It’s been said that the sun should be warm over your toes before you have a cocktail—but here in New Orleans, at the site of Tales of the Cocktail, the cocktail shakers never stop making their sing-song sound of rattling ice. The frost of the cold forms on the sides of the shaker. You listen for the snap of the first pour into the chilled glass. It’s all about craft, and everyone here is ready to celebrate.
At the William Grant event over at the WW2 museum the clock stopped in 1945. You find yourself at Jackson Square—in between having your Tarot cards read—there are more cocktails. The Carousel Bar at the Hotel Monteleone is like a circus without animals—the bar moves around the room like a merry-go-round.
If you haven’t yet made your reservations for next year, it’s not too late. My advice is to start drinking heavily right now…You’ll need to get your body in shape and this isn’t a 10K race, it’s century marathon, a history lesson in every glass.
I can consider myself very lucky to be able to have a medical reason to enjoy cannabis in New Jersey. Yes, cannabis has just been made legal in our state, but that doesn’t mean you can buy it yet. The NJMMP has been very good to me, thank you. The pressure in my eyes thanks this program so I don’t have to use drops to alleviate my pressure. Medical cannabis reduces my symptoms and I’m generally easier to be around because of the way it helps me feel.
The medical cannabis program here in New Jersey has gotten much better for the consumer in regard to the overall quality of the weed. The cannabis was underwhelming for several years- to say the very least, but now there are many bright spots in the room that need discussing and celebrating. Usually I’m reviewing West Coast herb, so it’s refreshing to taste something from my backyard so to speak. They re-tune my palate and most importantly my head.
This is hard to explain, but even in regard to medical strains of indoor cannabis, there are nuances and various quality levels. Sure, the cannabis in New Jersey is still fiercely expensive, but I can tell you that quality is speaking volumes. And I made some new discoveries in the legal realm of medical cannabis in New Jersey. That’s good for the consumer who wants to smoke the good stuff.
Rise is the “storefront” dispensary located on the fringes of faded-industrial revolution, Paterson, New Jersey. My Pro-Tip disregard your gps and find Route 20. They are on Route 20 just next to a parking lot for about ten cars. It never gets too busy in there so be patient with the lot. They are cognizant of COVID, please remember your mask! They sanitized my hands before I entered, checked my temperature, processed my card and sent me inside. Calling me by name was truly impressive customer service. They made me feel cared for. This level of watchfulness is job one at Rise, I hope they saw my smile under my mask.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had the pleasure of sharing a joint with friends. Here in New Jersey, smoking cannabis in public is generally frowned upon. Dozens of people are arrested and incarcerated for the simple act of smoking a joint. With COVID deeply engrained into my sense of wellness and safety, it’s been many months since I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying a sesh with others. We just don’t share fat doobs anymore and that’s probably for the best.
Which leads me to the next part of the equation. I cannot smoke an entire spliff of high end cannabis by myself. I’ll just get too wasted. I’m in this thing for the long haul, as in all day. I use cannabis like others snack during the day. That is, all the time. And with the average weight of pre-rolls coming in at least one gram in weight, smoking an entire joint is just too much for me. I don’t need to get that stoned, not if I have writing to do, or I’ll have a Towlie moment and fall down the long internet rabbit hole. I’ll forget to return that phone call or who I was just talking to…
Because I just wandered off. Just like Towlie.
What I’m seeking is something different. A nice, well-rolled joint, but not a gram full. I’m far from a light-weight, having enjoyed the profound intellectualism of cannabis for about forty-eight years and counting.
I wouldn’t say I’ve just discovered mini-joints; they’ve been around for a while, it’s all we rolled back in the 1970’s. (Because I always had really good weed, just not very much of it!)
The quality level is really good in the world of mini-pre-rolls, if not better than smoking a full sized joint. Especially if you cannot smoke an entire joint in one sitting.
Warren Bobrow, @WarrenBobrow1, the Cocktail Whisperer, graciously shares to us this rum-based cannabis cocktail recipe called The Future is Uncertain and the End is Always Near. This cannabis recipe is found in his book, Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics.
I use Rhum Agricole in all of my rum-based cocktails.
It’s made from freshly crushed sugarcane—unlike most of the mainstream stuff, which is derived from industrially-produced molasses.
And the only thing better than Rhum Agricole is VSOP Rhum Agricole. “VSOP” stands for “Very Special Old Pale,” and it designates a rhum that’s been aged in barrels made of French white oak.
To become an authentic Shaolin Monk takes a lifetime of deep study. A Shaolin Monk practices certain ancient forms of Chinese Martial Arts for their entire life. Being one with nature is the ultimate ambition of the Shaolin Monk
The same holds true for the quest of supreme fineness. Each wispy inhalation, cajoled into a much different format than the pure training of martial arts.
That is, quite succinctly, the art of a Xiaolin Cannagar. I’ve had the good providence to imbibe several of these hand-crafted cannagar gems over the past few years, made by and smoked with profound mindfulness, by the master cannagar craftsman himself, Christopher Louie.
But first, what goes into a cannagar from Xiaolin?
That arrangement would be the tangle of ultra-exclusive herbs and ample drippings of exotic cannabis concentrates. Pressed, aged and pressed again into very specific stylistic forms, the shape is similar to a cigar. But unlike the Puro Co, prepared with a shell of tobacco, the Xiaolin cannagar has no tobacco. It is comprised of the finest craft cannabis available in Colorado. These élite cultivars are nurtured in exceedingly small aggregates for a very selective few.
Then of course there are the cannabis concentrates.
Xiaolin Cannagars are not only built with the most wonderful cannabis flower, they are gushing with lushly scented and deeply persuasive cannabis concentrates. These carefully applied concentrates take the cannabis aficionado to another level. Pressed, aged in a humidity controlled setting and carefully hand-wrapped in a variety of casings, like rice paper, gold leaf foil (smokable) or combinations of handmade rolling paper that look like hundred-dollar bills. You can even get organically raised rose petals if you desire.
Each cannagar arrives formed by hand to exemplify these rare objects of desire. And they don’t come cheaply, so start saving your codder now.
If you find yourself in Colorado, make it your business to seek out a couple Xiaolin Cannagars for yourself and some more for your trusted friends.
But first you must find the time to smoke these beautiful creations that stem from genuinely creative minds, as each cannagar smokes for a minimum of one full hour and up to several hours depending on the size of the cannabis cigar or how much you can smoke in a sesh.
Xiaolin Cannagars will change your impression of what actually connotes gourmet craft cannabis. It’s the really good stuff!
St. Ides, the posterchild for the Soul Train era in the 70’s, touted itself as a potent, easy to consume beverage. St. Ides, the drink- is a malt liquor manufactured by the Pabst Brewing Company. The beverage contains 8.2% alcohol by volume, which is stronger than many high-alcohol malt liquors. At least that’s what their Wiki reads.
Now, enter ultra-high quality St. Ides Cannabis products. The labeling resembles the logo from the 1970’s, right down to the zig, zag “I” for Ides. If this logo looks familiar to you, this would be the same “I” that resides on the infamous 40 oz. cans of St. Ides Malt Liquor. These cans are ubiquitous in places where good friends meet to drink away the days and nights, against the sizzling heat of the summer.
Wouldn’t it be nice not to be forced to drink high gravity alcohol to have a nice time you’re your kind and generous friends?
Puro Cannagars, hailing from the Los Angeles area get me stoned. Not just a little bit high either, but a major- I’ve lost most of the afternoon kind of high, or morning if the experience is framed by a wake-and-bake. But smoking a cannagar for breakfast or before breakfast are for the wildly experienced only. Why? These hand-crafted, from the finest available flowers are not your usual cannagar. They are something far different. They are for the top of the house. Not for a newcomer, what is needed here is for someone who can fershizzle their cannagar whenever it presents itself to you.
Out here on the East Coast, the style that the Puro Cannagar falls under might be known as a wrap or sometimes even called a blunt.
A wrap means simply, rolling up the finest flowers inside a hand-selected tobacco leaf. A blunt is a cigar shell with the tobacco removed from the inside of the shell. Stuffed full of fine herbs, the outer shell doesn’t look like a fat joint to the visually uninitiated. Sometimes this is better, especially where cannabis may not be entirely legal to smoke in public. Or you might want to smoke a lot of it at one sitting, the cannagar can facilitate this for you with self-confidence.
The cannagar has a long and exciting history. Cigars themselves are an ancient art form, pressed in a time-honored fashion using the finest tobacco.
Now imagine seeking out the smoothest aged tobacco leaf and stuffing inside tangles of ultra-gourmet cannabis flowers. Add some gooey gobs of the bad boy of the extraction lab; cannabis concentrates. These smokable works of fine art are the stuff that dreams are made of.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had the pleasure of sharing a joint with friends. Here in New Jersey, smoking cannabis in public is generally frowned upon. Dozens of people are arrested and incarcerated for the simple act of smoking a joint. With COVID deeply engrained into my sense of wellness and safety, it’s been many months since I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying a sesh with others. We just don’t share fat doobs anymore and that’s probably for the best.
Which leads me to the next part of the equation. I cannot smoke an entire spliff of high end cannabis by myself. I’ll just get too wasted. I’m in this thing for the long haul, as in all day. I use cannabis like others snack during the day. That is, all the time. And with the average weight of pre-rolls coming in at least one gram in weight, smoking an entire joint is just too much for me. I don’t need to get that stoned, not if I have writing to do, or I’ll have a Towlie moment and fall down the long internet rabbit hole. I’ll forget to return that phone call or who I was just talking to…
Life from a stoner’s perspective. Topics range from almost anything. Science, science fiction, and pro wrestling. Sports, addiction, and sex. Also including thoughts on racism, sexism, drugs, dogs and cats. The Boomers vs The Millenials. MMA vs Sports Entertainment. Books vs movies. And from time to time the books I wrote called RIDEZ4U. If I can figure put how to take calls, I will. I’ll have a guest on now and again. I might even throw some recovery into the mix. Stay Smooth everybody.
