You were right, Snoop Dogg giving up 'smoke' was a stunt

Snoop Dogg's blunt roller and members of his sprawling weed empire can rest easy. As many predicted, the rapper's announcement last week that he would "give up smoke" was, in fact, an ad campaign and not a decision to walk away from weed. 

Last week, one of the world's foremost marijuana advocates announced he had "decided to give up smoke" on social media with a statement that asked for privacy and featured an image of him with hands clasped in prayer. That was a bit of a misdirect. Snoop, it turns out, is now a spokesperson for Solo Stove, a company that sells smokeless stoves and fire pits. 

"I have an announcement," he said in Monday's reveal video. "I'm giving up smoke. I know what you're thinking — Snoop, smoke is kind of your whole thing. But I'm done with it. I'm done with the coughing and my clothes smelling all sticky icky. I'm going smokeless. Solo Stove fixed that. They take out the smoke. Clever."

He's right. It's clever. It's a clever, attention-grabbing — and slightly cynical — marketing gimmick. 

So, the "Gin and Juice" rapper isn't stepping away from weed or even following the lead of other famous advocates like Willie Nelson and giving up smoking in favor of edibles. Stories about Snoop smoking up celebrities like Ed Sheeran and Russell Crowe will not abate.

While he is not stepping away from the lifestyle he is famous for, he has said recently that he will ease up on his notable marijuana consumption. In March, he told the Daily Mail he has been cutting back now that he's a grandfather. "Being a grandfather has changed me in multiple ways," he told the publication. "The main way is being concerned with how I live, how I move, the kind of people I'm associated with, because I want to see my grandkids grow old."

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