Jimi DevineAs the cannabis industry works to redefine itself for the masses on days that aren't April 20, nowhere is it warmer and friendlier than the holiday season. In businesses once afraid to invest anything beyond plastic bags, or glass jars if they really loved us, the holidays are all the rage these days. And it's not just dispensaries with Christmas trees; folks at all levels of the industry are getting in on the action with gift packs, holiday flavors and other generally awesome stuff.
In some families, predinner rotations are now the norm before sitting down to eat on Thanksgiving and Christmas, so one might even say the holidays begin and end with a solid smoke-out. For the first time, everyone over 21 can legally bring their own weed, so don't come empty-handed for the potluck before the potluck!
The ladies of Om Edibles, when they aren't winning Cannabis Cups and accolades across California, have been producing holiday hits for years. Founder Maya Elisabeth tells L.A. Weekly it's about making the holidays not just fun but also less stressful.
“This year, when holiday stresses and pressures can start to build up, try using cannabis as an ally,” Elisabeth says. “CBD and THC in different amounts and ratios can provide a magnitude of healing benefits and desired effects perfect for every type of situation. Minus any regretful behavior or hangover.”
She also says that if your culinary skills aren't up to par, it's not a problem. “If you're a terrible cook, cannabis is your best ally. Get your guests pleasantly medicated and watch them enjoy the best meal of their life.”
Here are some gift suggestions to help you achieve that mellow for yourself and your guests.
Om Edibles' CBD Raw Sipping Cacao; Credit: Flower Child & Floral Lens
Om Edibles' CBD Raw Sipping Cacao
One of Om's most awarded products, the CBD Raw Sipping Cacao has become a mainstay of the California CBD edible scene and may be the best one in that space, period. For the holidays, let it be your Swiss Army knife of sorts. You can dip things in it, spread it, toss it in hot chocolate or just eat it by the spoonful. Its ingredient list is short and doesn't feature anything sketchy. Om prepares it from raw cacao butter, raw cacao powder, coconut oil, sun-grown cannabis, raw agave and sea salt.
Kiva Peppermint Bark
The California weed chocolate wars were long. Chocolate bars were the first thing in the state that had “real” packaging, and the early high-end chocolatiers that started showing up in 2010 were some of the most marketing-savvy sellers to enter the industry up to that point. Now that the dust is settled, it's hard not to call Kiva the biggest winner. On the back of its Terra Bite chocolate-covered blueberries — roughly 2.4 million of those individual blueberries are sold in L.A. annually — Kiva became the biggest name in the state when it came to THC-infused chocolate. For the holiday season, Kiva will be release a limited offering of peppermint bark chocolate bars with 100 milligrams of THC in 20 5-milligram servings, or just one big one if Grandma is a champion! Candy cane pieces and a swirl of white and dark chocolate top the bar.
Credit: Courtesy Plus
Plus Cranberry Shortbread Gummies
People were really worried about what might happen to gummies in 2018 with all the new regulations coming down: Would saving the children some mean the rest of us couldn't eat weed gummy bears?! Thankfully all that drama is behind us and this holiday season, Plus Cranberry Shortbread Gummies are an excellent sign that all is well, albeit a bit more geometric than we ever expected. The 20 packs of cubed gummies are a mix between cranberry and shortbread, but you can toss a few in your palm and experience the best flavors of both worlds simultaneously.
Puffco Peak
While many options on this list will last only until the package is empty, the Puffco Peak is the gift that keeps giving year-round. Since the early days of dabbing a decade ago, the highest echelons of hash smoking seemed a bit too far for many. Whether it was all the gizmos and doodads required to take a dab of hash oil or just the cultural stigma of what you appeared to be doing, dabbing wasn't for everyone. With the Peak, all the worst parts about dabbing are eliminated. After leading on the dab pen circuit for a few years, Puffco used all of its technical know-how to create the best tabletop dabbing apparatus to hit the market yet. It will definitely be the most convenient and fastest way to split up a gram of globs with your tribe before appetizers, and maybe again after! This holiday season the Peak has some fun color options and travel kit accessories available. Don't forget to charge it up for Santa on Christmas Eve!
Credit: Marcus Nilsson
Bong Appetit: Mastering the Art of Cooking With Weed
With new pot cooking books dropping on a monthly basis, the market is starting to get a bit saturated. Leave it to us to help you determine where to seek out the finest pot-infused recipes you can whip up in your own kitchen, where you control the dosage. Longtime cannabis author Elise McDonough and the editors at Vice's Munchies website have you covered. In an industry of fresh faces, McDonough is widely considered one of the most vetted journalists covering edibles in the country. In addition to her work with the book's publisher, Vice, her writings on edibles have been seen in High Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Leafly and Cannabis Now, among others. From this expertise, McDonough selected a group of the best pot recipes she has encountered. And the book doesn't start in the kitchen but with some pro tips for weed shopping.
Dosist Holiday Gift Set
One of Time magazine's Best Inventions of 2016, Dosist's stock has only continued to rise as it has proven exceptionally adept at allowing people to dose orally down to the milligram without waiting for the weed to digest. In its holiday gift pack, Dosist pairs some of its most popular flavors, such as Sleep, Bliss, Relief and Calm, with a candle. But definitely don't use the sleep pen and candle at the same time. The Bliss pen will prove a great way to pick yourself back up after a big holiday dinner!
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