The invitation to the Hampton HotBox isn’t subtle: “420 friendly.” A $50 ticket will get you an appearance by Danit Sibs, which sounds like an anagram. Danit is a common name in Israel, a version of Danielle. She is the host of a popular interview show conducted under challenging circumstances, somewhat like the one where you eat hot peppers, or drink whiskey. In her case, the show is conducted while you both smoke pot. A lot of pot. And drink water.
Hampton HotBox is the June preview for a event in August, when Gary Bierfriend gathers investors in pot futures. That one is called The Hamptons Cannabis Expo. “The Hamptons Cannabis Expo,” now in its sixth year. Bierfriend says, “THC Expo, get it?”
Yes we do, Gary.
Let’s start with Friday, and the term “HotBox,” which means, among other things, smoking cannabis in an enclosed space. For old-timers think of Cheech and Chong in the movie “Up in Smoke.”
Their car was a hotbox.
But there will be no hotbox on Friday night, because, you know, laws. You can’t smoke indoors. A restaurant or bar in New York State may designate up to 25 percent of outdoor seating in areas that have no roof or ceiling (a garden, say) as smoking areas. Those must be at least three feet away from nonsmoking areas, and clearly designated with as smoking areas.
So where will the Hamptons HotBox be held? It’s at the bar and restaurant Main Prospect, which has a garden. “Outdoors, at the outdoor field,” Bierfriend says. “And if it rains, we’ll put up a giant tent.”
“Danit has been doing the Hotbox for the past five years and wanted to move it out to the Hamptons,” Bierfriend says. “And I expanded its curriculum to include live music, singing, food and beverages.”
So people can smoke weed during the show, which starts at 7 pm? “Yes, certainly,” he said, sounding a bit dumbfounded at my question. As if I were slow on the uptake.
At 10 pm, he said, the show has to move indoors. “Because it’s in Southampton,” he said. Meaning noise regulations.
That will stop the smoking, but it won’t stop the party, which still has another hour to go. “It’s at Main Prospect in Southampton, which is 40 minutes closer than East Hampton,” he said, assuming people would be coming from Manhattan. “And the Luxury Liner stops there, right across from the train station, Main Street and Our Lady of Southampton.”
The event in August will be at the same location, he said, still plugging. “That brings out all the movers and shakers in the industry. It’s at the peak part of the summer, more like a polo event. ”
Bierfriend, a lawyer, scoffs at events in corporate conference centers and boring hotels meant to bring together NFTs, psychedelics, fintech, cannabis, crypto, THC, and experimental technologies and sell them to investors, marketers, traders and entrepreneurs, who turn up hoping for swag bags and t-shirts.
“The people who go to those are not from the c-level suites who come to my show,” he said.
So there aren’t any The Hamptons Cannabis Expo t-shirts? I asked.
“My staff wears branded t-shirts,” he answered.
“Did I mention it’s at Main Prospect? Right across from the train station?”
Yes you did Gary.