Chief Parrothead Jimmy Buffett likes weed so much that, more than 40 years ago, he named his group the Coral Reefer Band. Now Buffett wants to trademark the name and sell marijuana-related products.
In 2014, Buffett's company, Margaritaville Enterprises LLC, filed for the trademark. Among the potential products listed in the application are electronic cigarettes, herbs for smoking, cigarette papers, cigarette rolling machines, smoking pipes, tobacco grinders and hookahs.
Three months later, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office wrote back with several pertinent questions:
• “Do applicant’s identified goods include or contain marijuana, marijuana-based preparations, marijuana extracts or derivatives, or any other illegal controlled substance?”
• “Do applicant’s identified goods include or consist of any equipment, product or material of any kind which is primarily intended or designed for use in manufacturing, compounding, converting, concealing, producing, processing, preparing, injecting, ingesting, inhaling or otherwise introducing into the human body a controlled substance?”
Not much has transpired since then, though Margaritaville Enterprises clearly has its eye on the same prize Snoop Dogg, Willie Nelson and the Bob Marley Estate are currently pursuing - products based around their celebrity with cannabis costumers in mind.
In January, Buffett visited MiNDFUL's grow facility in Denver. According to an article and photos posted at buffettnews.com, "There is speculation that Buffett may invest in the cannabis company."
Buffett may seem new to the pot party, but that's hardly be the case. He was the first musician ever interviewed ever in High Times, in 1976. His classic stoner song, "A Pirate at 40," is all about the marijuana smuggler's life:
I've done a bit of smugglin'
I've run my share of grass
I made enough money to buy Miami
But I pissed it away so fast
Never meant to last, never meant to last.
Listen below:
"A Pirate at 40" just fell shy of cracking the Top 100 in 1974. It remains a Coral Reefer Band staple in the second set, one of Buffett's Top 8 songs he always plays in concert.
Their next show is on New Year's Eve at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Huey "I Want a New Drug" Lewis & the News are opening for the Coral Reefers.
