Features
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For years, Jennifer Mansour felt them coming.
“You can’t stop one,” she said. “As soon as I’d notice that the lights felt a little too bright, I knew I was done for. I’d tell my boss, and then I’d get in the car and pop on my sunglasses because I could feel another one coming on, and I couldn’t do a thing to stop it.”
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We love a good music festival here at HQ Magazine. Now that the major music festivals in the U.S. are starting to release their initial lineups, we figured it would be a great time to review some of the best 2026 music festivals in cannabis-friendly states.
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There are objects Americans buy because they need them, and objects Americans buy because they let them be a certain kind of person. A perfectly functional version exists, usually for a fraction of the price. But the other version comes with a name, a story, and a reason to pay extra.
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Walk into any warehouse rave, desert gathering, or rooftop after-hours in 2026, and you’ll feel it: the psychedelic underground is back, louder, weirder, and far more self-aware than its ‘60s predecessor ever imagined.
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In 62 BC, Julius Caesar announced his plan to divorce his second wife, Pompeia. She had been involved in an ancient Roman sex scandal, accused of flirting with another man during a women-only religious event.
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ile Mike Wittenberg sat in a Dominican Republic prison, a thought occurred to him. “I could appreciate flushing the toilet,” he said. “When you’re in a third-world jail without running water 23.5 hours a day, you learn to appreciate the little things.”
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When it comes to marketing, cannabis is different from every other consumer good available today. If sales start to dip in traditional retail, you can simply increase ad spending. However, with companies like Google, Meta, and even traditional broadcasters placing strict bans or severe limitations on cannabis advertising, the standard “pay-to-play” system just doesn’t work.
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It feels impossible sometimes to escape the more ridiculousness aspects of pop culture—like pickleball, whatever a Labubu is, and the inevitable media frenzy surrounding Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's upcoming wedding. Thankfully, there’s at least one trend that’s still on the rise that I can get behind, which is kratom.
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On its face, it makes sense: an anti-establishment asset in a counterculture shop. But the ethical ramifications of cryptocurrency ATMs have divided smoke shop owners, who are increasingly asked to host them.
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This year, it’s time to try something different. Too many businesses focus on chasing the latest thing. But this year, why not make your resolution an addition by subtraction? Here’s a list of 10 bad habits you should strive to break in 2026.
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These days, everything comes down to good marketing. While most shop owners didn’t get into the business to make ads, effective promotion has become integral to modern business. Unfortunately, it also requires a separate skill set.
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Here’s the play for 2026: be a culture hub, not a commodity counter. We are in the era of experiential marketing and businesses. This is the right time to pivot to selling more than rolling papers and pipes.
