Cannabitch – Would you buy a bong that costs $30K?

“High-end glass pipe artists are supplying a booming collector’s market that hinges on usability, sentimentality, and imagination

Today I write to you all from the depths of pure devastation. Just a few days ago, I watched as my beloved spoon (bowl, pipe, etc.—insert your preferred handheld smoking apparatus nomenclature here) leaped out of my handbag and crashed onto the tile below it, shattering into a few big pieces.

My stomach instantly dropped and my chest muscles clenched up. Then, dramatically, I started crying. I think any stoner who, at any point, obtained a beloved glass piece only to break it has felt similar heartbreak. It was my piece! My little sidekick. It came everywhere with me and served me well for about a year. An ex of mine gave it to me as a gift and, though he is quite gone, I still liked to have this reminder of him. I remembered it was a full moon in Aquarius—whatever that really means—and a quick Instagram scroll told me that we, as humans, could expect this particular moon to release things that no are no longer serving us. I took it as a sign, tried to accept that this spoon breaking was a necessary tie to cut, and instantly posted a plea to my Instagram stories.

“Can anyone recommend a good glass artist that can make me a palm-sized spoon?” I posted. I got a couple of suggestions, but mainly messages from at least ten people asking if I could pass along whatever information I found. “I’ve been wondering the same,” one woman said. I thought it was interesting that so many dyed-in-the-wool stoners, myself included, didn’t personally have a glass connect.

Funnily enough, two days after that it’s time to jump on a long-scheduled call with Etai Rahmil, a well-respected glass artist from Portland who is currently at the top of his game. I don’t even bother to ask him if he could help—his pieces are larger-scale, intricate collector pieces, and just this week he launched his new glass-only pour-over coffee brewer. Derailing from that to make a spoon for a random writer is, I think, a bit below his pay grade. I do, however, spill my story as soon as we get on the phone. …”

Read the full story by Jackie Bryant at Cannabitch.