Travel

Toronto Is Making a Play to Become North America's Cannabis Capital

The Canadian city is positioned to become the Denver of the Great White North.

Emily Carpenter/Thrillist
Emily Carpenter/Thrillist
Emily Carpenter/Thrillist

Author’s Note: A lot has changed since this story was first reported in early 2020. (Don’t worry, weed is still legal in Canada!) Unfortunately, the experiences component of Toronto’s cannabis industry has taken a major hit due to the pandemic, and at least two of the businesses mentioned in this story-Vapor Central and Underground Cafe 420-have closed permanently. When the dust settles, we’re sure cannabis experiences like cooking classes, supper clubs, festivals, and comedy clubs will return. In the meantime, check out this guide for best dispensaries, munchie-busting restaurants, and the lowdown on all things cannabis in Toronto.On October 17, 2018, Canadians from coast to coast fired up comically large joints to celebrate becoming only the second nation to legalize recreational cannabis. 

Many assumed Canada would quickly become one great-big version of Denver. But things didn’t quite pan out that way. Edibles and oils were still illegal. Smoking lounges, too. A small number of dispensaries couldn’t keep up with demand, and the supply ran dry within days. Most people went back to their old-school dealers.

So when I returned to my native Canada and relocated to Toronto after traveling the world last year, I braced for disappointment. Upon arrival, I discovered Toronto’s cannabis culture isn’t at all what I expected: It’s great. 

In Toronto, I can walk down the street and see people merrily smoking joints without fear of consequence. I suddenly have more cannabis flower and edibles than I know what to do with. Every weekend (before the COVID-19 pandemic) featured an abundance of cannabis-related events, from festivals to THC-infused dinner parties. A dozen authorized dispensaries (and a few unauthorized ones) operate downtown, with most adopting delivery and pickup options to keep spirits up amid the pandemic. On good-weather days during more normal times, Trinity Bellwoods Park and the aptly named High Park are flooded with enlightened locals basking in nature, tossing discs, and digging into global cuisine. Cannabis has woven itself into the city’s everyday DNA. 

“I think Toronto is really the epicentre of modern cannabis culture,” said Paul Weaver, an American immigrant and head of innovation at Canopy Growth, Canada’s largest cannabis company. “It takes the best of (British Columbia) cannabis, takes the best of urban nightlife, and puts the two together.”I met Weaver over drinks and joint-rolling lessons at the opening of a new Tokyo Smoke dispensary in February. There, he decreed Toronto might be the best place in the world to get high, thanks to the combination of incredible food, world-class arts and culture, easy explorability, and a community of people pushing the cannabis lifestyle forward. 

“In Toronto there’s a lot of very smart entrepreneurs that are very passionate about cannabis that have a lot of people willing to buy into that passion,” Weaver said.

Stepping out into the city, it’s easy to buy into this narrative. 

Shawn Goldberg/Shutterstock
Shawn Goldberg/Shutterstock
Shawn Goldberg/Shutterstock

“You bring some cannabis?” called out a man in chef’s clothing. I had just showed up at Cannabis Cooking Company, a few weeks before the pandemic brought the world to a standstill. The nondescript unit in a downtown office building facing the CN Tower caused some confusion. The question assured I had found the right place. 

“Yeah, I got some,” I responded, still in disbelief that I’m legally allowed to say that. 

Over the next three hours, executive chef Brent Leitch and company co-founder Josh Tuck taught eight twenty-somethings different methods of making THC-laced oil and explained how cannabis can infuse with fat, alcohol, sugar, and vinegar. 
“Tell me any dish. I’ll tell you a way that you can infuse it and make it delicious,” said Leitch, a veteran of Toronto’s culinary world who formerly worked in a Michelin-starred restaurant in Sicily. Cannabis Cooking Company is among a handful of food-centric classes around Toronto. At this point, THC-infused restaurants are forbidden; current laws say you can’t serve cannabis in food unless guests bring it themselves or if it’s a private event. One such event is the ByMinistry upscale supper club, where five-course dinners go for $100 to $150 a pop. Another involves cannabis-infused pancakes and curated Saturday morning cartoons in a mystery host’s living room (check Artery to see when that event is happening). 

Tuck believes rules will be relaxed soon, opening the path to lounges and restaurants in Toronto. Until then, the company wants to destigmatize cannabis for anyone who’s still on the fence. So far, clientele at Cannabis Cooking has ranged from young enthusiasts to an octogenarian trying cannabis for the first time.

“We think if we can educate you on how to dose it and consume responsibly, we can make it normal. That’s our goal,” Leitch said.

Cannabis Cooking Company
Cannabis Cooking Company
Cannabis Cooking Company

Legalization might be broadening horizons, but it’s also caused some old-school stalwarts to adjust. From 2006 to legalization, Underground Cafe 420 was the place for getting high in Toronto because, for some unknown and ultra-chill Canadian reason, it never got shut down by the police. It was a new law prohibiting smoking indoors-designed to curb cigarette smoking-that forced the comedy club to cease being a de facto hotbox. 

While owner Joanne “Puff Mama” Baker now sends her clientele outside to smoke, she said her iconic club’s cannabis-themed acts are as popular as ever. Last year, she said, a fire chief even stuck around for the show. “We’re just sort of 420 friendly,” said Baker. “We’re not allowed to smoke inside anymore.”

The smoking ban has caused other underground favorites to pivot. Kensington Market’s HotBox Cafe is currently remodeling after years of indoor smoking, while Oasis Aqualounge, a water-themed sex club in a 19th-century mansion, has adopted a “cannabis friendly” policy while banning indoor vaping and smoking. But one location has skirted the issue to allow legal indoor smoking, and it might just represent a glimpse into Toronto’s future dominance of the cannabis world. 

Vapor Central
Vapor Central
Vapor Central

I walked up the stairs of the dingy vape lounge for a comedy night and the smell of smoke immediately pummelled my nostrils. Vapor Central is the only place in Toronto where you can currently smoke inside. Entering requires a $10 cover and the completion of a questionnaire, but once inside, it’s as if you’ve entered cannabis Shangri-La. Smokers casually sit around rolling joints, inhaling from the smoke-filled bag of a volcano vape machine and ripping bongs with aplomb. 

How is this legal in a city where lounges have yet to become the norm? A clever loophole: Vapor Central lists itself as a scientific research facility.

“We don’t want to be a research lounge,” admitted manager Anthony Carnevale. “We want to be selling weed behind the counter.”

Carnevale said the lounge-which hosts live music, guided painting, “stoner bingo” and comedy nights-attracts everyone from students working on their laptops to professionals stopping in for a dab to tourists looking for somewhere to smoke their store-bought cannabis, since it’s illegal to do so inside their hotel rooms. 

“When they walk in the door it’s like ‘how is this possible?'” he said. “They just want to have a fun day in Toronto without the hangover.” When I asked Carnevale to compare Toronto’s cannabis scene with the ones in other Canadian cities like Vancouver or Montreal, he echoed what I’d heard from Weaver at the Tokyo Smoke event: Toronto is the best because of the sheer amount of things to do while indulging, including theatres and museums, major league sports teams (including the reigning NBA champs), and great restaurants.

Vape Central might just be a window into Toronto’s future cannabis evolution. Ontario launched public consultations in February to gauge whether it should allow cannabis consumption in lounges, restaurants and cafes. If that goes through, there’s a strong chance that Toronto will become North America’s greatest destination for cannabis culture, if not the world’s.
 
“We’re not quite in the golden age, but we’re right at the precipice,” said Weaver.Want more Thrillist? Follow us on InstagramTwitterPinterestYouTubeTikTok, and Snapchat!

Joel Balsam is a contributor for Thrillist. 

Travel

Ditch your Phone for ‘Dome Life’ in this Pastoral Paradise Outside Port Macquarie 

A responsible, sustainable travel choice for escaping big city life for a few days.

nature domes port macquarie
Photo: Nature Domes

The urge to get as far away as possible from the incessant noise and pressures of ‘big city life’ has witnessed increasingly more of us turn to off-grid adventures for our holidays: Booking.com polled travellers at the start of 2023 and 55% of us wanted to spend our holidays ‘off-grid’.  Achieving total disconnection from the unyielding demands of our digitised lives via some kind of off-grid nature time—soft or adventurous—is positioned not only as a holiday but, indeed, a necessity for our mental health. 

Tom’s Creek Nature Domes, an accommodation collection of geodesic domes dotted across a lush rural property in Greater Port Macquarie (a few hours’ drive from Sydney, NSW), offers a travel experience that is truly ‘off-grid’. In the figurative ‘wellness travel’ sense of the word, and literally, they run on their own independent power supply—bolstered by solar—and rely not on the town grid. 

Ten minutes before you arrive at the gates for a stay at Tom’s Creek Nature Domes, your phone goes into ‘SOS ONLY’. Apple Maps gives up, and you’re pushed out of your comfort zone, driving down unsealed roads in the dark, dodging dozens of dozing cows. Then, you must ditch your car altogether and hoist yourself into an open-air, all-terrain 4WD with gargantuan wheels. It’s great fun being driven through muddy gullies in this buggy; you feel like Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park.  As your buggy pulls in front of your personal Nature Dome, it’s not far off that “Welcome…to Jurassic Park” jaw-dropping moment—your futuristic-looking home is completely engulfed by thriving native bushland; beyond the outdoor campfire lie expansive hills and valleys of green farmland, dotted with sheep and trees. You’re almost waiting to see a roaming brachiosaurus glide past, munching on a towering gum tree…instead, a few inquisitive llamas trot past your Dome to check out their new visitor. 

To fully capture the awe of inhabiting a geodesic dome for a few days, a little history of these futuristic-looking spherical structures helps. Consisting of interlocking triangular skeletal struts supported by (often transparent) light walls, geodesic domes were developed in the 20th century by American engineer and architect R. Buckminster Fuller, and were used for arenas. Smaller incarnations have evolved into a ‘future-proof’ form of modern housing: domes are able to withstand harsh elements due to the stability provided by the durable materials of their construction and their large surface area to volume ratio (which helps minimize wind impact and prevents the structure from collapsing). As housing, they’re also hugely energy efficient – their curved shape helps to conserve heat and reduce energy costs, making them less susceptible to temperature changes outside. The ample light let in by their panels further reduces the need for artificial power. 

Due to their low environmental impact, they’re an ideal sustainable travel choice. Of course, Tom’s Creek Nature Domes’ owner-operators, Cardia and Lee Forsyth, know all this, which is why they have set up their one-of-a-kind Nature Domes experience for the modern traveller. It’s also no surprise to learn that owner Lee is an electrical engineer—experienced in renewable energy—and that he designed the whole set-up. As well as the off-grid power supply, rainwater tanks are used, and the outdoor hot tub is heated by a wood fire—your campfire heats up your tub water via a large metal coil. Like most places in regional Australia, the nights get cold – but rather than blast a heater, the Domes provide you with hot water bottles, warm blankets, lush robes and heavy curtains to ward off the chill.

nature domes port macquarie
Photo: Nature Domes

You’ll need to be self-sufficient during your stay at the Domes, bringing your own food. Support local businesses and stock up in the town of Wauchope on your drive-in (and grab some pastries and coffee at Baked Culture while you’re at it). There’s a stovetop, fridge (stocked as per a mini bar), BBQs, lanterns and mozzie coils, and you can even order DIY S’More packs for fireside fun. The interiors of the Domes have a cosy, stylish fit-out, with a modern bathroom (and a proper flushing toilet—none of that drop bush toilet stuff). As there’s no mobile reception, pack a good book or make the most of treasures that lie waiting to be discovered at every turn: a bed chest full of board games, a cupboard crammed with retro DVDs, a stargazing telescope (the skies are ablaze come night time). Many of these activities are ideal for couples, but there’s plenty on offer for solo travellers, such as yoga mats, locally-made face masks and bath bombs for hot tub soaks. 

It’s these thoughtful human touches that reinforce the benefit of making a responsible travel choice by booking local and giving your money to a tourism operator in the Greater Port Macquarie Region, such as Tom’s Creek Nature Domes. The owners are still working on the property following the setbacks of COVID-19, and flooding in the region —a new series of Domes designed with families and groups in mind is under construction, along with an open-air, barn-style dining hall and garden stage. Once ready, the venue will be ideal for wedding celebrations, with wedding parties able to book out the property. They’ve already got one couple—who honeymooned at the Domes—ready and waiting. Just need to train up the llamas for ring-bearer duties! 

An abundance of favourite moments come to mind from my two-night stay at Tom’s Creek: sipping champagne and gourmet picnicking at the top of a hill on a giant swing under a tree, with a bird’s eye view of the entire property (the ‘Mountain Top picnic’ is a must-do activity add on during your stay), lying on a deckchair at night wrapped in a blanket gazing up at starry constellations and eating hot melted marshmallows, to revelling in the joys of travellers before me, scrawled on notes in a jar of wishes left by the telescope (you’re encouraged to write your own to add to the jar). But I’ll leave you with a gratitude journal entry I made while staying there. I will preface this by saying that I don’t actually keep a gratitude journal, but Tom’s Creek Nature Domes is just the kind of place that makes you want to start one. And so, waking up on my second morning at Tom’s —lacking any 4G bars to facilitate my bad habit of a morning Instagram scroll—I finally opened up a notebook and made my first journal entry:

‘I am grateful to wake up after a deep sleep and breathe in the biggest breaths of this clean air, purified by nature and scented with eucalyptus and rain. I am grateful for this steaming hot coffee brewed on a fire. I feel accomplished at having made myself. I am grateful for the skittish sheep that made me laugh as I enjoyed a long nature walk at dawn and the animated billy goats and friendly llamas overlooking my shoulder as I write this: agreeable company for any solo traveller. I’m grateful for total peace, absolute stillness.” 

Off-grid holiday status: unlocked.

Where: Tom’s Creek Nature Domes, Port Macquarie, 2001 Toms Creek Rd
Price: $450 per night, book at the Natura Domes website.

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