a “living conceptual art piece” that includes film, art, music, fashion and terpenes.
Raised in a radical commune in Palo Alto, California, he eschews trends to focus on bespoke projects like his G-Nut line or the award-winning 2022 regenerative farming film “Tending the Garden,” which is available for free online.
In December 2025, at our Terpnami seed show in San Francisco, Biovortex’s art came in packaging reminiscent of the big Crayola markers from childhood
Pop the marker top, and inside is a glass vial of seeds sealed with a cork. He calls them “washable” markers, as in “these strains ‘wash’ to produce amazing hash.” Few breeders offer as many creative layers.
“They were inspired by ‘Harold and the Purple Crayon’ because I believe with art, you can create your own world,” Jesse said. “And that’s how I do my genetics. That’s how I grow and do art and education in this space.”
NEEDS MORE DOG
A good chunk of Biovortex’s work descends from a 2012 strain, Black Dog, a super-blingy, fast-finishing Blackberry Kush x (California Sour Diesel x Lemon Larry OG).
That's why you'll see “Dog” in so many of his current strains listed chiefly on Alpine Seed Group.
GROWN MEN ON BIKES
Take the current offering, G-Nut BC1, and unpack it.
You get Hazelnut Cream x (Hazelnut Cream x (G-mob 392 x G-mob bc1). Dig in further, and his G-Mob — also known as Grown Men On Bikes and Garlic Mushroom Onion Banana — is a high-yielding, full-flavor hash variety originally made by crossing Banana Valley Dog [Banana OG x (SFV OG x Black Dog BC4)] with GMO.
G-Mob is “an outstanding savory, funky mix of banana, garlic, gas and berries” that envelops “the taste buds like the first bite of a perfectly paired dessert after a rich and flavorful meal,” he wrote on the Alpine Seed Group website.
Add the Hazelnut Cream’s “creamy, nutty funky, savory gas,” per the description on the Alpine Seed Group website, to G-Mob, and you get G-Nut, which has tested at 39% THCa. Fold that back to Hazelnut Cream to get the current G-Nut BC1.
ST. ASHLEY
Another current standout is Mazar Dogz, which descends from seeds grown out of the grave of his beloved pet dog, Ashley, a fully blue corso pit bull mix. Deepak Chaudhary at Indian Landrace Exchange gifted Jesse some elemental indica Mazar-i-Sharif. Then, Jesse pollinated the vintage indica with his namesake Black DOG BC 6.
Award-winning journalist/author and former Leafly Senior Editor David Downs’ monthly genetics intelligence dispatch.
When Ashley died, Jesse planted the pollinated Mazar cross in the soil above where she was laid to rest. As noted on the Alpine Seed Group website, “‘Mazar-i-Sharif’ means ‘grave of the saint,’” a detail Jesse learned from Deepak.
The seeds from St. Ashley became, as described on the Alpine Seed Group website, a “truly exceptional plant with big broad beautiful leaves that easily turn black purple on top and crimson purple on the underside, reminiscent of a redwood sorrel … Her flowers smell like a funky, spicy, sweet and sour sir marks a lot marker and can go quit(e) dark in low temperature. Truly one of the most unique and beautiful plants I have been blessed to connect with.”
“THEY WERE INSPIRED BY ‘HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON’ BECAUSE I BELIEVE WITH ART, YOU CAN CREATE YOUR OWN WORLD. AND THAT’S HOW I DO MY GENETICS. THAT’S HOW I GROW AND DO ART AND EDUCATION IN THIS SPACE.”
DOG) x Motor-G-nut. It’s a heavy hasher that tastes like creamy banana cake and nuts on ice cream, and it references Filipino ice cream.
Jesse, a foodie and world traveler, has so many layered, nourishing stories, including one about Banana Halo Halo, which is (Ice Cream Cake x Banana
His life is infused with meaning and connection. Just don’t expect him to retrace his steps or sell you clones — new seeds only.
“I want everyone to have something new and amazing,” he said.
G-MOB
JESSE "BIOVORTEX" DODD AND DAVID DOWNS
CHERRY MOON
SEEDS PACKAGING
BLACK DOG
BLACK DOG X G33 CHERRY LIME
WHOSE WEED IS IT ANYWAY?
Cannabis use in the United States is ordinary now. It shows up in medicine cabinets, gym bags, nightstands and kitchen drawers. It’s used by people managing chronic pain, by people replacing alcohol, by people who smoke every day and by people who take a 5-milligram gummy once a month and call it good. That range is new, and reshaping Cannabis culture in ways we’re still catching up to.
ATIONAL SURVEYS reflect the shift:
Gallup reports that roughly one in six U.S. adults uses Cannabis regularly, with daily use climbing steadily over the past decade. Federal public health data shows especially sharp growth among adults over 50, a group that largely sat out earlier waves of legalization. Cannabis no longer belongs to a single age group, lifestyle or identity, and it no longer requires participation in a shared culture to access it.
The consequence — or the benefit, depending on how you look at it — of that is a reinterpretation of all aspects of Cannabis culture and consumption through uninfluenced eyes but with more numerous inputs than ever.
Before legalization, Cannabis knowledge traveled through people. Access was limited, so information moved socially. You learned how much to use, how to use it and with what, where to use it, how long to wait and what felt like too much (to give just a few examples) because someone else had already learned the hard way.
Even people who didn’t care about “weed culture” absorbed its norms simply by being adjacent to it.
Legal markets removed that friction; today, consumers can scroll a menu or walk into a dispensary and choose from hundreds of products without conversation or context. At the same time, the products themselves have changed. Average THC potency has increased dramatically since the 1990s. Concentrates and multidose edibles are widely available. Delayed onset is common. Dosing language is inconsistent.
Public health data suggests people are still learning how to navigate that landscape.
Hospitals in long-established legal states have reported increases in Cannabis-related emergency visits, often tied to edibles and high-dose products. Many of those cases involve consumers who underestimated potency or misunderstood timing, particularly older adults unfamiliar with modern formulations. The pattern shows up alongside rising use, not in opposition to it. Less of a reckless thing, more of a scale issue.
Cannabis is now used for many legitimate reasons, often simultaneously. Patients rely on consistent use to manage symptoms, while some consumers use it daily without issue.
Others find their tolerance changes with age, stress or health. Some people step back for a while and return later. These shifts are common, but we never built a shared language around them.
Instead, conversations about Cannabis use tend to flatten into categories: Heavy use gets labeled as excess, daily use gets labeled as dependence and light use gets labeled as responsible. Those labels miss the reality that Cannabis functions differently across bodies and over time.
For many people, it behaves less like alcohol and more like food or medicine, which is something that requires attention rather than abstinence. Legalization delivered access, but it didn’t come with a shared vocabulary for talking about long-term use. As a result, consumers often navigate those shifts privately. When Cannabis stops working the way it once did, most users recognize that something has changed. What’s missing is a shared language for understanding that change without framing it as a problem. When Cannabis use remains steady and effective, it often attracts suspicion rather than acceptance. Neither reaction leaves much room for nuance, and both reflect a culture still figuring out how to talk about use without panic or pride getting in the way.
Cannabis culture hasn’t disappeared; it’s just spread out now, and it includes people who care deeply about the plant and people who barely think about it at all. That diversity isn’t a problem but the natural result of access expanding beyond a single scene, identity or set of rituals, and it’s a good thing — the whole point of Cannabis activism in the first place. This was always about access first. Everything else was bound to follow in messier, less unified ways. The future of Cannabis won’t be defined by getting everyone back into the same room but by better conversations about how Cannabis fits into real lives and across different bodies, needs and seasons.
Cannabis culture hasn’t disappeared; it’s just spread out now, and it includes people who care deeply about the plant and people who barely think about it at all.
WARNING - May be habit forming. For use only by adults 21 and older. Keep out of the reach of children.It is illegal to operate a motor vehicle while under the influence of cannabis. This product is not approved by the FDA to treat, cure or prevent any disease. Unlawful outside Washington state. Smoking is hazardous to your health.
THE GREEN DOOR THE GREEN DOOR
Just east of Sumner and Lake Tapps lies the relaxed town of Buckley. Here, we spent the afternoon with a stunning view of Mt Rainier, exploring a family-owned store that knows its community and serves it with some of the best Cannabis products Washington has to offer.
THE FARMHOUSE DESIGN isn’t just eclectic; it comes from the heart. The owner chose to recycle timbers from her family’s century-old local farm when designing and building the impressive space. Tons of natural light makes the store feel warm and inviting. A large area with curated, non-overcrowded displays breaks down the different product groups and accommodates multiple shoppers at once.
A team member is always there to open the door for you upon arrival, and, on top of it all, the store hosts live music at least one day a week to help set the vibe.
We were fortunate enough to catch local entertainer and musician Jim Meck at the helm of the keys during our visit.
His variety of classic feel-good jams and Cannabis-inspired remixes was a welcome addition to the already amazing environment. Although we missed it on this visit, manager Levi told me they also have some of the best food trucks in the area regularly blessing their parking lot with delicious eats.
The product selection includes a serious collection of small-batch and craft Cannabis brands from across Washington. The Green Door staff
takes providing high-quality Cannabis and supporting smaller farms that focus on premium genetics and farming methodology to the next level. You will be amazed by the inventory here, but don’t fret — it has all the major players in-house, plus a great selection of edibles, concentrates and prerolls and a strong rotation of daily specials.
On the paraphernalia topic, Green Door is easily the best-stocked glass store in town. Intentions go a long way with consumers, and they have absolutely nailed it here.
This isn’t a convenience store – it’s a local institution for the Cannabis enthusiast. If you find yourself anywhere near Buckley, stop by to see what the awesome team at Green Door has for your palate!
OZ Gardenz Cello OG DABS
Svin Gardens One Piece
Terp Diamonds
VAPE
Lifted Cannabis
Clout Berries
Cured Resin
PREROLL
Hitters Candy Cake
Diamond and THCA-Infused 1g
EDIBLE
Journeyman 25:1
Huckleberry CBN Jellies
A
...THERE’S
SERIOUS COLLECTION OF THE FINEST SMALL-BATCH AND CRAFT CANNABIS BRANDS IN WASHINGTON.
L-R: SHAD CLEMENT, BROOKLYN BUSSING, STORE MANAGER LEVI NICKS, MYESHIA BURRIS, COLTON MARTIN, MARTY GRAVES AND ROY TEDESCHI.
JASON LITTLEFIELD
Jason Littlefield spent his formative years in Lynden, a farming town by the Canadian border. His time there instilled him with a sense of community and pride in what you purvey. Fastforward to 2011, when he made his journey to Seattle in search of something bigger. This is where his professional Cannabis journey began, starting as a budtender for a medical dispensary in Fremont.
“IF YOU’RE LOOKING AT FLOWER, THAT’S YOUR BEER. IF YOU’RE LOOKING AT DABS, THAT’S YOUR WHISKEY. IF YOU’RE LOOKING AT TRADITIONAL/ BUBBLE HASH, THAT’S YOUR FINE WINE.”
It almost has that Shenanigan’s feeling, but not tacky: lots of memorabilia, curated themed display cabinets, artwork and sculptures donated by regular customers, a large functional glass display and a supply drive supporting local shelters.
JASON’S FAVORITES
Waffle Cones
PREROLL
TRIPPY HIPPIE CANNABIS CO. 794 KENTUCKY ST., BELLINGHAM, WA
TRIPPYHIPPIECANNABIS.COM
JASON WAS attending nursing school, and his friend had started a medical dispensary. As a patient with lupus, he knew the benefits and wanted to be part of the movement. Starting as a volunteer, he found a true calling: providing patient care without having to prescribe detrimental pharmaceuticals. The connection he felt with patients, the stories and the experiences made a lasting impression and provided motivation to help others that continues today.
After a decade in Seattle and seeing the changing landscape of Cannabis over the years, he made his way back up north and now calls Bellingham home. Upon his return three years ago, he found his way into Trippy Hippie Cannabis Co., a landmark that has been a Bellingham staple since the introduction of Initiative 502.
Known locally for its relaxed and positive vibe, the floor space has doubled since opening, and the energy has only grown. You’ll know you’ve stumbled upon a unique store when entering this well-lit and decorated space.
The inventory can’t be beat. Focused on the farms they work with, Trippy Hippie prioritizes quality, cleanliness and working with fellow Cannabis enthusiasts. You won’t find those big-name brands at this store; just good quality medicine and a way to consume for everyone — and Jason plays a large role in this. You can still find him on the floor budtending, but he’s also the store’s purchaser behind the scenes. Years of experience taught him how to stay on top of trends and decipher what is fluff and what really works so that customers always have access to the latest and greatest products. Jason calls it “retail with an impact.”
Sky High Gardens Sodo GMO VAPE
Plaid Jacket Magic Marker
“I’m a bong guy, but I also love some tasty dabs,” Jason told Northwest Leaf when asked about his favorites. “It’s usually one week of BTs followed by a week of dabs. I like to change it up for tolerance reasons.”
While discussing the differences between grades of processed Cannabis today, Jason said, “If you’re looking at flower, that’s your beer. If you’re looking at dabs, that’s your whiskey. If you’re looking at traditional/bubble hash, that’s your fine wine. You can find ones that you age, that’s a little classier, it takes a little more effort, but it’s worth it. There’s nothing wrong with just smoking flower and having dabs. It’s like mixing your beer with some whiskey at the bar, but sometimes you want that fine wine, that full-bodied everything.”
Next time you are up in Bellingham, check out this gem of a shop and meet Jason and the team. You’ll enjoy the great selection and experience amazing energy at Trippy Hippie!
SVIN GARDEN
“When pigs fly” is what this team used to say about recreational Cannabis ever being legal. Well, these entrepreneurs said it then, and they are still here today. So, with a name based on the Scandinavian word for “pig,” meet this month’s Grow Tour, Svin Garden.
DECADES OF EXPERIENCE and growth lie within these walls, which is immediately obvious by the quality products Svin Garden creates with tried-and-true, traditional cultivation methods that are only slightly modified with current technologies.
Strains at Svin start from seed only, as this gives these craftspeople the ability to control phenotypes and curate their garden based on factors like output, resin concentrations and flavors. Mothers are then created, and strains go on to the research and development phase.
Once a particular strain is stabilized, it is bred for monoculture to retain its specific traits. Consistency is a constant at this facility; they have the time-tried methods and practices that create a phe nomenal experience every time.
To get a little more technical about the operation, one of the first things that stood out to Northwest Leaf was the level of cleanliness and organization in the grow space. The second thing was the use of double-ended high-pressure sodi um bulbs and ballasts for the flowering stages of the plants.
… Svin is currently best known for its Amaretto Sour (left), Fruit Loot, above right, One Piece, and classic Golden Lemons.
Svin Garden general manager Simon Howards, left, and Rick Bibbero, author of “90 Degrees to Zamboanga.”
Pineapple Bang
While a lot of modern gardens have moved to LEDs for all growing phases, Svin metrics prove that they grow their highest quality flowers under this industry standard, proving that it still provides optimal conditions for Cannabis and other flowering plants to flourish at the commercial level.
A pH-neutral coconut coir is Svin’s medium of choice, which is sometimes amended with perlite to aid in drainage and water retention per specific strain requirements. Although the company’s feeding regimen is proprietary, the Leaf can attest that it isn’t full of dam aging salts and contains legacy knowledge of Cannabis cultivation. This method provides the plant with necessities and nothing else, and it helps optimize nutrient uptake, pushing the plant to its highest potential.
Everything happens on-site: propagation, trimming by hand, concentration creation, packaging and distribution. All of this work is carried out by a longterm team. There isn’t a revolving door at Svin, just dedicated people working their hardest to make high-quality products. There are smiles for miles at this place. Every team member the Leaf met was
welcoming and very ecstatic to be part of the crew.
When asked about legacy strains, Simon Howard, the general manager, said that Svin is currently best known for its One Piece, Amaretto Sour and classic Golden Lemons. However, he said to look out for the next big strain drops that will rock the scene. London Lobster, Pineapple Bang and Rookies have been specifically produced for their flavor and consistent experience.
Additionally, the company just added its concentrates to the cart category, so don’t miss out on those. They’re super pungent, quality carts filled by hand in-house.
The Leaf has seen Svin win awards and get recommended regularly by budtenders, which is no surprise once you’ve tried one of its products. Next time you visit your favorite local store or travel around the Northwest, ask a budtender if they have anything from Svin Garden. If you’re fortunate, you’ll get the chance to find out what excellence tastes like.
Svin Garden’s new line of cartridges
One Piece
CHRONICALLY USTRATING
Nicolas Turinski
Lyme
disease warrior and creator of ‘Da Chronic Tales’ &
‘Nico
and the Power of Mind’
“You have to be basically rich to be as disabled as I am.” That sentence strikes heavy because it’s a cost many people never have to calculate. Nicolas Turinski does. In fact, under the current economic and health care system, he didn’t even have the “luxury” of a proper shower for seven years. To this day, he still has to travel to places like public pool facilities for one due to a lack of home equipment and available assistants. His primary caregiver is his 75-year-old father.
DAILY LIFE has stripped Nicolas of basic dignities that many take for granted. But deprivation hasn’t drained him. Instead, it’s sharpened something else entirely.
Despite all of this, Nicolas is rich in a real-life superpower, and he’s determined to share that wealth with others.
Hope. Perseverance. Creativity. These aren’t half-baked buzzwords to Nicolas; they’re real survival tools.
Now almost 45, Nicolas first fell ill at just 18. He pushed through that initial “collapse” with what he describes as sheer “discipline and spirit.” For a while, that was enough. But Lyme disease is rarely linear. At 30, a relapse hit hard, and a seizure from treatment changed his mobility permanently, forcing him to rely on walking aids.
Then came another blow. After moving into a moldy apartment, Nicolas was sent into rapid decline. His health deteriorated so severely that he remained bedridden for two years, enduring convulsions and profound physical regression.
Friends eventually helped him acquire an electric wheelchair, a turning point that significantly improved his mobility and restored a measure of independence.
When we first met Nicolas in 2023, it was through his web series “Da Chronic Tales,” an adult animation project rooted in counterculture, Cannabis and disability representation. The series doesn’t frame disability as tragedy or inspiration porn. It’s colorful, funny, unapologetic and deeply human.
Since then, “Da Chronic Tales” has only grown. The project has received four global nominations and won two awards: Best Animation at the 2024 Poor Life Choices Comedy Film Festival and Audience Choice at the 2024 Festival Internacional de Cine Cannábico. Now, Nicolas has started planning for a movie and comic book release.
pursuing his passion, expanding his network of collaborators and building support around his projects. Today, he works with Avery Bailey and Nouveaux Studios Inc., ensuring that characters continue to evolve even as his physical abilities change.
Cannabis has played a meaningful role in Nicolas’ quest to improve his quality of life, alongside unconventional and emerging approaches like bee venom (sting) therapy. These tools matter. But Nicolas is clear about where the real power lives: in his mentality.
That mindset pulses through all of his work, especially his newest and perhaps most personal project, “Nico and the Power of Mind.”
This children’s comic book is both a medical fundraiser and the seed of something much larger. Nicolas dreams of nurturing a nonprofit organization that supplies disabled and underprivileged children with illustration resources.
This children’s comic book is both a medical fundraiser and the seed of something much larger. Nicolas dreams of nurturing a nonprofit organization that supplies disabled and underprivileged children with illustration resources.
The goal is simple, but not insignificant: give kids the freedom Nicolas has found by letting imagination wander where the body will not.
Success, sadly, hasn’t slowed the disease. In recent years, Nicolas’ body has waged another war, this time targeting his arms and hands.
“I’ve lost the ability to draw, which really hurt my spirit. I lost a lot of physical movement. The last two years have been some of the most difficult in my life,” Nicolas explained.
For an illustrator and animator, that loss draws darkness. Creating wasn’t just a skill. It was a language, a release, a way of moving through the world when his body refused to cooperate.
But Lyme disease has yet to take one thing from Nicolas: determination.
Rather than surrender his creative voice, he is adapting — embracing technology to continue
“Nico and the Power of Mind” reframes limitation as possibility for disabled children, “teaching them they are powerful because of their disability, not despite it, and that the mind is the most powerful thing in the world,” Nicolas shared.
You can get a copy of “Nico and the Power of Mind” at the website below, watch episodes of “Da Chronic Tales” on YouTube and follow along with Nicolas’ journey on his Instagrams.
YES, WE KNOW IT’S FEBRUARY IN THE PNW, BUT THAT’S THE BEST PART ABOUT WEED. IT CAN TAKE YOU ON A MENTAL JOURNEY, OUT OF THE RAIN AND DARKNESS, TO A TIME WHERE THE SUN SETS AFTER 7 P.M. ONCE AGAIN.
LOS COOLER BOYZ
We’re looking ahead to summertime and good vibes, so we popped open the stash from Los Cooler Boyz and filled our lungs with proper joints and the beautiful Black Rose Runtz.
GOOD THINGS come in coolers, like hash, crispy drinks and treats ready to hit the barbecue on a hot summer day. Yes, we know it’s February in the PNW, but that’s the best part about weed. It can take you on a mental journey, out of the rain and darkness, to a time where the sun sets after 7 p.m. once again.
To achieve this mental state, several joints and a bong hit are required, so we started with a Candy Fumez joint.
The Candy Fumez reeks of gas and Runtz-esque Z terpenes, with notes of chocolate and citrusy, piney candy coming through on a dry puff.
Thick and juicy, the joint lights smoothly and tastes extremely fresh, with a 1.5-gram-thick roll, burning effortlessly with fat clouds of sweet, gassy smoke. By the end of the joint, we were euphoric, focused, happy and high as fuck, certifying this as the perfect personal joint for a heavy stoner.
Next, we dove into the Black Rose Runtz flower and joint, going back to back with a bong hit and a fat doob. The flower is dark purple and super frosty, and the ripe Runtz gas rips out of the jar, filling the mind with notes of earthy and piney Z terps, dark roses and a kiss of chocolate and orange spice. We rip a bowl and spark the joint, relishing the Runtz-like gassy smoke and a sugary, rose petal-tinged exhale. This flower is instantly relaxing, sending the mind and body into chillaxed mode, the perfect replacement for the 5 p.m. glass of wine after a long, stressful day.
These hand-rolled, glass-tipped, full-flower joints are ready to get a group stoned or send the discerning individual straight into the kitchen (since we’ve established it’s not cooler weather). None do it better than the classic Sour Diesel, which ignites senses with piney gas and an old-school, hazy Diesel that takes us back to the good old days of classic strains, fat joints and getting ridiculously baked. @LOSCOOLERBOYZ
BLACK ROSE RUNTZ FLOWER
FAT BOYZ 1.5G HAND ROLLED JOINTS
CANDYFUMEZ, BLACKROSERUNTZ, SOUR DIESEL
ROYALTREATMENT
A SUCCESSFUL DAY begins with a balanced breakfast of terpenes and caffeine, so we started our morning medicating with Zerealz, a tasty cross between Cereal Milk and Zkittlez. Five quick clicks activate a screen and turn the pen on, showing battery life and letting us know we are ready to rip the penjamin and slow down time.
The first inhales are silky and smooth, with a funky Z, cereal milk vapor that washes over the palate. Exhaling brings out notes of citrus, gas and cookies that tingle the nose as effects rush to the frontal lobes. Ripping the pen outside in the cold morning air ignites our senses, so we grip our coffee cup a little tighter as a euphoric sedation takes hold, ensuring that we are fully baked for our daily adventures. Almost too heavy for breakfast dabs, Zerealz shines in live resin, and we offset the melting mind with copious amounts of coffee.
RIPPING THE PEN OUTSIDE IN THE COLD MORNING AIR IGNITES OUR SENSES, SO WE GRIP OUR COFFEE CUP A LITTLE TIGHTER AS A EUPHORIC SEDATION TAKES HOLD, ENSURING THAT WE ARE FULLY BAKED FOR OUR DAILY ADVENTURES.
The average day finds this writer hitting a pen at least 20 different times. Maybe it’s the weird email, the kids yelling or the dog tracking mud into the house. Time to hit the pen, reset and exhale the bullshit. But even with the delicious Royal Tree Gardens terps keeping our minds calm during the challenges of a suburban day, when 5 p.m. rolls around, it’s time for another head change.
That’s when we reached for the Middlefork x Mojito, a classic meets more modern genetics for a flavorful and powerful combination that’s ready for the work bell to ring and the party to start. We press the button, and a cloud of mint-lime-gas funk rushes into our lungs with a smooth hug of terp sauce vapor before exhaling in a cloud of relaxing bliss.
The Mojito terps are very bright and noticeable, but Middlefork brings Blueberry and Dutch Treat genetics to the party, and the combination is stoney, happy and ready for a creative kitchen sesh.
With live resin and terp sauce disposables — as well as a delicious lineup of flavorful and heavily stoney rosins — the Royal Tree Gardens lab team is cooking up hits for your next winter weed adventure.
Outof theshadows
Sip on liquid sunshine and take your gaze higher with 100-milligram shots of Sungaze to chase away the seasonal depression.
SUNGAZE has served delicious microdose Cannabis beverages for years, with 2.5mg of THC and 5mg of CBD in each can, offering the experience of having a brewski without the brew. With its tasty flavors and fun effects, we still had to get high on other THC, and then use Sungaze as a reward. Now with 100mg shots, we can have the best of both worlds: enjoying scrumptious flavors and getting extremely baked at the same time. We love the Strawberry Citrus, which goes down sweet and smooth, with a pleasant taste that’s like summertime in a shot. Effects hit quickly, with the nanoemulsification sending 100mg of THC quickly into our systems.
WE FOUND THE POTENCY TO BE ON POINT, SENDING US INTO SUNNY DAZE MODE AS WE SCROLLED THROUGH INSTAGRAM VIDEOS OF TROPICAL VACATIONS ...
We found the potency to be on point, sending us into sunny daze mode as we scrolled through Instagram videos of tropical vacations, wishing for warmer days and sunsets after 7 p.m. Soon enough, we remind ourselves, sinking into the couch in a completely baked bliss. Our go-to Sungaze flavor to quell spicy foods and upset tummies is the Lemon Ginger, which pairs great with Thai at night — and for the after effects of four-star duck curry. The shooter is bright and sweet, with a mellow mouthfeel that
is crisp and goes down easily. Settling into our stomachs with a fizzy energy drink, we found ourselves floating and happily stoned within the hour, and ready for more heat. Finally, we reach for the Lime Agave. Our record is 300mg of THC in one day, and there’s really no better way to do it. The Lime Agave can be mixed into a margarita, a mocktail or — as this three-year-sober stoner hits it — one quick slurp like smashing a fresh oyster. With heady effects and fun, consistent flavors, you can enjoy both high and low potency products from the team at Sungaze, which is now distributed by the amazing team at Agro Couture and Slab Mechanix.
KHALIFA KUSH
KHALIFA MINTS (KK X THE MENTHOL)
BABY TURTLE (KK X JOKERZ 31)
KUSH
DRUGS AND MUSIC go together like black and yellow, but rarely do they come from a single source.
The Khalifa Kush lineup of flower is not some celebrity Mylar move; it’s the real deal from an artist who has an intimate relationship with our favorite plant. Wiz pheno hunted each strain with his partnered licensed grow in California, taking the time and love to choose strains with exceptional looks, unique flavors, super heavy effects and a lot of bong research.
We start with the delectable Khalifa Kush, the one that started it all. Bursting out of the jar are classic notes of OG Kush and gas, which emanate from a lime green flower completely frosted in trichomes. Leaning into the jar, we bask in a funky, piney fuel that opens our airways, sticking to our fingers as we load a bowl. The first hits are all gas on the inhale, with a bright Kush-like exhale and instant cerebral effects. The mind slows, sound warps and a feeling of being completely baked takes over.
This stunning flower looks like the classic OG Kush that floated around in the medical era, but brought to today’s standards with selection and methodology to deliver an instant classic in the Khalifa Kush.
Next up is the Khalifa Mints, a cross of KK and The Menthol. The nugs are thick and chunky, with a sharp, bright, piney gas that’s tinged with fuel and menthol in the best way, stunning the senses with a complex, sour and delicious flavor profile. The first hits are extremely smooth, exhaling with an icy, gassy, Kush-like tingle, sending a dazzling euphoria to the mind that melts down into a happily sedated body. We finish with the Baby Turtle, a funky blend of the KK and the Jokerz 31, whose White Runtz and gassy Gelato notes come through in a whirl of candied Diesel oranges, spicy Kush and creamy pine that’s truly captivating. The first tokes are gentle, creamy and gassy, with a sharp Kush-esque exhale and a fast-acting sedative equivalent to getting hit with a Khalifa dart: on the couch watching baby turtles on YouTube with a favorite snack.
Established in 2013, Momma Chan Farms just completed a beautiful renovation, and their team is ready to deliver more flower than ever before, from the Khalifa Kush lineup to their tasty selection of inhouse genetics, including the Leaf Bowl winner Halle Berry. Smoking the personally selected
WEDNESDAY
SATURDAY
THURSDAY
SUNDAY
THE HIGH ROAD
STORY by TOM BOWERS
Some people exude energy. A vibe can be dead, and they glide into the room like they’re made of raw, uncut aura. Suddenly, everything’s in motion. If you’ve been in a room with Wiz Khalifa, you already know the score. The man can step into the club and have the dancers throwing money at him. If there are levels to the weed game, Wiz is at the top. After two decades of making and taking hits, he’s accomplished what so many people have tried to do and failed: He’s launched a successful celebrity weed brand, Khalifa Kush, and managed to keep it hot when so many celebrity-driven brands have cashed out or crashed out.
We had the chance to chop it up with Wiz oceanside in Malibu over the holidays to hear about his genesis, his world and his plans for the future.
THE COME-UP
Anyone familiar with the Pittsburgh native’s music catalog knows that Wiz has been repping the plant since day one. It’s been the calling card of his career.
Wiz knew Cannabis was going to be a major part of his life when he was a young buck. In fact, he recalls the exact moment his hobby became his lifestyle.
“It was when I heard ‘Gotta Stay High’ by Three 6 Mafia,” he said, referring to the smokers' rallying cry “Stay Fly” from the 2005 album “Most Known Unknown.”
“I was sitting in my crib. I was in like 11th grade, maybe, and I was wondering if I was smoking too much weed at the time. I heard the beat, and I was like, ‘Damn, I need to find that song.’ And then I went and I found the actual first verse and hook — because this was back in the day, before YouTube and all of that shit — so you really had to dig deep. I ended up finding it, and on the hook, they were saying, ‘I gotta stay high till I die.’ And I was like, ‘Damn, me too.’ Man, that’s when I figured it out.”
When it comes to the strain that made the biggest impact on him during those days, Wiz doesn’t hesitate. “It was Purple Haze back then,” he said.
“Yeah. Yeah. Purple Haze was like the original bomb ass weed. They used to call it Piff. Everybody wanted Purple Haze. Cam’ron made it super popular, but it was like the best weed on the East Coast. Out here on the West, they was always smoking Kush, and they was smoking Grapes. That's what I smoked first when I came out here was Grapes, in Oregon or some shit like that. I had never really smoked Bay Area weed. And then when I went to the Bay, that's when I met Berner, and that's when I started smoking Cherry Pie and real OG Kush. We had Sour Diesel and we had Headband back in the day, but it wasn't until I met Berner that the OG got as real as it is.”
As his relationship with the plant grew, so did his music career. The two were intertwined from the jump, with “Burn Sumthin” as a standout on his 2006 debut, “Show and Prove.” Then, in 2010, his career hit full flower.
First, he dropped the “Kush and Orange Juice” mixtape. Then he hit us with “Rolling Papers,” and his trademark an them “Black and Yellow.” He closed out that seminal year by teaching an entire generation of smokers how to roll a perfect joint, all while sitting in a hot tub, in a video that, as of today, has nearly 14 million views on YouTube.
In his life as an artist, Wiz sees weed as an integral tool for enhancing the creative process.
“I love music, and I work really hard at making music,” he said. “I've been working hard since before I was smoking a bunch of weed. And I think I found weed at an appropri ate time because I was able to develop my skills and my passion, and the weed never got in the way of that. It only enhanced it. … You got to be at a point where you're able to handle the weed because not everybody is as successful and functional while smoking this much pot.”
THE BRAND
Considering how long weed has been a part of his per sonal brand, it only makes sense that Wiz would have his own actual weed brand.
That started to become a reality in 2012, when he linked up with friends from his youth, Will Dzombak and Tim Hunkele, who developed a cultivar specifically for and with Wiz. The strain? Khalifa Kush.
Described as an “indica-dominant hybrid OG,” the KK hits the gas and pine notes, and served as the bedrock for the brand, which launched to the public under the same name in 2016. Now they have a solid lineup of genetics that have all been hunted in collaboration with Wiz, with his palate in mind.
In 2020, they brought in current CEO DJ Saul, and as of this writing they’ve grown to 15 markets around the world: Domestically in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada, Illinois, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Florida, Massachusetts, and internationally in Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Thailand and Israel, with more to be announced soon.
THE COLLABS
The KK team even proved its chops by winning the Leaf Bowl Award for Best Indoor Flower - Sweets & Dreams at the 2025 California Leaf Bowl with their cultivar Point Breeze, a cross of Khalifa Kush and Gastro Pop. (For those keeping score, the Leaf Bowl is judged blind by some of the preeminent expert palates in global Cannabis. You don’t often see that kind of heat from just any celebrity brand.)
“There's no disrespect to any of the other [celebrity] brands because I like some of them,” Wiz said. “But the difference between my brand is that I actually came up doing this before it was a brand of weed. So people understand that I would be doing this regardless, and they know that what it was built off of is everything that they see. … I think that we've just lived it enough to give it a good reputation. And that's something that you can't really just buy or put a face on.”
“It takes years and years in the game and knowing and making other valuable moments with the culture as well,” Wiz said, continuing. “I have the how to roll video in the hot tub that's taught people how to roll weed. And this is before content creating was a part of everybody's marketing strategy, but we've been doing that for Khalifa Kush. So that's why we're going to last longer. Because we've been working longer. We've been pushing the idea and the lifestyle since day one. It all goes hand in hand. People who smoke weed or listen to my music or just know the brand in general, they have a really good foundation to go off of before they even walk in the door.”
THE KHALIFA KUSH TEAM WON BEST INDOOR FLOWER IN THE SWEETS & DREAMS CATEGORY AT THE 2025 CALIFORNIA LEAF BOWL, WITH POINT BREEZE, A CROSS OF KHALIFA KUSH & GASTRO POP.
The hip-hop world is all about features, and Wiz has lent a verse or two to a gang of artists over the years. So it makes sense that his weed career would be all about the collabs.
One of his biggest collaborators is someone he works with in both worlds.
“Berner taught me about legal weed,” Wiz said, referring to the founder of the global San Francisco-based behemoth Cookies. The company’s Maywood store in Southern California served as the first California retailer for the Khalifa Kush brand. “I wouldn't have known anything about the whole weed game if it wasn't for Berner. Me and Bern are always collabing. He's always putting new albums out and shit. So anytime he's doing a new album, he hits me up right before it's done, and he gets me to put a verse on there. And I usually do the same with him,” he explained.
The collaboration doesn’t stop there. After playing funk legend George Clinton in the 2023 film
“Spinning Gold,” Wiz and Khalifa Kush partnered on a weed brand called The Funk, with the Godfather of Funk himself (see this month’s “Cannthropology” for more on P-Funk).
“We did an interview where we sat down and kind of just discussed some shit,” Wiz said. “We kind of just sat there and talked for like two hours, bro. It was a really cool conversation. Then after that, it made sense for us to try to partner up and do some shit with weed. I gave him some of my weed, and he really, really liked it. So based off of that, he was like, ‘Yo, I kind of want to make my own strain just like this or whatever I could do.’”
The Funk dropped in spring 2025.
>>CONTINUES NEXT PAGE
Perhaps Wiz’s biggest collab project is raising his kids. He recently had his second child, and like so many parents who consume the plant, feels like Cannabis actually helps parenthood, rather than hindering it.
“For somebody like me who enjoys smoking pot as much as I do, it definitely helps with parenting and just to be relaxed and in a good zone at any point of the day, especially dealing with a lot too,” Wiz said. “I'll forget to smoke weed sometimes. I'd be going all day or half the day, and I'd be like, ‘Damn, I need to smoke some fucking weed.’ And then everything gets cool as shit after that. But sometimes I'm with my kids so much I forget to.”
When he’s not making music, smoking weed or hanging with his kids, you can probably find Wiz in the gym. An avid trainer, he utilizes the plant to help him focus.
“Cannabis definitely helps with my training 100%,” he said. “It keeps me calm. It keeps me lighthearted. My mind-to-muscle connectivity is really, really sharp when I'm at a good stoned level, and I'm able to train. And it also makes me appreciate the weed a lot more. It's funny because when I was younger, I just thought it was all about just sitting around and getting high. Somebody had invited me to work out, and I was like, ‘Man, I don't want to work out because that's going to take two hours, and that's two hours that I could be smoking weed.’ And I'm glad that I thought like that at that time because now I can appreciate two hours to myself without smoking, and the feeling and the high that I get from exercising and sweating and breathing hard and physically coming in contact with some things.
“You get to enjoy livelying yourself up and enjoy that high,” he continued. “And then you get to bring it back down and enjoy the stoned high as well. So you get the best of both worlds, and I feel really blessed to be able to enjoy both because there are a lot of athletes who just, professionally, they're not allowed to smoke just because of the rules or whatever. But they would enjoy that so much if they got to perform at that level and smoke at a certain level too. If you could hit a bong rip, you got some good lungs, man. It's not hurting your lungs. If you can clear a fucking bong, bro. Yeah, dude. Yeah, that's champion lungs right there.”
“I'LL FORGET TO SMOKE WEED SOMETIMES. I'D BE GOING ALL DAY OR HALF THE DAY, AND I'D BE LIKE, ‘DAMN, I NEED TO SMOKE SOME FUCKING WEED.’ "
Wiz came up during the dawn of the smartphone era, when streaming, social media and YouTube officially replaced MP3s and albums as the prime delivery mechanism for music and culture.
As a result, Wiz is always on. If you follow him on Twitch, you already know. He and Khalifa Kush Vice President of Marketing Stephanie Arakel (known on Instagram as @_stephaniecakes_) throw wild Twitch stream parties and get into all kinds of shenanigans on the platform.
During the Leaf Magazines photo shoot for this article, Wiz kept his Twitch audience plugged in for the majority of the time, asking “Chat” questions in between shots.
“My favorite thing so far is definitely when Nick did the handstand dab,” Wiz said, recalling memorable Twitch moments. “We did a random Steeler Sunday, and we had this dude named Nick. He came through, and we were spinning the wheel. And one of the commands on the wheel was to do a fucking handstand dab. And he did the dab, but he also ran away and was about to throw up everywhere, couldn't find a trash can, ended up in the bathroom for like 20 minutes and yeah, just had to be carried up out of there. That's rough. Yeah. It was cool. I fucked with it.”
Wiz’s Twitch channel recently surpassed 10,000 paid subscribers, and he dropped the album “Khaotic” as a gift to his fans to mark the occasion.
“The next thing that I want to do is a hundred-joint sleepover,” Wiz said. “So we’re going to smoke a hundred joints and then do a 24-hour stream. I think that would be just hella fun for people to be able to stay the night at my house or wherever we decide to do it. And then also I'm going to do something school-related, where it's like a day in class, but it's like a weed school though. So you're learning about weed, you're learning how to roll up, you’re learning all the different techniques. You know what I mean? Of course, we’re going to have lunch, we’re going to have PE and all of that. …Yeah, just incorporate weed in real life and have fun.”
THE PLAN
In May of this year, Wiz kicks off a U.S. and European tour with Machine Gun Kelly, which throws back to his collab with MGK from 2015, “Mind of a Stoner.” When asked whether they’re going to perform the track together, he plays it chill.
“We’ll see, yeah,” he said. Though he won’t confirm or deny an onstage Wiz-MGK team up, he can confirm that he has plenty in store for his fans and followers.
“I plan on releasing a lot of new music before then,” Wiz said. “So it'll be the new stuff that I drop and always, always do the hits. It just depends on the temperature and the energy of where the fan base is. I feel like, especially through streaming, it's going to attract new people and new attention, but I'm always going to have my core, so it's going to be good to see a mixture of the two when I go out there.”
“Overseas, they have a really big appreciation for the plant. They have a really big appreciation for the knowledge, and they just want to grow their shit and expand, and be on what we're on as well. We have a lot of experience to catch them up on. So, as the laws loosen and people become more friendly overseas, that's the next wave, in my opinion — the globalization of Khalifa Kush.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Wiz plan if it didn’t involve collabs.
“I did a collab with YOKKAO, who's a really popular heavy sponsor in Muay Thai and combat sports overseas,” he said.
to train, we going to wrap the babies up in Khalifa Kush blankets and put them to bed at the end of the night.”
While they gear up for that global push, at home in the U.S., the team is working with Wiz on pheno hunts for their jars.
“Genetics are always advancing as time goes on,” he said. “So we try to do something new that's going to stand out, and that’s going to be groundbreaking as well as go along with the culture. There's a lot that goes into it. It's just weed intuition and knowing what's good weed and what's not. … Sometimes, you just know.”
As for the brand, Wiz and the KK team have their sights set on the global stage.
“That’s the big part, and that's the exciting part,” Wiz said, adding that a lot of innovative work is happening here in the advanced U.S. market that can be shared with other countries.
“We have Khalifa Kush in some Thailand stores because it's legal over there. We have workout gear. We got yoga stuff. Anything that goes with the lifestyle. Like I said, this is all stuff that I do as well. So, with the lifestyle and with the people who believe in the lifestyle, we're going to do it all together. We going to smoke together, we going
Of course, when asked whether there’s a favorite strain he keeps in his lineup at all times, his answer is on point. “The one I smoke the most is definitely the original Khalifa Kush,” he said. “Just the black and yellow one.”
@WIZKHALIFA | @KHALIFAKUSH
REVERIE
At this moment in time, the Americas are remembering themselves, from the high deserts of the Southwest to the rainsoaked jungles of Central America. Indigenous cultures are rising, not as relics of the past, but as living, breathing forces of reclamation. North and South America are one landmass with many names, one body with many tongues, and the movements rippling across it speak a shared truth: No one is illegal on stolen land. The border crossed us. These aren’t catchphrases; they are ancestral memories resurfacing through cultural movement.
BROWN ISBEAUTIFUL
A GLOBAL ECHO OF INDIGENOUS RECLAMATION
WHAT WE ARE WITNESSING isn’t a trend; it’s a correction. For generations, Indigenous and brown identities were hidden, erased or forced into silence as a means of survival. Now they are stepping forward whole and unapologetic, carried by artists, movement organizers and culture-keepers who refuse to shrink their lineage. These movements are born in family kitchens, community centers, underground art spaces and backyard stages led by people who proudly embody their roots and invite others to remember theirs.
One of the clearest voices moving through this cultural awakening is Reverie, a self-made artist whose work has helped shape West Coast Chicano culture while ushering in a bold reclamation for Indigenous Latinos from Los Angeles to the world. Reverie has performed in 28 countries and 37 U.S. states, carrying a message that dissolves borders and speaks straight to the spirit.
Her delivery is raw and commanding, and her lyrics hit like medicine: stories of struggle, rage, pride, survival and love. She speaks openly about her lineage — Mexican, Salvadorian, Native — not as labels, but as lived embodiment.
Raised in a humble, single-mother household in northeast Los Angeles, Reverie didn’t wait for permission, labels or a seat at the table — she built her own. From handcrafting her wardrobe to writing her lyrics, directing her visuals and shaping her sound, she moves with full autonomy. In a world that constantly tries to package culture, Reverie insists on sovereignty. Culture, in her world, isn’t something you borrow; it’s something you live. Her delivery is raw and commanding, and her lyrics hit like medicine: stories of struggle, rage, pride, survival and love. She speaks openly about her lineage — Mexican, Salvadorian, Native — not as labels, but as lived embodiment. Her declaration “brown is beautiful” has become more than a lyric; it’s a mantra echoed by fans who finally see themselves reflected without apology.
When Reverie took the stage in Portland, Oregon, the room snapped to attention. The moment she grabbed the mic, her voice cut through
sharp, fully charged. Reverie didn’t just perform; she commanded. Each bar landed with intention, each movement carried presence. This is what hip-hop was made for: truth amplified through rhythm, culture alive and breathing in real time. Nothing about it was polished or distant. It was intimate, gritty and fully present.
Reverie reps Los Angeles like an altar. Her city isn’t a backdrop; it’s a living family member shaped by migration, resistance and creativity. With that devotion comes courage. She has spoken boldly and taken a public stance against immigration violence. “Fuck Trump, and Fuck ICE,” she chanted into the crowd, a statement fueled by the fear, trauma and family separations inflicted by Trump-era politics on immigrant communities nationwide. In an industry that rewards conformity and palatability, Reverie chooses truth, even when it’s risky.
After her Portland performance, Reverie sat down with me to reflect on culture, wellness and the role plant medicine has had in her life and art.
CANNABIS, CONSCIOUS USE AND CULTURAL RESPONSIBILITY
When asked about Cannabis and its role in her life, Reverie doesn’t glamorize or sugarcoat. She shares that she was introduced to it too young and is clear about the dangers of misuse, especially for youth. As an adult, her relationship has shifted into something intentional and medicinal.
“Now that I’m grown, I appreciate marijuana in a healthier way,” she explained. “It helps me manage anxiety and nausea. It doesn’t make me lazy. It helps me slow down, breathe, focus and assess things clearly.”
She speaks openly about boundaries. “When I start using it to numb pain instead of for celebration or ceremony, that’s how I know I need a break,” she said. Her words echo an ancestral understanding long held in Indigenous cultures: plant medicines are allies, not escapes.
The conversation turns toward the growing Cali sober movement: stepping away from alcohol while maintaining intentional relationships with plant medicine. Reverie shares that she’s five months into that journey.
“Alcohol is really damaging for a lot of people,” she said. “I think it’s powerful that we’re finally talking openly about mental health.”
She celebrates the generational shift toward therapy and wellness. “Now it’s like everyone should be in therapy, and I’m a fan of that.” There’s no shame in her tone, only clarity. “Healing,” she emphasized, ”is not about perfection; it's about honesty.”
DIVERSITY AND INDIGENOUS MEMORY
As the dialogue deepens, the focus turns to ancestry and diversity.
Reverie reflects on how many people with Indigenous blood are waking up. “It’s a beautiful time right now,” she said. “We’re realizing how powerful our roots are and how much we were taught to forget.”
She speaks boldly about rhetoric that treats diversity as a threat. “This country is diverse. Indigenous people were here first. To say diversity is dangerous goes against the backbone of what being American is.”
Reverie closes the conversation grounded in resolve. “We’re seeing the truth now,” she reflected. “We know where we stand — and we’re more united than ever.”
At her core, Reverie is a beacon for a generational remembering. Her voice moves like a drumbeat — steady, defiant, alive — reminding us OGs that culture survives because people choose to carry it forward courageously and unapologetically.
MORETA
FIONA
@MFJANE
Stoned Sweets
I picked up 7 grams of Pruf Cultivar’s Banana Fudge Pop from the Electric Lettuce in Oregon City, Oregon, my old stomping grounds. I was testing infused recipes for Valentine’s Day. I don’t really care about Valentine’s Day, but I do love chocolate, sweets and my husband. Banana Fudge Pop feels like a mild sativa to me. Usually, I’m not a sativa lover, but this strain is very smooth and doesn’t make me the least bit anxious. The infused butter tasted good, which is not always the case. I decarboxylate the 7 grams and infuse it into either 2 cups of coconut oil or butter, depending on the recipes I am developing. If you want more information, please email me at Laurie@Laurieandmaryjane.com
TANTALIZING CRISPED RICE TREATS
Servings: 12
1
3 to 4 tablespoons canna-butter
(10-ounces)
1. In a large nonstick pan, heat the butter until melted. Do not let the butter burn. Butter or spray a 9-by-13-inch pan.
2. Add the marshmallows, and heat slowly until the marshmallows are fully melted.
3. Add the cereal, and stir until well mixed. Press into the prepared pan. Allow to set for at least a couple of hours before cutting into twelve 2-inch squares.
STRAWBERRY FOOLISH FUN
Servings: 4
1 cup cold plain or vanilla Greek yogurt
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
4 teaspoons canna-oil or butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries or raspberries Berries for garnish
1. Beat the yogurt with the sugar, canna infusion and vanilla until thick, about 3 to 4 minutes.
2. Puree the berries in a blender or food processor
3. Gently fold the berries into the yogurt mixture. Divide between 4 ramekins, and chill for at least an hour before serving. If desired, garnish with berries.
CHOCOLATE FUDGE HEARTS
Servings: 12
2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup condensed milk (I didn’t try it, but I bet the dulce de leche condensed milk would be great)
3 tablespoons canna-butter
2 teaspoons vanilla, or 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Peanut butter, toasted nuts, crushed malted milk balls, sprinkles (optional)
1. In the top of a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips with the condensed milk, canna-butter and the extract. Stir frequently.
2. Add peanut butter or any other optional ingredient if desired, and stir into the melted chocolate.
3. Pour the melted chocolate into silicone molds or a 10-inch baking pan lined with parchment. Divide into 9 to 12 pieces.
WE BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER TO SHAPE SENSIBLE CANNABIS POLICY THAT BENEFITS BUSINESSES, CONSUMERS, AND COMMUNITY.
Image by Kristen Angelo/A Pot Farmer’s Daughter
Page Burner
Welcome to the Leaf’s newest column at the intersection of literature and getting lit. Check back every month for book reviews and recommendations that pair perfectly with a stoney state of mind. Because, really, is there any cozier combo than a good sesh and a great story?
Let’s get to burning and page turning …
I’M KICKING
THINGS OFF with a heavy hitter that came very highly recommended: “Wild Dark Shore” by Charlotte McConaghy. This novel quickly landed on bestseller lists from The New York Times to The Washington Post and has made waves worldwide, being named the 2025 Dymocks Book of the Year in Australia and earning a spot on the Carnegie Medal longlist, among many other accolades.
Set on a remote island near Antarctica, “Wild Dark Shore” follows a solitary researcher and his three children living in isolation at the edge of the world to safeguard our largest seed bank. As a climate disaster looms and a mysterious woman washes ashore, their carefully contained existence begins to unravel.
I was immediately immersed in the richly drawn, oddball crew of characters and a breathtaking landscape that became a character in its own right.
This eccentric family must now uncover buried truths and make impossible choices that could very well shape the future of global agriculture and humanity itself.
This novel truly has it all: romance, plot twists and thought-provoking themes of family, seed sovereignty and climate change. I was immediately immersed in the richly drawn, oddball crew of characters and a breathtaking landscape that became a character in its own right.
“Wild Dark Shore” pairs beautifully with a quiet night, a thoughtful high and nowhere else to be. Once I was a few chapters in, I genuinely couldn’t put it down. Some Sour OG rosin felt like the perfect companion for this read. Clear-headed and focus-forward, it provided a mental lift that is just expansive enough to let the emotional depth of the story fully wash over you. This is one of those books that is best enjoyed when the rest of the world fades out, and hash always helps get me there.
Until next time, readers!
Wild Dark Shore
Charlotte McConaghy
Published by Flatiron Books @flatiron_books | @charlottemcconaghy
Matters
This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. For use only by adults twenty-one and older. Keep out of the reach of children.
PETER MULLER
Peter has been consistently innovative in the contemporary glass art scene for over 25 years. Around 2010, his main medium transferred from soft glass to borosilicate. Beginning in the hot shop with furnace work in 1999 around western Massachusetts and southern Vermont, some of his earliest inspirations were Ed Branson, Dale Chihuly, Dante Marioni and Lino Tagliapietra. These greats and their accomplishments continued to push Muller forward for over a decade to hone his skills in the hot shop, learning to create a variety of aesthetics while developing his own.
JSMART COLLAB (2025)
FUNCTIONAL PIECES had been on his mind since the beginning; it was during the financial crisis in ‘08 that he started to see the traditional art market transforming. Muller's shopmate, Joe Peters, couldn’t help but notice that he was working on a “major” torch and said, “Hey, give this Herbie a try.” It was then that Muller learned how to apply the heat base the Herbie provided, which solved a lot of the problematic issues that tend to come with moving molten glass from the soft glass medium to flameworking borosilicate. One of the leading galleries at the time was Chesterfield Glass Art — owner Simon Abrahams approached Muller and said, “If you can put a
Known for his stitched and patchwork characters, Muller said a lot of his inspirations came from the creations dreamed up by Tim Burton, Dr. Seuss and Edward Gorey.
downstem in that piece, I can sell it.” Coyle then taught him how to do a ring seal, and the flood gates opened: In 2010, he decided to solely focus on flameworking borosilicate glass. Known for his stitched and patchwork characters, Muller said a lot of his inspirations came from the creations dreamed up by Tim Burton, Dr. Seuss and Edward Gorey. Muller said, “I wanted to create a creepy-cute thing, something that stands alone, something that speaks without words.” And out of this line of creation, the voodoo doll aesthetic was born. Muller hopes that through his designs, “adults
and children alike can effortlessly engage with the arts and be inspired by the limitless possibilities of the imagination.” Collaborations are a constant norm in his archive, and his way of fusing (pun intended) another artist’s unique aesthetics with his own is seamless.
On the technical side, Muller’s daily workhorse is a 40-millimeter torch created by the famed German company Herbert Arnold Gruppe. Muller said that his “Herbie” gives optimal core heat that allows him to apply his specific skills in melding together glass. Also integral to Muller’s process is Luken Sheafe, better known to industry folks as Salt. To this day, Muller said, “Salt is who I call when I can’t figure something out, whether it’s glass- or life- related. He’s an amazing human who has great ideas and solutions to share.”
Today you’ll find Muller working out of his secluded home-based studio in Guilford, Vermont, in the southern Green Mountains. Also a dedicated father, Muller sounded so proud when he told us he was going to enjoy the weekend with his daughter, a musician who was on her way home to perform locally at The Stone Church in Battleboro. You can check out her work at @emily.margaret.music.
Muller’s 2026 calendar is full of amazing openings and releases — he has shows planned in Arkansas, Texas, California, Chicago, Maine and the U.K. Additionally, there are always collabs, smaller group shows and events that he participates in throughout the year. Tune in to his Instagram pages to get a heads-up about where his art is being released.
UPCOMING APPEARANCES
MARCH 28 | SAN MARCOS, TEXAS CONNOISSEUR SMOKE SHOP
MID-APRIL | NEWPORT BEACH. CALIFORNIA TEMPLE TAKEOVER AT PIECE OF MIND OC
APRIL 24-26 | WILLIAMSBURG, MASSACHUSETTS WORKSHOP AT SNOW FARM
MAY 30 | ALGONQUIN, ILLINOIS WOODY'S GLASS GALLERY
MULLERGLASS.ORG | @MULLERGLASS @MULLERINFO
TRINA URRATA-WEINTRAUB COLLAB (2025)
This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. For use only by adults twenty-one and older. Keep out of the reach of children. Marijuana products may be purchased by persons twenty-one years of age or older. WAC 314-55-155(5). ©2025 Pastime Brands LLC
510 CART
510 BATTERY AVAILABLE NOW
CERAMIC MOUTHPIECE CERAMIC COIL GLASS TANK
Ain’t No Way But Higher
The psychedelic circus of sound known as Parliament-Funkadelic created a unique fusion of Motown, Detroit rock and Afrofuturism that would come to define the funk genre. P-Funk’s weed and LSD-fueled jams kept a generation’s booties grooving, laid the foundation for hip-hop and established its founder/frontman George Clinton as the undisputed King of Funk.
JERSEY BOYS
Believe it or not, Parliament-Funkadelic began as a doo-wop quintet in a barbershop in Plainfield, New Jersey, called the Silk Palace. There, young George Clinton worked as a hair processor — frying the hair of local “pimps, preachers, politicians, and players” with hot lye and potatoes.
Clinton grew up in Newark in the early 1950s and fell in love with Motown. In 1955, at just 14, he started a singing group, The Parliaments. They rehearsed in the shop’s backroom, making the Palace a neighborhood hub for music. Later, the group added a five-piece backup band and recorded a few singles, which Clinton claims he paid for using a bag of counterfeit $20 bills he acquired through the Outlaws street gang.
DETROIT ROCK CITY
In 1963, The Parliaments drove to Detroit and auditioned for Motown, but Berry Gordy declined to sign them — allegedly saying they were too ugly. Clinton was hired as a songwriter though, and began commuting to Motor City weekly before fully relocating the band there a few years later.
Eventually, The Parliaments signed with the shortlived Revilot Records, and finally scored a Top 20 hit with “(I Wanna) Testify” in August 1967. Unfortunately, though, by then doo-wop was falling out of fashion: it was the Summer of Love, and rock and roll was all the rage.
“We got there, and The Beatles had ‘Sgt. Pepper.’ That changed the world,” Clinton told the Red Bull Music Academy in 2015. “We immediately had to get rid of our suits. We were going to do what they was calling hippies.”
Not all ’60s rock was about peace and love, though; After signing with Ann Arbor’s Diversified Management, The Parliaments began gigging with the agency’s other acts — radical rockers like the Amboy Dukes, The Stooges, and the MC5.
“We were called the Bad Boys of Ann Arbor,” Clinton told Red Bull, recounting an incident when they were nearly arrested on a plane because the MC5 smoked weed during the flight. Among those “bad boys” was the MC5’s manager, Cannabis activist/White Panther John Sinclair, who was notoriously sentenced to 10 years for two joints in 1969.
“We had to picket and lobby for almost a year and a half to get him out of jail,” said Clinton. “We used to have smoke-ins on the weekend in the park in Ann Arbor. The whole school would just come up to the park and light up.”
FREE YOUR MIND …
While touring the “Chitlin Circuit” and colleges, the boys always sniffed out the good smoke.
“Sugar Shack was a club in Boston that we played a lot…in the early days around ’69,” Clinton told French Toast last year. “During that time, there was some really good weed out. I think it was called Acapulco Gold. I don’t think I ever got that high again until the ’90s with Chronic.”
And it wasn’t just marijuana: one night at the Shack, students from Timothy Leary’s Harvard psychology lab invited them to try LSD. Clinton told “Tales from the Tour Bus”: “We all took it…Let them watch you for four hours, got the $64 or whatever it was…it was the best job I ever had! One hit, that was it — it don’t seem like we ever came down!”
WHAT’S A FUNKADELIC?
After a contract dispute with Revilot (who owned the name “The Parliaments”), Clinton refused to record any new material for them. Instead, he brought the backing band to the fore and rebranded the group as The Funkadelics — a portmanteau of “funk” and “psychedelic” coined by bassist “Billy Bass” Nelson. Later shortened to simply “Funkadelic,” this new configuration invented a unique fusion of Motown, Detroit rock and psychedelia that would come to define the funk genre.
The Parliaments (1960)
THE HEART OF HOQUIAM
Clinton signed Funkadelic to Westbound Records and recorded their self-titled debut in 1970. That same year, Revilot went under, and The Parliaments’ name reverted to Clinton. Dropping the “s,” he signed Parliament to Invictus Records and released another album, “Osmium.” Thus began their decades-long practice of releasing albums under different labels and names — with Parliament supplying the more polished, danceable grooves and Funkadelic delivering the heavier, more experimental jams.
GIVE UP THE FUNK
In the early 70s, the band added several new stars to their ranks — including keyboardist Bernie Worrell, as well as bassist William Earl “Bootsy” Collins and the Pacemakers (James Brown’s backing band) — and churned out one mind-blowing album after another, such as “Free Your Mind … and Your Ass Will Follow” (recorded in one day while tripping balls) and “Maggot Brain” in 1971, and “Up for the Down Stroke” in 1974.
By this time, the band (now touring as Parliament-Funkadelic, or P-Funk) had developed an outlandish stage show with extravagant outfits and wild antics — which, in turn, often invited wild behavior from the audiences. On “TTFTB,” Clinton recalled one performance in Oklahoma where a stripper in overalls came on stage smoking a joint, then proceeded to drop trou, bend over and blow smoke rings from her booty hole.
By 1975, P-Funk had recruited more of Brown’s former band members, including saxophonist Maceo Parker and trombonist Fred Wesley. It was this epically expanded incarnation that would produce their magnum opus, “Mothership Connection.”
THE MOTHERSHIP
“Mothership Connection” was a concept album set in, as BBC Music put it, “a future universe where black astronauts interact with alien worlds.” The inspiration for this spacethemed epic came primarily from Clinton, who it turns out was a die-hard Trekkie and sci-fi stan.
“I was a big fan of Star Trek, so we did a thing with a pimp sitting in a spaceship shaped like a Cadillac, and we did all these James Brown-type grooves, but with street talk and ghetto slang,” he once explained to Cleveland’s Scene magazine.
Featuring some of their most infectious hits — such as “P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)” and “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker) — 1975’s “Mothership” went Gold in just four months (as did their next album, 1976’s “Clones of Dr. Funkenstein.”)
“I realized I should have been smoking weed all along, because that’s the high I was looking for.”
For their P-Funk Earth Tour (1976-1977), they developed a Blaxploitation-meets-Broadway style funk opera with colorful characters (like Clinton’s Dr. Funkenstein), shiny costumes and their most ambitious prop yet: a full-blown flying saucer. Clinton convinced Casablanca to spend half a million dollars on the show (the highest-ever budget for black artists), $275,000 of which went toward constructing the 1,200-pound Mothership.
Each night, “enviromedian” James Jackson would introduce the band while lighting a six-foot joint in a huge skull’s mouth, after which the band would appear in a cloud of smoke. At the show’s climax, the Mothership would descend from the rafters onto the stage spewing light, sparks and fire. When the hatch opened, Dr. Funkenstein would emerge dressed like an intergalactic pimp. It’s primarily because of this funk-filled sci-fi spectacular that P-Funk are considered pioneers of what later became known as Afrofuturism.
ROCK BOTTOM
Over the next decade, P-Funk recorded at least a dozen more albums, featuring classic hits like “Flashlight,” “Bop Gun (Endangered Species)” and “One Nation Under a Groove.” But as with so many other great artists, their drug use eventually caught up to them.
“For some reason, at a certain point, LSD just stopped working for everybody. It was no longer that beautiful trip that made you think and feel good — that was gone,” Clinton told TTFTB” “So I started doing crack.”
By 1982, the band had fallen so deeply into debt that they sold the iconic Mothership for scrap metal. That debt, along with numerous copyright and royalty squabbles, led Clinton to officially disband both Parliament and Funkadelic. Though he continued to record with P-Funk members, few of those projects were as successful. The Godfather of Funk, it seemed, had lost his mojo; little did he realize that P-Funk’s grooves were about to become bigger than ever in a surprising new way.
BACK IN OUR MINDS
With the emergence of hip-hop as a cultural force in the late 1980s, many funk jams were resurrected as backbeats of rap songs. Or, as Clinton puts it, “Funk is the DNA for hip-hop.”
Over the years, countless P-Funk grooves have been sampled by hip-hop’s biggest stars, including Run-DMC, Public Enemy, N.W.A., Ice Cube, Tupac and De La Soul. Hell, Clinton’s 1982 hit “Atomic Dog” alone has been sampled over 300 times — most famously in Snoop Dogg’s debut solo single “Who Am I? (What’s My Name?).”
Speaking of Snoop, let’s not forget Snoop and Dre’s 1992 classic “The Chronic,” which incorporated so much of P-Funk’s music that it established its own new style of gangster rap called “G-Funk.” In fact, the high-pitched synth sound that became the hallmark of West Coast rap originated with P-Funk, making Clinton one of the undisputed grandfathers of hip-hop.
LET’S MAKE IT LAST
Over the decades, P-Funk have received many honors, most notably induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Clinton has been awarded several honorary degrees (making Dr. Funkenstein an actual doctor) and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2011, “Mothership Connection” was added to the Library of Congress, and a recreation of the Mothership now resides at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Meanwhile, Clinton continues to tour and record with his P-Funk All Stars, including 2018’s “Medicaid Fraud Dogg” — a musical critique of pharmaceuticals, which Clinton has sworn off in favor of medical marijuana.
“They sell you all kinds of drugs you can’t pronounce, then give you another one to get off the first one,” he told Forbes last spring. “Cannabis could’ve handled a lot of it, if they’d just let it.”
More importantly, though, in 2011, Clinton finally kicked his 30-year crack addiction — also with the help of Cannabis.
“When I finally stopped smoking crack and started smoking weed, I [thought], ‘I done wasted my time and my money,”’ Clinton told High Times in 2018. “I realized I should’ve been smoking weed all along, because that’s the high I was looking for.”
Now 84, he’s recently partnered with rapper Wiz Khalifa (who portrayed him in the 2023 film “Spinning Gold”) to launch his own weed brand called — what else — The Funk.
“Just like the music lifts your spirit, The Funk elevates your consciousness to a whole new dimension,” Clinton testifies. “The Funk carries the same cosmic energy that’s been powering our music since we first told everybody to “Free your mind ….”
Walk of Fame (Jan. 2024)
ZUMA
Bobby
P-Funk’s Mothership exhibit at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
DAVID COLEMAN/ALAMY
HOW CANNABIS INSPIRES ART
SKULLY VIBES ALEX WIGHT
For Alex Wight, Skully Vibes isn’t just an Instagram handle or a character’s name; it’s a front-row seat to a world he’s been creating since college. Back then, a young Alex was on a career path toward becoming a biologist, but a love for Cannabis and art veered him into a lane he never dreamed existed.
ALEX DESCRIBES his style as “Saturday morning cartoons meets scientific textbook illustrations.”
There’s always a lot of color or nature in the scenes he creates, along with his signature Skully Vibes character.
Even though Alex spent a lot of time in school taking art classes, smoking bongs and playing Super Smash Bros., he never thought he could have a career in art or weed, let alone together.
After earning a degree in biology, he flipped the script by moving to Colorado and entering the Cannabis industry. Working as the general manager for a dispensary, he fostered a deeper love for Cannabis culture while plastering his office walls with cartoons he drew.
“My boss hated them, but everyone who came in would tell me how much they loved them,” he said.
This encouragement led to Alex illustrating a series of nonfungible tokens called “Smoking Skulls” and tabling prints and stickers at Cannabis events. He eventually attracted the attention of multiple brands, beginning with Olio and its artist series of packaging.
Today, the Skully Vibes studio sits in a Denver building affectionately nicknamed “Weedworks,” a spot where powerhouse creatives — like Extracts Daily, Level Heady and Borovision — also have offices. Alex said they often meet up for breaks at a dab table outside to share ideas.
Inside the studio, he plays a constant loop of rap and hip-hop music.
“Mainly right now, “Take Me To Your Leader” by King Geedorah, Chief Keef deep cuts and Young Thug.” When the beat stops, Alex turns the vibe to
something more educational. “I’ll also go on YouTube for long-form videos — lots of historical documentaries, socioeconomic breakdowns and true crime stories.”
Alex said Cannabis plays a big part in his professional art career. Along with working for numerous industry clients, he said smoking during studio days keeps him fluid and ready to move between all the different
“AFTER EARNING A DEGREE IN BIOLOGY, HE FLIPPED THE SCRIPT BY MOVING TO COLORADO AND ENTERING THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY.”
parts that come together to create finished graphics or paintings.
“I dab pretty regularly. It’s great for getting new ideas or zoning out on repetitive tasks,” Alex said, “less so when I have super technical stuff to draw,” he added with a smile.
