How to pipe shop

Pipe shopping for the first time is always an exciting event and knowing what to look for in your new piece is key to ensuring that you get the most out of your experience. It is important to consider things like the materials used to make the pipe, the durability, price, size and shape, where it came from, who made it and how long it will last.

Pipes have been around for thousands of years and are made from many different materials including stone, wood, steel, titanium, brass, aluminum, ceramic and glass. Pipes made of different materials have different qualities and depending on what you’re looking for in your pipe, you may prefer specific materials over others. Ceramic for example does not heat up as quickly as steel, brass or aluminum but is more likely to break when dropped. Wood may also stay at a cooler temperature, but is often much more difficult to clean.

The first step is deciding what qualities you are looking for in a pipe. Are you going to want something small? Durable? Big? Extravagant? Colorful?  Unique?  Functional? Do you want something that is easy to travel with? Discreet? Concealable? Something with a big chamber? Easy to clean? Do you want a rush hole? Something that cools the smoke? A pipe with a stash built into it? A cute, scary or evil pipe?  A piece that sparks conversation? Do you prefer something that works well, something that looks nice, or a nice combination of both?

Qualities to Consider

Material- What your pipe is made of is one of the most important aspects to consider. Having a safe material is essential to making sure your smoking experience is kept as safe as possible.  The safest material to smoke out of would probably be glass or stone as they do not burn or break down like other materials. Because it is the most commonly preferred material, I will be referring back to glass throughout the write-up.

Glass is the most commonly preferred material of pipe as it doesn’t break like metal,  it’s easy to clean and doesn’t give any added flavor to the herbs. There is also a wide variety of styles and designs available and it is considered a safe material to smoke out of. The safest metal to smoke out of would be something like titanium as it doesn’t heat up and break down as quickly as most metals (aluminum heating up and breaking down causes metal to accumulate around the brain and can lead to conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.) Wood tends to slightly burn in the bowl but being a natural substance, as long as it is not coated with sap, lacquer or paint, is relatively safe to smoke out of. Stone pipes are heavy and don’t break down like metal pipes making them relatively safe as well.

Durability- How strong does the pipe have to be to survive your lifestyle? Where will it be used and what circumstances will it have to endure? I would recommend a durable pipe first and foremost especially if you have decided to go with a glass piece. Unless you enjoy the sound of breaking glass, resin covered broken glass, or replacing your pipe on the regular, you will definitely appreciate a durable piece. There’s nothing like watching in anticipation as a pipe or glass piece falls to what seems like its end and seeing it bounce off the floor and stay in one piece to be used again.

Size- Are you looking for something that can fit in your pocket or something that will stay at home? When you are smoking out of your pipe, consider how close the flame will be to your nose and mouth.  Consider that the closer it is to your face, the more likely that the flame could burn more than what is in the bowl(nose/ eyelashes/ hair) and the hotter the smoke is bound to be. The size of the chamber that the smoke fills before reaching your mouth should be considered as well for if you are not a heavy smoker, you probably won’t want a huge chambered pipe, perhaps something skinny similar to a one-hitter instead.

Shape- If you are planning on carrying your pipe in your pocket, awkwardly shaped pipes often prove uncomfortable. A couple key aspects to think about when picking the shape: How sturdy the pipe will sit on a table and how easily it can be cleaned. Does the pipe roll when you set it down?  An aspect often overlooked while caught up in the pipe shopping moment. If you are a clumsy person or hang out with friends who tend to break things often, hooks and spikes coming off of the glass piece are probably some things to avoid. Do you want to be able to see what’s in the bowl when you are smoking? Everyone has their preference.

Appearance- Aside from the shape and size, color and transparency can be considered. Some people like a brightly colored pipe that can be easily located. Other people prefer an earth-toned pipe as it’s more easily concealed. The transparency can be important for anyone who enjoys watching the smoke go through the pipe or who enjoys watching fumed glass pipes change color. Some people however, do not like to see their pipe getting dirty and therefore tend to stick to a solid color.

Source- Where is the pipe coming from? It’s always good to support local art and so that is something to definitely consider while pipe shopping. There are plenty of glass blowers, soap-stone carvers and whittlers that live nearby and supporting local art keeps communities more tightly knit. Pieces can certainly be shipped from all over the world if you are more interested in a world wide variety of materials and styles, although the further it travels, the more difficult it can be to determine its origin. Do you prefer a man-made pipe or that it be produced mechanically? Do you want to support big corporations or local head shops and artists? Although this may not seem important to you, every purchase and move made by the people reflect how the bricks in the wall stand together. The big picture is made up of these smaller actions and each needs to be valued and appreciated for what it is- a part of the whole.

Pipe shopping can be an exciting event if you know what you are looking for. Recognizing the qualities that satisfy your preferences and needs will direct you on the right path to acquiring your new favorite pipe. Hopefully some of these recommendations will help speed up the decision-making process and get your mind thinking about what really makes a good pipe for you. Material, durability, size, shape, appearance and source are key aspects to consider and if you can find a balance among these qualities, you are sure to be a happy smoker.
The following includes a breakdown of each material of pipe to help make it more clear as to what might work best for you.

Pros/Cons of Individual Materials

Pros/Cons of Glass- Glass does not break down like metal. It is far safer to smoke out of and can last a long time. Glass pipes come in a variety of designs, shapes and sizes. Despite common belief that glass is very fragile, there are styles of glass blowing that allow for a much more durable piece. Marbleized glass for example, can often be thrown across a room with confidence that it won’t break.   Glass blowing is an incredible art and the possibilities with it seem endless. Pieces are unique and overall, glass is easy to clean with the proper solutions and tools.

Pros/Cons of Stone- Stone comes in a variety of designs- some very strong and others very fragile. They are usually pretty heavy, but different types of stone used make for a variety of weights available. Stone does not break down like metal pipes and is therefore safer to smoke out of. Because stone is natural, many stone pipes can be easily concealed and depending on their design, can last for a very long time. Depending on how smooth the surface is in the pipe, they can be either easy or tricky to clean.

Pros/Cons of Wood- Wooden pipes are made from many different types of wood. Some are heavier and stronger than others and therefore will last longer. Some burn easier than others and can result in an added flavor to what you are smoking. Many wooden designs include built in stashes, which is very convenient for a smoker on the go or with limited space.  A wooden pipe is unlikely to break when dropped but cleaning it can prove to be very challenging. Many people enjoy the natural look and taste of the wooden pipes as well as the artistic designs offered. Be aware of wood that is coated with sap, lacquer or paint however, as those are not safe to smoke and are sometimes added to the pipe merely for the visual attraction.

Pros/Cons of Ceramic- Ceramic pipes are relatively safe to smoke out of but can be fragile. Ceramic pipes come in many designs, shapes and sizes. If you tend to break things, ceramic may be a good material to avoid. If you are looking for something that doesn’t break down like metal however, ceramic is safer and could therefore be a good choice. It is also usually quite easy to clean with the proper solution and tools.

Pros/Cons of Metal- Metals pipes are strong and physically last for a very long time. They come in many shapes and sizes. There are many designs that include a built in stash, a convenient quality for travellers. Most metals however break down when they are heated up repeatedly. This can cause exposure to metals that you otherwise would not be ingesting. This can result in conditions like Alzeimer Disease, and is therefore not considered the safest choice as a material for your pipe. The safest metal to smoke out of is probably titanium as it stays cooler than most other metals, prolonging its break down. With the proper solution and tools, metal is usually pretty easy to clean.

Pipe shopping just got easier! Be informed, get educated and help out a friend searching for their new pipe.

Check out Canada’s Marijuana Specialty Shop and HeadShopCanada’s Headquarters- Head2Head Novelties in Regina, Saskatchewan for the most knowledgeable assistance, widest selection of smoking devices and the most beautiful variety of glass pipes in Canada.

If you are interested in taking your smoking experience one step healthier, LowKey’s Canavape is the most versatile vaporizer on the market and allows pipes to be used as vaporizers. This is a relatively new approach to the potential of pipes previously limited to smoking.  Transforming your pipe into a vaporizer makes for a very pleasurable and healthier experience, can lower your usage and enhance the flavor of your herbs.  It is highly recommended and a preferred method of ingestion for thousands.

Whether you are smoking out of your new pipe, or using a Canavape to vaporize through it, your new pipe is bound to make your life more pleasant. Don’t be discouraged if your first pick wasn’t quite what you were looking for, or didn’t last as long as you would have liked it to as it will only make you more aware of  the most important qualities for your next pipe.  Hopefully your pipe shopping experience has just been made easier.

Safe puffing and happy toking!

Read about Canada’s Marijuana Specialty Glass Shop Head 2 Head

Head 2 Head Novelties in Regina Saskatchewan has started 2011 fully ‘stalked’ and ready for the growth that has proven to be the theme of the year.  The expansion has proven to make for a much more comfortable atmosphere as people flood into the shop in groups and stay to check out the progress. The plant growing in the middle of the showroom sparks curiosity in most and the constant rotation of glass keeps the word of mouth about the shop in high gear.

The number of marijuana applications distributed, filled out and sent to Health Canada is record setting not only within the government program, but within the Helping Saskatchewan Grow movement. Although the average number of mailed applications was approximately 1-2 applications a month in previous years, the shop now averages an application every couple of days. Doctors’ support for the marihuana program is sharply increasing, making for an easier process for future clients. The number and variety of medical specialists signing and conditions they are signing for is also increasing. B2 Applications are becoming more popular with symptoms and conditions varying from muscle pain to trouble sleeping, obsessive compulsive disorder to migraines.

Renovations are scheduled to continue throughout the year. The back room is looking beautiful with the recent improvements and is now open to clients for meetings. This is a great place for discussing ideas for positive changes in our medical communities and sustainable living arrangements for generations to come.

Thoughts- Words- Actions.

The front of the shop doubled in size last year and is scheduled for another face lift this spring. Improvements will continue throughout the summer months.

The glass selection is constantly on the grow as new talented glass blowers are getting more directly involved. There is a huge variety of styles of glass art filling the displays and heady pieces are going as quickly as they come.  The shop’s loaded up with beautiful pieces. Shipments from Puff(BC), and Shine Glass(MB) have recently arrived and are proving popular as ever.

Days are getting longer and spring has nearly arrived. There’s nothing like sitting back and relaxing in the sun rays of the warming weather,  and it’s clear that prairie folk are ready to celebrate longer days with enthusiasm and of course, their favorite herb.

The lady growing in the showroom is a Mr. Nice Guy x Blueberry and has a few weeks left to go before it is time to harvest her. Her potent smelling flowers are a constant reminder to those of us who have beared through the winter, that blooms are on the way.

Head 2 Head is proud to be a part of this revolution and Canada’s Marijuana Headquarters. Although people may enter the shop as a customer, they often leave as a friend and an inspired revolutionary looking to make a positive change. The war on drugs will never outlast the dedication of truth and positive relationships that result from the marijuana culture and 2011 will hopefully be the final chapter for the senseless war on drugs.

Head 2 Head welcomes everyone to come be a part of the change in 2011!

Come check out HeadShopCanadas Headquarters:

Head2Head Novelties @ 2923 Dewdney Ave. in  Regina, Saskatchewan.

Mon-Fri  11am-7pm

Sat  11am-5pm

Sun Closed- Rest Up!

Marijuana questions answered in Saskatchewan- Canada’s capital for MJ information

The Canadian Government created a program over 10 years ago that allows citizens to grow, possess and use marijuana for medical reasons but has neglected to provide information regarding the eligibility or application process within the program. Over the last few years however, doctors and citizens have been flooding HeadShopCanadas’ Headquarters- Head 2 Head in Regina, Saskatchewan in search of this valuable information. Word of mouth has directed countless Canadians of all walks of life and medical practitioners to this little shop in North Central Regina in search of factual information regarding marijuana. The knowledge is spreading like a butterfly effect across the country as the number of licensed growers and marijuana users continues to rise; the war on marijuana will soon be over.

Canada’s Marijuana Specialty Store, Head2Head is very unique in the services offered out of this newly renovated shop. As marijuana consultants, the crew informs Canadians on their eligibility to use and grow marijuana legally. They help guide citizens step by step through the filing process as well as guidelines on approaching their doctor in an informed manner. This crew believes in educating the public about the legal avenues of using this herb- which, according to current research at the shop, most people use for legitimate reasons anyway. By leaving the public uninformed that they can be growing and using marijuana legally, the result is incarceration of gardeners, legitimate medical users and otherwise innocent people. It is costing the Canadian government thousands of tax dollars to bust these innocent people and is taking away from dealing with violent crimes and criminals that are a far greater threat in our country.

Being located in the middle of North Central Regina, voted highest crime rate and most dangerous place in Canada by Maclean’s magazine, it’s very important to help everyone that enters Head2Head to better understand the legal avenues of using their medicine.  Majority of marijuana users prove to have a legitimate reason for using it, be it for anxiety, pain management, eating or sleep trouble, but many of them are simply uninformed that they are qualified to be legal users.  They are under the impression in fact, that marijuana use is illegal. The crew at the shop explain that this is merely perspective. For example, similar to marijuana use, driving can be considered illegal, unless of course you get your government issued license, and then it becomes legal. That is also to say then that similar to driving, marijuana use is legal, unless of course, you don’t have a federal license and it then becomes illegal. Understanding this perspective and recognizing the benefits of the marijuana program encourages legitimate users to get their licenses, decreasing the crime rates in locations like the North central community.

Watching people come and go from this newly expanded shop, it would be almost impossible to guess what kind of shop it could be based on the clientele alone. Drawing in such a variety of personalities, ages and uniforms, the only hint as to what these folks may have in common is the cannabis leaf print painted across the front of Head 2 Head. The marijuana culture is not limited by age, race or occupation. It includes everyone from the homeless guy that can hardly speak a comprehensible sentence to a doctor with an I.Q of a genius. Marijuana’s medical uses are undeniable and as Canadians become more educated, thousands of citizens are joining the culture through the medical community at Head 2 Head.  Conditions like epilepsy, juvenile arthritis and cancer remind us that disease is not restricted to age groups, and luckily, doctors are beginning to realize that marijuana is sometimes the safest treatment option available.

Head 2 Head Novelties, located in Regina, is more than your average weed shop. This is a place where people can learn about medical marijuana and learn about safe legal ways to access it, where all walks of life come together to share their one common interest-marijuana. This information is not limited to the geographical location of Head2Head either. HSC continues to provide updates of the progress of this promising plant via the World Wide Web and will continue to post these valuable facts until the whole world is informed. Despite the lack of information resources provided from our federal government regarding this program, Canadians continue to look out for fellow citizens, educating each other about what they have learned. Word of mouth continues to spread and this senseless war on marijuana will soon be conquered by majority- MJ users, growers and supporters.

Spread the knowledge, get informed, and  see the benefits of this decade-old government program as it truly begins to flourish in 2011.

Recommended Links:

MJ Forms explained-How to apply

How to get legal

Tim Selenski, owner of Head to Head Novelties, said he followed all the rules to be in the annual parade, where he was dressed in a custom-made, bright green, 3.7-metre-tall outfit that resembles a pot plant. He said he had the proper permit.

Selenski said he was using the opportunity to advertise his store, which sells hemp products and medicinal marijuana paraphernalia, and is an outlet for the Alberta-based Krieger Foundation, which provides medicinal marijuana to people with proven medical conditions.

“Four blocks we walked (in the parade) and one of the co-ordinators asked me, he said ‘there are too many complaints, please leave,’ ” said Selenski, accompanied by two friends driving a car with a hemp leaf flag in the parade.

The parade was held Saturday and traditionally contains a variety of entries from community groups and local businesses, ranging from a Knights of Columbus float to the Hillybilly Vac Shack mascot.

Selenski believes he was asked to leave because of concern that marijuana, not hemp, was being promoted by his presence in the parade.

Tom Balkwill, one of the parade marshals, said the mascot’s presence was brought to the organizers’ attention by two police officers.

“Our information was that it was not hemp, that it was depicting a marijuana leaf, and we were not in the position to be promoting marijuana as parade organizers. We made the decision that, no, we did not wish to have that in the parade,” said Balkwill, who added the police officers said they would take care of the situation.

Balkwill explained businesses given permits to take part in the parade are trusted to stay within the theme of the event, but do not have to reveal the exact details of their entry. Marshals try to accommodate any problems that come up during the parade and, if that fails, the entry will be removed at the next intersection.

While entries were lining up before the parade began, organizers believed Selenski’s entry was merely the vehicle he was driving. “The vehicle left at the start of the parade, then, all of the sudden, we have a mascot. One of the marshals in that area asked the mascot … to get back in the car. Being in the car, it didn’t appear as if it was necessarily marijuana,” said Balkwill.

Selenski said he left without a fuss. Almost immediately, Selenski said some Regina police officers approached him and were “pushy,” demanding he remove the suit before he went any farther, then escorted him back to his business.

Police spokeswoman Elizabeth Popowich said: “If this person has a concern about the conduct of any of our members, then what they ought to do is come and make a complaint, either initially to the watch commander or to our professional standards section. Or if he is not comfortable with either of those options, there is the office of the provincial complaints commissioner.”

Though he understands his store is controversial, Selenski is planning to take to the streets again.

But this time, he’ll be prepared for when the suit goes out in public again.

“I’m going to make a sign that says ‘honk for hemp’ and also his name Headly the Hemp Leaf and have ‘hemp leaf’ underlined with an exclamation mark so (hemp rather than marijuana) is stressed,” said Selenski.

source from The Edmonton Journal. August 11, 2004 at 12:01

Why is it important to stop this? Here is a good reason.

The 1994 RAND study on controlling cocaine provides a powerful argument for increasing U.S. drug treatment programs.It is often cited in the debate on the effectiveness of the “drug war.” This study depicts both past and future trends in cocaine consumption. It also provides the first systematic method of comparing the cost effectiveness of cocaine control programs. The RAND study is a “modeling study”: it analyzes the data of other organizations. The study revolves around the central question of how the government can effectively allocate the drug budget. It presents a model that estimates the relative cost-effectiveness of four cocaine-control programs: “source control,” “interdiction,” “domestic law enforcement,” and “treatment.”

Three of these approaches are clearly “supply control” programs aimed at stopping the influx of drugs into the country, and commonly associated with law enforcement. The “source-control” program refers to the strategy of attacking the drug supply from abroad (primarily Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia). The “interdiction” approach is aimed at stopping drugs at the U.S. border. The “domestic law enforcement” approach is geared towards the arrest and imprisonment of drug buyers and sellers within the United States. These law enforcement approaches were analyzed and compared to the treatment approach, and the question is asked: “How much would the government have to spend on each approach to decrease cocaine consumption in the U.S. by 1%?” The results show that treatment is overwhelmingly the most cost-effective way of reducing cocaine consumption and its resulting social costs. In brief, the RAND study shows that treatment is 7 times more cost effective than domestic law enforcement method, 10 times more effective than interdiction, and 23 times more effective than the “source control” method.

by C. Peter Rydell and Susan S. Everingham
RAND Corporation, 1994

sourced from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/buyers/doitwork.html

Everyone can do their part! Like this heroic man Tim Selenski.