10 Things You May Not Know About 420

These days it seems you can’t go anywhere without seeing or hearing some reference to “420”. Be it in music, TV, film, and everywhere in between, the viral via word-of-mouth, a colloquial phrase once limited to those in the counterculture know has become downright ubiquitous in modern-day popular culture.

However, several decades on since its purported first usage its lineage remains, shall we say, a bit more nebulous.

While we’ll safely assume most of you here may be familiar with said reference; whether known as that perfect time of day to vape your favorite concentrates or essential oils, or the corresponding annual holiday, you may not be acquainted with its origins or some other quite interesting, tangentially related factoids related to this magical numerical arrangement.

Well, today being that very hallowed 20th day of the good month of April, we here at Dr. Dabber felt compelled to dig into the origins of 4/20, and get to the roots of the matter, as it were. So, ladies and gents, break out your vaporizer pens and eRigs, post up on the couch or pull up a chair as we prepare to let you in on 10 things you may not know about 4:20.

Dr. Dabber 420 “Family Bundle”

1. This one goes first, because it falls squarely in the category of what this article says it’s about: “things you may not know about 420”. Just in time for the holiday and for a very limited time, we’re stoked to be able to offer our “Family Bundle” for $420, which includes the complete Dr. Dabber line-up!

You’ll get our 4 award-winning vaporizers with glass attachments and accessories. This includes the following Dr. Dabber products: Boost eRig, Aurora, Ghost, Dabber Light, Budder Cutter, Boost Mini Ball attachment, Percolator attachment, Aurora Atomizer caps, Aurora Magnet to 510 attachment and Aurora Globe attachment.

The Waldos

2. Some years back, the Huffington Post conducted a pretty deep dive on the beginnings of the 420 phenomenon. And, as it turns out, like many aspects of the popularization of cannabis culture in America, the road leads us to The Dead. The Grateful Dead, that is.

While it didn’t exactly start with the band, themselves, the phrase got its foothold in the Marin County, California area in the early 1970s. A group of high-school buddies from San Rafael, nicknamed the “Waldos,” because they would hang out by a wall on the edge of the school grounds, had ties to the band. Legend has it that they would meet up outside the school, in front of a statue of famed scientist, Louis Pasteur, at precisely 4:20 to go in search of a mythical plot of crops somewhere in Point Reyes, California

Can We Kick It?

3. While we can’t get an official confirmation on this one, the Internet has deemed 4/20 to be “Kickball Day”. And, hey, who are we to argue with the Internet. Besides, who doesn’t love the adult version of every kid’s favorite elementary school game? The feels you got when you booted one that caught some air under it and sailed over the outfielder’s head… yeah, we’re down.

High Tea Jaguar

4. Afternoon tea, high tea, it all sounds so posh. That being the case, it just doesn’t seem right to show up to any event with tea in a hoopty. When it comes to our list, we just couldn’t bare to leave our British friends out of the festivities. Enter the beautifully styled, Jaguar 420. Produced from 1966-1969, it was the forerunner to the XJ6 and a “compact sporting saloon”. In this case, the saloon wasn’t a bar on wheels, but what the Brits commonly call a sedan

Freshly Picked Footwear

5.) Sneakerheads, like many other heads, have also seen some interesting 420-inspired designs coming their way for a while now. In fact, one needn’t look too far beyond the Swoosh’s Cheech and Chong “Chopped & Burned” Dunk, the Skunk Dunk, and more recently, Adidas’ all-hemp Stan Smith collaboration with BAIT. Oh, and we can’t leave out New Balance, of course, with the classic 70s retro silhouette of the NB 420.

Mile Marker 419.99

6.) Okay, so Interstate 70 in Colorado used to have a mile marker 420 sign. Until it went missing. And then it went missing, again. It went AWOL so many times that the CDOT finally replaced it with something they thought might be a little less coveted by enthusiasts: mile marker 419.99. We can only imagine the tales future 420 sign-pilfering grandfathers of Colorado will tell their grandkids when passing down these relics to them someday.

To Boldly Go

7.) Original Star Trek cast member, frequent Howard Stern guest and “believer in, and a fighter for, the equality and dignity of all human beings,” Mr. George Takei celebrates his 80th birthday this 4/20. An activist on many fronts, Mr. Sulu recently beamed some interesting videos to his Twitter account, which we quite liked.

You Can’t Get There From Here, Man

8.) Interstate 420 almost happened, twice. Almost. In two different states, decades apart. But then it (they) didn’t. Both Georgia and Louisiana planned stretches of highway to be deemed I-420, but both were canceled for a variety of reasons.

Aloha, Mr. Hand!

9.) In what is perhaps one of the single greatest acting performances of all time, Sean Penn portrayed the prototypical SoCal surf stoner of the early 1980s to a tee. His name, Jeff Spicoli. And, while Mr. Spicoli made no bones about his enthusiasm for the herb, director Cameron Crowe also managed to get a subtle, early pop-culture reference to 420 in during the film’s football game scene.

The Chillaco Cometh on 4/20

10.) Thank you, Ben & Jerry. If ever a mortal could have imagined or hoped for one of the most brilliant foodstuffs created in the history of mankind, it might just have to be the Chillaco. And that is not mere hyperbole. We’re talking ice cream tacos with waffle cone shells here, folks. Starting today for a limited time at all Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops you can get five different flavor combinations of goodness -- but hurry up, before they’re gone in a “puff of smoke.”

Image crerdits: sfevergreen,mic, daysoftheyear, classicshowcase, bait, flightclub, fvckesco, sneakersmagazine, redbubble, multivu, washingtonpost