Snoop Dogg Just Played Us

Those convinced Snoop Dogg had quit smoking weed after the rapper announced he was giving up "smoke" were the victims of a prank by the Doggfather.

The 52-year-old musician, real name Calvin Broadus, is known for his love of the recreational drug, but tweeted on Thursday he would be giving up "the smoke" for good.

Weed stocks even dropped off the back of his cryptic social media announcement.

However, in a plot twist, Snoop has returned to social media, telling fans: "I have an announcement."

In the video, Snoop leans over his hands looking pensive as the camera moved around him.

"I'm giving up smoke. I know what you're thinking, 'Snoop smoke is kind of your whole thing', but I'm done with it," the rapper began.

"I'm done with the coughing, and my clothes smelling all sticky icky. I'm gonna smokeless. Solo Stove, fix five. They take out the smoke. Clever."

The camera then panned out to reveal Snoop was talking about a smokeless outdoor fireplace and showed him roasting a marshmallow as he giggled to himself over the joke.

Fans reacted to the video on social media, with many applauding Snoop's long game.

"Bro had the worlds stoners questioning their life choices for this ad," wrote one person.

Another added: "The bag Snoop got paid for this had to be CRAZY. especially if he was fine letting the world think he gave up such a big part of his image. Like INSANE amounts of money for sure. Shout out to him."

And a third commented: "The most clever marketing done in a hot minute!"

Snoop had announced the "news" on Thursday by writing "After much consideration and conversation with my family, I've decided to give up smoke. Please respect my privacy at this time," he posted on Instagram and X.

It surprised his fans given how much of his branding was associated with marijuana smoking and also his numerous related business ventures, including edibles, weed strains and a digital media business devoted to marijuana-related news.

Following his posts, some cannabis-related businesses lost value on the stock market on Friday.

But one expert told Newsweek it was "unlikely" the stock drop was solely because of Snoop's social media posts.

"Companies associated with the cannabis industry have experienced a difficult period over the past two years, recording an average decline of around 70 percent. This drop was largely due to the repeated unprofitability of these businesses," Grzegorz Drozdz, a market analyst at Invest.Conotoxia.com previously told Newsweek.

"In order to easily raise capital, due to the high popularity of these types of companies around 2018, many of them went public. The negative profitability prompted these companies to turn to debt-financing to maintain liquidity.

"Unfortunately, because of the lack of legal liberalization, the expected [market] development did not take place. Confronted with the rising costs of new debt, the companies were forced to focus on debt reduction instead of business development.

"The departure of one of their most recognizable endorsers, rapper Snoop Dogg, is unlikely to significantly affect the operations of these companies. Their main problem is structural, associated with the details concerning the industry."

Update 11/20/2023, 11:30 a.m. ET: This story was update to include additional information.