Max Moyet has created the quintessential weed tour in the Big Apple.

As a cannabis patient who travels for work reporting on weed-friendly tourism, an insider tour of any city that shares copesetic medicating spots is welcome. But a tour guide who gets that waking and baking isn’t just about getting high but is an experience when you add sensory sights, sounds, and the culture of a city like New York, is priceless. Max was born and raised in the city he loves to walk through. Before doing the tours, he was a dog walker with a solid business.”That’s how I met my wife. My clients were Broadway actors, and it was a good life. Then I was an Airbnb Superhost, taking guests on walking city tours.”When the pandemic hit, he’d been doing the tours for about a year. He stopped hosting Airbnb, focusing full time on its excursions via the walking tours, adding cannabis when the city legalized it for adult use in 2021.Under New York’s adult use ordinances, those 21 can possess up to three ounces of cannabis and up to 24 grams of concentrate for personal use. Smoking is allowed wherever tobacco is permitted, with a few exceptions.

Be My Guest

Upon arrival, Moyet treats his guests to a piece of homemade (non-infused) chocolate-chip avocado cake – a special recipe that he said took him ten years to perfect. They also get two prerolls each to enjoy throughout the tour. “I’ve been Vegan since 2021 for health reasons,” he declared. “I also quit coffee and alcohol, and self-medicate with cannabis before the tour with my Volcano vape, because it helps with my pre-tour anxiety. Sometimes it’s stressful guiding a large group, and my main concern is that they enjoy themselves.” Luckily, he said that those who partake of cannabis are chill clients. For this reason, he doesn’t encourage drinking alcohol on the tours because he says it changes the vibe.

“Ninety-nine percent of the tour is laughing,” he said. “Mostly, my clients tend to be mellow and down to earth. Some take me out for a meal afterward. One group was mortgage brokers from Texas. They had just returned from a trip to Belgium, where they bought a chocolate bar with psilocybin mushrooms, specifically to do on my tour, and asked me to join them. They were such a nice, well-spoken group, so I did. I decided to keep going when the tour ended, as I didn’t want to unleash them in the city while tripping.”

Not on tour was the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET), and for two additional tour hours, the group had the good fortune of tripping to more than 5,000 years of art from around the globe in one of the world’s largest and finest art museums.

Waking & Baking with Max

Moyet’s note at the beginning of the tour instructs his guests that vapes, pens, and organic hemp-wrapped blunts are welcome. Cannabis has been used for centuries in spiritual practices, said to open the third eye; smoking cannabis before a hike allows the partaker to soak up the sights and sounds around them. Cannabis is an enhancer, making the simplest flavors in food pop, the sun feel warmer, and the breeze crisper and cooler. Add art, gardens, and food, and it’s no wonder Moyet’s tours are steadily booked.Knowing about sensory enhancements in food with cannabis, the tour begins at the reasonable hour of 11 a.m. at Absolute Bagels on the Upper West Side, known for some of the best bagels in the city. Founded in the 1980s, the little shop is never without a customer, with lines wrapping around the block at 7 a.m.

Parents often bring their grown children and partake together. A grandmother and her grown grandson signed up thinking “wake and bake” meant a tour of fine pastries throughout the city.”This has only happened twice,” he laughed. “They were surprised at the 420 friendly aspects but did the tour anyway and had a great time. Thankfully, we have a few baked food options – besides just getting baked.”On the way to the next destination, the group passes by Tom’s Restaurant, made infamous by its recreation on set in Los Angeles, where the cast of the TV show, Seinfeld, hung out. “Tom’s is the perfect photo op as we pass by,” Moyet said. “Some go inside, but most just take pictures from the sidewalk. “Next stop is St. John the Divine, a historic Episcopalian church opened in 1941, as one of five of the largest churches in the world. A favorite installation to view was done by the late graffiti artist Keith Haring.

This is poignant, as Haring was one of the first celebrities to pass of AIDS at the height of his career, with Moyet adding that LGBTQ+ people are more than welcome on his tours. At St John the Divine, guests can soak in the cathedral’s beauty, the sanctuary’s quiet, and the meditative feeling enhanced by the plant upon entering. Though public parks are typically deemed off limits to smoking, cigarettes or otherwise, cannabis smoking has become tolerated and are destinations for the tours for partaking.”No one has ever complained about my tours, probably because we are respectful,” he surmised. “Everyone is just so happy to partake in the park. On nearly every tour, guests say, ‘We can’t do this in Ohio, Atlanta, Texas, or Tennessee.’ It’s amazing how many guests travel from states that aren’t legal for cannabis, and they are so happy to be able to medicate in a lovely park freely.”

The group strolls through Central Park, where they visit the Harlem Meer, a lovely lake in the park’s northeast corner. Next is a sensory treat, visiting the conservatory garden, one of the most significant public gardens in the city, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux as an arboretum, used initially as a propagation greenhouse in planting the park, which is solely man-made, and has become a living habitat for a wide array of wildlife. Being in nature while medicated with cannabis is everything. Next time you are couch locked, go outside, breathe in the air, and get your fingers dirty. Let the plant enhance your relationship with nature. That’s one thing Moyet hopes for his guests, that they can connect with something larger than themselves. Subway rides in the city are mandatory, and from the park, Moyet has his guests take a ride to 34th Street and the Hudson Yards, home of the Vessel. Commissioned in 2013, it was designed to be an interactive sculpture and public space. Designer Heatherwick created the structure as a vessel of God.Next is Mercado in Little Spain, an authentic Spanish market and eatery where guests can enjoy a variety of foods. Moyet treats his guests to a chuco – a chocolate-filled croissant noted as a favorite in Spain. It wouldn’t be a 420 walking tour without a walk on the High Line, an elevated freight rail line converted into a public park on Manhattan’s West Side with art installations and flora. Owned by the City of New York, the High Line was saved from demolition by neighborhood residents and opened in 2009.”I couldn’t do the tour without a stop to the High Line,”

Moyet laughed. “The jokes from my guests are priceless. ‘I’m High on the High Line’ is a favorite. But, it’s a beautiful place for soaking up art and picturing taking.”Little Island is another favorite stop on the tour right on the Hudson River, located within the Hudson River Park. It’s a beautiful place built atop an architecturally stunning pier. It’s also a spiritual place, as it was once home to the Lenape tribe during the early colonization of America. Best to stop and say a little blessing for those tribal members who once hunted and fished along the Hudson, for their spirits are indeed there. Lastly, the tour ends at Chelsea Market and the original home of the Oreo cookie. Constructed in the 1890s, it’s where the National Biscuit Company, later dubbed Nabisco, was founded. The Chelsea Market also has a history with the Algonquin tribe, who traded game and crops on the banks of the Hudson. Today, it’s an international market known as one of the world’s most incredible indoor food and retail marketplaces. The floors above the market are home to the Food Network, where many cooking shows have been filmed, including The Iron Chef and Chopped. “Chelsea is a great place for my guests to end up,” he concluded. “They can satisfy their munchies, have a nice meal, and shop for souvenirs. “It’s easy to say, let’s get high and go for a walk, but the locations from this New Yorker, combined with an excellent smattering of food and flora, make this 420-friendly tour special.

To sign up for Max’s Wake & Bake Tour of New York, visit Airbnb:

https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/188587?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=721f78eb-692b-4cb5-a1d5-4888ed9c02c6

Follow Max on instagram HERE

Written and Published By Sharon Letts in Weed World Magazine Issue 164