More Americans favor legal marijuana than ever before.

As the $6.9 billion industry steps into the light, a new subculture around pot is taking shape. It shrugs off the stoner stereotypes of the past and brings like-minded people together to enjoy the plant in legal, communal settings. In San Francisco, private events centered on cannabis are gaining popularity, including gourmet "wake and bake" brunches and ganja-fueled yoga.

The latest trendy event series in San Francisco has people getting high on marijuana during painting workshops, much like the paint and wine classes taking America by storm.

We attended a Puff, Pass & Paint class to see what it was like.

Puff, Pass & Paint classes got their start in Denver, Colorado, in 2014, shortly after the state legalized recreational marijuana. Founder Heidi Keyes was working as an artist at the time.

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"A friend jokingly suggested that I should 'start a wine and painting class — but with weed,'" Keyes says. She's been a cannabis user for over half of her life.

Heidi Keyes.Melia Robinson/Business Insider

She decided to give it a go, and the class in Denver exploded in popularity. Today, you can find Puff, Pass & Paint classes in six states where recreational marijuana is legal.

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Find a Puff, Pass & Paint class near you »

Participants sometimes travel from outside the state to partake. Keyes even gets people who are smoking with others for the first time.

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A two-hour class costs $49, which includes painting supplies. While the event is "BYOC" — bring your own cannabis — each event has a sponsor that gives away products to try.

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When I arrived at a top-secret warehouse location in San Francisco, I was greeted by a vendor from Alchemy, a company that makes marijuana vape pens. Their devices use cartridges filled with potent marijuana oil and botanicals for soothing aromas.

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Each table in the workshop area had a cup with different flavored vape pens inside.

Slim's Baked Goodies handed out weed-laced treats. This red velvet cupcake contained 10 milligrams of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. I ate mine right away.

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I struck up a conversation with my neighbor. Dominic Ripoli works as a marijuana policy consultant and considers himself "the Lord Varys of cannabis." (A "Game of Thrones" reference). He helps clients in the industry write applications for business licenses.

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Dominic hit a dab, which is when you take a marijuana concentrate, apply it to a hot surface to create smoke, and inhale to get high. He even brought his own blow torch to light the dab rig.

Participants sign an agreement saying they will consume no more than an ounce of marijuana — roughly a sandwich bag full — and will not sell the drug to other students.

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This workshop would teach us how to paint Mexican sugar skulls, though Keyes encouraged us to go rogue if we felt inspired by cannabis. "You can do you own thing," she said.

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In the beginning, most people followed the instructions stroke by stroke.

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I puffed on an Alchemy vape pen that was intended to inspire creativity. The oil contained a blend of orange, vanilla, and cardamom, and it tasted like a cup of chai tea.