Grandmas Smoking Weed for the First Time

"Grandmas Smoking Weed for the First Time" is a short-form viral video that captured three grandmothers trying cannabis together for the very first time — and in doing so, quietly dismantled about fifty years of stoner stereotypes in under five minutes. It was published on November 19, 2014, by Cut (now WatchCut), a Seattle-based YouTube channel known for social experiments with real people in unrehearsed situations. Within 24 hours it had racked up over 4.3 million views. It currently sits at 70 million and counting. Not bad for three women, a bong, and a bag of chips.

Why Grandmas Smoking Weed for the First Time Still Hits Differently

The video works because it is completely, almost aggressively sincere. Paula, Dorothea, and Deirdre — the three participants — were not playing characters. They were just three older women in Washington state, where recreational cannabis had just been legalized, sitting down to try something they had never tried before. No script. No safety net. Just a bong, a camera crew, and whatever happened next.

AZARIUS · Meet Dorothy, Deirdre, and Stillwater

What happened next was, predictably, chaotic in the best possible way. The nervousness in the first few minutes is palpable — there is polite laughter, some fumbling with the bong, and the particular kind of focused concentration that people deploy when they are trying very hard not to look like they have no idea what they are doing. Then the vaporizer comes out. Then the giggles start. Then someone mentions ironing.

"I could go iron now for days, I love to iron," said one of the grandmas, with the absolute confidence of someone who has just discovered her superpower. It is, genuinely, one of the more relatable things anyone has ever said on camera.

Grandmas Try Weed: What Actually Happened in the Video, Minute by Minute

The session followed a loose but entertaining arc. Then came the vaporizer, which went down considerably smoother and seemed to be the turning point.

AZARIUS · The Progression Is Flawless

Once the cannabis started doing its thing, the grandmas played Jenga. Unsuccessfully. The tower collapsed more than once, which only made things funnier. Then came Cards Against Humanity, a game specifically designed to be played by people who have either lost their filter or never had one to begin with — so, ideal conditions.

The quotes that came out of this session deserve to be preserved somewhere official.

Watch the full video on YouTube

Grandmas Try Weed and Prove That Cannabis Curiosity Has No Age Limit

One of the more interesting things about the grandmas smoking weed video is what it says about who actually uses cannabis — or wants to. The assumption, baked into decades of pop culture, is that cannabis is a young person's thing. Teenagers in basements. College students. People who own hacky sacks. The Cut video, watched by over 70 million people across 12 years, quietly suggests otherwise.

AZARIUS · What This Video Actually Proves

Paula, Dorothea, and Deirdre were not anomalies. They were curious adults who had simply never had a comfortable, legal opportunity to try something they wondered about. Washington state's legalization in 2012 — with recreational sales beginning in 2014 — created exactly that opportunity, and the timing of the video's November 2014 release was not accidental. It landed right in the middle of a cultural moment when a lot of people were asking the same question: okay, so what is this actually like?

The answer, according to three grandmothers and 70 million viewers, is: surprisingly fun, slightly chaotic, and very good for your relationship with chips.