Jim Jones: 3 Things I Can't Smoke Without

Joseph Guillermo Jones II — better known as Jim Jones, or simply Capo — is a founding member of The Diplomats and one of the architects of Harlem's modern rap era. From the Dipset rollout days to the Vampire Life lifestyle brand and the Joe & Jada podcast empire, he's spent two decades building culture, and he's been smoking the whole time. When he walked into Good Grades in Queens, he came correct: a self-proclaimed flower snob with very specific opinions about wraps, lighters, and what separates a clean session from a wasted blunt.

Jim Jones doesn't do a lot of small talk before a session. He walks into Good Grades, the Queens dispensary tucked near the Coliseum, with the same posture he carries on a Dipset stage: half mentor, half hustler, all Harlem. The cameras catch him mid-sentence. "Make sure you bring your lungs," he says, half-grinning. "The rest will do itself."

That line — equal parts disclaimer and dare — sets the tone for the entire visit. Capo isn't here to be sold to. He's a smoker. He's been one since long before there was a legal market in New York, before dispensaries had product menus and lab certificates, back when good weed was found in person and rolled in whatever you had.

What he came to Good Grades to do was simple: walk through the three things he can't smoke without. And like everything Jim Jones touches, the answers are specific, opinionated, and deeply tied to where he comes from.

"Make sure you bring your lungs — the rest will do itself."

Capo's first pick isn't a brand or a strain — it's a standard. "The first thing I can't smoke without is some HT," he says. "Some high tolerance. Some very, very good. Some people call it rapper weed."

Translation: the loud stuff. The top-shelf indoor flower that the dispensary keeps behind the glass and the streets used to whisper about. Capo is unapologetic about being a flower snob. "I've been smoking for most of my life, so I kind of know what trash is," he says. "And for the most part, every bag they have just seems to have some good gas in it."

It's a small compliment that means a lot coming from him. For a Harlem rapper who came up in the era of mystery bags, being able to walk into a shop and trust that the indoor is actually indoor — that the gas is actually gas — is the whole point of the regulated market working the way it's supposed to.

"I've been smoking for most of my life, so I kind of know what trash is."

The second non-negotiable is the wrap. And Capo is very, very particular here. "Second thing I can't smoke without is some roll-up," he says. "Preferably a leaf. I don't smoke the backwoods too much anymore, but a good leaf is what I need to roll up. I can't do it without."

He's quick to draw a line in the sand: "I'm not a paper person. I don't smoke grabba. I'm old school. I'm from the Philly and Whiteout era, and then we came to the Dutchies and things like that."

It's a one-sentence history of New York blunt culture. The Phillies and White Owls of the '90s. The Dutch Masters era that took over the 2000s. The shift to backwoods and grabba leaf in the streaming age. Capo lived through every chapter and landed on the leaf as the wrap that respects the flower — slow burn, clean draw, no harsh paper aftertaste, no overpowering tobacco note.

"I'm old school. I'm from the Philly and Whiteout era."

The third pick comes out almost as a punchline. "The third thing I can't smoke without — lighter," he says, deadpan. "Shit, can't light it if I ain't got no lighter."

But the lighter isn't just any Bic. "I don't like matches. Matches kind of seem to fuck the blunt up. But if I have to light a match, I will." Then he gets into the real answer: "I'm really a Zippo person. I've been collecting Zippos for a long time in my career. It's one of my favorite things."

For a guy whose lifestyle brand built itself around aesthetics, the Zippo makes perfect sense. It's metal, it's permanent, it has a sound. Every one in the collection has a story attached to it — a tour, a city, a moment. It's the most Jim Jones answer possible: even the lighter has lineage.

"I've been collecting Zippos for a long time in my career."

There's something fitting about Capo — Harlem to his core — co-signing a Queens dispensary on camera. New York cannabis culture has always moved borough to borough. Harlem birthed an era of style and swagger around weed. Queens is where a lot of that culture now gets bought, legally, over a counter, in a shop like Good Grades.

When he wraps up, Capo turns to the camera one more time and lets the neighborhood know exactly where to find him: "If you're ever in the Queens area, if you're around the Coliseum, pull up to Good Grades. They got some good grades for you, you heard?"

Coming from a flower snob with thirty years of opinions, it's the closest thing to an official Capo seal of approval.

Jim Jones's three things — HT flower, a real leaf, a Zippo — aren't a shopping list. They're a worldview. They say: take the ritual seriously, respect the product, and don't cut corners on the tools.

It's also a quietly perfect blueprint for anyone shopping a legal dispensary for the first time. Start with the best flower you can afford. Pick a wrap that complements it instead of fighting it. And carry a lighter you actually want to pull out of your pocket.

Watch the full interview below, and explore more artists in our Cannabis Culture hub.

"If you're ever around the Coliseum, pull up to Good Grades."