Sometimes you want a munchie, and sometimes you want a munchie that will lead to wanting more munchies. Either way, 4/20, like Thanksgiving, is all about the food; more specifically, the snacks — the delicious, possibly hemp or cannabis-infused delights that make this semi-holiday so very grand.
Pittsburgh City Paper recommends some remarkable goodies to keep in mind as you prepare for April’s other high holiday. Whether you’re looking for ice cream, cookies, fruity drinks, or food-themed glassware, these suggestions should brighten any day dedicated to nature’s healing botanical wonder.
Tokey’s Treats
If you ask Takia Mitchell, her Pittsburgh-based bakery business, Tokey’s Treats, is about more than cookies.Launched in March 2018, the Black woman-owned and operated venture, touted as the first legal hemp edibles company in Pennsylvania, focuses on “empowering women on their self-love journey after trauma while educating them on how hemp can help.”
Mitchell, aka Chef Tokey, hosts small, private catering events with a menu that includes vegan food and baked goods made with hemp seed oil, terpenes, and cannabinoid isolates to “create the perfect blend to help with relaxation and pain relief.” Mitchell also produces a podcast called Cookie Secrets and hosts informational sessions at places like Total Peace and Wellness in Lawrenceville.
But back to the cookies. Among the available options are classic chocolate chip, oatmeal, and Snickerdoodle, as well as a “jet black” cocoa cookie, and one loaded with Oreo bits, white and dark chocolate chips, pretzels, and marshmallows. Other flavors include Neapolitan ice cream, strawberry sugar, peanut butter, and Red Velvet. You can even buy gift cards for the person in your life looking for something beyond the usual gummy.
Open Road
4/20 falls right on the edge of summer, aka seltzer season, and Open Road has a variety of canned, fizzy drinks infused with D8, D9, CBD, CBG, and other derivatives to make you feel alright.Originally opened as a mobile sober bar, Open Road has since set up as a bottle shop in Allentown, where customers will find an array of non-alcoholic wines, spirits, beer, and more. Among those options are a number of brands featuring ingredients made to calm, soothe, and relax.
Try seltzers by Rebel Rabbit, Delta, or Recess, canned cocktails by Flora Hemp, Flyers, Crisp & Crude, or Jeng, and spirits by Gather or Aplos. Open Road tells City Paper that these beverages all come from “nationally available, vetted brands with readily available COAs (third-party tested certificates of analysis).”
Open Road also carries non-infused versions of some of these beverages for those who just want the taste of a cocktail without the added alcohol.
You can peruse these selections and more at Open Road’s 600 E. Warrington Ave. location, or order online at openroadbarpgh.com.
Curated Flame x Sugar Spell Scoops
When the munchies hit, you want something right away. No cooking, no preparation, just instant gratification. Ice cream fans are covered with the locally made Peanut Butter Banana Flame, a vegan ice cream that could be a few steps away in your freezer.The collaboration combined the talents of two businesses, Curated Flame smoke shop (505 Grant Ave., Millvale. curatedflamepgh.com) and Sugar Spell Scoops (1014 N. Canal St., Sharpsburg. sugarspellscoops.com), to create something special in celebration of 4/20. Sugar Spell describes the sweet treat as a non-dairy, cashew-based banana ice cream with house-made peanut butter cups, a ribbon of peanut butter, and a chocolate sauce swirl.
Curated Flame owner Anthony Rabinovitz says the product is based on a banana peanut butter chip flavor of ice cream that he used to love. “And then I would add peanut butter cups to it. But that ice cream no longer exists and I wanted to work with Sugar Spell on recreating that flavor.”
He confirms that Peanut Butter Banana Flame was designed to “be a munchie after smoking.”
Pints are priced at $12 and are available to pre-order from Sugar Spell. Curated Flame will also have pints available at the shop as prizes on 4/20.
WorkshopPGH x Humble Pride Glass
Can you eat these adorable little pipes? No. Do I care? No. This is my list, and these food-themed glass pipes by the Oregon-based company Humble Pride Glass are so cute and colorful I could weep.Sold at WorkshopPGH’s Penn Avenue shop, and available online at the artist’s website, these items will surely add a touch of whimsy to any cannabis cache. The artist, Michael Sorenson, self-describes as a “functional glass artist” and produces these as part of his Fruit Bowl Smoking Accessories collection. A product description says they feature Sorenson’s “signature, carefully placed air trap ‘pips’” and that some, such as the Deluxe Pink Strawberry pipe, can be purchased in their “naturally round fruit shape or with a flat spot pressed in the back.”
Besides the pink strawberry, WorkshopPGH will also have the banana, pear, red strawberry, and lemon pipes from Humble Pride.
WorkshopPGH says the pipes are available for $58 each and in very limited supply at its 5131 Penn Ave. location in Garfield, so get yours before they are gone.
