Expect marijuana vaporizers in Oscar gift bags next year

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Who knew that losing at the Oscars could be such a high honor?

Nominees who don’t win an Academy Award at the February 2015 ceremony will walk away with a gift bag that contains a portable pot vaporizer for the first time.

The Haze Vaporizer by Haze technologies will be nestled in the gift bag handed to losing nominees for Hollywood’s top prize in the Best actor, Best actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Director categories, along with other big-ticket items.

Last year, that included $85,000 worth of swag, including a $15,000 walking tour of Japan, vouchers for flights around the world, a luxury phone case, artwork and almost $1,000-worth of weight-loss products.

The gift bags have contained e-cigarettes before, but this is the first year they’ll feature a hand-held vaporizer. The $250 Haze is ostensibly marketed for tobacco consumption, but they’re much more commonly used to puff on marijuana without the harsh burn of a bong or the odor of a joint.

Of course, it’s too early to know who’ll be at Oscar night, but Haze CEO Taylan Saydar says he hopes one noted Hollywood pot smoker will be there: Kristen Stewart.

“She’s superliberal, young and she has a lot of followers,” he says. “She’s my favorite.”

The gift bags are arranged by Distinctive Assets, which for 13 years has handed out its “Everyone Wins at the Oscars” consolation prize bags. Founder Lash Fary usually hosts televised events showing off the gift bag swag before the ceremony.

“It’s definitely a big step in exposing vaporizers not just to our niche market but to everyone,” Haze spokesman Jason Azurmendi says.

Vaporizers are becoming more popular as weed (and tobacco) smokers around the country get turned on to their medical benefits (not damaging your lungs with harsh smoke, for instance).

Haze, about the size and shape of a small flask, operates differently from other vaporizers by offering two bowls. That lets users double up on whatever they’re smoking, or mix weed with tobacco; the spliff of vaporizer technology, if you will.

The company, which launched the vaporizers over the summer, wanted to get in front of the Hollywood market to gain exposure, Saydar says.

“A lot of organizations are trying to make people aware of the downside of smoking. Everybody is self conscious and looking for ways to still consume nicotine but in a healthy way,” he says. “We are trying to represent the high-end, high-fashion, highly technological product.”

Those gift bags Haze landed in are only getting more swanky, too: they’ve increased in value by $25,000 since 2009.

Via NY Post

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