By Chris Eudaley
Surely, hand-blown glass pipes and tubes are the modern connoisseur’s weapon of choice. Their sleek, smooth feel and exquisite psychedelic swirls, marbles and designs are only outdone by the outstandingly pristine tokes each use delivers. It’s a genuine marriage of beauty and practicality.
Of course, there are cheaper ways to smoke your stash, but with today’s high pot prices, most money-conscious smokers think twice before rolling up monster fatties with double-wide rolling papers.
Glassblowing is an ancient trade, dating back before the time of Christ. Then, as now, it was taught via a system of apprenticeship wherein a master blower passes the art down to upcoming generations with closely monitored, hands-on training in the workshop. The preferred style of pipe and tube blowers today is called lampworking, which originated on the island of Muranojust off the coast of Venice, Italy. There, glassblowing was enhanced and sculpted into an artform. That’s because the Italian Mafia ordered the glass masters to the island to protect the prized secrets of the Venetian blowers. As a result, the arts of the Venetian masters remained a closely guarded monopoly for decades. But centuries later, glassblowing has gone legit. Today, anyone can learn it, with a number of available apprenticeships and various glass schools located across the country.
The original Pyrex glass pipes came out of Akron, OH in the early ’70s. One of the first on the scene was a blower named Chuck Murphy. At the time, he was only blowing clear pipes. His were good, but it was the passion of his apprentice Bob Snodgrass that launched the glass revolution. After a few weeks of watching Murphy blow pipes, Snodgrass got his chance to step up to the torch and help out with the production process.
“Fire …
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Author: High Times / High Times
