Entertainment
America is Secret Seshing Like Never Before
You
can smell this secret party from a half a block away. At sunset on Saturdays,
waxy, sweet, potent cannabis oil perfumes a windswept parking lot in uptown Oakland.
The smell wafts down sidewalks
This year, cannabis extract-lovers are selling out quasi-underground, small-scale cannabis events like never before in places like Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and even Rhode Island. With names like “The Secret Cup,” and “Secret Sesh,” the exclusive parties are part contest, part farmer’s market, and part craft fair.
“Every week there’s something happening,” said Southern California insider “Mrs. Excellence.” “There’s the Pop-up Sesh, the OC Super Sesh, there’s the Wax Aroni, the 710 Sesh, Abracadabra . . .” she said. There was a Secret Cup-style event called “Green Oasis” for artists at Coachella this year. Clandestine “Dab and BBQ” events have taken off in the Bay Area.
As the nation of extract-lovers grows, they want to commune, but have few, if any, permitted events options, said Rick Pfrommer, former general manager for Harborside Health Center in Oakland and cannabis culture expert. Most city ordinances ban on-site consumption of cannabis and extracts, medical or not. So, much like the raves of the ‘90s, young dabbers have harnessed social media to assemble and celebrate outside the system.
For every Cannabis Cup with a local permit there are now dozens of smaller, much less legally permitted, more underground contests and parties.
Finding a “secret” event is half the fun. The Secret Cup keeps a web page and a set of tour dates. It’s considered an elite competition, judged by and for hash artists. The Secret Sesh is emceed by BReal.TV personality Adam III and occurs weekly in two cities. It is—like many of its kind—powered almost entirely through Instagram. “Instagram is the most important thing that has ever happened to the cannabis industry. It’s free marketing and free advertising,” said Mrs. Excellence.
For the Oakland Sesh, you sent your ID and recommendation to an email listed in the comments of an Instagram post. A confirmation email included an address and details.
“It’s super-illegal,” said Darcy Thompson, a Secret Sesh attendee from the Bay Area. “These events are still underground parties. It’s secretive and protective.”
The events might look a bit extreme, but they’re harmless. A recent Sesh in Oakland was full of young dudes in ball caps and hoodies, often pierced or tattooed. Rap music blared. Few women showed up. But the event was as subdued as a pinochle tournament. No alcohol was allowed on-site, and the dabbed out patrons constituted probably the most mellow party in the East Bay that night. “Potheads don’t drink alcohol, and we’re all very quiet and relaxed people for the most part,” said Mrs. Excellence.
Strip away the “Schedule I narcotic” designation, and it’s basically a dab farmer’s market / craft fair. Extract-makers and delivery services ran booths signing up new patients and handing out free dabs. Hash aficionados got to meet their local artisans.
Attendees exhibited $5,000 and $10,000 dab rigs and gold-plated torches. Their collections of commemorative pins glimmered on their ballcaps. One dabber proudly displayed a modified, two-foot-long Lego Star Wars Star Destroyer that vaporized hash.
As long as legalization includes prohibitions on social consumption—these barely underground events are going to surge, said Pfrommer. “I see it doing nothing but increasing,” he said. “There doesn’t seem to be a top end.”
