How Seth Rogen became the Monet of weed accessories

When Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg brought their cannabis brand, Houseplant, to the United States in 2021, alongside their strains and prerolled joints, the longtime creative partners also debuted a few smoking accessories—including a set designed by Rogen whose centerpiece was a purpose-built ashtray.

With its deep well and joint-holding notch, Rogen’s ashtray was developed initially to meet his specific needs. He wanted to be able to walk around without ash and roaches blowing away, and to have a place to set a joint between puffs. Turns out, other people wanted the same features. The ashtray—which had peppered his Instagram posts for two years before Houseplant rolled them out—became “one of the foundational things we sell,” he says.

Over the past two years, Houseplant’s line of smoking accessories has become the brand’s calling card, expanding to include match holders and strikers, as well as a Rogen-designed ceramic rolling tray complete with stone grinder——offering a more sophisticated aesthetic than the Rick and Morty-themed cheap plastic stuff often found in head shops. But like Monet with his haystacks, Rogen has returned repeatedly to the ashtray—the latest iteration of which, the $95 Ashtray 3.0, launches today.

The new design is slightly taller with curves along the well and a retro glaze that evokes a vintage diner mug. Rogen describes the object as sculptural. It’s meant to be displayed.

“When I first started making ashtrays…the shape and design was very utilitarian and spoke to the fact that I was just learning how to do ceramics,” he explains. “As I got better, I grew more comfortable making bigger things that were meant to be… a little bit more of a centerpiece rather than something that was sitting on the side table.”

Rogen wants his home goods to have pride of place in people’s houses. “It speaks to an overall de-stigmatization of weed and a pent-up desire from weed smokers to be treated as normal people who like nice things,” he says. “It’s a very validating experience to get a product that speaks to your taste and your lifestyle and is highly considered and well-made.”

It’s these funkier products—like record sets that contain LPs with playlists curated to pair with different strains, and an outdoor lantern-ashtray—that Rogen says get people excited. He sees the objects as an opportunity for people to display their hobby.

“People who love weed have the instinct to find their own way to celebrate it,” he says. “It’s nice to be able to celebrate people who smoke weed. … We put as much of ourselves into the product as possible, and people have received it in the exact way that we hoped they would.”