We start this episode with Apple's new–and first–MagSafe accessory, the MagSafe Battery Pack. At $99, it's about twice as much as third-party options, but by dint of being an actual Apple product, it does more, and works more fluidly within Apple's ecosystem. We see upsides and downsides and discuss them all. Next, we talk about the new Hyundai Elantra N sport sedan–a 276-horsepower, manual transmission car aimed squarely at the small performance car market. Hyundai used to be a cheap, non-issue brand; I think because of this new car in particular the brand is now undeniably desirable. Lastly, Seth Rogen's weed and smoking accessory brand Houseplant released its latest product, a gorgeous glass gravity bong, the $190 Houseplant Gravity Glass. We talk about the product, but also the brand in general, and why it feels different from other celebrity-driven brands; namely, that it's not super corny.
Upsides and downsides of Apple's battery pack, Hyundai swings for the fences with the Elantra N, and Houseplant releases yet another amazing smoking accessory.
Episode Navigation:
02:00 – Apple MagSafe Battery Pack
15:32 – Hyundai Elantra N
27:22 – Houseplant Gravity Glass
Featured:
The iPhone 12 is a Great Smartphone with Even Greater Promise
The Best MagSafe Cases for Your iPhone 12
The Best MagSafe Accessories for the iPhone 12
Should You Buy Apple's MagSafe Battery Pack for Your iPhone 12?
Seth Rogen's Weed Brand Made a Gravity Bong
The 2021 Hyundai Elantra Is One of the Best Values in New Cars
The 2021 Hyundai Veloster N: A Hot Hatch for Extroverts Who Love a Good Deal
Nick Caruso:
This is the Gear Patrol podcast. In this episode, JD, Henry and I talk about the News. First, Apple's new and first MagSafe Accessory, the MagSafe Battery Pack. At 99 bucks, it's about twice as much as third-party options, but by dent of being an actual Apple product, it does more and works more fluidly within Apple's ecosystem. We see upsides and downsides and discuss them all.
Nick Caruso:
Next, we talk about the new Hyundai Elantra and Sports Sedan. A 276 horsepower manual transmission car aimed squarely at the small performance car market. Hyundai used to be a cheap non-issue brand, I think because of this new car in particular, the brand is now finally undeniably desirable. Lastly, Seth Rogen's Weed and Smoking Accessory Brand Houseplant released its latest product, a gorgeous glass gravity bomb called the Gravity Class.
Nick Caruso:
We talk about the product, but also the brand in general, and why it feels different from other celebrity driven brands, namely that it's not super corny. Thanks for listening. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast and leave us a five star review so we can keep finding more years. I'm Nick Caruso, and I'm glad you're here. Let's get started. JD and Henry the news, it never stops, that's what they say in the business. You guys ready to talk news, do a pod about the news?
Henry Phillips:
I love the news.
JD DiGiovanni:
Yeah, you know it.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah, you're news men, would you say? We should call this the Bullpen, whereas we're just screaming about news at each other all the time.
Henry Phillips:
That'd be great.
Nick Caruso:
That's good. Outdated newspaper term for everybody there. All right, well then let's talk about some recent product culture headlines starting with iPhone Battery Pack, Apple Battery Pack. This week, Apple released its first own MagSafe Accessories. Their first party accessory. There are plenty others from other makers, but it's a $99 battery pack called the MagSafe Battery Pack, and that's for the iPhone.
Nick Caruso:
It of course attaches magnetically to the back of the phone, automatically charges wirelessly, and Tucker Beau, our very own tech guru noted those other third party devices, there are others available that are similar to this for about half the price, but they don't do as much and may not work as seamlessly within Apple's ecosystem, as this does this kind of tradition with Apple's own devices.
Nick Caruso:
There's a lot of other stats we can get into. I don't need to drop those right up front, because I don't want to take your steam. Henry, I'm going go to you. But what are your impressions on this?
Henry Phillips:
You literally just took all my steam.
Nick Caruso:
No, there's so much more staff, give you more steam.
Henry Phillips:
You summed it up beautifully though, like-
Nick Caruso:
Bullpen.
Henry Phillips:
The bullpen, we should just be shouting over each other about magnetic charging and the virtues of walled gardens.
Nick Caruso:
Yes.
Henry Phillips:
But here we are.
Nick Caruso:
We could, we can get to that at the end maybe after we stop recording. So tell me your thoughts, we can go through some more stats, but I'm especially interested about your initial reaction. And I want to know what you think about how it looks.
Henry Phillips:
It's pretty cool, you covered most of the basics. It's 100 bucks comparable to things that are half the price, it's made by Apple is first party. It carries some like special privileges both in software and hardware. The key bits is that it does a couple of things that no other battery packs can do right now, or no other accessories in general.
Henry Phillips:
You slap it on the back of an iPhone 12, 12 pro, 12 mini, same battery pack for everything. And basically it'll charge it'll charge the phone at five Watts, which is like not super a lot, it's like what an old iPhone would charge at. But it does a bunch of cool things when either the battery pack is plugged in via a wired lightening cable or the phone is plugged in via wired late in cable.
Henry Phillips:
If the battery pack is plugged in wired, it acts just like a charging pad almost. So it'll charge really fast, it'll charge at 15 Watts, which is standard like MagSafe fast charger. So real quick.
Nick Caruso:
And also, it's just like quick relative to other charging stuff too. That's just kind of the fast rate.
Henry Phillips:
Yeah, it's like the normal fast rate, it's quicker than previous iPhone chargers, it'll be just like if you charge it on the normal MagSafe Pack.
Nick Caruso:
Right on.
Henry Phillips:
But it will also charge your phone through that way. It kind of just acts like its own little charging dock. And then the more fun, kind of more novel thing is that if you plug in just to the phone, like say you're in a car that uses wired CarPlay, or you're just a Luddite, it'll charge the phone and then it'll also start to charge the battery pack, which is the first instance of reverse charging.
Henry Phillips:
Charging the phone, charging effectively an accessory that's attached to your MagSafe. We've known that the iPhone hardware can do this for a while, but they haven't ever used it yet. And this-
Nick Caruso:
You're saying if both are completely discharged, you attach them together, plugin either device phone will fill up its battery first?
Henry Phillips:
Yeah, but there's advantages to plugging in the phone, right? Wired CarPlay is the one that they bring up in all their kind of support docs. Anyway, so this thing rules, but it's a pretty specific, I wouldn't say it's a niche thing, but if you find yourself needing a battery pack, then it's a great battery pack, right? Especially if you have a newer iPhone and don't mind a kind of little bulbous marshmallows sticking off the back.
Nick Caruso:
Well, it has to be a newer iPhone though, right? This is for iPhone 12's.
Henry Phillips:
It is for iPhone 12's. Without boring everybody, the kind of baseline tech that the MagSafe charging is based off of is just normal like cheap charging. So then whatever the wireless charging that you've used everywhere forever. Theoretically you can just plop it on the back of an iPhone 11, or maybe even an iPhone 10, whenever they began to introduce wireless charging, which I think actually could have been the eight.
Nick Caruso:
Maybe 10, oh yeah, maybe earlier.
Henry Phillips:
But you could just plop it on the back and it would work normally, it would charge pretty slowly, but it would do it. And people seem to be a bit conflicted, but fairly sure. We won't know until the orders arrive, which is going to be about a week from now. But most people think that you should be able to plop AirPods or AirPods pro the ones with the wireless charging case just on the back of this battery pack and it should charge, there's no real reason why it shouldn't.
Nick Caruso:
Lot of plopping and slapping in the descriptions here.
Henry Phillips:
Yeah, no, it's soft and it's just, does it? It looks soft. I mean, it looks like-
Nick Caruso:
That's what I'm wondering, no, what do we think about... Well, actually JD, you want to weigh in on with some opinions here, because I want to make sure we talk about how it looks and potential pluses and minuses, but get in here a little bit.
JD DiGiovanni:
Yeah, no, I find myself wondering if this is the biggest mistake Apple's ever made. If only because everyone I seem to know, everyone I know who buys a smartphone with any regularity only does so because their battery dies. And so there's a part of me that wonders. It's like, all right, am I going to have the same phone I got earlier this year, seven years from now, but have three of these battery packs strap to it just to keep it going, because like everyone-
Nick Caruso:
To the extended magazine for-
JD DiGiovanni:
Yeah, with banana clip with a battery on my phone. But I mean, that does speak, I think a bit to just the look of it. I've always found like external batteries to be somewhat cumbersome.
Nick Caruso:
Totally.
JD DiGiovanni:
And the idea of bringing a battery along with your phone is in some ways kind of silly, but the fact that you can just slide it on and have it stick there, does seem to cut down a bit on the kind of potential downside of carrying one around all the time. And it definitely, it seems to be a bit of a sign for me that we'll be able to maybe hang on the phones we have for longer.
JD DiGiovanni:
Because at the current moment, the phone I got at the beginning of this year, first one I gotten like three years, and I only got it because of my battery had died pretty much. And it's working great now, but I'm not going to buy an external battery until I really need one. And I find myself starting to run out again and again.
Nick Caruso:
Right, that's interesting that you think that that's the only reason people buy phones.
JD DiGiovanni:
Well, I'm sorry. I mean, the people that I know by phones, everyone I know at Gear Patrol buys these new phones like that.
Henry Phillips:
You buy by them because they come in a new color.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah, you want the purple phone? We sort of skirted around capacity on this, we're not sure what capacity the battery pack will have, right? Tucker seem to think it would be like a 5,000, was it mil amp here?
Henry Phillips:
Yeah, they don't tell you-
Nick Caruso:
Which isn't a lot.
Henry Phillips:
It's not a lot. And also the other thing that they don't tell you is that it doesn't come with a charging brick like most Apple new products, or a charging cable for that matter. You're on your own if you want to use the thing, but it's pretty cool, but they don't tell you anything about capacity.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah, just buy it.
JD DiGiovanni:
I'm being pretty facetious when I say, I think it's the biggest mistake they've ever made. It does seem to offer me a $100 out to instead of switching my phone and spending $1,000, I could just spend $100 and keep the whole thing going.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah, keep the whole thing going.
JD DiGiovanni:
That's mainly what I'm saying.
Nick Caruso:
I see that. I mean, if the capacity is too small, it would be not that easy to keep your phone alive this way, but Henry, what were you going to say?
Henry Phillips:
No, I was curious, it's a funny thing to me because I haven't, especially during COVID, I've noticed that I don't ever worry about my phone being dead ever, because I'm just sitting at a desk for untold hours of the day. And I don't know, I just like that's why the battery pack struck me is so kind of weird when it came out, because I just haven't found myself worrying about battery life. Of course, hopefully I will be out and about and doing things and needing tons and tons of battery, but I just like I don't know, it's been a weird year and a half, no battery, no charging.
Nick Caruso:
Wow, what's been going on?
Henry Phillips:
I don't know.
Nick Caruso:
Talk about the phone factor for second, because I think that's a sort of a big element of any battery pack. Particularly if we're just going to be slapping or plopping it on to the back of the phone, this will essentially sort of double the thickness of your phone too, right?
Henry Phillips:
Yeah, it looks like it.
Nick Caruso:
We're just not sure.
Henry Phillips:
Right on the specs. But it looks to be about the thickness a little bit less maybe than kind of the baseline models. And it's the same size, no matter which MagSafe iPhone you have. If you have a mini, it's going to fill up the entire back, it's going to be seemingly pretty seamless. But if you've got a pro max, it's like a little pill box on the back.
Henry Phillips:
It'll be a bit of an adventure once people get hands-on, which I bet will be very, very soon knowing Apple's kind of press seating cycle to see which phone this actually feels best on. You got guess that they're optimizing for the 12 pro and the 12, but maybe it feels terrible on the mini. I could totally see that. It looks huge.
Nick Caruso:
I bought a mini and I'm just thinking of negating the entire purpose of getting a very small phone with a chunky little backpack, just to wrap up what it looks like. It kind of calls to mind previous charging bricks or charging bricks, the bright white bricks, right? That these rounded corners. I don't know, it's very Apple, this feels like a very Apple move. They're finally capitalizing on perhaps this is wireless charging. They don't need cables and I'm just counting the days before there are no ports left on the phone.
Henry Phillips:
It feels imminent, right? It feels so close. What do you [inaudible 00:14:31]? But it's cool to see MagSafe kind of the limits of it being explored a little bit. And you start to realize that there's kind of a bigger ecosystem they're building out. It's nice to see progress there.
Nick Caruso:
And this will be the first of many, I had a chat with Eric Lymer, our tech editor several months ago now, I guess, when we were talking about the iPhone 12 lineup being launched and he sort of expounded on what MagSafe means for the future of Apple products. And I mean, it's just kind of a small revolution, right?
Nick Caruso:
This is like another era that it's sort of shepherding in. It's going to be interesting to see where we end up with the MagSafe. Okay, final thoughts. Anybody, did we miss anything there? Because the news doesn't stop. We alluded to this earlier. Great, well, let's move on to the second story we've got here, which is Hyundai. The car manufacturer, anybody, my age knows that Hyundai has been around many decades, but we've always sort of considered them to be a cheap car manufacture, or not always, but until somewhat recently, truly cheap, not inexpensive, not affordable, cheap.
Nick Caruso:
They always had the crazy warranties and that was about it. But this week they released info on the Elantra and sort of their small Sedan. And it is the end line, is there a high performance line? It's a turbocharged, a four cylinder, 276 horsepower, a manual transmission, limited slip differential on a front wheel drive sedan. And people are thinking it's going to start around $35,000.
Nick Caruso:
And to me, this car does several things. It continues the end line ethos and sort of amps it up in a big way. End line has been pretty impressive. An impressive presence in the affordable performance space, but it also really, truly, deeply, ultimately for me, drives home that Hyundai is indeed in the performance game.
Nick Caruso:
They've been kind of trying and popping up here and there, but this to me signifies that they're really serious, because they're competing with a couple cars in my view that are very popular in those circles and admittedly more powerful, but they're writing it's sites and that's the Volkswagen golf R and the civic or Honda civic type R. And I think the whole thing, it's this wild edgy sort of futuristic take on the car space, Hyundai's design languages, whatever.
Nick Caruso:
But I think the obvious questions here would be, would I cross shop a Hyundai in this segment? And would I be happy driving this? And I think yes, to the first and judged basically, or solely based on recent products and the spec sheet here, I have to say probably yes to the second. That's my spiel, but I'm curious to hear what you think about Hyundai as a car company. What do you think of their products in context and then how will this specific car makes you feel? JD, you're looking at me like you've got some ideas.
JD DiGiovanni:
Yeah, I mean, it's cool to see a car maker step into, I mean, obviously this is like not something that's just popping up the end line, has been around for a little bit and they're kind of telling the line for a bit, but to really just like take the leap in. I mean, what I caught myself thinking about a lot though is, and just kind of looking at this story and kind of reading the news about this kind of announcement is then to have like, who are the folks who are going to be getting this car as opposed to the other ones on the market, right? And it kind of relates to a conversation we had last week about a watch that didn't have a kind of recognizable brand name, right?
Nick Caruso:
Sure.
JD DiGiovanni:
In some ways they actually, they have quite a hill to climb in kind of getting people to commit to having the Hyundai badge on their car as opposed to something that they know more of and as kind of longer. And I think that just speaks to how serious of an investment it has to be, because the car has to drive well first. And in order to like really pull people in and have their reputation change.
JD DiGiovanni:
But then too, I mean, I know plenty of folks who were just like, man, it doesn't really matter if you have like a, for lack of a better term, we could bring this out like a shit box, right? And if it goes fast and if it was fun to drive, then who cares? Who cares with badges on it? I'm just curious to read the kind of ride reviews as they start coming out and these kind of pressing it start getting centered on a different journalists.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah, same. To your point, you're kind of alluding to also this watch you're talking about last week where you noted that phenomenon, you noticed someone wearing a really special watch and you're like they know what they're wearing. They know and I know and we're part of a special club. And when I see people in Hyundai's end line cars driving around the city, which I do somewhat frequently now, I'm like, "God, that guy, he knows, he doesn't need to go German or something to get some performance car like Hyundai is doing it for him, and he's you he's going for it. And I love that and I'm sort of like envious." Henry, you're grinning. Why are you grinning at?
Henry Phillips:
Well? Because that's like there's that classic trope of the guy who's willing to sacrifice all notoriety and social posturing for the sheer sake of having a fun car. And that's what kind of got me about the Elantra, is like it reads a fun car. It's powerful, it's like zero to 60 in about five, it's like lightweight presumably and fun. And it's like some early 2000s snappy car with just a little bit too much power and maybe a little less thought behind it, other than that.
Henry Phillips:
And it's affordable, and it's got a six speed manual and the limited slip differential. And literally the only thing that I've drilled in on after looking at this car for, I don't know, an hour, is it has a gigantic red button on the steering wheel.
Nick Caruso:
That's it.
Henry Phillips:
That does nothing other than provide 10 horsepower for 20 seconds.
Nick Caruso:
Can you tell us what is it called? Do you remember?
Henry Phillips:
It's called NVS, presumably the guy at Hyundai is so excited for someone to hit the NVS button and him to go like three miles an hour faster, but it's huge. It's the size of a starter button.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah, really is.
Henry Phillips:
And it's amazing and it's fun.
Nick Caruso:
There's NVS, but I think that's something different. Isn't it? I think there's-
Henry Phillips:
Oh, sorry, it's NGS. It's not NVS. It's NGS.
Nick Caruso:
Which is N-
Henry Phillips:
It's an over [inaudible 00:22:48].
Nick Caruso:
N Grin Shift function. That's what that does. Do you want to push your N Grin Shift, which is such a cheeky thing to say, but yeah, it gives you a 286 horsepower.
Henry Phillips:
It's where your phone goes if you're...
Nick Caruso:
That's on cautious.
Henry Phillips:
It's too fast, too furious.
JD DiGiovanni:
I was just going to say, that's if you want to drive out of the lot, no aftermarket and all, and just do some fin diesel stuff around the block.
Henry Phillips:
I want to drop your thumb down, smash the red button and go just a little bit faster.
Nick Caruso:
It's about family.
JD DiGiovanni:
All right, that just did-
Nick Caruso:
It's about family.
JD DiGiovanni:
Henry, that's what stood out to you. What stood out to me, and I understand that I'm late to the party on this one, but Hyundai has an end sound equalizer on this car that produces a virtual engine sound that you can then tune based off of like what you want.
Nick Caruso:
What is that?
Henry Phillips:
Is that [crosstalk 00:23:51] tuner culture?
Nick Caruso:
Right. Well, so those have been-
JD DiGiovanni:
It's just a [inaudible 00:23:57].
Nick Caruso:
Artificial engine sounds piped through sound systems has been a thing for a while, and it's always been annoying, but I don't remember hearing you can tune it. And like that's a selling point, which I think is really quirky and funny. I agree, there's so many weird things on this car that is very charming.
JD DiGiovanni:
You can tune you can tune wine, throat and base, you've got a lot of options there.
Henry Phillips:
And it's only one yourself like this-
Nick Caruso:
Right, wine as in like turbo wines?
Henry Phillips:
It's so charming.
JD DiGiovanni:
I'm generally speaking kind of I guess, a Luddite when it comes to this stuff and just like, it seems silly, man. I don't need to, you can just add it up. Well, I don't need it, [inaudible 00:24:43], come on.
Nick Caruso:
My girlfriend makes fun of me. She calls all the guys who slam their cars all over the city, calls them civic guys, right? Like it's the fast and furious culture, right? And she tells me I'm a civic guy, which I take issue with, because I'm cheap guy.
Henry Phillips:
As you should.
Nick Caruso:
But no hate on civic guys and fast and furious crap, but this kind of like blends it all, right? This blend is sort of the modern, affordable luxury with weird tuner culture, not, it's just something else. But what I can't get over is that it's a Hyundai, the only other Hyundai I've ever felt remotely endeared to was the early 2000 Sonata, which I think we can talk about this maybe another time.
Nick Caruso:
I think is one of the most handsome cars that's ever been on the road and you can Tweet at me for that, but this is so cool. It looks insane, it looks crazy. I mean, there's edgy, weird styling, but it must be so fun to drive. And I mean, a Badger, will say, well, [inaudible 00:26:00], let me do it."
Henry Phillips:
I'm just happy this exists and that affordable car makers feel reasonably motivated to make fun, sporty, seemingly pretty thoughtfully designed cars for not too much money.
Nick Caruso:
Right, this is the new-
Henry Phillips:
It's just, I'm glad.
Nick Caruso:
Toyota just did it with the Corolla a couple of years back, few years back, and we get them very rarely and they are very worth paying attention to, because this is going to be a sick car that people are going to want for a long time and it's going to be canceled for sure.
Henry Phillips:
Yeah, they're going to sell like 30 of them.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah, no one's going to buy it, maybe me. I won't, but maybe, hopefully.
Henry Phillips:
You just have to get it in that blue.
Nick Caruso:
The blue is great.
Henry Phillips:
It's good blue.
Nick Caruso:
The photo from Hyundai is like this powder blue metallic kind of thing with red accents. It's just so cool. I love it. Fanboying. All right, well, if anybody out there is interested in going hitting 62 miles per hour in 5.3 seconds in their Hyundai, we want to hear from you, or hearing your opinions. But in the meantime let's shift. Nope.
JD DiGiovanni:
N Grin Shift.
Nick Caruso:
Recognition the [inaudible 00:27:18].
JD DiGiovanni:
N Grin Shift.
Nick Caruso:
Press the N Grin button to the third story we've got. The last story, just like Seth Rogen, man. Seth Rogen is an anomaly in the world of humans, I think he's just awesome. And he's killing it with this new company called Houseplant, which is I guess a weed of lifestyle brand in many ways, I guess you could call it.
Nick Caruso:
They have housewares, smoking accessories, ashtrays match holders, LPs like all sorts of cool. Well-Designed, very beautiful, luxurious home goods related to smoking. And they also sell to have the flower itself, but their newest product is called the Gravity Glass. And as one might expect, it's a gravity bong, but it's really, really pretty. It's very pretty. It's made a borosilicate glass and brass and the glass is etched in this really pretty diamond pattern.
Nick Caruso:
Comes in for kind of cool vintagey colors. And Seth Rogen announced the product in fall on Twitter, with this really '70s vintage magazine style ad. And that really drives home the aesthetic and the philosophy of his Houseplant brand. JD, you're familiar with the West Coast. Let's go to you. What's your take on Houseplant overall, and what was your first reaction to the Gravity Glass?
JD DiGiovanni:
Look, I want to not like this brand. I grew up in California, as grew up around plenty of weed, right? And it's always kind of been like, take it or leave it and at the very best. And then probably at the worst, it's kind of I find it grading a little bit. It's like pop culture, all those stuff, it's kind of left me cold most of the time.
JD DiGiovanni:
I can't help, but really like this though. I mean, I think first the product itself is pretty impressive. It essentially looks like a cocktail shaker. You have two pieces of glass, one is such a large cup, the other one is a kind of almost pineapple cut top with a hole on the top, and then the hole in the bottom kind of tube goes down.
JD DiGiovanni:
The thinking is for those who aren't familiar, you fill it with water and then you put this kind of low kind of conductivity brass bowl on top. You light it and then you slowly pull it up and not quite gravity, but the vacuum that forms in between the water and the kind of the lip flour that the pot pulls into that chamber. And you can kind of push it back down and inhale it. Essentially like a lot for a little, this is kind of idea. And it's usually it's made out of plastic bottles, right?
Nick Caruso:
Oh, you [inaudible 00:30:26].
JD DiGiovanni:
It's like a disgusting thing you find in someone's basement party. And I think that's just the interesting thing about Houseplant in general is, that they're doing this cool thing where they're elevating a lot of the kinds of wares that you would find around like smoking weed. It's like not the alien head bong that you find in like a bodega, but it's also not like try hard Apple want to be that has some sleek vaporizer pen that seems to eliminate any kind of sense of, there's an herb and there was flame kind of involved in this process.
JD DiGiovanni:
And it's really impressive, it's impressive to see, and it's also just kind of wild to see this kind of turning into a hype brand in general. You can't purchase this if you're outside of California. But I kind of hopped in the queue anyway, just to see what the process was like. And it was like it was a sneaker release. You had to line up and they gave you like a year in queue kind of to buy this thing. And there's a kind of limited number of them.
JD DiGiovanni:
And I think it's in some ways, it's just an indication of the direction that that kind of smoking pot is going to take in our culture and that kind of what the change is going to manifest itself like and it's really interesting. I have more to say in it, but I don't know, Henry, you've been granted too.
Henry Phillips:
No, I go back and forth with like kind of these boutique weed brands that are kind of bringing to mind, they all have their own kind of independent spur, whether it's like the ones that are trying to kind of emulate Stumptown coffee, or the ones that are trying to emulate Apple in so many ways. And in a lot of ways it seems like Houseplants kind of going for this like fairly look, which is the '70s and this kind of like elegant take on previously, like kitschy things.
Henry Phillips:
I mean, it's very pretty, and it's hard not to enjoy the kind of ad experience and the site design and all of that. And it's totally like it's on the money as far as current design trends go. Part of me wonders if it's elaborate kind of overly involved marketing exercise for the weed and it's cool as hell.
Henry Phillips:
And I just wonder, how many people will buy and enjoy. And maybe it doesn't matter, it's enough to have like a really pretty object. And it's cool to see that there are brands that are willing to kind of invest not only a lot of kind of artistry or time, because that's that's kind of like a thing for sure, in the weed world. But the idea of kind of trying to merge that with modern sensibilities of kind of design and just general even advertising.
JD DiGiovanni:
I think there's something interesting about Houseplant as a brand in general when it comes to this attention to detail and this very distinct look, right? I mean, if it was a film, Seth Rogen will be like the art or director, right? Where it's like, obviously there are multiple people involved in this process and it's not just purely his vision.
JD DiGiovanni:
But I think that this is distinct among celebrity business projects. And in that, there really is like a kind of particular viewpoint that seems unique to this group. That's coming through and there was an interview with Seth Rogen earlier this year when they were kind of celebrating or kind of doing PR for the launch that kind of United States launch of Houseplants.
JD DiGiovanni:
It was started in 2019 in Canada by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg is as a long time partner of his, and then they kind of brought it to the states early this year. And there's this piece kind of times interview with him, and the guy is just into mid century, modern kind of furniture, he's into design, he's into making ceramic bowls. This is something that is very much like an interest and a passion of his, and you can kind of tell creatively.
JD DiGiovanni:
And even if you follow him on social channels, you'll see, he'll just like post phases he's making, right? In the article, in the time as he talks a decent amount too about particular artisans who he's found real inspiration from. And I think all of that just kind of comes together to distinguish this from a celebrity like tequila, right?
JD DiGiovanni:
Where it feels like some Hollywood wealth manager was like, "This is a good way to invest your money and get more money back out." It's just like, no, this is something that... Maybe I'm a rude here for thinking this, but it really does seem like this is something that is just coming from a place of real interest and passion. And I think it really shows through and it makes someone like me who is at best indifferent to this product excited and interested in wanting to buy ashtrays even though I don't smoke.
Henry Phillips:
No, I know the feeling, I remember when their desk lighter came out and I was like, "I really want this."
Nick Caruso:
That's really pretty.
Henry Phillips:
"And I don't want any use for it." But no, I mean, I don't want to minimize what they're making and it's novel stuff. The Gravity Bong or the Gravity Glass is probably like as close to a traditional device, I guess, as they've made. They've made these really kind of beautiful and kind of weird lighters or ashtrays. But they've taken a really kind of novel approach and it's taken them a long time to make something that you smoke weed out of.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah, it is interesting. And I think all of it together you're talking about that the differences between this company and other similar celebrity fronted stuff, or just weed brands, whatever. And my feeling is that it's just Seth Rogen's sort of celebrity personality. He's seems on the spectrum to be... He doesn't seem on the spectrum, I don't mean that to be offensive.
Nick Caruso:
He seems on the spectrum of authenticity to be very authentic to me, he doesn't seem like he's much of a bullshit celebrity, just kind of a cool funny guy who wants to make shit. And I think that translates well into this brand, because it's just stuff that he likes. And to your point, JD is stuff he likes to actually make in some instances. And I had a chat with Jack months ago, Jack Siemer on stuff with us, that it's really interesting because we're entering a time when the stigma's gone.
Nick Caruso:
But so much so in some ways, at least that it's become a luxury, right? These are luxury items to the point that you display them in your home. It's not something to be ashamed of, it's just like something you do. It's just like another thing. And something we didn't mention earlier, but it's like this is a... Where is it? 190 bucks for the Gravity Glass, right?
Nick Caruso:
And I think that's all great. I think that it's so cool, I love this brand. I would love to have all their stuff, to even just to have it. I can neither confirm nor deny that I would do anything other than keep it under glass, but I have to introduce this element, because it can't escape me. There is this weird irony to buying luxury pot-smoking stuff, when there are people in prison for selling a gram two decades ago. It's just a weird calculus for me.
JD DiGiovanni:
That's insane.
Nick Caruso:
It kind of shakes out or it may shake out sometime soon, but that is a weird relationship here, but agnostic of that terrible reality, I think this is just really cool shit. It's pretty, and it's fun and there's going to be a lot more.
JD DiGiovanni:
No, I mean, just back to your point about this being the kind of luxury product, or I guess Jack's point, it does feel like more home wear and than anything when it comes to like smoking, right? It's more about home decor and almost furniture. And I think that actually there's a tie in there too, to this like '70s feel, right? Where it's almost like that was the Twilight period for when things like ashtrays and table lighters for your cigarettes were a kind of common occurrence, something that you would have in your home without having too much to think about it, right?
JD DiGiovanni:
But as like tobacco is just kind of waned in common life and it's like it's culturally acceptable as a product. That kind of stuff was frozen in Amber and it's being given life again by this Harry Potter in LA.
Nick Caruso:
With that laugh, can't get it on the laugh. Frozen and Amber is a good way to put that and to kind of leave this to the photo in the advertisement that he shared is an Amber color. And it's just so iconic and feels so pretty and cool. It'll be really interesting to watch how this brand continues to expand.
JD DiGiovanni:
I would actually just say, if our listeners in the California have gotten their hands on any of their products, should shoot us a note via Twitter, or email, or whatever else. I'd love to hear about it.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah, that was one of the funniest things about this launch, right? Is that he, Seth Rogen, someone commented like, "Why don't you ship outside of California?" And Seth Rogen, actual reply to the guy, he was like, "Because I don't want to be a federal criminal." Someday, maybe outside the state, but that would be great. I'd love to see some photos of how you arrange these in your homes as decor, listeners, fair listeners.
Nick Caruso:
Good. Well, that's it for our bullpen today guys, we shouted so much news at each other. If any of our listeners want a little more information about any of this stuff, we're going to drop a bunch of links in the comments, so you can read into it. We've got posts, Gear Patrol posts on some of the stuff. Certainly some stuff adjacent to it, so read up and let us know what you think.
Nick Caruso:
You can hit us up like JD said on social media, you can comment on posts on the Gear Patrol website. You can email us at podcast@gearpatrol.com, send us those photos of your Houseplant stuff. Tell us what your thoughts are about cross shopping Hyundai's with storied sports Sedan competitors in the segment and beyond. Or if you buy one of these Apple Battery Packs, we want to know what you think about how it fits on your tiny or small iPhone.
Nick Caruso:
Hope you're subscribed to the podcast, hope you love it. If you do, we'd appreciate a five star review. You know how to do that. You click those five stars and you never look back. And JD, Henry, thank you for joining me today on this fair, beautiful, hot New York afternoon.
JD DiGiovanni:
Of course.
Henry Phillips:
We'll see in the bullpen next time.
Nick Caruso:
See you in the bullpen. The octagon, it's the octagon of podcasting, the bullpen. And everybody else, thank you for spending some time with us. Drop us a line, let us know what you think we should cover, how you think we're doing. And I'm Nick Caruso, until next time, take care.