Herb is a Toronto-based cannabis culture and discovery publication that grew out of The Stoner’s Cookbook, a recipe site started in 2006. It publishes daily across news, strains, products, recipes and legalization, and in September 2026 its front page ran a D’lish strain breakdown next to a story on Willie Nelson’s return to the cannabis business.
From The Stoner’s Cookbook to Herb
Lucas Young and Daniel Crothers built The Stoner’s Cookbook in New Zealand in 2006 as an online cannabis recipe database. By 2009, the company says, it had become the most-visited cannabis recipe site on the internet. Matt Gray joined as CEO in 2014, acquired the company in 2015 and rebranded it as Herb.
The recipe roots stayed in print. Herb released a cookbook in 2015, Herb: Mastering the Art of Cooking with Cannabis, running past 200 pages. Recipes remain a standing section of the site in 2026.
Seed money and a video push
On August 29, 2017, Herb announced a $4.1 million seed round led by Lerer Hippeau Ventures. Slow Ventures, Bullpen Capital, Joe Montana’s Liquid 2 Ventures and Shopify leaders Tobi Lütke and Harley Finkelstein also invested. TechCrunch reported 5.3 million unique monthly viewers and 200 million monthly video views at the time, citing Tubular Labs. By January 2018, Herb’s own count had reached 300 million monthly video viewers.
Video carried the brand through that stretch, with series including Game Changers, Strain Stories, Wake and Break and Sessions. Herb opened New York and Los Angeles offices in 2017 and settled its headquarters in Toronto after Canada set October 17, 2018 as its legalization date. In April 2020 it launched Herb Pickup for locating cannabis products.
The desks in 2026
The site’s navigation runs News, How-Tos, Dispensaries, Deals, Products, Guides, Legalization, Industry, Recipes, Strains, Events, High Culture and Learn. High Culture carries the culture writing, while Learn handles product reviews and comparisons.
A single week in September 2026 produced a beaker bong roundup, a guide to electric grinders, a cart-versus-disposable explainer and a review digest on the Modus Breezy Blend. News and legalization pieces run alongside them on the same front page. Off the site, the footer points readers to Instagram, Threads, YouTube, Facebook, Spotify, X and LinkedIn.
Strains Sense and the strain library
Strain coverage runs deep. The recurring Strains Sense series gives single cultivars a full breakdown, with entries on Blue Dream and Gruntz. The broader library covers names including Apple Fritter, Guava Dawg, Purple Space Cookies and Sour Space Candy.
Fresh entries kept landing through September 2026, including write-ups on D’lish, Billy Ocean, Black Cat and Gush Mintz on consecutive days.
Positioned against the big directories
Herb calls itself a culture discovery platform and the cannabis community for Millennials and Gen Z. Its about page, read in September 2026, claimed 14 million community members. The same page sets Herb’s engagement against Weedmaps and Leafly, the two directories it measures itself by. A dispensary directory and a deals section put Herb on the same ground.
Official channels
Herb publishes at herb.co, posts video on YouTube and keeps accounts on Instagram, X and LinkedIn.