Ben Zabin Is a Marijuana Magician

Like many others, Ben Zabin was out of work after the COVID-19 pandemic hit. His job as a touring magician abruptly ended when cruise ships shut down, and he was forced to reevaluate his career as a performer. But instead of leaving magic altogether, Zabin pivoted and found a new partner: weed.

Zabin launched Smokus Pocus, his cannabis-centric magic show, in Portland in 2021 before bringing it to Boulder the same year. After successful shows in Denver during the most recent 4/20 holiday, Zabin will be back in the Mile High City this Saturday, November 5. In advance of that show, we chatted with the marijuana magician to learn more about the idea behind Smokus Pocus and what the audience should expect.

Westword: What is the origin story behind Smokus Pocus?

Ben Zabin: I launched in Portland, Oregon, in May of 2021. We ran every week there for fourteen months, and almost every show sold out. From there, we started touring the country and doing shows in theaters. I've been everywhere from Oklahoma to Alaska, and I've gotten to meet a lot of really cool cannabis enthusiasts from all over. It's been really cool to bring people together over cannabis, culture and a pretty unique experience. Every state we've done this in so far has cannabis legalized in some form.

What made you want to meld cannabis and magic together?

I've always loved magic. I've been a magician since I was six. I've sort of always been a professional magician. Before the pandemic, most of my work was on cruise ships or overseas doing tours for the Navy. Then all of my work dried up overnight when the pandemic hit, and I considered selling drugs [laughs], including weed. The idea of a weed and magic show was always on my mind, and once the pandemic hit, I decided to move to Oregon sight unseen and launch Smokus Pocus.

No more cruise ships for you, then?

I have no desire to return to cruise ships. I'm having a lot more fun doing this weed magic show than I was performing for old people on Social Security.

How does a typical Smokus Pocus show play out?

The crowd comes baked, and they get bewildered. There are a lot of surprises and weed popping up in the show. There's consumption in ways the audience has never seen before. Each show is different, and a lot of it is based on audience involvement. Everybody is part of the show, which makes things interesting. People come in as strangers, and a lot of them leave being friends with the person across the aisle. That keeps my performance fresh and cultivates the type of communal audience I like with this show.

So does the show involve or allow cannabis smoking?

The show doesn't allow smoking. The audience can come high, but there's no smoking inside any of the venues. We're working on a more permanent venue in Brooklyn where we will be allowed to have smoking, and I'm really excited about that. We have found a lot of the audience is the couple who likes edibles on the weekends, and not necessarily the person who smokes weed every day. We have a wide range of people who come out, and sometimes there's tension when they walk in. But five minutes in, people are laughing together, and it's fun

Can you give us a peek inside some of the tricks and illusions people will see?

In the first ten seconds of the show, a half-pound of weed appears. There are wild objects made into bongs and bowls, and you'll see weed transformed in ways you've never seen it transformed. We go into everything from sneaking weed onto planes to finding out about the first time people smoked. I honestly never know what's going to happen when I walk on stage, so that keeps things interesting for everybody.

Smokus Pocus will hold shows at 7:15 and 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 5, at Enigma Bazaar, 4923 West 38th Avenue. Tickets are $30 at eventbrite.com.