They hung out, showed out, and smoked out.
"This is promoting for the community," said Ricky Douangvilay, a Glendale resident and longtime medical marijuana patient. "For recreational or medical people, we still have kickbacks where [dispensaries] are giving back to the community."
Douangvilay was referring to the free cannabis samples Arizona Organix and other companies were providing during the anniversary shindig. The event began at noon with a lowrider show, followed by a meet-and-greet with Marin (sans Chong) at 4 p.m. and an afterparty when the sun went down. "We took pictures with Cheech," Douangvilay said. "He was cool, but there was a long line, so that we couldn't talk much."
Marin — who with Tommy Chong made up the Cheech & Chong comedy duo from the 1970s who later became weed-centric movie stars — met with dozens of fans for photos and autographs. One admirer walked up and said he owned the same type of 1964 Chevy Impala SS lowrider car Marin's character drove in the 1978 movie Up In Smoke. Another, an artist who calls himself Sesh Farms, handcrafted a custom blunt for Marin that resembled his character in the aforementioned film. It even sported a red-colored beanie cap and a thick mustache made from weed and colorful rolling paper.
‘That Was Badass’
During the dispensary's lowrider show, three owners parked their vehicles on Glendale Avenue in front of the dispensary. The three lowriders were sitting with the drivers' side front wheels hovering in the air and appeared as though they were in three-wheel motion. A steady flow of automobiles crept past the dispensary, with some drivers hitting their hydraulic switches, jacking up the lowriders' frames and then suddenly slamming them down to the asphalt. Other cruisers on the strip bumped old-school funk music so loud that it set off the alarms of vehicles parked nearby.Dozens of additional lowriders were parked in the dispensary's parking lot, which doubles as part of a drive-thru for cannabis customers. An El Camino and a Cutlass Supreme from the '80s were lifted on all four wheels and resembled 4x4s. A lowrider-style Schwinn bicycle was parked in front of an old-school Chevy Blazer. The air was filled with smoke — from both a barbecue grill and plenty of weed. It was indeed a different type of trip.
Some attendees dressed the part for the lowrider show, including Kween Tina, a cannabis brand ambassador and former budtender. She rocked a fedora hat, a Charlie Brown-style half shirt, gray slacks, and a motorcycle wallet with a chain affixing it to her belt. "I was very mind-blown and happy to see that the cannabis community did something different, brought in lowrider cars and did a different scene than the average," said Kween Tina, who asked that we identify her using her Instagram moniker.
She and her buddy, who had a ginormous Cheech & Chong-esque blunt, tripped out on the red-and-gold Chevy Impala parked nearby. "That was badass," Kween Tina said. "I hope that it continues and to grow the [lowrider] culture and the cannabis culture at the same time."
Free Weed and Swag
Jessica Cooley — general manager of Arizona Organix, which is a Best Of Phoenix award winner — said the store hopes to host more events in the recently paved parking lot. "Glendale already has a big lowrider community, and early on, this wasn't really about just cannabis stuff," she said. "We plan on having an Afroman concert and a Super Bowl party back there." According to Cooley, the anniversary event came close to selling out its tickets — 1,000 VIPs and 1,500 general admission.
By about 6 p.m., as the sun set, a line of 250 people was waiting to get inside the afterparty, per the security guard's assessment.
Inside, Douangvilay and his cannabud, Jenna, were waiting in line at the Arizona Organix booth for their chance to smoke Tenderoni #17 wax, which a dispensary budtender at the booth said tested at 70 percent THC at the Errl Cup in October. Douangvilay took a long drag from a glass rig, nearly cleared the wax, and then coughed a giant plume of smoke. "I'm a wax man," he said. "That was a lot."
"As a kid, I got into a school bus accident, and I got two slipped discs in my lower back." He said he smokes wax, also known as dab or cannabis concentrate, to help alleviate his back pain. "I'd rather smoke cannabis instead of [taking] pharmaceuticals and get stuck on opioids."
Jenna took on the rig next. An attendant loaded it with more Tenderoni #17 wax, a 50/50 hybrid, and then handed the bong to Jenna. She took a long drag, exhaled, and coughed.
Jenna, who has cerebral palsy, requested that Phoenix New Times used only her first name. "That was good," she said. "Cannabis is still a substance, but it's a better substance to lean yourself off of harder substances. I know that personally."
The two proceeded to try other samples at the venue. Mohave Reserve, Jeeter, Deep Stories, Sublime Brand, Nug Jewelz, Bud Bros, Make Veterans Great Again, Tom's Palms, The Pharm, Item 9 Labs, and 22Red were some of the businesses providing free weed, swag, and pamphlets on their organizations.
"22Red — it's a brand from the guy from System of a Down [Shavo Odadjian]," Thomas Edwards said while holding a joint in one hand. "They are one of my favorite bands; I grew up on them." He spun the 22Red roulette wheel with his other hand and won a free pre-roll, stickers, and a 22Red T-shirt. "I also just won a rolling tray at Movahe [Reserve] after I tossed some pennies into a jar, and if you get three or four pennies in, you get a T-shirt."
From Cannabis to Consumption Lounge
Mohammed Abood parked his 2016 Lamborghini Huracán next to his booth at the show. "This event is something good because it helps give you free publicity and gets you on the map," he said. A stock trader by day, Abood and his business partner recently opened Top Shelf Exclusive Smoke Shop in Glendale. "We got some Cloud X, a lot of Cali brands, and some American glass [bongs and rigs]. We are not trying to bring cheap Chinese quality over here." During the event, the Nice N Easy DJs played electronic music by the stage in the VIP area. Catered food included barbacoa enchiladas, Hatch green chile pork, spinach-and-feta dishes, and pizza. Booths offered complimentary cannabis in different forms. Aeriz provided free bong hits; Hī-Klas and Verano had free edibles, vape cartridges, and wax; and Sip hooked up its elixirs and cannabis-infused drinks.
Lines formed outside each booth, and people smoked the pre-rolls they just copped as they walked around the large outdoor venue, various lounges, and Mohave Reserve pop-up tents. On the tables, folks chomped down on offerings from the food trucks parked inside the venue, including Big Mamma's Desserts, MoLo's Tacos, Ellean's Kitchen and Goddess's Garden.
Nebula Nectars was pushing its cannabis-infused vanilla syrup. "We are making a medicated horchata hot chocolate; each one is 11 milligrams [of THC] and comes with a toasted marshmallow," said Lauren Stewart, a brand ambassador for the local chef-made specialty infused syrup company. "We gave out over 200 at this point."
By about 8 p.m., a hip-hop concert took over the main stage in the VIP area. Elsewhere, a fire twirler performed with a staff lit on both ends.
"The consumption lounge [approach] is going to be one of the biggest things to happen to Arizona Organix and the industry because it opens a lot of doors to brands and the community," Cooley said. With the dispensary growing to about "three times its original square footage" since it opened in 2012, she added, it seems there will be another first with the opening of its concert and event venue steps away from the dispensary.
