I'm miserable at rolling joints. Always have been. Even after years of sporadically watching smug tutorials by alt high-schoolers on YouTube, I somehow never get the ratio right—after dumping shake all over my lap, the result is far too tight, or I basically just resort to folding the paper a couple times around the pot in the ultimate "I give up" move. But joints have always been my favorite. So small! Simple! Portable! And bongs, pipes, bubblers, gas masks, etc. are just becoming kind of... icky. It's not that I don't love a hazy night of lung-scorching bong rips, but one of the best parts of weed legalization is the arrival of more reasonable-looking pot-smoking devices.

Which brings me to my new favorite thing. They've been in my life for only a couple of months, but I'm having a total love affair with portable vaporizers. No, not those oddly shaped pens or devices that need to be charged or refilled, but a far simpler little piece of cannabis technology: THE ELECTRONIC JOINT. That's right. If you thought regular joints were handy, then imagine an ashless, smokeless version you can throw in your pocket with zero crumbs or scent. It's the future, friends.

The e-joint is a small, sleek black cylinder—same shape and concept as an e-cigarette. You simply inhale vapor from one end, no buttons to push—a green glow at the other end indicates it's working. They're disposable, so 150 or so puffs later, the green end starts blinking and that's that.

I got my first sample e-joint from a friend who put me in touch with the mastermind behind them. The Seattle-based developer told me they're one of the first devices engineered specifically for portable cannabis vaporization. Many of the popular pens on the market use technology that was developed for liquid nicotine, which is why they tend to clog or stop working when loaded with an oil. The e-joint comes in a small, subtly branded box and is currently becoming available for medical marijuana patients. But when e-joints hit fine recreational pot stores for the masses, they'll be available for around $24 each.

Though I'm still a little murky on the ins and outs of our brand-new weed laws, the e-joint is discreet enough for me to feel comfortable bringing it, um, everywhere-ish with me around Seattle. Comfortable enough that, well, full disclosure, I'm writing this in Connecticut on tour, fully loaded, as they say.

Another important factor is that the high is really clean and mellow—like all the best effects of marijuana without the crazy paranoia, the dumb feeling, the debilitating sleepiness, or the cough attacks. I can take a few puffs and get work done, remember a long and complicated to-do list, play shows, and grocery shop without coming home with the entire bakery section. Hell, I can take a few puffs and talk to a family member on the phone for longer than three minutes! And my purse doesn't smell like a dorm room. recommended