Shelton Hull
Words by Shelton Hull
Two months ago, this column offered an overview of celebrity involvement in the “cannabiz,” while lamenting current laws meant that no such products were presently available in our state. One solution, posited here, was for individual celebs to make deals with dispensaries that were already licensed to work in Florida, and then release product through them. We were ahead of the curve, as it turns out, because at that very moment, there were at least two such deals being made that we would not hear about until after publication.
The first was Fab 5 Freddy’s collab with Curaleaf, which we covered last month. The second involves a guy who was noted in the column from March, one of my favorite people ever, the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, who has just recently formed a tag team with MUV. The 74-year-old living legend/lunatic, widely considered the greatest professional wrestler of all time, has attained new levels of infamy since his official “retirement” from the ring in 2009. His name and image have been attached to lottery tickets, auto insurance, shoes, clothing, multiple fried chicken franchises, and even male enhancement pills, which he has no actual use for.
A sizable portion of this hype was driven by “Ric Flair Drip,” one of many rap songs that either reference Flair or are named after him. (Killer Mike has an excellent one, as does Poodleface.) This one — by Offset (aka Cardi B’s husband and formerly a third of Migos) and Metro Boomin’ — was an instant hit, exposing the Flair brand to a whole new generation of fans. He adopted the title for his own line of cannabis products, including whole flower, pre-rolls and vape carts, all of which come adorned with artwork that makes it instantly collectible.
This stuff has been selling at a healthy pace throughout the country over the last couple of years, and the partnership with MUV gives him entry to the Florida territory, which he is quite familiar with. Flair was actually in Florida last month promoting the brand with appearances at MUV branches in Jax Beach and Orange Park. At least one reader caught a selfie with the GOAT at Sliders that week. Flair’s Duval connection goes back to at least 1982, when he beat Dusty Rhodes at the old Wolfson Park. Flair has since been back dozens of times, usually in connection with the Jaguars or some other personal appearance.
“Folio” readers may be familiar with MUV already. Actually, you certainly are, since you guys votedd them Best Medical Marijuana Dispensary in this year’s prestigious Best of Jax Awards. They were also featured in this column when their San Marco branch opened on Hendricks Avenue back in 2019. The company now has two branches in Jacksonville, a third in Jax Beach, and others in Gainesville, Ocala, Palatka and St. Augustine. Those are just some of MUV’s 68 locations across Florida, any or all of which will be dispensing Ric Flair Drip going forward.
Puffco X Arizona
Any readers who might have been old-school stoners might be familiar with the Arizona beverage brand. The company first emerged as competition for Snapple in 1992, and they quickly cultivated their own cadre of customers, and that group is almost entirely different from the Snapple fans. I would count myself among that initial group who saw it randomly at the store and became lifetime fans of the product. Even now, to this day, I’ve probably drank another gallon or two, just this year, and that was before I heard from the company a few weeks ago. Well, not Arizona itself, but my friend Molly Sposato from the Grasslands Agency, a PR firm in Denver.
They have a big staff, and they’re doing a lot of interesting work with a lot of interesting people, and they reached out to me — and, by extension, you, the readers of this column — to introduce a brand new product that looks like a sippy cup with the Arizona logo on it, but it’s actually a new device for smoking with, also called a bubbler, designed and manufactured by Puffco, a company based in Los Angeles.
The cup itself is made of glass, while the lid is made of silicone rubber, with durable plastic for the mouthpiece and a ceramic bowl. Do you need this product? Of course not — no one needs any of this stuff, but it’s cute, it’s convenient, it’s collectible, and that ticks most boxes for viability in the paraphernalia market.
It functions more like a promo for Puffco, which puts out items for use with concentrates — oil, wax, shatter. Their vape pens start at $90, while the larger units run in the $300-$500 range. There are also portable bubblers, a wide variety of smaller pipes, accessories galore and even a $50 hot knife that appears almost infinitely useful. Gorgeous stuff, indeed, and certainly a fine conversation starter for your coffee table or conference room. Speaking of coffee, they also offer the “Cupsy” ($59), which is basically the same thing as the Arizona thing, except modeled to look like a to-go coffee cup. Check them out online, and tell them I said hello!
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