On Thursday, “Stoner of the Century” Snoop Dogg, 52, announced that he’s quitting “smoking” in a post that practically broke the internet. But is it an announcement that he’s given up pot, or just a hugely successful stunt?
After trying weed in “the seventies” to smoking blunts and copious amounts of bud for a solid 30 years—his name became synonymous with the plant, and he’s grown close to High Times Magazine. Most people received his message warmly, and wished him on his new journey.
“After much consideration & conversation with my family, I’ve decided to give up smoke,” Snoop posted on Instagram, Twitter, and his other social media channels. “Please respect my privacy at this time.”
“I’m giving up smoke,” he added in the caption.
As stoners struggle to cope with a new existential crisis involving the top stoner, it’s likely Snoop will continue to support cannabis despite calling it quits for the time being. High Times posted four issues of the magazine with Snoop on the cover, calling him “Stoner of the Century.”
“You’ll always have a seat at the sesh whether you’re smoking or not and will forever hold a place of honor on Mount Kushmore,” the post continued. “It may feel like the end of an era, but it’s just a new chapter in the book of Snoop. You’ve got our support and respect.”
Grammy Award-winning rapper Queen Latifah commented on his Instagram post, writing simply “We love you.”
T-Pain, who recently released the music video for his track featuring Snoop Dogg, “That’s How We Ballin,” issued a disclaimer on X, formerly Twitter: “This video was filmed before @SnoopDogg stopped smoking.” Snoop is smoking weed in the video, which was presumably shot months ago.
“Stay strong Unc #support,” T-Pain wrote.
Some Instagram users were left confused, however. “Define… smoke,” actor Lamorne Morris wrote in response to the post, while user @ambie02 asked, “Is it April Fool’s Day?” USA Today reports.
But after all that, some X users pointed out some unusual details, and it turns out that the “smoke” Snoop was actually giving up was smoke stoves, and he’s behind the Solo Stove, the “world’s most popular smokeless fire pit.”
Well played, Snoop. Almost everyone fell for it.
Snoop Dogg’s Stoner Persona Begins
Snoop explained many times before that he’s been smoking for decades, getting his first hit when he was only eight or nine years old.
“The first time I got high off marijuana was in the seventies, with one of my uncles,” said Snoop told Esquire in 2008. “They had these little roaches on the table—these part-way-smoked marijuana cigarettes—and there was some Schlitz Malt Liquor Bull. I went in there and sipped the Schlitz, and my uncle asked me did I wanna hit that roach. And I was like, “Yeah.” He put it on the roach clip for me and lit it up, and I hit that motherfucker. I was about eight or nine years old.”
The way Snoop was introduced to blunts is now part of entertainment lore—similarly to the way The Beatles were introduced to joints by Bob Dylan. The Citizen reports that Snoop has been smoking blunts for about 30 years, after Snoop said he smoked his first blunt with the one and only Tupac Shakur.
“I smoked my first blunt with Tupac,” Snoop told Howard Stern on The Howard Stern Show in 2018. “I’d never smoked a blunt before. I was smoking joints… I said, ‘Hmm, this sh*t tastes magical!’
“[Smoking weed] is a bridge, Howard…” Snoop said on the show. “I’ve met so many people and established so many relationships over a joint.”
Snoop’s many pursuits in cannabis include launching Leafs by Snoop in November 2015, one of the first celebrity cannabis brands to arrive before everyone else jumped on the bandwagon.
Part of these ventures in cannabis included edibles. In collaboration with TSUMo Snacks, Snoop Dogg is launching Snazzle Os, a new line of cannabis-infused, onion-flavored O-shaped chips, to debut at Hall of Flowers and MedMen in California in early October 2022.
Snoop Dogg announced in December 2022 that legendary West Coast hip-hop platform Death Row Records was entering the cannabis game with Death Row Cannabis.
Most recently though, Snoop recently announced his product launch with Martha Stewart of their Best Buds Bags which are upscale bags with a slot to hold a lighter.
A few other icons of weed have taken a similar turn, with personal relationships with family in mind. Woody Harrelson said he gave up pot several years ago, but returned to the fold several years later, thanks to being reintroduced to it by Willie Nelson. Last March, Kevin Smith, also usually a major smoker, said he was taking a break from smoking bud as well.
