Puff Pieces: The Great Content Drought
...my bad
You either die judging those who abandon their Substacks, or you live long enough to see yourself become one of them.
It’s been an eventful six months since I wrote the latest edition of High Design. My partner and I broke up, I moved to Hollywood, I adopted two boy kittens under the impression I was getting one girl, I watched over 37 episodes of Love Island.
Throughout this time, I found it exceedingly difficult to focus on *checks notes* novelty weed accessories. So, like many things essential to my well-being, I ignored it and hoped it would go away. It didn’t, and I’ve found myself missing this outlet to not only link to olive pick-shaped pipes, but to gauge the temperature on the state of our industry and, more interestingly, the culture surrounding it.
Now, I’m back with more ideas and less respect for the concept of a consistent posting schedule. Here are my favorite pieces found during my hibernation.
Honest
Grinder - $75
I invite you, for a moment, to meditate on just how deeply unsoothing it is to see your bud caked up in the nooks and crannies of your grinder. The resin clings to the threads, creating tennis-elbow-inducing resistance as you try to mash the flower through a few small holes and a sieve that robs you of precious trichomes.
Now, imagine you can get all the power of metal teeth with a chic, easy-to-clean glass vessel that doubles as a stash jar. Enter the Honest grinder. The top features a typical, aluminum grinder shape with vertical slits for easy depositing and a simple silicone seal to keep it all together. It’s genuinely the only grinder I’ve used since I got it, and I don’t see myself stopping any time soon.
NWTN Home
Deco Gravity Bong - $88
Many have successfully paved the way for aesthetically pleasing gravity bongs, but few are also as truly functional as this one.
This palm-sized, tabletop fixture is a better fit for most lungs than typical high-capacity options and consists of just four parts for ease of use and cleaning. Best of all, its decanter-like shape fits in perfectly with your rocks glasses.
Surprisingly to some, gravity bongs can be even simpler to use for first-timers than the classic beaker, and the smoke displacement is more sure-fire to shoot straight into your lungs and get you high the right way – no more breath-holding contests required.
Contraband
Frong - $125 - $220
You see? This is why I have to do this. Because if I don’t, who else is going to tell you about the Frong?
Contraband is an independent ceramics shop based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The site is filled with whimsical smoking solutions, including a line of pipes modeled after soda pop tabs and murder weapons. The star of the show, though, is the Frog Bong: available in six core colors (this Butter shade is reminiscent of one of the deadliest, the Golden Poison) and a rotating cast of seasonal offerings, from blue marbled to skeleton-suited.
Girls Carrying Shit x Another Room
Jointlockers - $25
The Instagram account GirlsCarryingShit is on a mission to showcase women’s unique evolution to shift their human hands into talon-like claws: gripping lip balms, lighters, and a litany of other odds and ends due to thousands of years without pockets.
When they scraped their Instagram captions and found a list of the most commonly featured items including both flowers and flower, a collaboration with the ever-popular Jointlocker only made sense. The most commonly featured items are listed on the front — from hammers to sunscreen — so you’ll never forget your shit again.
Old Donna
Bong - $120
A bong that looks like it belongs on the shelves of a bespoke olive oil shoppe; a bong you would see on Alison Roman’s bar cart; a bong a set designer meticulously placed in the background of a shot from High Maintenance.
While this Old Donna piece continues to follow the trend of simplistic form in a mid-century style, it differs from many more basic models with a thin spout for added smoothness and a fixed down stem for less fragility when passing or packing.
The studio offers its sole piece in blue, orange, grey, and clear.