The Real Origin Story of 4/20

Everybody knows 4:20 is the time to smoke pot. And everybody knows 4/20 is the international pot-smoking day. But not many people, not even the oldest and most ardent pot smokers, knows why or how the number 420 became linked to pot smoking. There are a few old tales which describe how this national holiday, and that special time of the day, became so iconic. Here's everything we know about how 4/20 became more than a mid-April day. You know who does know a thing or two about this? Larry "Ratso" Sloman, author of Reefer Madness: A History of Marijuana. The most accepted root of the high holiday starts with some high school kids in San Rafael, California, back in 1971. [View in Browser]( [Esquire]( [SHOP]( EXCLUSIVE [SUBSCRIBE]( [The Secret History of 4/20]( [The Secret History of 4/20]( Everybody knows 4:20 is the time to smoke pot. And everybody knows 4/20 is the international pot-smoking day. But not many people, not even the oldest and most ardent pot smokers, knows why or how the number 420 became linked to pot smoking. There are a few old tales which describe how this national holiday, and that special time of the day, became so iconic. Here's everything we know about how 4/20 became more than a mid-April day. You know who does know a thing or two about this? Larry "Ratso" Sloman, author of Reefer Madness: A History of Marijuana. The most accepted root of the high holiday starts with some high school kids in San Rafael, California, back in 1971. [Read More](   [The Esquire Home Awards, 2023]( [The Esquire Home Awards, 2023]( The mattresses we sleep on, the BBQs we grill on, the pans we cook in, and everything in between—shop 71 winning products we actually own. [Read More]( [Why Did Frank Ocean Pull Out of Coachella?]( [Why Did Frank Ocean Pull Out of Coachella?]( If you were on the festival grounds this Sunday night, you'd feel like Ocean's reason for exiting—a leg injury—may not be the full story. [Read More](     [The HOKA Transport Is My Do Everything Sneaker]( [The HOKA Transport Is My Do Everything Sneaker]( A sneaker that supports your lifestyle in more than one environment—that's a rare find. A find I couldn't find. I needed a solid pair that could do both the outdoors and the city. Maybe I'm on a trail run, maybe I'm stomping through puddles en route to the corner store in Brooklyn, maybe I've gone camping and just don't want to wear a full boot. Initially, I thought about the Salomon XT-6—a shoe we love in it's own right—but do I really want to be an XT-6 guy right now? Not really. Do I need to spend $220 on HOKA Kaha's that I won't use off the trails? No. So, I dug myself into a sneaker-less hole, looking for some affordable-ish Vibram soles to climb out in more than one way. Turns out, HOKA had me covered after all. The brand just dropped the Transport and covers all the bases. [Read More](   [The Mandalorian Season 3 Finale Pulled Punches]( [The Mandalorian Season 3 Finale Pulled Punches]( This uneven entry in the Star Wars canon tied its story up neatly, bow on top. [Read More]( [Pedro Pascal's Sneakers Blend Old-School Cool With Modern Sustainability]( [Pedro Pascal's Sneakers Blend Old-School Cool With Modern Sustainability]( Of course the coolest guy on television has cool shoes, too. [Read More](     [How Weed Strains Get Their (Amusing, Provocative, Downright Wacky) Names]( [How Weed Strains Get Their (Amusing, Provocative, Downright Wacky) Names]( The question of who names my weed has actually been banging around in my head since sometime late in 1978, when I was on the far side of 13 and my bar mitzvah money was burning a hole in my OP shorts. I’d managed to score a small bag of Maui Waui, and as a friend and I passed an anorexic doobie back and forth behind the Texaco tires, we ended up repeating the words Maui Waui Maui Waui—a name full of rhyme and promise—again and again until they became nothing more than strange sounds in our mouths. I never wondered about who grew my weed or even how it made its way to Danny’s older brother. I wondered who named it. I decided to find out. And what I learned from talking to folks up and down the weed chain—rock-star breeders and farmers, boutique retailers and publically traded cannabis corporations, a marketing exec who moved from Coca-Cola to cannabis—is not only who concocts these catchy names and how that concoction happens, but that legalization is quickly changing much about how naming will look in the future. [Read More](   [One Kettlebell. 20 Minutes. Total Body Burn. Learn More.]( Follow Us [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Notice/Notice at Collection]( esquire.com ©2023 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Magazines, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019