April Pride: This podcast discusses cannabis and is intended for audiences 21 and over. Can you guess the number one weed question we get from our listeners, friends, and family? Please just tell me what to buy. So this holiday gift guide episode is for you and the 80 million women living in states with some form of legal cannabis. Happy shopping. Welcome back to How To Do The Pot. I’m April Pride, and I do the pot. This is the audio newsletter from How to Do the Pot. If you’d rather read it, visit dothepot.com and subscribe to our email newsletter. If you’d like How To Do The Pot, please share it with someone and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. It helps more people find our show.

April Pride: ‘Tis a year like no other, and gifting can reflect what is special, I say with a smile this 2020 holiday season. We’ve likely only just passed the halfway mark of this pandemic so what do the people on your list need to get through the next half? Perhaps gifts to invoke laughter, a sense of peace, or a promise that their future shines bright. We got you. In the spirit of giving, we’re happy to share the High Gift Guide. Most of the goods are from small, primarily women founded brands. Many will not get you high, and all are specific to modern self care, which is less about long spa days and more about short-term survival. Give like what comes next depends on what comes first. I’ll tag all the brands we mention in the show notes and on Do The Pot’s Instagram, and you can find the full transcript with links on our website, dothepot.com

April Pride: For today’s High Five, we customized the five senses to guide your gifts. For the first sense, sight. Anyone else sick of good for around the house gear such as graphic Ts? Might we suggest a new T-shirt from Blunt Blowin’ Mama, which is also one of our favorite podcasts, or Miss Grass’ Cheeky Gear, which sells out quickly, so check it out stat. And close to my heart, T-shirts and even a mask from the website, Buy Weed From Women. Want to look at something besides the screen? Try a beautiful art book and get it from a local bookstore. It’s looking like Amazon’s going to survive COVID. If you’re into color block design as much as me, you must check out Annie and Joseph Albert’s most recent publication, Equal and Unequal. Or the woman who provided her uncredited inspiration for Supreme’s iconic brand, Barbara Kruger by Barbara Kruger. And this last book is like whoa, a book dedicated to the premiere collection of all things related to sex, drugs, rock and roll, and magic, which is currently housed at Harvard University, and the book is called Altered States.

April Pride: The library of Julio Santo Domingo, the billionaire collector, and fun fact, deceased brother-in-law of none other than LSD, Lauren Santo Domingo, co-founder of Moda Operandi. Are you a gamer? The old school kind? The Queen’s Gambit has once again piqued our interest in chess, or there’s backgammon dominoes or checkers to exercise your brain and competitive spirit. I don’t consider myself competitive, but I pity the fool who challenges me to a game of backgammon. Thanks, dad. Number two, sound. Like many of you, I super miss the dancing that comes with live music and want to support local clubs and musicians. NPR put out a great list of ways fans can support music. A few tips, buy directly from artists’ e-commerce channels so they get all the revenue, tune into their live streams, or donate in the name of a music loving person to state and national level emergency funds for musicians and their teams.

April Pride: Or if you’re like me and have an eclectic, some might say obsolete vinyl collection, check out beloved New Orleans music venue Tipitina’s Record Club. It’s a subscription vinyl record club curated by musicians with gems from their vault. Or consider a subscription to San Francisco born and now Seattle based Turntable Kitchen, a recipe of the month club that comes with a side of vinyl. Their goal is to introduce food lovers to music and vice versa by featuring recipes with a focus on local, fresh ingredients and hand selected musical pairings. What about gifting an audio subscription? Try Spotify for music and podcasts, Audible for great books or exclusives, and Dipsy for sexy storytelling. Please note some may consider Dipsy audio porn, so gift wisely. Want to give the gift of fun and well-being? Airbnb Experience has gone digital offering literally hundreds of online learning opportunities from all kinds of makers.

April Pride: Poplar, one of our favorite women run online ecosystems, offers the purchase of 30 minute consultations with carefully chosen experts in breath work and beyond. And then there’s Cameo. You can gift a personal message from a celebrity to your nearest and dearest, and many of the celebs donate the proceeds to their favorite charities. Number three, salve. This is the product part. For beauty with a dose of CBD, we love Antedotum, Frigg, and Verte Essentials. Want to ease someone’s physical pain? Maybe a stocking stuffer from Sagely Naturals, Equilibria, or Blissful Stoner Body Essentials. And who doesn’t need the gift of intimacy this year particularly? Try cannabis enhanced products for better sex from Mello, Quim, and Foria. Number four, savor. On the recommendation of my bestie, our home has welcomed a monthly box from Murray’s Cheese Shop since I purchased for my husband on Father’s Day. And not only is it delicious, but the anticipation and fun that we have when we open it has been a quarantine highlight.

April Pride: I don’t know if that’s sad or special. And when I don’t have cheese pairing as an excuse to drink wine, I craft mocktails with Kin Euphorics, neutropic, non-alcoholic drinks that bring a little special to our evenings. Ellen, the co-creator of the show, recently tried and loved Resi at-home special banquet menu collaboration from Mr. Juice Restaurant in San Francisco, and The Four Horsemen in New York city. Check out Resi’s local scene for special at-home collaborations that also support your favorite restaurants. Emily Kyle is a chef, mother, and cannabis cook who supplied some of my special treats this Thanksgiving. Check out her Pinterest page for more infused recipe ideas. And if you’re looking for some kitchen staples, Potli’s got you covered, especially in California this holiday season with an infused olive oil in collaboration with one of our favorite sustainable cannabis brands, Aster Farms.

April Pride: I’ve had the pleasure of trying Portland based Chef Livvie Small’s infused cannabis cocktails. In fact, that was one of my last moments of fun before quarantine hit. Check out her website for more ideas on how to add a little extra sparkle to any kind of drink. More at home eating ideas. It’s now December so we’ve started Fondue Fridays at home. Check out Food 52 for a new pot. If you just want to send the best frozen dinner to an overworked mom on your list, she will love it and thank you for it on some random Tuesday when she just cannot dig deep enough to even boil a pot for noodles. Gift authentic tamales from Texas Tamale Company. We received these as a holiday gift years ago and stocked up for quarantine. It’s still a hit. Or try Chinese soup dumpling making kit that comes with everything you need for the perfect one bite bun from heaven.

April Pride: And finally, number five, smoke. For the person on your list, who gets a high ticket gift, perhaps all the siblings go in on something for dad who refuses to stop smoking his weed. We recommend the Dryer Vape PAX 3. Similar in that it’s a dry herb vaporizer, but with different IP or tech. Omura, or as we like to call it, the Keurig of Weed, uses prepacked sticks to vape flour. If you want to add some style to your smoking, check out fun New York based brand Edie Parker’s Flower Battery for your five, 10 oil cartridges. Hemp, which naturally contains CBD and its relaxing effects, can be smoked and shipped nationwide. Try Barbari, Lady Jays, By The Ladies’ Paradise, or Her Highness’s CBD pre-roll collaboration with the Last Prisoner Project, which directly supports individual women harmed by the war on drugs. Weed accessories to trick out your stash are always a great gift. Who doesn’t want to upgrade their stash gear?

April Pride: To keep away young fingers and in close quarters, we love the Apothecarry case. Tetra is still the go-to source for beautifully designed smoking accessories, and they’re especially known for their price is right, cool as F lighters. Finally, a COVID related gift that has come in handy for me, joint holders in silver and gold that allow for safe sharing from Haute Smokes. No more joint condoms. And if you or someone you want to smoke out are in the Bay Area, have the hotbox from MJ Lifestyle delivery shipped direct. That’s this year’s list. And Ellen and I want to thank you for the gift you’ve given us all year, listening to this podcast. Making it has been a highlight in our year filled with, frankly, some of our lowest moments. With more and more of you listening as the weeks progressed, we can honestly say 2020 hasn’t been all that bad.

April Pride: You, our loyal listeners, have given us purpose, which has proven to be a gift that makes our days less about our shitty moments and more about making sure you have fewer of your own shitty moments than you may otherwise have had if it weren’t for doing the pot and doing it right, with purpose. Ellen and I wish you a safe and happy holiday season. For today’s strains, ideas on how to feel good as you prepare for the holidays. XJ-13, the giggly pot, energizing without paranoia and stimulates creative conversation. Jack Herrer, pronounced like terror, it’s the feel good strain. It’s creatively motivating and it provides constant euphoria. Durban Poison, which is the espresso of cannabis, has nearly immediate effects, and it brings on buzzing energy, a flurry of mental activity. Each of these strains happen to have terpinolene as its dominant terpene. Terpinolene is energizing, but unlike another energizing terpene, limonene, it’s less likely to induce anxiety for those of you who can be sensitive to weed’s uplifting effects.

April Pride: And if you’re looking for more information like this about strains, check out our audio series Saturday Strains to hear our picks for the 12 essential strains ideal for every woman’s stash. Three podcasts we love, I like anything David Sedaris, particularly what he’s contributed to NPR’s This American Life that is related to family holiday dysfunction. I’ll link to the full list in the show notes. Ellen likes the Ezra Klein Show hosted by Ezra Klein. Guests Jenny O’Dell, the author of How To Do Nothing: Resisting The Attention Economy On Nature, Art and Burnout and Quarantine. And to Do The Pot, Brave New Weed hosted by Joe Dolce, Is Cannabis The New Chardonnay with author Heather Cabot. Thank you for listening to this audio newsletter. Let us know what you think. Find us on Instagram @DoThePot, and you can follow me @AprilPride. For lots more information about cannabis and women, visit dothepot.com. Thanks to my co-founder Ellen Scanlon, Madi Fair, our Marketing Manager, and our Producer, Nick Patri. I’m April Pride and we’ll be back here soon with more of How To Do The Pot.