These pot smokers are turning joint rolling into high art

Most serious stoners can appear too high to successfully tie their own shoelaces. So the fact that some of them can put together complex paper sculptures while under the influence seems nothing short of miraculous.

Yet there they are: A coterie of cannabis-fueled artisans who create the world’s most elaborately crafted, visually compelling, perfectly smokable joints. Their works approximate a sort of weed origami.

Nine states are likely to legalize grass for recreational use over the course of this New Year, according to Forbes. In light of that, there is little doubt that high art, expressed through joints resembling everything from the Gingerbread Man to the Eiffel Tower, will become increasingly prevalent.

In Vice’s how-to video on creating the gingerbread joint, aptly named Tony Greenhand used ¹/₄ ounce of pot, scissors, glue, brushes and rolling papers to coherently assemble his creature. “Stuff it nice and good,” he advised as he drizzled finely ground pot into the various components. “When I do this, I get into a weird space of hunger and stonedness.”

Greenhand, a high-school dropout now in his late 20s, stumbled into his career by having enough time to mess around with rolling joints before getting really good at it. Naturally crafty, he applied creativity to pot smoking and a cottage industry was born. While the Oregon resident is coy about his income, sanctioned weed companies and affluent consumers pay him well for his creations.

“I never really wanted to do it professionally,” he told the website leafly, adding that he began by rolling amusing joints for illegal dealers. “People just wanted me to do it … [and suddenly] this is a job.”

He is not alone in his high-flying occupation. A roller who goes by the name Weavers created a joint designed to resemble a giant elephant tusk. It was commissioned for a fund-raiser put on by legal weed company Stone Road Farms. Considering that the beneficiary of the event was the African Wildlife Foundation, the 1-pound creation — topped with layers of gold and auctioned off for $4,000 — made sense.

Cody VanGogh, a Canadian whose art has gone to pot, crafted a bride and groom, Godzilla and a ship in a bottle. While the creations sometimes look a little crude — Greenhand’s take on a Pokémon character, however, appears spot-on — you get some slack when your work is designed to get people stoned. As reported in a story on Vocativ, Greenhand stopped sweating the details on a grenade joint he was rolling for a wealthy client and brought himself back to the reality of his endeavor.

“Nobody’s really nitpicking,” he said. “It’s gonna get smoked.”