Consumer Confidential photos: limited edition Hemp Hoodlamb fabric patterns

Here’s a collection of pot culture essentials for the stoners and midnight tokers you know and love.

Across the board marijuana legalization seems to be right around the corner. Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, has dubbed 2013 the “Best Year Ever in Drug Policy Reform,” and says “we’ve hit the tipping point” when it comes to marijuana legalization.

The latest national Gallup poll found a 10 point jump in support for legalization of marijuana, up from 48% last year to 55% this year, and the legalization victories in Colorado and Washington last year were remarkable. On top of that, the entire nation of Uruguay made weed legal last month.There’s much to celebrate.

What better time to revel in these victories than the holidays, and what better way than with fun and funky pot presents and “cannagifts?”

Maybe you live in Colorado or Washington where legalization has already kept thousands out of jail and saved taxpayers millions of dollars, or maybe you just want to spread the joy, humor and social style of that surrounds this miraculous herb as the end of prohibition spreads across the country and the world.

Whatever your motives, here’s a collection of cannabis culture essentials for the stoners and midnight tokers you know and love this holiday season and beyond.

1. Comics and Books:

• Tales of the World Famous Drive Thru Bud—In this comic book series from Golden Frog Press each tale is laced with cannabis humor. For example in “Sinsemilla Ninjas from Mars” the space ship is hilariously attacked by the Super Spider Mites from Mars. The series is based on characters created by Northern California illustrator Pat Ryan, and the serial characters, Baron Von Bongenheimer, Humboldt Honey and Super Skunk, among others live out their funny high society adventures via brief and hilarious stories.

• The Emperor Wears No Clothes—Every stoner must have a copy of The Emperor Wears No Clothes, by Jack Herer. Herer is the father of the modern cannabis movement and this book, first published in 1985, is like the “Bible” of the cause. It compiles the historical uses of hemp and marijuana and the political and business developments leading up to modern marijuana prohibition.

• G.R.A.S.S.—Herer’s 1973 title, G.R.A.S.S. or Great Revolutionary American Standard System: The Official Guide for Assessing the Quality of Marijuana on the 1 to 10 Scale is another underground classic. G.R.A.S.S details a rating system for marijuana quality and a scale to determine your buzz level in the days when Panama Red and Acapulco Gold were mythical varieties of premium imported marijuana.

 

2. Vape Pens:, Cloud 2.0 by CloudPenz, Trifecta by White Rhino, DabOTG, by DabOTG

Vaporizer pens are all the rage right now. Originally developed as a harm reduction tool for tobacco smokers, vape pens offer a convenient, odorless and portable way to puff cannabis. High Times Magazine recently tested 32 new vape pen models. With vigorous and repeated testing, the Cloud 2.0 by Cloud Penz won top honors for Best Mini and Trifecta by White Rhino was named Most Versatile.  Judges favored DabOTG with Best Overall and Best Hit awards.

Click to enlarge.

Photo: DabOTG vape pen.

Designed specifically for hash wax, High Times testers found the Cloud 2.0 pen easy to use and dependable. It comes in a variety of stealth colors or bold fashion patterns.  The Trifecta can vaporize flowers or hash wax and oil, making it the most adaptable vape pen. DabOTG, designed for hash wax, has a glass dome so you can see the vapors and four adjustable heat settings. The ceramic components make the Dab OTG a good choice for air travel.

 

Photo: Cloud 2.0 vape pen.

3. Hats: Grassroots California and Visual Fiber

• Grassroots California’s flat brim baseball caps—These blasé staples of sun care are crucial to cannabis style today, especially among the younger aficionados. Grassroots California has an extensive online catalog of hats, including artist editions, event and collaboration hats in almost any color or fabric combination. And, most designs have a secret stash pocket hidden within a stylish liner.

 

Photo: Grassroots California cap.

• Visual Fiber’s custom hats—This millennial-savvy business is located only on Facebook, and will custom-paint your chosen caps with in bold images of pop and pot culture. For elevating otherwise common headwear into unique works of art, Visual Fiber hats were the first, second and third place prizes at the recent Secret Cup, a national hash concentrate competition

 

Photo: Visual Fiber cap.

4. T-shirts:

• Kill Your Culture Apparel —Kill your Culture Apparel covers its T’s in popular cultural images and icons, with a 420 twist. Darth Vader becomes Darth Vapor as he puffs from a Volcano Vaporizer, while the Good Fellas transform the Dab Fellas. Designs are printed on soft, lightweight combed polyester and cotton blend fabric.

 

• Green Man Cannabis—Green Man Cannabis, a Medical Marijuana Center in Denver, designed the coolest yellow tank for women. On it, Wonder Woman saunters through a blue field of stars smoking a jay, her golden lasso at her waist.

 

Photo:Green Man Cannabis Wonder Woman tank.

5. Lighter Accessory: Kasher

The Kasher is a handy lighter accessory, especially useful to pipe smokers and dabbers. A simple metal sleeve fits snugly onto a BiC lighter, keeping it nearby when needed.

Slide the Kasher down the lighter and use the ingenious tool to stir and empty the pipe.  The newest Kashers, made of thicker stainless steel, can be used as a dab tool for concentrates.  They’re easy to clean and easy to reuse and attach to a new lighter.

 

Photo: Kasher ligher accessory.

6. Limited Edition Winter Coats by Street Artists Sam Flores and Jeremy Fish

Amsterdam’s hemp clothing company, Hemp Hoodlamb, released a limited edition run of signature winter coats patterned in fabrics designed by street artists Sam Flores and Jeremy Fish.

Sam Flores design for limited edition Hemp Hoodlab coats.

Hemp Hoodlamb coats showcase authentic hemp in a modern, metropolitan style.  From the hemp shell with organic hemp cellulose water proofing treatment, to the soft and warm Satifur liner made from hemp fiber and recycled bottles, Hemp Hoodlamb coats are high quality, and easy on the planet.

Jeremy Fish design for limited edition Hemp Hoodlab coats.

The coats are designed with lifestyle pockets:  a microfiber lined sunglass pocket on the chest, Satifur lined hand pockets, inside pockets for rolling papers and a secret pocket for your stash.  Hemp Hoodlamb coats can be purchased online, but the Limited Edition Sam Flores and Jeremy Fish coats are only sold at Hoodlab San Francisco and Hoodlab Denver.

7. Glass Pipe: Snodgrass Family Glass and Chubby Glass

• Bob Snodgrass is the inventor of the artistic glass pipe and father of the glass blowing culture in Oregon.  Check out his online shop for a hammer, sherlock or sidecar style pipe made with his signature color-changing glass.

 

Photo: Snodgrass pipe.

• Chubby Glass—a Boulder, Colorado collective since 2001—makes the Celtic Spoon pipe, a shiny or sandblasted matte hand pipe in white swirled with another color. The bold and simple design is visually appealing and the opaque white pipe always looks tidy. The red and white Celtic Spoon is especially festive for the holidays.

8. Nug Jar: Sirens of the Sea by Kemmish Pottery

Keep your stash in a lovely handmade nug jar from Washington potters, Kemmish Pottery.  Called Sirens of the Sea, jar depicts two sexy mermaids who perch atop a seaside rock overlooking the ocean and sky. It’s a pleasing handmade vessel with a wide mouth and cork lid.  This object d’art is found at the Hempfest Central online store. All purchases from Hempfest Central support the annual production costs of Seattle Hempfest, the largest cannabis event in the world.

 

Photo: Sirens of the Sea nug jar.

My best styling happened at the VIP Party. CiCi Dunn with Hemp Hoodlamb mandated edgy styling   on the runway. I took the directive and put together this special look for the VIP Party.   Special thanks to model and industry executive, AC Braddock for doing what I told her to do, it turned out epic!

Photos courtesy Tawnee Lynne Cowan Photography

Hemp Hoodlamb Pea Coat on the runway at VIP Party

Hemp Hoodlamb Pea Coat and House of Hoodlab Favela t-shirt.
Model’s own tights and boots.

Hemp Hoodlamb leaving a lasting impression on the runway.

This version includes a Best of Vendors coverage with unpublished event photos.I Lo

Seattle Hempfest is the largest cannabis event in the world. This year’s Hempfest was the first since the passage of I-502, Washington’s marijuana legalization law, and a quarter of a million people came to celebrate. During the third weekend of August, with hot and sunny weather, Hempfest occupied a mile and a half of Myrtle Edwards Park in downtown Seattle. Within the safety of Hempfest, people smoked, vaporized and consumed cannabis in public. Occasional cooling sea breezes wafted along the beautiful waterfront, joining the hovering cloud of freshly smoked marijuana. With a hundred bands and a hundred speakers entertaining and informing from six stages, and four hundred booths of vendors and nonprofits to visit, there was plenty to see and do at Seattle Hempfest this year.

Sit on the grass and smoke some grass.

The grass in Myrtle Edwards Park is a comfortable spot for a smoking sesh with friends. Hempfest’s crowd was reveling in public pot smoking as people with 4, 6 and 12 foot bongs sat toking up with a little help from their friends. Others were walking around flashing their newly purchased pieces. Stony and relatively subdued, the crowd enjoyed the surreal and liberating experience of not having to publicly hide their appreciation of cannabis.

Marijuana tshirt at Hempfest.

The waves of people walking were decked out in fancy and casual hemp and pot leaf fashions. Wearing a pot leaf or cannabis message T shirts, or pot leaf accessories, is practically ubiquitous in this scene (my personal favorite T shirt message was “This veteran is medicated for your protection.”)  Other cannabis enthusiasts were decked out in bright necklaces, hats, sunglasses, scarves, socks, everything in their wardrobe adorned with pot leaves. Occasionally, someone was dressed in formal wear or fantasy fairy and animal costumes. Topless women sported pot leaf pasties and young families walked through the festival site with strollers.

Everlast jams onstage at Seattle Hempfest.

Boris and the Waterboarders protest with vicious humor at the Hemposium stage.

Samba music from Seeley Stage.

Listen to Music.

Area bands and musicians made up most of the musical entertainment at Seattle Hempfest. Bands played short sets and the genres were ever changing, going from reggae, to salsa, rock, punk, country rock, hip hop and electronica. Bellingham rockers Boris and the Waterboarders played songs of political protest and personal despair to the amused delight of the carefree crowd. Friday’s main stage afternoon acts were the Seattle Hempfest favorites, The Toyes, originators of song “Smoke Two Joints” and reggae groove house band, The Herbivores. Hempfest’s main stage featured nationally known acts Everlast and DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill. Hiphop rock fusion artist Everlast played to a crowd of “the most stoners I’ve ever seen in one place”. The mellow crowd pumped their fists and sang along with notable songs, I Get By”, “What Its Like” and a record scratching version of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”.

Soft serve hemp ice cream served at Munchie Market

Corn on the cob dipped in hemp butter for Hempfest

Get the munchies and eat hemp food. 

There were plenty of food options to satisfy the munchies of everyone at Hempfest. Make it hempy by sprinkling on a tablespoon of Hemp Hearts, or order hemp protein powder added to a fresh fruit smoothie. Food booths offered typical festival food hotdogs, bratwurst, burritos, and French fries and meals with a hemp twist with hemp burgers, corn on the cob dipped in hemp butter or hemp coffee.

For dessert, fresh mini donuts, or scoops of Ben & Jerry’s and Baskin Robbins were tasty dessert options. Make it hempy with a waffle cone of soft serve hemp ice cream from Munchie Market.

Another snack option was provided by the Seattle Police Foundation. Seattle Police were giving away snack bags of Nacho Cheese Doritos with an attached informational sticker at Hempfest.  The stickers humorously explained the new regulations under I-502 with  funny reminders of “Don’t give, sell or shotgun weed to anyone under 21” and encouraged the crowd to enjoy Hempfest and “listen to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon at a reasonable volume”.  Warning, The chips are as delicious as they appear!

Seattle Hempfest attendees excited to get bags of Nacho Cheese Doritos from Seattle Police Department

The sticker attached to the Nacho Cheese Dorito given out by Seattle Police Department during Hempfest

Hemp fashion show

The daily fashion show was a Hemposium highlight. I co-produced Fashion with a Passion for Freedom featuring garments from established hemp clothing companies across the country and exciting pieces made by fresh design students at the Seattle based NY Fashion Academy., featuring stylish, well designed clothes from experienced hemp clothing companies. Hemp Hoodlamb, Earth Creations, Taos Hemp Company and Conscious Clothing shared the runway with innovative cannabis lifestyle garments created from four Seattle based NY Fashion Academy clothing designers.  Premium hemp fabrics were shaped into trim aprons and high society smoking jackets with inside pockets for carrying a now legal stash. Other innovative outfits, like hand painted hoodies and boldly colored and delicate hemp silk garments are redefining hemp in eco-fashion.

The bustling marketplace at Seattle Hempfest featured 400 vendors selling the gear and equipment required to consume, grow and live a cannabis life. These are the best hemp and cannabis lifestyle clothing options currently available.

HempMania, a fair trade and eco-friendly company since 1997, makes durable hemp bags and wallets for men and women. The wide variety of back packs, purses, market totes, wallets and accessory bags are available in pleasing earth tone colors and black.

Hemp bags for all at Hemp Mania!

Seedless Clothing was set up with a bright green booth and stacks of street art savvy t-shirts, shoes, hats, hoodies, jackets, belts, jeans and stickers. Seedless, a California based cannabis lifestyle clothing company, with its sprouting leaf logo is worn by the cool kids.

Love Seedless design zippered jacket by Seedless Clothing Company

I love Pot Lifestyle Clothing makes bold signature “I love pot” screen-printed T shirts and other fresh designs. They also carry green teddy bears with hidden stash pockets.

Popular teddy bears from I Love Pot Lifestyle

Urb Age Designs, is owned by Urb Thrasher, hard rocking DJ on 420Radio.org. Urb Age Designs has a variety of Rasta inspired screen-printed T shirts, barware, a Frisbee and disc golf line, and other lifestyle products to show off your love of the herb.

Urbage Design, an activist run business.

Kill Your Culture has clever pop culture brandalism images on soft fabric t-shirts, hats, bong pads, pipe coasters, ipad cases, and stickers. The irreverent images are stony and dabbed out version of characters we know and love like Darth Vader, Captain Crunch, Urkle, Frankenstein, and Keebler Elves.

Pop culture brandalism from Kill Your Culture

Good Life Roots is a Los Angeles based artist collective. Artists create original screen-printed T shirts and decoupage art on wallets, flasks and purses. The Good Life Roots crew then heads out on its summer vending tour going to a medley of festivals and markets throughout the season.

Good Life Roots, an artist collective with a seasonal vending calendar across the country

Seattle Hempfest merchandise booth In addition to being a general store, event merchandise sales is a fundraiser for Seattle Hempfest to cover the event production costs. This year’s event image, to celebrate I-502, was Uncle Sam passing a blazing joint. This iconic image is available on cotton or hemp shirts, posters and magnets.

The Hemp History Roadshow for college campuses had its informational hemp tutorial, open for education, showing the many applications for hemp in foods, building materials, fashion, body care, home goods and sporting goods. Visitors could see hemp in raw fiber materials, plastic composites, hemp food, and hemp clothing.  A small store of T shirt and hats and educational DVDs was on display in the hemp hut.

The Hemp Hut housed the Hemp History Roadshow display outside the Hemposium

Cannabis Culture 

Seattle Hempfest had some notable cannabis culture on display. The cross country  adventures of the painted psychedelic Further (original spelling “FURTHUR,”) bus driven by Neal Cassady, captained by Ken Kesey and boarded by psychedelic pioneers the Merry Pranksters was parked near Hempfest’s main stage.  This hand painted magic bus is part of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.

Furthur, at night Seattle Hempfest.

A fleet of Fishy Foods/ Label GMO foods/ art cars from Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps

Other art cars onsite was the Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps sponsored fleet of cars topped with giant fishy GMO frankenfoods. These fishy food cars came from WashingtonDC to Seattle for Hempfest to raise coast to coast awareness for labeling GMO foods and to educate voters on an upcoming GMO ballot issue in Washington.

Speakers, encourage, engage and inform the crowds in between band setups.  

Here’s a list of the notable hemp speakers at this year’s Hempfest:

Hemp educator David Piller of Hemp History Roadshow

Authors Chris Conrad (Hemp: Lifeline of the Future), and Todd Dalloto (The Hemp Cookbook: From Seed to Shining Seed)  

Hemp legislative advocates Steve Levine  Director of Hemp Industries Association and Vote Hemp  and Paul Stanford, Director of the Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp.

Business owners David Bronner of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps and Adam Eidenger  of Capitol Hemp.

Crowd favorites included legendary growers Jorge Cervantes and Ed Rosenthal and cannabis comedian Ngaio Bealum.

This year’s Seattle Hempfest was a liberating and fun experience, but beyond that, it was educational. For one magical weekend Seattle’s Myrtle Edwards park was alight with music, food, vendors, speakers, and endless opportunities to learn and appreciate the cannabis plant.

Seattle Hempfest 2013