I explored the AI-powered weed vape that rewards you with Bitcoin for using it.

The crypto weed vape made its debut on 4/20, the ultimate day for cannabis fans everywhere. It popped up in my Slack with an image of a guy exhaling a cloud of vapor, boldly stating, “every hit delivers Bitcoin.” It was promoting a device called Gudtrip, and I was skeptical about its authenticity.

Curiosity got the better of me, so I started digging. After weeks of searching, countless emails, and a reporting journey that spanned the globe, I uncovered something even more absurd than I had anticipated.

My first stop was Gudtrip’s website, which only reinforced my suspicion that this was a prank. The product description was a jumble of tech jargon—this wasn’t just a vape that offered Bitcoin; it was touted as “the first agentic cannabis device” merging “premium cannabis, blockchain rewards, and AI-powered asset tools.” Now, AI was thrown into the mix alongside crypto hype.

However, I did find a hint of legitimacy. The site claimed the vapes were available in California, with New York listed as “coming soon.” The brand behind it was Puffpaw, which claimed to create the “world’s first gamified smart vape” for nicotine, supposedly designed to help users quit nicotine through a mechanism I still didn’t grasp.

I scoured Gudtrip’s social media for more info. It seemed the product had quietly launched in March. Most posts reiterated that using Gudtrip would earn you Bitcoin. The pinned post on X stated, “Smoke weed and earn @Bitcoin.” Another post asked, “New Yorkers, are you ready to smoke a joint and earn Bitcoin?” On Threads, Gudtrip promoted “building wealth one puff at a time,” claiming users could “Earn Bitcoin from every single puff.” A lively TikTok video described the vape as “the high that pays you back.”

This was enough to convince me that the product might actually exist. But I still had no clue how it worked. Did the vape mine Bitcoin? I reached out to Gudtrip for clarification.

When they didn’t respond immediately, I continued my search. On LinkedIn, I found a CEO named Reffo T., who described Gudtrip as “a premium cannabis brand turning consumption into an on-chain earning experience.” He had written a blog post encouraging dispensaries to stock these vapes, claiming, “The product sells itself. The Bitcoin just makes sure customers remember where they got it.”

Weed is legal in California, but products are regulated. I contacted California’s Department of Cannabis Control to see if they allowed products that reward consumption. Jordan Traverso, the deputy director of public affairs, said they hadn’t heard of Gudtrip’s AI crypto vape. “We were not previously familiar with the Gudtrip product but have reached out to the manufacturer to learn more about its features,” he wrote. That made two of us.

At this point, I had exhausted my resources from London, so I enlisted the help of colleagues in the U.S. Gudtrip claimed to be available in California at just two stores. Luckily, one colleague was nearby and agreed to visit a dispensary to find out if this vape was real.

Upon entering the NUG Cannabis Dispensary in Oakland, we found the answer: a massive Gudtrip poster boldly promised “ongoing Crypto Rewards over time,” stating simply, “Get High. Get Bitcoin.”

Naturally, we bought one. The AI weed vape set us back $67 after tax.

Just then, Gudtrip replied, and things got even murkier. The idea of “paying people to smoke weed” sounded catchy but raised legal concerns. (It also didn’t seem particularly healthy; experts noted that encouraging daily use could be dangerous and habit-forming.)

When I asked Gudtrip about the vape’s functionality, how the rewards worked, and their response to criticism about promoting cannabis consumption for crypto, their CTO, Rishi Kommuri, sent a few numbered paragraphs. The most striking line was: “It is actually illegal to offer financial incentives per consumption type and so on in any way.”

Wait, what?

Despite the promises from Gudtrip’s website and social media, Kommuri claimed that the vape didn’t actually reward you with Bitcoin for vaping.

“The Bitcoin reward is decoupled from consumption,” he explained. “It is paid upfront on activation, to every customer, and does not scale with puff duration, session count, daily use, or streaks. A customer who never uses the device after activation receives the same $2-$60 BTC equivalent reward as one who uses it regularly. This is a standard consumer loyalty mechanic—Bitcoin in place of points—and Bitcoin is a commodity under SEC and CFTC classification. We’re confident the structure complies with the cannabis regulations of every market we operate in.”

So, you don’t actually “Earn Bitcoin from every single puff”? A video on the company’s website claimed “every inhale syncs with your phone and earns bitcoin and Gudtrip points in real time”—but that wasn’t true? Because that would be illegal?

The Gudtrip app only added to the confusion. When a colleague tried to download it via the QR code on the poster at NUG Oakland dispensary (it was available through TestFlight, not Apple’s App Store), the download page promised something different. The preview screenshot clearly stated that the app rewards puffs on the vape—not with crypto, but with Gudtrip Points. What were Gudtrip Points? What could they be redeemed for? We reached out to Gudtrip again for clarification.

Kommuri reiterated, with urgency: “The main point we want to make sure was clear is that Gudtrip’s Bitcoin reward is tied to activation, not consumption.” And again, you do not get rewarded for puffs! “Gudtrip Points are a separate, non-monetary loyalty system tracked in-app. They are not blockchain rewards and are not redeemable for cash, cryptocurrency, or cannabis products.”

The contradictions were piling up.

Kommuri explained that “the per-puff points displayed in that screenshot was a legacy feature carried from our other smart hardware products … this is no longer a feature we currently provide.” And those “ongoing crypto rewards over time”? That referred to a future portfolio management feature in the app. Yes, the app is also intended to offer investment planning for your crypto portfolio. So, the per-puff points system is a defunct legacy feature, and the crypto portfolio-managing AI doesn’t actually exist yet. What does this device do again, besides the obvious?

The only way to find out what the vape actually did was to use it. However, our ethics policy forbids us from owning cryptocurrency, so we created a throwaway account for the Bitcoin. Our legal team also advised against writing about potentially illegal drug use, so we ordered an auto fluid extractor pump to simulate using the vape.

After linking the vape to Gudtrip’s app, we received $2 worth of Bitcoin. So far, so good. But would there be more as we vaped?

As another colleague pumped the vape into the extractor, the progress bar in the app filled up. Points were counted. He exceeded the “recommended” 20 seconds of daily toking for our “health,” but no additional Bitcoin was dispensed beyond the initial amount. There are separate app pages to track your current prize value and toke-accumulation history, but to earn another $2-$60 in Bitcoin, you’d need to buy a new, disposable $67 vape. That’s how they get you.

Meanwhile, as we continued emailing Kommuri, several social media posts seemed to vanish from Gudtrip’s accounts, though it’s unclear which posts were removed or why. Indexed posts on Google—when clicked, say the posts aren’t available—suggest one was a TikTok video that used the wording “Invest while you puff,” while another was an Instagram post with the phrase “Every hit earns crypto.”

A look at the Wayback Machine shows that Gudtrip also altered its website to downplay the connection between smoking and earning crypto. A snapshot from mid-April displayed an image of a phone with the Gudtrip app open, featuring “every hit earns crypto” prominently beneath the company logo. Today, the phone with the app is still there, but the space beneath the logo is blank. It certainly seems like the company is trying to distance itself from the original concept—toke to get Bitcoin, or rather, toke and get Bitcoin?

So, after all that, my question was answered: The vape was real. But you won’t actually get Bitcoin with every hit.