HEY EVERYONE, itâs almost Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus! (Your choiceâor celebrate them all!)
Which means that in order to keep up relations and maintain societal norms, itâs time to spend money and buy things for people. Blah blah manger baby, yadda yadda eight days of oilâthe real spirit of the season is giving people gifts. Also, getting them. (Okay, fine, mostly the getting part.)
So what about the cannabis consumer in your life? What will you get them? The easy answer is, âWeed. I will get them weed.â As someone who partakes in the jazz tobacco on occasion (occasion = daily), I can confirm that weed as a gift is indeed always most welcome. But the thing with cannabis is that it gets used up pretty quickly, and then you are left only with ashes.
So for those of you who would like to gift someone with something that has a bit more shelf life, I present the following gift suggestions:
SWISS ARMY (HOT) KNIFEâIn our house, when you need to unclog or scrape down a smoking device, you reach for a paperclip, safety pin, or bobby pin. And yet, somehow, being surrounded by tiny metal items encrusted in black bowl-crud isnât a life goal for my girlfriend. Weird. So we were both pleased when the Nuggy arrived. This âsmokerâs multi-toolâ for cannabis enthusiasts is about the size of a golf ball, and contains 10 tools that any smoker would be thrilled to use: poker, scissors, knife, mini-spoon, pick, tamper, even an LED light. Itâs sturdy, handy, and affordableâyou can grab one for less than 30 bucks. nugtools.com
WEED READSâMaybe this column is your only source of cannabis information. Thatâs nice, but you can do better, and I donât mean High Times. Get the ganjapreneur in your life a one-year subscription to Marijuana Venture, which does a fine job of covering whatâs happening across the US in regulated markets, including frequent features on Oregon. Also, you can get some really good cannabis information and opinions from some of the foreign countries weâre about to be seriously pissing off for the next four years, with the UKâs Weed World and Canadaâs Skunk. Both have great grow tips, interviews with growers and other individuals from abroad, and a unique take on how we here in the colonies are handling our cannabis freedoms. marijuanaventure.com; weedworld.co.uk; skunkmagazine.com
PIPE DREAMSâI know, I blather on about vaporizers so damn much. But I enjoy smoking a bowl of herb the old fashioned way as well. What I donât enjoy is cheap imported glass, and bowls that have weeble-wobble bases. Both of these problems are beautifully addressed with the compact square ceramic Steam Roller from the local artisans at Little Garage Shop. Each piece is extruded and carved by hand, with both the bowl and interior glazed for quick cleaning. They go for a mere $30, and are available both online and at the Farma dispensary. littlegarageshop.com; Farma, 916 SE Hawthorne
MAKE YOUR OWNâSeeing as how having an edible in oneâs belly can be the dividing line between having a pleasant, soft-focus holiday dinner with the family versus an alcohol-soaked screaming match, gifting some edibles may be crucial to avoid bloodshed this season. But Oregonâs restrictive new lab rules have made cannabis topicals and edibles frustratingly scarce on most dispensary shelves. Luckily, making canna oil or butter in your own kitchen is easyâcheck out my âHow to Make 'So Damn Strongâ Canna Cookiesâ column [Cannabuzz, Aug 10, 2016] for full tips on how to turn your green into delicious treats. It even tells you how to supercharge your edibles. (Bonus: If you want to make your baking experience more akin to what Oregonâs cannabis professionals are enduring, set a big pile of your paper money on fire and watch it burn while you bake. Hey, youâre just like an OLCC-approved edible maker!)
SOCK IT TO THEMâIt sucks to be unhoused, and finding a good way to help can be overwhelming. But there is an option that allows you to do so while participating in one of your favorite activities, i.e. visiting a local dispensary. For the next six months, select dispensaries in Portland are collecting socks and feminine hygiene items to be placed into up to a dozen repurposed, sponsored newspaper boxes around the city, many of them near large concentrations of homeless populations. The boxes are free to access, and will be refilled weekly. Find participating dispensaries at boxofsocks.org.