Everything Is Fake: Your Reality Is For Sale

Posted on April 10, 2026 by justinbarone

Justin Barone host of Thoughts Off The Stem investigates paid protests astroturfing the Manhattan Madam and Crowds on Demand with money flying in the background

Someone slid into my DMs last week and asked me to have a guest on the podcast.

Now I get approached from time to time and most of the time it’s pretty straightforward. But this one stopped me cold. Because the person reaching out was Kristin M. Davis — better known as the Manhattan Madam — and she wanted me to interview the CEO of a company called Crowds on Demand.

So I did what any self respecting pothead would do. I went down the rabbit hole.

What I found was way more interesting than any interview would have been. And honestly? Way more disturbing.

What Is Astroturfing and Why Should You Care?

Before we get into the Manhattan Madam and the fake protest guy, let’s talk about astroturfing — because if you don’t know what it is, you need to.

Astroturfing is the practice of manufacturing the appearance of grassroots public support where none actually exists. The name comes from AstroTurf — the fake grass — because that’s exactly what it is. Fake grass roots.

Paid protests and astroturfing go hand in hand and in 2026 the industry is booming. According to public reporting, Crowds on Demand saw a 400% surge in paid protest requests in 2025 alone. That’s not a niche service anymore. That’s an industry.

And somebody is buying it.

Listen to the sesh:

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Everything is Fake: Your Reality is for Sale

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Meet the Manhattan Madam: Kristin M. Davis

Let’s start with who reached out to me because this is where it gets immediately weird.

Kristin M. Davis — the Manhattan Madam — ran a high end prostitution ring in New York City that allegedly serviced some very prominent clients including Eliot Spitzer, Alex Rodriguez and David Beckham. She served time at Rikers Island, ran for Governor of New York in 2010, was contacted by Robert Mueller’s office in 2018 in connection with Russian election interference, and was later convicted for distributing drugs.

She has since founded Hope House to help women in need — and I’ll give her credit for that because second chances are real and people do change.

But now she runs a PR firm called Think Right PR that specializes in rebranding people and companies with — let’s call it complicated public histories. And she reached out to me to have Adam Swart, the CEO of Crowds on Demand, on my show to talk about the mechanics of fake protests and manufactured reality.

I’ll be honest. My first thought was — why would the Manhattan Madam be repping the fake protest guy?

My second thought was — actually that makes perfect sense.

Crowds on Demand: Your Reality Has a Price Tag

Here’s what Crowds on Demand actually is.

Adam Swart founded the company in 2012. It started with “celebrity experience” services — fake paparazzi, hired fans, that kind of thing. Over time it expanded into organized protests, political demonstrations, and publicity stunts using paid actors posing as members of the public.

In plain English — you can buy a crowd. Right now. Today.

Service	What They Say	What It Actually Is
Celebrity Arrival Service	Professional crowd for your event	Hired fans to make you look important
Advocacy Group Creation	We create and staff advocacy groups with suitable leadership	Inventing fake grassroots organizations from scratch with hired actors as “leaders”
Protest Organization	Amplifying your message through demonstrations	Paid protesters starting at $39.99 per activist
Mergers & Acquisitions Support	Shaping public company deals	Manufacturing protests to tank a competitor’s stock price
Message Amplification	When other strategies have failed	When the truth isn’t working — buy a fake consensus instead

A Washington Post columnist described receiving a marketing email from the company offering their “Celebrity Arrival Service” to politicians — promising to stuff events with paid actors to make candidates look popular.

John Oliver dedicated a segment on Last Week Tonight to them. They’ve been sued for alleged extortion. They’ve been accused of creating a fake Black Lives Matter organization in Dallas called Dallas Justice Now that sent letters urging wealthy white families not to send their kids to Ivy League universities. The same Republican marketing firm was also behind a pro-police group called Keep Dallas Safe.

Both sides. Same company. Same fake grass.

And demand is up 400%.

The Whistleblower Who Won’t Blow the Whistle

Here’s where it gets really rich.

Swart is now positioning himself as a whistleblower. He wants to come clean about the fake protest industry. Says he wants transparency. And to expose the manufactured outrage machine.

Except — he won’t name his clients. He won’t name his sources. And his company bio still openly boasts about creating fake advocacy groups from scratch.

Let me say that again. The guy who wants to blow the whistle on astroturfing still sells astroturfing.

Here’s a breakdown of what his own bio says versus what it actually means:

What His Bio Says	What It Actually Means
“We create advocacy groups and staff them with suitable leadership”	We invent fake organizations and hire actors to pretend to be their leaders
“We shaped large public company mergers and acquisitions”	We manufactured protests to pressure companies into deals
“We amplify messages when other strategies have failed”	When the truth isn’t working we manufacture a fake consensus
“I want transparency in the protest industry”	I want to be the regulated gatekeeper of the very deception I pioneered

When you’re whistleblowing you’re supposed to do it for the better of society — not for the better of your bank account.

He isn’t blowing the whistle because he grew a conscience. He’s blowing the whistle to become the “legitimate” face of an industry he built. It’s the same hustle with a press release attached.

The Inversion of Truth: Two Peas in a Very Shady Pod

Here’s what struck me most when I put these two together.

Davis uses her criminal past to create trust as an expert on corruption. Swart uses fake crowds to create the appearance of truth through manufactured consensus.

They are both selling the same thing — the idea that nothing is real, so you might as well buy their version of reality.

The People	Kristin M. Davis	Adam Swart
Background	Manhattan Madam, convicted felon, Mueller witness	Former journalist turned fake protest entrepreneur
Current pitch	Reformed criminal turned PR expert on scandal	Fake protest pioneer turned whistleblower
What they’re selling	Trust through criminal credibility	Truth through manufactured consensus
The hustle	My past makes me an expert on deception	My deception makes me qualified to expose deception
What they won’t reveal	The full client list from her past	Current client list and protest contracts

It’s not a reformation. It’s an expansion of the same hustle with better branding.

So Should I Have Him On The Show?

I asked my audience this at the end of the episode and I’m asking you here too — because I genuinely don’t know.

On one hand I don’t think I’ll get an honest conversation. He won’t name clients. He won’t name sources. And everything about the way this pitch landed in my DMs feels like exactly the kind of manufactured narrative his company specializes in.

On the other hand — sometimes the most interesting interviews are the ones where you already know the guy is full of it.

What do you think? Drop it in the comments. Should I have Adam Swart on Thoughts Off The Stem?

The Real Issue Nobody Wants to Talk About

Here’s the thing that actually bothers me most about all of this.

Most people can’t be bothered to protest. Real grassroots movements are hard. They require time, energy, belief and sacrifice. The fact that there’s a booming market for fake protests tells you something really important — the people with money have figured out that they can skip all of that and just buy the appearance of public support instead.

Your outrage is for sale. Your reality is manufactured. And most people scrolling their feed have no idea whether the protest they just watched was organic or ordered off a menu at $39.99 per head.

I basically assume at this point that anything I watch or read is at least partially bullshit. And honestly? That’s a really exhausting way to live.

So smoke one, think critically, and maybe — just maybe — question the next “spontaneous” protest you see trending on your feed.

Those are my thoughts off the stem. 🍃

🎙 Listen to the Full Episode

Everything Is Fake: Your Reality Is for Sale is out now on Spotify and YouTube.

I go deeper on both Davis and Swart, break down exactly how the fake protest machine works, and ask you directly — should I have him on the show?

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Research links for the Sesh:

https://crowdsondemand.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristin_M._Davis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowds_on_Demand

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/concerned-citizens-turn-out-to-be-political-theater/2021439/

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-14/paid-protester-company-looking-to-hire-7-foot-300-pound-giants-for-intimidation-factor

8 Disturbing Looksmaxxing Incel Culture Secrets You Need To Know

Posted on April 4, 2026 by justinbarone

Justin Barone host of Thoughts Off The Stem podcast reacts to looksmaxxing and incel culture with Ken and Barbie figures representing unrealistic beauty standards

Looksmaxxing and incel culture have produced some truly unhinged ideas over the years — but hitting yourself in the face with a hammer to get dates might be the one that finally broke me. There are grown men doing this. On purpose. With an actual hammer. And they have hundreds of thousands of followers cheering them on.

I’ll let that sink in for a second.

Welcome to the world of looksmaxxing — the incel community’s full-send obsession with optimizing your physical appearance at all costs. And I mean ALL costs. We’re talking steroids at 14, crystal meth to hollow your cheeks, and a daily hammer session to your jaw because apparently that’s a thing people do now.

I’m Justin Barone. I’m 44 years old, I’m 260 lbs, and I used to be fit back in my 30s when I was about 185. Somewhere between Doritos and laziness I became what these kids would probably classify as some kind of ogre. But you know what? I still figured out that personality is the move. These kids apparently haven’t gotten that memo yet.

Let’s get into it.

What Is Looksmaxxing and Incel Culture?

Looksmaxxing is the practice of maximizing your physical attractiveness — and it started in incel culture. Incel, if you don’t know, stands for involuntarily celibate. These are dudes who can’t get a date and have decided that the reason is entirely their bone structure.

Looksmaxxing and incel culture are more connected than most people realize — the whole movement was born on incel message boards before it jumped to TikTok.

The movement got a massive boost from a 19-year-old content creator named Clavicular — and yes, that’s his actual name, or at least his online name. Braden. His name is Braden. I don’t know what we expected.

At 14 years old this kid started taking testosterone, using steroids, and by his own admission on camera — meth. Why meth? Because he thought it was basically just street Adderall. One derivative away, he says. He also took a hammer to his face every single day.

Not to bits and pieces. Just until it got red and puffy. Because he believed it would create micro fractures in his jaw that would heal into a sharper, more square jawline.

You know what else gives you a sharper jawline? Puberty. Which he was going through at the time. But he couldn’t wait.

This guy is now 19, has hundreds of thousands of followers, and allegedly earns over $100,000 a month teaching other young men how to do what he did. And somehow we as a society have decided this is acceptable.

I take partial blame. Not personally. But as a generation? Yeah. We dropped the ball.

Where Did We Go Wrong?

The looksmaxxing community and incel culture didn’t create these insecurities in young men — but it weaponized them.

When I was a teenager and I wasn’t getting invited to parties — and I wasn’t always, I was a chunky kid with a belly from eating too many Doritos — I didn’t smash my face with a hammer. Instead I went outside. Mingling with actual humans and correcting my personality in real time through real interaction was how you figured things out back then.

These kids don’t have to do that anymore. They can find a corner of the internet that validates whatever insane thing they’re thinking, and that corner will attach itself to them and grow. Before you know it you’ve got a 19-year-old doing meth for his skincare routine and an audience of young boys watching him do it.

I asked my kids about looksmaxxing. You know what they did? They rolled their eyes. Both of them. “Can you believe it, dad?” No. No I cannot. But I went deep on this one so you don’t have to.

The Weed Facts: Does Cannabis Actually Affect How You Look?

Since we’re talking about looks this week I figured we’d pivot to something actually relevant — what does weed do to your skin? Because if you’re going to take a hammer to your face you should probably know what your edibles are doing to your collagen first.

This segment’s facts come from Cosmopolitan, who spoke with dermatologist Dr. Karan Lal, MD. Here’s the breakdown:

Factor	What Cannabis Does	The Verdict
Testosterone & Acne	THC may slightly increase testosterone, which spikes oil production	Could cause breakouts in some people
Appetite & Glycemic Index	Munchies + carbs = higher glycemic index	Associated with increased acne
Anti-inflammatory Effects	THC is anti-inflammatory, may calm inflammatory pimples	Could actually help some skin issues
Stress & Cortisol	Weed can reduce anxiety, lowering cortisol	Less stress = less oil = less acne
Skin Picking	THC may reduce itch and irritation	Could help chronic skin pickers relax
Edibles & Sugar	Gummies contain sugar that causes glycation — stiffening collagen and elastin	Could contribute to sagging and wrinkles
Smoking & Skin	Smoke sits on your skin and can irritate it	External irritant regardless of strain
Dirty Equipment	Unwashed pipes and bongs spread bacteria	Can cause acne around your mouth

The honest takeaway? It’s not really the weed. It’s what you put in your body and how you take care of yourself. Clean your bong. Watch the sugar in your gummies. Manage your stress. That’s basically your cannabis skincare routine right there.

Oh, and I’ll say this — I’ve been smoking pretty regularly for years and I still get the occasional pimple along my hat line. I think it has more to do with cleaning your skin than anything else.

Dude For Real: The Looksmaxxing Terminology You Need to Know

This stuff comes straight from the looksmaxxing community and I genuinely couldn’t believe some of these are real terms that people use with a straight face. This week’s Dude For Real comes from Buzzfeed’s looksmaxxing explainer and dude — for real.

Term	What It Means
Mogging	Displaying physical superiority over someone nearby
Softmaxxing	Improving looks through skincare, diet, exercise, grooming
Hardmaxxing	Extreme methods — surgery, steroids, bone smashing
Bone Smashing	Hitting your face with a hammer to create micro fractures that reshape your jaw
Ascending	Significantly improving your physical attractiveness. The looksmaxxing version of a glow up
Mewing	Resting your tongue on the roof of your mouth to sharpen your jawline
The PSL Scale	A scoring system for facial attractiveness based on harmony, symmetry, and sexual dimorphism
Chad / Stacey	Highly attractive man or woman. Top of the PSL scale
Subhuman	The lowest PSL score. The most unattractive. Literally called subhuman
Sub 5	Anyone ranking below a 5 on the PSL scale — considered unattractive
Lookism	The belief that your value and place in the world are determined entirely by your looks
Gesture Maxxing	Using humor to attract women rather than appearance
Femoid / Foid	A dehumanizing term for women. Short for female humanoid
Hunter Eyes	Almond-shaped, deep-set eyes with low brows — considered highly attractive

The system literally calls people subhuman based on their face. That’s not self improvement. That’s a cult with better lighting.

Looksmaxxing, Incel Culture and Why Personality Is the Real Move

If you’re not getting invited to parties — and I say this with love — it’s probably not your jawline. It’s probably your personality.

You can change everything about how you look. Get the surgery. Smash your face. Chew the gum. But when the mask comes off — and it always does — if your personality is garbage, people are going to figure that out. As a result they’re going to walk away every single time.

I’ve seen the ugliest people with the most friends because most people genuinely do not care what you look like. Instead they care whether you’re fun to be around, whether you make them laugh, and whether you’re loyal. That’s it. That’s the whole list.

Be that person. That’s the move. Not the hammer.

That’s the real problem with looksmaxxing and incel culture — it sells young men the idea that their value is their face, and there’s nothing they can do about it except suffer or smash.

As for Clavicular — I watched a bunch of his content researching this episode. He’s shallow, uninformed, and has a massive platform teaching young boys that their value is their face. That’s a failure. And it’s on us as the older generation to push back on that wherever we can.

If your kid is watching this stuff, talk to them. Ask questions and be present. Because we can’t leave them to figure this out on the internet.

Use a hammer if you want.

Those are my thoughts off the stem.

🎙 Listen to the Full Episode

This week’s full seshisode — Looks Maxxing: Guys Who Smash Their Face With Hammers to Get Dates — is live now.

We go deeper on Clavicular, the full Dude For Real terminology breakdown, and the complete weed facts science on cannabis and your skin.

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🎧 Listen on Spotify ▶️ Watch on YouTube

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From the Manosphere to Marijuana: Big Ego’s make Cranky Toddlers

Posted on March 28, 2026 by justinbarone

Podcast thumbnail for 'From the Manosphere to Marijuana: It's All Ego and Cranky Toddlers.' The image shows host Justin Barone in the center with a neon 'Thoughts Off The Stem' sign behind him. On the right, the Tate brothers are depicted with smoke effects. The layout includes bold yellow and white text and a prominent red 'WATCH NOW' button in the lower-left corner.

From The Manosphere to Marijuana: Comparing Tactics and Ideologies

From the Manosphere to Marijuana, what do a 1930s paper tycoon, the DuPont family, the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and a modern-day “Alpha” influencer have in common? They are all fueled by the same thing: A massive, fragile ego, an overabundance of pride, and a scorned inner child who runs the show. In our latest Seshisode of Thoughts Off The Stem, we’re exploring the link between the Manosphere and Marijuana. We’re talking about Louis Theroux’s Inside the Manosphere documentary and connecting the dots to the “Great Hemp Wars” of 1937. It turns out, the history of cannabis prohibition and the rise of the “Taint”—sorry, the Tate brothers—are fueled by the exact same playbook: fear, gaslighting, and overcompensation.

The People	tHEIR BACKGROUND
William Randolph Hearst	was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation’s largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications.
The DuPonts	Du Ponts have been one of the country’s richest families since the mid-19th century, when they founded their fortune in the gunpowder business. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they expanded their wealth through the chemical industry and the automotive industry
Harry J. Anslinger	was an American government official who served as the first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department‘s Federal Bureau of Narcotics

Inside The Manosphere: Ultra Masculine and Ultra Fragile

I recently watched the Louis Theroux doc, and like everyone else, I’m familiar with the ultra-masculine “women are only here to serve men” schtick. But honestly, It’s exhausting. These dudes are basically frat bros in the wild, uttering the stupidest collection of words I’ve ever heard while contradicting their own ideologies.

Take HSTikkyTokky—a name that sounds like a five-year-old’s favorite toy. Seriously it sounds like something that lights up and play sounds when you push it’s keys. Definitely not very masculine if you ask me. He preaches “masculinity” and says he doesn’t hate anyone, yet his content is a factory for hate speech and chaos. It’s all for the stream, all for the money. Young men following this movement need to wake up and see the parallel between the Manosphere and Marijuana prohibition: both rely on selling a false “authority” based on fear.

New Age Street-Corner Prophets: How the Manosphere Sells Insecurity

Their logic claims women are “born with value” (purely physical), while men must “create value” through financial wealth, supercar collections and a haram of women if they want. If you think a woman’s value is limited to anatomy, and men have no value, you’re a lunatic. Character is what gives us value. It’s what separates men, from boys, women, from girls and good people from losers.

When Andrew Tate brags about throwing a fight to bet on himself and triple his money, he isn’t being “manly”—he’s being a snake. These guys are nothing more than street-corner prophets in shiny suits, funding their lifestyles through the pockets of easily manipulated young men. Let’s call the Tate brothers what they are: The Taint Brothers. They are that smooth, untouched part of the male anatomy between the balls and the a**-hole.

They aren’t men; they’re boys starved for attention, protecting their fragile egos by degrading others because they never got enough hugs.

The ORIGINAL Manosphere

In keeping with this high level of self-absorbed nonsense, let’s look at how a group of old rich white guys successfully lobbied to criminalize marijuana. They didn’t want to make life better; they just wanted to protect their wallets. So instead of revolutionizing their industries and using or switching to more natural products, they lobbied congress to institute the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. Instead of trying to make life better for the human collective they decided they needed the most money so, they said screw society, our profits are more important, and they launched a what would be the beginning of the war on weed.

William Randolph Hearst:

A pulp and paper giant worth $200 million in the early 1900s—the equivalent of owning the moon today. He didn’t want hemp competing with his timber. He couldn’t be bothered to retrofit or even change some of his pulp and paper mills to hemp textile factories, because as you know, white rich guys don’t want to give away a penny unless they get back 6. A little short sighted. Hemp is much more durable than paper.

The DuPonts:

In 1935, they released Nylon. Hemp was a direct threat to this new petroleum-based technology, so DuPont decided it had to go. Cause why use an eco friendly substitute, when you can use sinthetics to create what the natural world already did. Sure, hemp is a little more itchy but we’d have a lot less plastic in the ocean.

Harry J. Anslinger:

The first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. He was the original “talking head” bully, using gaslighting and fear to make a name for himself. Just like the Tate brothers, he needed to be the authority on something. He was probably just following the lead of the other two, but he bought their lies, hook, line and sinker.

The Manosphere and Marijuana: Gaslighting and Fear Mongering

When you compare the Manosphere and Marijuana history, you see the Anslinger Tactic in full effect:

Create Fear: Print articles claiming cannabis makes you a killer.
Divide the Public: Spew hate and lies to make something harmless look like the “worst evil imaginable.”
Target for Assassination: Use lobbyists (the 1930s version of “bot farms”) to kill the competition.

From the Manosphere to Marijuana we Need a Beginners Guide

If you want to learn more about cannabis and how it works. Check out our Cannabis 101 guide. Educate yourself before you make snap judgements. Do the opposite, of the hyper masculine dopes in this post.

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When Your Girlfriend Starts Throwing Out Your Crap

Posted on March 13, 2026 by justinbarone

Man attacked by hair and lotions for Thoughts Off The Stem podcast about relationship personal space when your girlfriend throws out your favourite crap.

You need terpenes that help anxiety, now that your girl has turned your space in to a “Penthouse” full of scented candles.

One day you’re a king. You have a queen-sized bed, a single kettlebell in the corner for your morning sets, and enough floor space to do some body weight squats and lunges to kick start leg day. It’s a temple of minimalist efficiency. You even have your original razor boxes neatly stacked under the sink because—let’s be honest—original packaging makes moving easier.

Then, she moves in.

Suddenly, your kettlebell is a doorstop. Your room has been annexed by blackout curtains and a king-sized bed that took up the last of your “activity” space. Your bathroom vanity storage space? Gone. It’s now a graveyard for 14 different lotions that all smell like “Spiced Rain” but serve no discernible purpose.

But that’s not even the scary part.

1. The Shower Wall Resident

You’re mid-shower, washing your business, and you look up. There, at eye level, is a matted mask of hair, clumped up, just… hanging out. You know it’s not yours. But it is a permanent resident of your new life.

2. The Nether-Region Garrote

You ever get halfway through your workday—maybe you’re in a meeting, maybe you’re at the gym—and you feel an aggressive, high-tensile tug? It feels like an invisible Bond villain is trying to reduce the flow of anything to the brains of your operation. Yeah there’s a hair wrapped around your balls bro.

Yeah, there’s a hair wrapped around your balls, bro. It’s the Invisible Assassin. Along with his buddy—the stray strand of your girlfriend’s hair hitching a ride on your caboose like a train-hopping hobo—it’s now flossing your “brown eye” like a piece of high-test dental tape.

Listen: If you’ve survived the Hair Assassin, you need to hear the full support group session on the latest episode of [Thoughts Off The Stem]—Click Here to Listen!

How to Survive “Girlfriend HQ” (Without Losing Your Mind)

If the sudden appearance of a vanity full of hairbrushes and girly stuff elevates your heart rate to 120 BPM, nature has a “mute” button. We call them Terpenes.

When your bachelor pad dies and your girlfriend starts tossing all your favourite crap, these terpenes help anxiety and you should look for them when choosing a strain to curb your anxiety:

Terpenes that help anxiety the invisible assassin

Terpenes	The Science
Limonene (The Paranoia Killer):	A 2024 Johns Hopkins study proved that inhaling Limonene with your THC stops that “someone’s trying to suffocate me” anxiety.
Linalool (The Serotonin Shield):	Found in floral strains, this terpene blocks serotonin transporters to keep your “rest and digest” mode active. It turns “Why is there a bar fridge here?” into “Hey, a bar fridge for my whiskey!”
Beta-Caryophyllene (The CB2 Specialist):	It’s spicy, peppery, and hits your body’s calming receptors without making you too stoned to find the drawing of a wang she hid in your suitcase five years ago.
Myrcene (The Relaxation Foundation)	Increases sedation and muscle relaxation; helps cannabinoids hit faster. Earthy, musky, or “skunky” strains—mostly Indicas—are your best bet for a Myrcene fix.

How to Get Your Terps: Product Type Matters

Not all consumption methods are created equal. If you’re trying to outmaneuver the Invisible Assassin, you need to make sure you aren’t literally burning off your relief. Here’s the breakdown of how to get the most out of your terpene profile:

Product Type	The Terpene Delivery	Pro-Tip
Flower	Highest Potential	Vaporize at low temperatures. High heat (combustion) destroys delicate terpenes.
Vapes	Variable	Avoid distillates with “botanical” terps. Look for Live Resin or Full-Spectrum to keep the plant’s soul intact.
Edibles	Low (Usually)	Most terpenes are lost during the infusion process, unless the brand specifically adds them back in.
Tinctures	Consistent	Stick to Full-Spectrum tinctures. Isolates are just the cannabinoids and usually have zero terpene benefit.

The Weird Truth

Relationships are weird. If you aren’t shouting “SHUT UP” at each other when someone sneezes or doing an elaborate mating dance involving one-handed clapping or dong slapping are you even in love?

You might have lost your floor space, but you gained a partner in crime who knows that if you’re happy, she’s happy. She’s just trying to make your space a sanctuary. Think of it like the Batcave—just pour some whiskey from that decanter on top of her fridge and ignore the floral aromas of your new blissful paradise.

Transitioning from a bachelor pad to a shared home is a wild ride, but as long as you’ve got the right Terps and a sense of humor, you’ll survive the “Invisible Assassin.”

Join the Conversation!

What’s the weirdest thing your partner did to your “man cave” after moving in? Have you ever been a victim of the Nether-Region Garrote? Drop a comment below and TAG a homie who’s currently losing the war for his under-sink storage! Don’t forget to share this post to help other brothers in arms survive the “Spiced Rain” invasion.

My First Time Using A Gravity Bong: High Lessons

Posted on March 6, 2026 by justinbarone

Justin Barone of TOTS podcast sharing High Lessons and gravity bong stoner stories.

The Gravity Bong: A DIY Masterpiece (and My Biggest Fail)

Whether you call it a Gravity Bong, a Bucket, or a ‘Geeb,’ this DIY stoner invention is a rite of passage. But as I learned the hard way, water pressure doesn’t care about your plans. Before we dive into the 2,700-year history of weed, let’s talk about the ‘High Lesson’ that left me waking up on a stranger’s couch.

Welcome to Thoughts Off The Stem! Today, we taking a trip down memory lane and sharing my first experience with “Buckets”. That’s right we’re talking about the time I hit that DIY atom bomb of a bong. Where the amount of clouds you have to inhale force their way out your ears like a cartoon and the unexpected Life Lessons that revealed themselves in that moment. Then we’re laughing at some of the more absurd but hilarious Stoner Moments from people online. We’re not just talking about getting high; we’re talking about the lessons that only come from those truly elevated perspectives.

The Bucket that started it all…

My very first experience with a gravity bucket wasn’t just a stoner moment—it was a full-blown initiation into another dimension. It was college, a time for exploration and, in my case, a distinct lack of proper planning.

The Scenario: A makeshift bucket in a cramped dorm room.
The Moment: Taking the rip, and immediately realizing I’d bit off way more than I could chew.
The Fail: Waking up hours later, not in my bed, not in a friend’s bed, but passed out on a total stranger’s couch in a completely different building. The lesson here? Know your limits, and maybe always have a wingman when trying something new.

What is a “Bucket”?

For those new to the game, a “Bucket” (also known as a Gravity Bong) is the ultimate Stoner MacGyver creation. It uses water pressure and gravity to create a vacuum that pulls a massive, concentrated cloud of smoke into a chamber (usually a 2-liter bottle). You then push the chamber down, using water pressure to force that smoke directly into your lungs. It’s effective, it’s intense, and as I learned, it requires a certain level of respect.

Weed Facts: A History of MacGyvering (2,700 Years & Counting)

You think building a bucket from a soda bottle is impressive? As I discuss in this episode, humans have been MacGyvering weed accessories for centuries. The fascinating History of Weed is filled with innovative ways people have utilized this plant for medicine, spiritual practices, and, yes, getting incredibly high.

the History	the findings
The Shaman’s Secret (2,700 Years Ago)	Paleoethnobotanists discovered nearly two pounds of 2,700-year-old cannabis in the burial pit of an ancient Gūshī shaman in China. This wasn’t for rope—analyses concluded this ancient society was already cultivating cannabis for psychoactive and divinatory purposes.
The Oldest Bong? (2,500 Years Ago)	In 2019, archaeologists uncovered 2,500-year-old braziers—vessels designed to burn large quantities of cannabis—which contained potent residues. This proves people were actively burning and inhaling the plant for its effects centuries before the first gravity bucket was made.
The Global History:	Humans were using cannabis 10,000 years ago, and trade routes linking Europe and East Asia likely increased its usage 5,000 years ago. From being an approved medicine in the U.S. Pharmacopeia in 1850 to the futile start of the “War on Drugs” in 1972, the story of this plant is one of invention and innovation.
January 2026 Resurrected Enzymes	Scientists “revived” ancient THC enzymes in a lab.

Dude, for Real: The Funniest Things People Do High

To wrap up this signature “High Lessons” launch, we’re looking at the hilarious side of those Stoner Moments. Waking up on a stranger’s couch is just the tip of the iceberg!

Check out this amazing list of “32 of the Funniest Things People Did While They Were High,“ which highlights the kind of creative-but-clumsy genius that only comes from a truly elevated state. From trying to “un-bake” a cake to getting caught in a complex conversation with a houseplants, these stories are the definition of a “High Lesson”.

What’s Your Biggest Stoner Moment?

The history of cannabis shows that we’ve been finding “High Lessons” in this plant for thousands of years. Whether it’s an ancient shaman in China or a college student on a stranger’s couch, the journey of discovery never really ends. These Stoner Moments are more than just funny stories—they are the building blocks of the Life Lessons we share here on Buckets.

Now, I want to hear from you. We’ve all had those moments where things didn’t go quite as planned, but we came out the other side with a great story (and maybe a little more wisdom).

What was your very first “MacGyver” moment—did you build a classic bucket, or were you more of an apple-pipe architect? Let’s hear your most creative (or disastrous) inventions in the comments below! If this story reminded you of a certain someone, share it with your favorite ‘engineering’ buddy!

Stop Working For Free: Social Exposure Doesn’t Pay The Bills

Posted on February 27, 2026 by justinbarone

TOTS420 podcast host with a sign saying Exposure Doesn't Pay The Bills, featuring a chart comparing Frosty Cake and Campfire Smoke quality.

Paying with exposure is a hustle that belongs in a buddy’s garage, not a professional business.

Why Paying With Exposure Doesn’t Work in the Real World

Imagine walking into a local pot shop, asking for an ounce of top-shelf flower, and offering to settle the tab with a shout-out on your Instagram story. You’d be laughed right out of the building. Why? Because legitimate industries don’t run on “vibes” or “likes,” yet in the podcasting world, my inbox is treated like a black market dealer’s garage where everyone expects a free bag in exchange for a few errands.

Welcome to Thoughts Off The Stem. I’m Justin Barone, and I hope life is being good to you, because lately, life has been acting like a prospecting pimp and I’m his prospective hoe. Recently, a couple of companies reached out with their pimp hand asking for me to get on the track and work for nothing but a slap in the face.

Light them if you got them, ‘cause here’s how these “exposure” deals played out.

The Worst “Paying With Exposure” Brand Deals I’ve Seen

Recently, a few companies reached out with “opportunities” that were really just chores in disguise. If you’re a creator, watch out for these red flags.

1. The Tin Joint Holder Tactic

A company reached out wanting a full suite of content: social shorts, feed posts, stories, a website feature on Tots420.com, and a spot on my YouTube review playlist.

The Offer: A free sample.
The Reality: They asked for my rates, saw them, and vanished. If you want a billboard, you have to pay the lease. A $10 tin doesn’t buy a week of production time.

2. The AI Tool That Wanted a Free Employee

This one was a masterclass in audacity. An AI podcast editing tool wanted a “partnership” where I would:

Edit one episode a week for three months using their (buggy) software.
Act as their unpaid QA and R&D department (reporting bugs and UI feedback).
Give them free rights to all my content for their ads.
The Payment: Use of the software.

Pro Tip: If a company asks you to find the bugs in their product while you advertise it for them, they aren’t a partner—you’re an unpaid intern.

Weed Facts: Stop Chasing THC Percentages

Before we get deeper into the “Dude, For Real?” files, let’s clear the air on some cultivation myths. THC potency is not the ultimate qualification for good weed. High potency is a byproduct of great cultivation, but a lower percentage doesn’t mean it’s “bad.”

Beyond the Hype: Weed Facts and Quality Control

Since we’re talking about high-quality work, let’s talk about high-quality flower. THC potency isn’t everything—potency is a byproduct of great cultivation.

How to Spot “Mid” Weed vs. Top-Shelf Flower

Feature	What to Look For
Smell	Pungent, bold, and nuanced. It should make your brain say, “I want to eat this.”
Look	Vibrant colors (whites, reds, oranges) with visible, “frosted” trichomes like a cake.
Feel	Sticky and slightly spongy. Stems should snap, not bend like celery.
Structure	Sativas should be light and fluffy; Indicas should be tight and dense.

The Red Flags of “Bad” Weed:

The “Musty” Nose: If it smells like a damp basement or a pile of straw, it’s aged or compromised.
The “Brown Sugar” Look: If the trichomes are amber and the bud is dirt-brown or lime-green, it’s past its prime.
The “Brittle” Touch: If it crumbles into dust or feels “wet” and tears apart instead of breaking, the cure was botched.

Dude, For Real? The “Exposure” Hall of Fame

They say there are no dumb questions, but the “Choosing Beggars” of the world prove that wrong every day. Whether it’s HuffPo asking for free articles while being a multi-million dollar entity or the guy who thinks Garlic is a valid currency for labor—the entitlement is real.

We’ve all seen the screenshots. The mechanic who gets asked for a “quick fix” for free, or the photographer (shoutout to the legends on BoredPanda) who gets told their work is “overpriced” because “I could do that with a filter.”

The bottom line: Exposure doesn’t pay the bills. Quality—whether in your flower or your content—costs money. If you want the “frosting,” you can’t pay with “crumbs.”

What’s Your Worst “Choosing Beggar” Story?

Have you ever been offered “exposure” in exchange for your hard-earned expertise? Drop a comment below or hit me up on socials. Let’s vent.

Want more unfiltered takes on the industry? Check out our Off The Stem Reviews

[Stay tuned to Tots420.com for more “off the stem” thoughts]

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