Boy howdy, do people love to vape.
Vaping – far more complex than rolling leaves into papers and requiring sophisticated technology – is quickly becoming more popular than analog smoking. So it’s no surprise that an artist like The Weeknd (aka Abel Tesfaye), who resides in shadowy secrecy on the cutting edge of his genre (“dark condo drug pop”), would do a slick collab with PAX Labs, Inc., a “leading vaporization company” out of San Francisco.
The result of the aforementioned team-up is The Madness Tour Limited Edition PAX 2 which, to be honest, looks like a pretty snazzy way to smoke “loose leaves.” It also plays The Hills (a hit Weeknd song), lights up with yellow LEDs and has the Toronto pop star’s XO logo on it. It will be sold on his current tour for $429.99 (or $324.99 USD).
Of the people who braved the beautiful weather Wednesday night, a lucky 50 were able to purchase their own The Madness Tour Limited Edition PAX 2 at Queen Street menswear boutique Nomad. Prospective buyers were ushered in to the fresh-looking, hardwood-floored shop, where free lemonade-type boozy drinks were poured, and men walked around with tuna sashimi mini-tacos and hors d’oeuvres containing long, skinny mushrooms. DJs played loud hip-hop and R&B from a set-up in front of a white door which, it was whispered, Tesfaye was behind.
A couple hours standing around eating puff pastry mushrooms paid off, and security took away everyone’s cameras and told people not to use their phones when the guest of honour appeared. Tesfaye, they said, would vanish at the sight of a camera. The crowd (well, most of the crowd) diligently sheathed any recording devices on their persons. The Weeknd was ready to sign some vapes.
He appeared quickly, surrounded by security guards and was led to his special place behind the vapes, signing each and every one. Then he went to the front of the store for a couple minutes. What was happening the whole time is iffy, as there were very tall people crowding around, but it seemed as though he simply signed the vapes and smiled and looked at some clothes. There was a special film crew recording the historic launch (tour DVD, maybe?). Then, security circling him once again, he was escorted to the back of the store and behind the white door, disappearing like a puff of (vape) smoke.
Though Tesfaye’s magical, silent presence graced us only briefly, the cool crowd jam-packed into Nomad indicated that kids are into the vaping craze and it’s probably here to stay. On the PAX webpage for the The Weeknd vape, an interactive digital model appears to show what looks like tobacco leaves going into the vape, but tobacco smoking seems like an odd thing for a celebrity to get behind in 2015.
Maybe The Weeknd has a special type of loose leaves ordered from mysterious artisans? But unless he decides to talk to the Canadian press, we may never know what’s in Tesfaye’s vape.
music@nowtoronto.com | @MattGeeWilliams
