February 2022 Welcome

Welcome February

The biggest shopping day of the year is just around the corner! Bigger than Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Diwali rolled into one, 4/20 is the annual date when cannabis lovers get up off the couch and rush to their favorite smoke shops to grab deals on smoking accessories and counterculture goods.

Throughout February and March, leading up to the big day, Headquest would like to invite you to take part in our own 420 Giveaway. For vendors, it’s their chance to put their newest products directly in hands of buyers. For retailers, it’s an incredible opportunity to meet the people who set the trends and supply the products that will drive sales and boost that all important competitive edge.

We’ll be ramping up social media coverage of the giveaway with special announcements and livestream events where viewers can comment and ask questions to which presenters respond to in real time. Don’t pass up your chance to pick the brains of our industry’s top names and share your thoughts and ideas as well.

If you see a product you’d like to have on your shelf, you’ll be able to tap a secure link and order directly from the HQ Marketplace.

Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram feeds in the coming days for a link to register, and we’ll keep you posted on what, where and when. Sign up early and tune in for your snag free products and swag from our featured brands. One lucky winner will be celebrating with a grand prize package and will also have the opportunity for the store to be featured as Shop of the Month in an upcoming issue of the magazine.

Consider the HQ 420 Giveaway our special gift to you in the hopes that you’ll be celebrating not only on April 20, but all year long!

Recent Articles

You’ve chosen to work in a gray area. You sell products that contain cannabis or cannabis-adjacent substances as well as accessories that can be used to consume it. And while that area has become less gray—you can see rays of sunlight peeking through—the skies are still cloudy. THC remains a Schedule 1 substance, even as medical marijuana has migrated to Schedule 3.
Running a cannabis business is notoriously complicated. For dispensaries, complex compliance burdens permeate every facet of the business, from zoning and licensing to marketing and payments. Whether you’ve been in the cannabis space for mere months or multiple decades, you’ve likely run into drawn-out approval processes, supply chain headaches, or constantly changing regulation that makes compliance challenging, not to mention the other micro and macroeconomic factors that plague all small business owners.
Blending traditional values with modernized, energetic branding, Not Ya Son’s Weed falls somewhere between the cannabis days of yore and today’s recreational cannabis boom. Not Ya Son’s Weed offers a variety of products—including pre-rolls, exotic flower, and gummies—that provide much-needed relief without being too overbearing.
The officials came for Lance Alyas once before. In 2023, they caught him in a sting, seized his merchandise, and tossed him in jail. But just seven days later, after he invoked Hawaii's version of a Freedom of Information Act request, the whole case fell apart. Alyas was released without bail, allowed to simply walk out the door. Now, he’s advocating for freedom from Hawaii’s state officials once again. Only this time, it’s not just his own freedom. As the owner of Oahu’s top-rated smoke shops, he’s fighting for everyone’s right to sell hemp products in the Aloha State.
Born Sara Benetowa in Warsaw, Poland, in 1903, Sula Benet may not be an immediately recognizable name in cannabis spaces today, but she should be. While she primarily studied Polish folk customs, Benet became known for her graduate thesis at the University of Warsaw, titled Hashish in Folk Customs and Beliefs. In the paper, she claims that the plant kaneh bosm—which is referenced throughout the Old Testament and Torah and often translated as “calamus”—actually refers to hemp. Benet’s theory remains both significant and highly controversial today, especially as various religious and evangelical groups continue to demonize the plant.
If the United States were ever a country based on strict adherence to the law, those days are long past. The modern game lies in devising methods to circumvent laws. It’s how the rich avoid taxes, the powerful avoid jail, and industries of all kinds bypass regulations. The paradox is that, despite its ubiquity, it’s not easy to stay beyond the reach of the long arm of the law. Well-moneyed, influential organizations still sometimes misjudge the political and legal playing field and have to pay up. The Sacklers (the family behind Purdue Pharma) eventually were bankrupted by the courts for their role in the opioid epidemic, and officials hit Meta with a $5 billion fine over privacy concerns.
When you walk into a smoke shop today, you might notice the glass cases that once held rolling papers and blunt wraps now display CBD tinctures, functional mushroom capsules, kava elixirs, and hemp-infused sparkling water. The staff might talk to you about terpene profiles, cortisol levels, and a new vape line.
I went home and told my girlfriend, who, after Googling the name of the business I bought it from, told me that, yes, it was technically weed. But it was CBD. She started laughing, telling me I had been ripped off.