Premier Counter-Culture Expo

The Contemporary Hand-Crafted American Made Products Show (CHAMPS) brings in the most amazing technical, scientific and artistic glass blowers the United States has to offer, as well as one-stop shopping for anyone who has the desire to open up a smoke shop or sell to one. There are vendors here selling clothes, like Shop Therapy's collection ranging from sexy, India-inspired hippie dresses to the cute hand-knit animal hats with arms for neck warmers.

Under this same roof you also have modern clothing with brands like Seedless, always there to represent, and new comers, such as Mary Jane Smokewear's sweet designs. Over these years I have seen small distributors grow from a few hundred products to thousands. Glow Industries is one such example. They went from a small selection of door beads, tapestries and Nag Champa to a full spectrum of choices, from high tech state of the art Vape-or-Smoke hand pipes to detox drinks. To top it off they had an open bar party for buyers at the Wynn's Tryst, with some deliciously under-dressed go-go dancers.

This was not the only party happening for these lucky, lucky buyers and vendors. The Glass Gripper threw down with a DJ Crime/ Los Marijuanos extravaganza at the Palms Las Vegas Hardwood Suite. And Mary Jane's Herbals were dabbing us into the stratosphere at the Hard Rock. It's a good thing this trade show does not start until 11AM every day. HBI is another impressive company you can meet up with if you ever make it out to these shows.

They have grown from a thousand-foot warehouse to a multi-nation empire on slim profits that would make even a grocery store wince. These kids are not having crazy, balls-out parties; they spend their profits making sure the Federal government (via the FDA) is not stealing more of our personal freedoms. These incredible people have taken rolling papers and accessories to another level and are the only reason flavored wraps are still legal. They are the genius behind Raw, Elements and Juicy, to name a few.

Unfortunately, not everyone at these shows attends with good intentions. Laws passed by Congress in 1985 made 'thought crime' a reality, meaning legal items that could be used illegally were now subject to criminality. Since then the DEA has been hard at work with operation after operation to take the legs out from under this industry they helped generate. In 2003, Operation Pipe Dreams was a decapitation.

US Attorney General John Ashcroft's indictment of Tommy Chong was payback in a culture war that has been tearing families and communities apart for over 40 years. Fortunately the head was that of the Hydra, it created three times as many companies as it destroyed, and the public saw it as a ridiculous waste of $12M dollars to put Tommy Chong in jail for nine months.

Now, nine years later, the government is back with a vengeance using undercover officers and front companies. The questions begin: what are they up to now? Do they have their sites set on specific individuals? Are they gathering information on all of the top players, or is it Spice they are targeting? The mood was as paranoid as I have ever seen, but with good reason.

Election years are notorious for bad shit going down. Political robots always want to make a name for themselves and police love overtime, especially with hazard pay. Vaporizers were also out in force with dozens of styles available from reliable companies like GOT VAPE. The booth girls are always worth the trip. You can also hook up with some of the originators like Vapor Brothers at the show.

Innovations abounded; 420 Science, creators of the 420 Jars, never stop impressing. Their UV-Concentrate Jars and Droppers are the shizzle. Now the Science have gone way past jars with Resin Block, Smoke Soap, optics up to 800x resolution and 420 Preserve - a botanical storage spray that will preserve your herbs for months with no detectible degradation. The Glass Games were off the hook this spring with $35,000 in cash prizes awarded to glassblowers for functional art pipes.

The categories ranged from the popular to technical. Some of the highlights were David Stucky's R/C water pipe, Flex's pipe drum kit, and Joe Blow's smoking earphones. Earl Jr. might have had something if his fountain would have been dispensing some jungle juice or spiked punch! Hamm did something straight out of my chemistry teacher's lab, and Tyme and Shaggy also did some awesome work. My favorite, and the People's Choice, went to Kristian Merwin with Wasatch Glassworks.

The spider alone was impressive and cool to watch being made. Incorporating mixed media from inception as he threaded glass leg joints to attach them with steel bolts connecting them to the body... then throwing that into a tent with a color-coordinated light show, visual art - and the lovely Ananda dancing topless (except for body paint) was genius. Without nipples hard enough to cut glass, none of the other artists stood a chance. Even heavy weights Dirty Louie and Jason (a.k.a. Jerome Baker) were outdone.

Three whirlwind days of sales with hundreds of buyers can mean months of work for vendors trying to catch up in time for the next trade show. Some get crushed under the weight. As one person you can only produce a finite amount - even with a crew it is easy to be overwhelmed. So grow or die, or sometimes it's grow and die. If a company over-expands they can lose quality, or a downturn in the economy can bury them with debt. Just the seasonal buying trends can be difficult for a manufacturer to juggle. Whether a buyer or seller, if you ever want to get a foot into this industry CHAMPS is definitely a great place to be.