How Whoopi Goldberg Fell in Love with Her Vape Pen: A True Story
Whoopi Goldberg is a woman of many talents; she's an actress, comedian, daytime talk show host, exercise video instructor, and a number of other things, too. Now she can add "weed columnist" to her already extensive resume.
The View co-host made her debut in The Cannabist, the Denver Post's spin-off dedicated weed site, on Thursday morning with a loving column dedicated to "Sippy," her reliable vape pen. (Vaping: not just for teens.) No, Whoopi does not just wander around the streets of LA and New York, casually smoking weed because weed is cool and fun and rebellious, just like Whoopi. She is an adult, with real medical concerns. Whoopi loves her vape pen because of "her ability to help me live comfortably with glaucoma makes her one of the more important figures in my day to day," she writes. "And yes, I named her Sippy because I take tiny, little sips — sassy sips, even — from her. And with each sip comes relief — from pressure, pain, stress, discomfort," she adds later. Sassy sips! Oh, Whoopi.
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Whoopi has a real medical condition that causes pain that her vape pen helps alleviate. The story behind how this love blossomed is unusual, though, to say the least. She was not smoking with Snoop Dogg one night, who has his own line of vape pens, trading tips and exhaling tricks. Whoopi's daughter first introduced her to vaping about two years ago, but it was not love at first sight:
“I think I have something you might like,” my daughter said after I told her about my difficulty with the joint. Four days later, she showed up and brought me this giant thing in a box. It had a big tube and a sturdy base and it was fairly large, and as soon as I saw it I knew I couldn’t do whatever it required of me.
“It’s a vaporizer,” my daughter told me. But I knew it was too much. She said, “Here, you can slowly inhale as much as you want. And it’s vapor, not smoke.” When she was with me on the East Coast, I knew I could work that desktop vaporizer. But as soon as she left it was too complicated.
Seven weeks later my daughter was saying it again: “I think I have something you might like.” She was coming back, and I said, “No way.” She said, “Just take a sip.” And that’s what I did.
I took a sip. It was beautiful. And my pen and I have been together ever since.
Awww, true love always makes me weep a little, no matter the time of day. Whoopi is now an unapologetic vape pen advocate, who has a particular taste in instrument ("I like the simple pens with cartridges of THC oil because, if you’re not a smoker or you can't inhale deeply, it’s a wonderful way of ingesting cannabis") and influence ("the indica-dominant Platinum OG, of course"). Goldberg will write a new column every two months about a topic of her choosing, according to the Poynter Institute.
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But do not get the wrong idea: Whoopi does not go around sipping on her vape pen all day, high as the dickens for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. "If my headache is just starting, I know a short sip will take care of it," she says. Vape pens work best for her because popular weed strains are too strong. And no, she is not high when taping The View. "I have a day job where I need to be clear," Goldberg says, "But if I need it after the show, she’s there. And if I don’t feel any pain, she stays in my purse."
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2014/04/how-whoopi-goldberg-fell-in-love-with-her-vape-pen-a-true-story/360816/
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