High Times returns with Wiz Khalifa cover and cannabis culture issue

High Times Magazine released its Summer/Fall 2026 print edition featuring Wiz Khalifa on the cover, with newsstands in the U.S. and Canada getting copies in early September. The 132-page issue spotlights cannabis prisoners, legalization’s fallout, rolling as a craft and the tension between cannabis culture and commercialization.

Why it matters: - High Times is signaling that its revived print strategy is built around culture, not just celebrity. - The issue frames cannabis legalization as incomplete, with legal markets expanding while some people remain in prison for cannabis offenses. - The magazine is also positioning craft, ritual and history as core values at a time when convenience and mass-market branding dominate cannabis retail.

What happened: - High Times released its Summer/Fall 2026 print edition, a 132-page issue featuring Wiz Khalifa on the cover. - The issue is available online for $14.99. - Print copies begin arriving at newsstands across the U.S. and Canada in early September, including Barnes & Noble locations. - The cover appearance comes 10 years after Khalifa’s last High Times cover. - The issue is part of High Times’ revival under Publisher Josh Kesselman, founder of RAW® Rolling Papers.

The details: - The issue is organized around craft, slowness and humanity. - Coverage includes the art of rolling a joint instead of buying a pre-roll. - The magazine also looks at waiting extra weeks for a plant to fully flourish. - The issue includes stories about spending years chasing a specific flavor and preserving traditions that predate legalization. - Three stories focus on Wiz Khalifa as an artist, entrepreneur and cannabis brand builder. - One story examines why Khalifa Kush stayed privately held while many celebrity cannabis brands sought outside capital. - The issue includes a feature on cannabis prisoners who remain incarcerated while legal consumption has gone mainstream. - Another story examines how San Francisco’s Hippie Hill has been priced out of the city and, in some cases, the legal cannabis industry. - A feature on RAW Rolling Paper’s “World Rolling Championship” spotlights elaborate paper-and-flower sculptures, including a 400-hour octopus. - The issue questions whether THC numbers still define quality, citing blind judging, terpene literacy and premium genetics as alternative markers. - One article explores cannabis’ psychedelic effects after a 100mg edible sent the writer into research on altered-state science and history. - Another story reports from Toronto on legal dispensaries closing while unregulated shops continue operating nearby, seven years after Canada’s legalization. - The issue asks whether rolling joints is becoming a lost art as Gen Z consumption shifts toward pre-rolls and convenience. - Original artwork by artist Axtor provides the issue’s illustrations.

Between the lines: - The editorial mix suggests High Times is trying to reclaim the cultural authority of print by focusing on the parts of cannabis that are harder to commercialize. - The legalization stories point to a central tension in the market: policy wins have not evenly translated into justice, affordability or stable retail ecosystems. - By putting craft and tradition next to business strategy, the magazine is drawing a line between cannabis as culture and cannabis as consumer packaged goods. - Editor-in-Chief Javier Hasse said the issue is about slowing down enough to pay attention to the people and contradictions that shape cannabis culture.

What's next: - High Times will continue its return to limited-run, collectible print editions. - The magazine says the revived print format will carry its original counterculture mission into a new era of cannabis culture. - More information is available here.