Happy July, fellow fringe entrepreneurs! If you’re reading this, that likely means we’re not all in bunkers yet, so let’s just take a moment to celebrate that thought. For a second there, the evening news was starting to look like the prequel for The Handmaid’s Tale. Over here, we’re still praying to our deities of choice that it really only lasts a few seconds and things will return to a semblance of normal soon. Here’s to hoping. But there is good news on the horizon, albeit, nothing that can dwarf the senseless death and destruction we’ve witnessed in these chaotic weeks, but in terms of the smoke shop world, it’s a pretty damn big deal. HQ Magazine, your authority on all things cannabis and counter-cultural for two decades and counting, is teaming up with Smoke Shop Events to create the first official HQ trade show. What will it be like? Exactly what you’d expect from the merging of the most innovative show and the longest running publication in the space; a one-of-a-kind experience that brings our industry into the new decade with state-of-the-art technology and high-tech advancement to significantly increase your return on investment and reinvent what a trade show is supposed to be. This is evolution, folks—and not the slow kind. We’re talking punctuated equilibrium. Are you ready? We hope so. Be well and be safe, one and all. We’ll catch you on the flipside.
Recent Articles
By
“Winter rain
Now tell me why
Summers fade
And roses die.”
– Bob Weir, “Weather Report Suite”
By
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.”
By
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.
By
An old adage tells us not to judge a book by its cover, but A Woman’s Guide to Cannabis: Using Marijuana to Feel Better, Look Better, Sleep Better–and Get High Like a Lady makes a powerful statement about the role of beauty and femininity in the cannabis industry before you even read the first page.
By
Sometimes, it’s good to be obsessed. In an industry heavy with similar products, it’s often the little things on the margins that separate great products from good ones.
By
Even without the representation and recognition they deserve, women have always been at the center of the cannabis movement.
By
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.
By
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.