Equinox, which, at 3,855 feet above sea level, is the highest peak in Vermont's Taconic mountain range.
I still remember my first social smoking experience - now almost 40 years in the rearview mirror - as clearly as if it were yesterday.ĭuring the summer of 1982, I was working - and living - at an inn on top of Mt. Passing a lighted joint to another human being - whether puffing poolside in Palm Springs or blazing in your own backyard with a new neighbor - is the kind of secret handshake that makes two strangers fast friends and even the most mundane moments memorable.
For many members of the toking tribe, discovering another like-minded soul out in the wild, the first impulse is to share. (I’d be smart enough to furtively fire up off property this wasn’t my first rodeo.) After all, just last year the world was wondering whether we'd ever feel the magic of a first kiss again and there were reports that the friendly handshake was going the way of the dodo. However, I was worried about catching COVID-19, not about getting caught. In the before times, I would have responded to this almost magnetic tug in my chest by brandishing some pot - either a pre-rolled joint or an already packed pipe - and offering to get us both high. (Let's call us "cannathusiasts," shall we?) Even though I wasn't 100% sure Gary actually smoked weed (or ever had) I felt, I had found a kindred spirit because we had bonded over all things bud. He told me about his neighbor's towering plants that leaned like light-seeking sunflowers over their shared fence.Īfter chatting for several hours over the course of two sun-drenched days, I felt as if Gary and I were part of the same community of cannabis enthusiasts. We talked about how THC-infused edibles are metabolized differently, and I told him about my recent adventures in pot-plant parenthood (and how reluctant I was when it came to actually smoking my baby). Gary and I talked growing laws (in California you can grow up to six mature plants). grow (for a profile of its founder and Chief Executive Chris Ball), was more than willing to oblige.
I, just a few days out from touring cannabis label Ball Family Farms' L.A. I didn't know anything about my fellow sun-worshipper except where he was from (Huntington Beach), that he'd grown up in the 1970s (he had seen Jimi Hendrix and the Doors perform live) and that he was down to chat about cannabis. Sitting by the pool at a boutique hotel in Palm Springs on a one-night, mid-August getaway, I struck up a conversation with a guy named Gary. However, there are ways to make it no more risky than sharing a meal or hoisting a beer. Communal consumption of cannabis isn't safe in the pandemic era (especially if it's done like this - which we do not recommend).