At an industrial-chic concrete bar, a gleaming La Marzocco machine cranks out perfect espressos. John Chamberlain lithographs hang from textured cork walls, and custom fixtures cast a warm glow over small, sleek tables of Italian Calacatta Cielo marble. Oh, and there’s a $300 bong for sale, along with a $445 cannabis humidor.
Welcome to Tokyo Smoke, the world’s most haute head shop. Opened July 20 on Toronto’s ultra-hip Queen Street West, it’s the new flagship of a retailer as dedicated to great design as a good toke. Think, Muji, but for marijuana.
“It’s about normalization,” Josh Lyon, the brand’s head of marketing, told Condé Nast Traveler at Tokyo Smoke’s opening bash. “You can now have a cannabis lifestyle brand that’s like your favorite fashion brand.”
Alan Gertner, the former Google Asia exec who co-founded Tokyo Smoke with his serial-investor father, agreed. “A tremendous number of people who consume cannabis are not defined by that use. So, Tokyo Smoke is not defined by it either,” says Gertner, a cannabis consumer himself. “Our store stands out because it’s beautiful, not because it’s cannabis-adjacent.”
“Our goal was an elegant, elevated environment where people can hang out whether they’re into cannabis or not,” says Anwar Mekhayech, a DesignAgency principal. “The space is almost a blank canvas for the merchandise.”
That merch appeals to a sense of style as much as a craving for weed. Fellow Products’ gorgeous pour-over kettles are designed to build a buzz by brewing better coffee. Toronto’s Pilot Coffee provides Tokyo Smoke custom-roasted beans. Levo’s compact, burnished oil infusers—picture top-end espresso makers—also make great kitchen appliances.
Both smell-proof and childproof, butter-soft Italian leather purses from Seattle’s Van der Pop sell as elegant stash conveyors. Lustrous black candles from Toronto artisan Brennan Michael, a store exclusive, convey signature “cannabis experiences” in scents like Go, Relax, and Balance—the last said to smell of “cut grass and spearmint”.