By Smoke Cartel
Over the past handful of years we have seen a huge change in the use of glass pipes and how they are designed. You may ask yourself, what caused this change? Well the answer is simple, dabbing is what changed the whole glass game up! The traditional hand pipe and water pipe are far from the norm when you walk into a smoke shop these days, what you can expect to see is an array of devices with a multitude of different functions, most of which are designed for concentrate consumption. Even the dispensaries have experienced change in their inventory. When traditionally their inventory was made up of 60% flower, 30% concentrates, and 10% edibles, whereas now we see their inventory made up of 60% concentrates, 30% flower, and 10% edibles. As dabbing has taken over we have seen a serious evolution in the pipes used for concentrates, and the accessories for these pieces.
The big hitting companies from the pre-dabbing era have slowly been phased out by new artists with crazy scientific and heady designs that continue to evolve each day and a lot of these big hitters have even abandoned their original target market for a new one, the concentrate user. Initially rigs were hard to come by, poorly made, and over-priced for the quality of craftsmanship and what was worth buying was even harder to come by! As the trend grew dab rigs became more available and the price dropped, but eventually the trend grew so much that high end artists started popping up making these pieces also.
In the beginning dabbing started out as a very questionable method of consuming concentrates, but when the nation was introduced to dabbing, things changed drastically. The common devices used for the consumption of concentrates were hot wands, and dry oil pipes that very shady and dangerous. If you did happen to be one of the few with access to stores carrying a pipe designed for concentrates odds are they would not hold up to the test of time or they were ridiculously over priced!
Before long the whole glass scene had changed up, and they have yet to let up to this day. We have started to see companies that made high end production pieces designed for flowers completely switch up to high end production pieces for dabbing, and then there are the onslaught of newcomers to the industry and some that have become known as exceptional artists in the scene. In the beginning we saw larger and heady works being the higher priced items, well today the smaller and more intricate the rig is the more expensive it is. There are even some scientific rigs out there with price tags as high as the best sculpture heady themed rigs out there! The level of craftsmanship and precision in these small pieces are what increase the cost, as well the design. Whether you have a scientific or heady rig you can spend thousands of dollars on a rig.
The amount of different design styles and perc designs vary greatly and many of these have stemmed from concentrate use. Today we can choose from nectar collectors, recyclers, incyclers, and water pipes of all different assortments. In a sense nectar collectors are the concentrate users equivalent to a flower user’s steamroller, they are simple and provide excellent results! Then you have incyclers and recyclers which are designed to cool the smoke to an extremely smooth hit that does not explode in your lungs! These pieces take water from the main can and recycle it up through the pipe and back into the main can!
One of the other big changes I saw in the industry with the rise of concentrates, is the amount of collaborations that artists are putting out! More and more often we see two big time artists working together to create amazing pieces of functional glass art. It is typical to see the perc designs of one artist’s incorporated into the theme of another artist’s work, or you will see an artist create a piece and have another artist etch or electroform the piece. In the realm of heady glass, collaborations can take many paths and you will see pieces with split personalities that clearly display the work of both artists throughout the entire piece. Some great examples are the pieces Ryan Fitt and Gabe Halliday or Mike Shelbo and RollerGhoster! There is definitely one thing for certain, and that is we have only started to see the beginning of how dabbing has revolutionized the glass industry!
