Noah Rubin, editor of Snoop Dogg's smash cookbook From Crook to Cook and former editor in chief of Snoop's Merry Jane platform recently released his book, How We Roll: The Art and Culture of Joints, Blunts, and Spliffs.
Released by Chronicle Books, How We Roll features commentary from connoisseurs like Wiz Khalifa, Dawn Richard, Wayne Coyne, and Tommy Chong. Readers can learn the tricks of the trade from illustrated instructions and start with newbie basics like the classic joint, later working their way up the ladder to The Scorpion, The Braid, The Holy Cross, The Tulip, and other unique intermediate rolling designs. And you’ll learn that not every blunt is the same. Or learn how to grind cannabis without a grinder, using basic household items or appliances.
Author Noah Rubin.
“I think it's a book that is for everyone,” says Rubin. “I think that there's stuff for the experts, there's stuff for the beginners, there's stuff for even people that aren’t interested in cannabis. I'm trying to bring something entertaining, something educational, something pragmatic, something historical, and a little bit of each with plenty of humor thrown in. So I really do feel like whoever picks it up is going to get a little bit of something just for them.
Snoop’s cookbook From Crook to Cook returned to the Amazon bestseller list after his performance at the Super Bowl last February. Rubin hopes to zero in on that success once more with a book covering smoker culture.
Rubin’s career evolved over a few different phases, between music and editorial work. Before Merry Jane, Rubin served as editor in chief of Nas's media platform Mass Appeal. He has an extensive music background with credits including Grammy-winning A&R work for Flume and production on two critically-acclaimed albums for Wu-Tang Clan. He is also the former VP of Music at Decon Records, now Mass Appeal Records, home to artists like Run the Jewels, Pusha T, and the Hood Internet.
As a teenager, playing in a punk bands in the basement led to Rubin’s growth in the underground music scene as a writer. That took him to New York where he continued on that trajectory, being involved in magazines, interning at record labels, and playing in bands.
How We Roll: The Art and Culture of Joints, Blunts, and Spliffs by Noah Rubin.
“Out of college, I started working for a magazine called Mass Appeal doing editorial for them,” he says. “And then that led to a lot of different doors opening. I started interviewing big record producers for a magazine called Scratch, kind of breaking ground, in that realm. And then really deciding I wanted to focus on music production.”
“I ended up producing two Wu-Tang albums at that point, through a record label that I was working for,” Rubin says. “And that was an incredible, incredible experience to work with Rza and make those albums. And then that led to me becoming part of a record label that at that time, was called Decon. And we were in the process of putting out Pusha T's first solo album, and then sort of coincidentally, an old friend, Sacha Jenkins, the film director, became a partner in that company.”
Decon then acquired the rights to Mass Appeal, rebranded the record label, and relaunched the magazine with a film production arm. Rubin's career path eventually took him to California where he ended up working with Snoop extensively.
“I helped put together this cookbook for Snoop, which was called From Crook to Cook, and I had developed a relationship with this publisher,” Rubin says. “And I kind of came in with the role as an editor. So I put together the writing team, I put together the design team, I put together a photographer, I helped kind of make it all happen, I helped put the deal together. And it went really well. And people love the book. And then the publisher approached me about doing my own book. And simultaneously, I had been hosting a show on Snoop’s platform, and I'd been doing a lot of interviews with different musicians and artists from all around the world.”
The idea for the book came about in part by learning about new joint rolling methods and other nuggets of information previously unknown to typical smokers. Rubin learned new maneuvers from people from all around the world, including some tricks from rapper Rico Nasty, who introduced him to “sheets and funnels,” a rolling technique that involves mixing papers, tobacco, and cannabis. Rubin realized he need to put together something with instructions, and regional and anthropological information as well as some humor to bring this topic to life. In the book, you’ll also find a tribute to Cheech & Chong’s Big Bambu featuring the preferred rolling paper’s on the album cover.
The book was illustrated by Tasia Prince. “When it came to illustrating it, Tasia, did such a wonderful job," says Rubin. “In New York, when I was doing Mass Appeal magazine, she had been an intern there, and she would always come with some artwork that I felt was really interesting. And it ended up just being a great fit for the book...I'm really appreciative of her contribution.”
Begin the book by starting at the beginning and roll the first few joints, then work your way up incrementally to more advanced joints. By the end of the book, you’ll master The Scorpion or The Tulip.
Biden’s recent pivotal announcement to pardon some low-level federal cannabis charges makes it a prescient time to release a book on cannabis culture.
“We're getting to the point where the president is now saying we're going to deschedule, cannabis is about to become a much bigger part of our lives,” Rubin says. “And so even though there are many, many great cannabis books that have already been written, I still think there's many, many more ways for this plant to be discussed and shared and thought about. And I hope that this book helps more people open their minds to it and enjoy the experience, not only of learning, but also consuming it.”
Urban Outfitters decided to stock the book, which is significant, given the retailer’s great retail infrastructure, with over 500 stores across the country. It’s also available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.
“On the first weekend of November, I'm going to be doing a three-day event in New York City at Morgenstern’s Ice Cream in Manhattan in partnership with cannabis creative agency Weedfeed,” Rubin says.“And we're going to be trying to bring the book to life with a series of joint rolling and blunt rolling classes with special ice cream sundae flights that help you learn about the different regions that I explore in the book that I feel are significant to the development of joint rolling history. There's going to be all kinds of things for every person to enjoy at the event in New York. And I think that it'll be a great way for people to enter the world of the book and understand the history and the weed and all these things in a really, really three dimensional way.”
