San Francisco’s leading artist Jeremy Fish has a lot of career highlights: first artist in residence at San Francisco City Hall; maker of the largest crowdfunded bronze sculpture in California.
Now, Fish adds another feather to his cap — elite cannabis product designer.
This week, Jeremy Fish and leading Bay Area cannabis manufacturer AbsoluteXtracts release what’s destined to be hottest Bay Area summer pot product for art aficionados: ‘Fish Tanks’ — a $100, signature Jeremy Fish handheld portable vaporizer, complete with: custom leather pouch; custom battery base; and tiny, pre-filled tank of extremely potent cannabis oil called Tangie made to the artist’s specifications. Fish Tanks will start appearing this week at finer Bay Area cannabis dispensaries; prices subject to change.
Vaporizers are the leading alternative to marijuana smoking. They’re a class of electrical devices that gently heat cannabis or pot extract and emit a cool vapor, instead of burning pot and making smoke. Pen-sized vaporizers called vape pens are the e-cigarettes of the weed world; super-discrete, portable, and available in hundreds of different cannabis flavors and strengths.
You can purchase a Fish Tank a number of ways: the cheapest is the Tangie cartridge alone ($60 list price), or with the battery as a set ($70). The super deluxe collector set comes in a wooden book-shaped box and includes a limited edition leather fish pouch made by Al’s Attire in North Beach. Just 500 units have been made and will be available in August.
Born Jeremy Dan Fish, the 43 year-old North Beach resident said he’s been a lifelong cannabis fan who in the ’90’s helped legendary activist Dennis Peron gather signatures to include medical marijuana on the ballot. In the 2000’s, Fish became the artist and designer for the most high-end cannabis dispensary in the world at that time, The Vapor Room on Haight St.
“I am a fan, an aficionado of sorts, and I have had my medical cannabis card since the first year they were allowed in California as a result of Mr. Peron’s efforts,” Fish said in a email interview. “When and if I run out of cannabis, it’s a total downer.”
Vape pens helped Fish stay off pot products that create carcinogens, like smoking joints or pipe bowls. He had to make the switch from smoking to vaping after a brain aneurysm.
“Vaporizing and edibles helped make quitting carcinogenics much easier,” he stated.
A mutual friend introduced Fish and CannaCraft — the parent company behind AbsoluteXtracts. “I am a heavy marijuana enthusiast, and I like the products this brand makes,” he said.
The team worked for over a year to “make the product truly premium,” he said. “Not just in artwork, packaging and design, but that truly premium meant it had to have higher [potency] than its competitors. The folks at AbsoluteXtracts met my expectations, and delivered a superior product as requested.”
Fish chose the cannabis varietal Tangie as the source of cannabis oil in the vaporizer cartridge because, “I like Tangie. I know farmers that grow it. [It] has a rad effervescent citrus thing going on.”
The Tangie oil is tested to be pesticide–free and well-over 90-percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active ingredient in cannabis, making for super-potent puffs not recommended for newbies. Vape pen oil usually ranges from 30 to 75 percent THC.
Fish said he expects more cannabis-friendly artists to embrace co-marketing. “I am sure it will become more of a trend in 2018, after it is recreationally legal here in the great state of California.”
And Fish continues making moves in August, where he will be an artist in residence atCoit Tower.
[Photos and videos courtesy of Colin M Day]