There’s a fundamental paradox at the center of cannabis culture. I call it: the Grateful Dead problem. Allow me to explain.
In my formative years as a young cannabis enjoyer, I loved lighting up but balked at a lot of the aesthetic touchstones of cannabis culture. Swirly, colorful glassware, psychedelic tapestries, and hideous Grateful Dead merch were visually criminal and totally antithetical to the vibe I was trying to cultivate. I might even go so far as to say that I delayed trying weed due to its association with what I considered a very uncool aesthetic.
(The paradox? The higher I get, the more weirded out I am by the 90s-head-shop aesthetic.) The revelation that the Grateful Dead's music was, in fact, a shockingly un-psychedelic homebrew of Americana traditions—and actually QUITE compatible with my sensibilities—would not come for years. The hippie hordes had obscured its merits.
I guess what I’m saying is that questionable aesthetics aren’t helping the cannabis cause. In 2024, people need better options when it comes to smokeware. Enter NWTN , a company dedicated to “revolutionizing what function and form could mean to every smoke-friendly space.
” NWTN combines an “evergreen passion for cannabis” with an “enduring admiration for classic houseware design,” and the results are fucking fantastique , if you’ll pardon my French. Take the Deco gravity bong . Made of handblown borosilicate glass and available in amber, charcoal, emerald, or clear, thi.
