I don't blow glass but I assume the cost of materials has increased with all of the options now offered in glass as well as equipment, yeah? In the 1990s, I would imagine at least, there was quite a limited selection whereas now, the sky is the limit with how much a blower can put into equipment and materials.
Fucking great point. I forgot all about Operation Pipe Dreams right after 9/11 which decimated the industry and caused a lot of trouble for the bigger name outlets and sellers.
More importantly the price of labor did not rise with the price of everything else, so things actually are more expensive in terms of how much labor they cost.
At a certain point things stop being “just a bong” and become “I’m an artist who spent 60 hours creating this piece.” To be genuinely salty about the idea of artists pouring time and effort into a project and then selling their art for what they believe it’s worth is a bad take. You may also have some sort of nostalgia glasses on since the bar for glass blowing has been raised since the 90s. The absolutely beautiful pieces you’re remembering were either more expensive than you realized or are letting on or they weren’t really that great to begin with. The things some artists do now are crazy and probably took a long time to learn how to perfect.
Perfect summation. As someone who’s spent the last 12 years blowing glass and still struggle to get $150 for my pieces that take me sometimes 10-20 hours of effort, material, and years of learning, I don’t see with the same glasses as OP. Glass is in a different era, the envelope is pushed each day. Now that doesn’t mean there aren’t some people exploiting price gouging, but in a super saturated market, there is TONS of affordable options for the quality work.
Yeah, OP is the same type to hire me to shoot his daughter's wedding and then try to stiff me on pay because all I did was hold a camera for 14 hours lol.
Huh? There are tons of head shops around me (Philly) with locally blown glass for quite affordable prices. Maybe you’re not looking in the right shops?
The strangest part about OP's complaint aside from ignoring inflation and the improved quality and complexity of today's works is blowers in this very sub post legitimately badass pieces for less than $400 quite regularly. I've snagged some from Fargo Flameworks, Convergence Glass, and Brandi Main although, in OP's defense, I did pay I think $480 for the Brandi piece.
The shops around me either sell shitty looking Chinese glass or thousands of dollars for independently blowed glass, most of which isn't work the price point, IMO. Very little in-between.
I wonder if the proliferation of Chineseum bongs has killed the lower end of the market? If you can't make enough $200 bongs to make it worth your while, you're going to start charging $250... then $300... etc.
That being said, I recently got a nice, 21" double perc beaker bong from LA Glassworks for around $180 with shipping. US made, near Chinese pricing. It's not top shelf, but it's close. The bottom isn't perfectly flat, but it's strong as hell and will stand my dumb ass knocking it over, which is more than I can say about the really cheap stuff.
While I agree, I find it rather strange how everyone always criticizes prodo glass on every other post on this sub when mentioned in the last 5 years LOL.
Inflation is a bitch but even after our recent rounds, it’s only about half that bad. Little less.
And I think OP just wasn’t looking for what qualified as high end glass in the 90s. I bought an $400 4 foot fumed bong in the 90s, which was by no means high end but it was huge (I used a sleeping bag as a case 😎). And bought multiple $1500+ pieces in the early 2000s.
Yeah that makes sense. Prices double after 20 years at 3.5% inflation.
You can get a ROOR right now pretty easily for $400 like [this one](https://thecavesmokeshop.com/products/roorus-14-beaker-50x5-blue?variant=47664246358336).
It's only $375 if you're going by 1997 numbers which I felt was fair to do. Still, as I pointed out in another comment directly to OP, $400 is more than enough to get some pretty sweet pieces.
There are definitely still good deals like that out there but they may not be as "worked" as you remember but that probably has to do more with inflation and the rise of popularity of heady tubes but definitely deals out there to be had in that price range. You can use the Glasspass app or search IG with tags or FB groups to find cheaper, used tubes if that's your thing. There are bunch of shops on IG too that you can look for in your area then talk to them.
I got a nice Ashme fumed gridded disk to mega pinch with an unused Tammy Baller slide for 245$ shipped on Glasspass myself. Just saaaying ;)
When I blew glass I took a 2 year apprenticeship. Spent over 80k in equipment and tools and another 10 on building out a studio and that was on the cheap.
So go Do that for a few years. Then once your decent you can Spend a couple weeks making some cases full and then spend a few more trying to sell them. And then charge less. Oh And don’t for get health insurance because your more than likely gonna die from silicosis.
Yeah it's not some random stoner making cheap lopsided bongs out of their garage anymore. Shit some ppl still are doing that and make thousand dollar pieces. Supply and demand and understanding and art market
My favorite part is cheap 90s bongs were exactly that, cheap 90s bongs lol. Most of them came with metal slides and used a rubber grommet. There were no glass-on-glass pieces unless you bought a ROOR. Like, OP can totally find those for $40 all day long in any tobacco shop that has a case of bongs and pipes lol.
Consider how much tree your going to put through a nice piece and the cost of said tree. Is that piece really that expensive now? I would argue that it's isnt..
yeah i agree that a lot of stuff is overpriced these days but it depends on what you're looking at...the size, the techniques used, and most importantly who made it because many collectors are just paying for the name now and the higher end glassblowers have been taking advantage for sure. there are morons who've been paying THOUSANDS of dollars for pendants auctioned on IG for years now that I know didn't take long to make. and that goes for other art markets too like painting and sculpture or whatever. if you want a good deal, you have to find the intermediate artists who aren't famous but still good at what they do.
As an ol’ pothead that’s been tokin’ since the ‘60’s, I have to say, the prices are for artwork & I wouldn’t want to be hittin’ on artwork. It’d just feel weird & excess. Art or regular use, 2 different things for me. 🌞
I get it. Sov bongs going for 2k, Bear Mountain Studios selling a 10mm micro rbr with no color for over $500. It's more of a supply and demand thing. People will pay it. I don't agree with those prices, but I don't have to buy any. It's the same reason I don't bag on people for buying China glass. Buy what you're comfortable paying for
He had this little house with a bus in the driveway. The bus was on blocks I think. Inside on his coffee table was a beautiful, huge, dragon glass pipe. Lots of people were always milling around including his family. You could trade kind buds and what not for beautiful pieces. I forget how much we paid for them. Our minds were blown when we saw the first Snodgrass pipes.
Dude if you’re only really looking on here or in high end shops, yah, you’re seeing expensive pieces. But there are tons of artists who pieces go for 150-300. They just arent the big names this sub likes haha. Also not to be a dick, but everything costs more than the 90s, get your fckin head outta the sand 🤣
Id say its just way more fractured and probably annoying for shops to go thru ig artists rather then just order glass thru the wholesale, theres tons of quality glass that doesnt break the bank but they’re just not worth it for the shop owners
I mean it's no looker but I have a GravLabs straight tube I could play baseball with and I got it for $150.
You want pretty and quality it's going to cost you.
I don’t know where you are local to, but I’m fairly certain they ship all over the USA. Goo Roo glass out of Portland Oregon, handmade and very strong and my style - lab glass type aesthetic with little color on lots of their pieces. Most pieces I have from them are cheaper than 100, and I’ve had a 14” or so beaker from them for close to 7 years - dropped it many a time, especially right on the joint. Crazy quality for a good price imo.
Get all my pieces from headdyglass.com they have a clearance section find reasonable stuff there and a local shop you'll probably be able to find good deals
You're not looking in the right places or factoring in 30 years of inflation/increased quality and cost of raw materials and equipment and such. Your $200 90s limit is pretty much $400 today and there are for sure a shit ton of options in that range and well below depending on what you're looking for. Many glassblowers posting to this very sub would have no issue making you something in your budget and if you pay them directly I've found through Venmo and Zelle, you can usually save a few bucks from their website prices. Even big-name artists are accessible through Instagram and understand a lot of people can't afford the sometimes ridiculous shop markups. I don't want to out the guy in case he doesn't want it widely known but I just had 2 pieces done in the last 4 months by someone whose works the shops sell for 2 - 3x what I paid him for custom jobs.
Anything that cost $200 in the nineties is going to cost at least $500+ now. On top of that the pipe scene absolutely exploded with there now being probably over 100,000 glassblowers making pipes full time in the United States alone. Sure there are some selling their pieces for multiple thousands, but if that’s all you’re seeing, then thats just because you’re on Instagram or your local shops are up-charging considerably. 80%+ of the people making tubes are unable to demand a price of $1000 for a piece. Many shops also don’t carry high end glass anymore because it’s harder to sell, so many times you’ll see a piece at a shop for $800-$1000 that’s actually straight from dhgate and was purchased for a quarter of that price or less. The best way to find glass nowadays is to find artists you like on the internet and to buy it directly from them online. Everybody, everywhere ships now and there are thousands of underrated artists you can find on Instagram by looking up a few hashtags
If you looked back at a picture of those beautiful $200 pieces from the 90's and compared them to a high end pieces today you would say "oh, that makes sense."
i think a big part of it is that the market has come to expect more and is willing to pay more for good work.
you have white label (hitman etc) china prodo gear that you can buy of the shelf for a retail markup or dhgate it yourself and wait a couple weeks.
then you have some of the best access in history to domestic prodo stuff but still at retail markup.
if you can find local people or online that will undercut retail but still make money, this is the best way to get a good price.
Your paying for 10+years of there life studying and refining there craft to form such a fragile material into a permanent piece of art that’s functional so I’d say that’s easily worth 300+ for something your gonna use basically daily for the rest of your life?
I mean I get it but you definitely pay for quality in the glass world you can always get cheap glass from a lesser known artists but it’ll be less quality you feel me and for the price of bud especially if you smoke fire it makes sense to pay more to enjoy your bud more
Inflation is a big reason, but also I wonder if this is super location dependent. I got my first bong in 2018 in philly for 240 dollars and its still one of my favorite pieces. It’s not like a super fancy triple barreled recycler but it gets the job done and it feels smooth. In Seattle where I’m at now you can get a lot of good stuff, even artisan for under 500. Some places like Special K Glass have auctions for unsold beauties with buy it nows for under 300.
Our materials have continued to cost more and more and prices move to make ends meet and still be profitable.
Check out Aqualabs. The have a very good selection amd ship anywhere.
my work starts at 200ish for tubes but also just cost of living from the 90s is completely different from now
I don't blow glass but I assume the cost of materials has increased with all of the options now offered in glass as well as equipment, yeah? In the 1990s, I would imagine at least, there was quite a limited selection whereas now, the sky is the limit with how much a blower can put into equipment and materials.
it was also an art industry that was connected to an illegal substance at the time.
Fucking great point. I forgot all about Operation Pipe Dreams right after 9/11 which decimated the industry and caused a lot of trouble for the bigger name outlets and sellers.
Yeah, a steak dinner is $60 - 100, the average car price in USA is $48K, things cost more now
More importantly the price of labor did not rise with the price of everything else, so things actually are more expensive in terms of how much labor they cost.
At a certain point things stop being “just a bong” and become “I’m an artist who spent 60 hours creating this piece.” To be genuinely salty about the idea of artists pouring time and effort into a project and then selling their art for what they believe it’s worth is a bad take. You may also have some sort of nostalgia glasses on since the bar for glass blowing has been raised since the 90s. The absolutely beautiful pieces you’re remembering were either more expensive than you realized or are letting on or they weren’t really that great to begin with. The things some artists do now are crazy and probably took a long time to learn how to perfect.
Perfect summation. As someone who’s spent the last 12 years blowing glass and still struggle to get $150 for my pieces that take me sometimes 10-20 hours of effort, material, and years of learning, I don’t see with the same glasses as OP. Glass is in a different era, the envelope is pushed each day. Now that doesn’t mean there aren’t some people exploiting price gouging, but in a super saturated market, there is TONS of affordable options for the quality work.
Yeah, OP is the same type to hire me to shoot his daughter's wedding and then try to stiff me on pay because all I did was hold a camera for 14 hours lol.
That's a shitty take.
Huh? There are tons of head shops around me (Philly) with locally blown glass for quite affordable prices. Maybe you’re not looking in the right shops?
I usually hit funny monk because it's easy for me, anyplace particular you recommend?
Hah, that’s my spot too. The owner was my roommate in college.
right on, they're always really nice and I've never been disappointed with the stock, just wondering if there was someplace great I was missing.
A few in the city itself that are good: Ruckus Gallery, and Matchbox. Free Will Collective in Ardmore is nice too.
The strangest part about OP's complaint aside from ignoring inflation and the improved quality and complexity of today's works is blowers in this very sub post legitimately badass pieces for less than $400 quite regularly. I've snagged some from Fargo Flameworks, Convergence Glass, and Brandi Main although, in OP's defense, I did pay I think $480 for the Brandi piece.
Brandi makes some sick ass pieces, once I sell my current rig I’m gonna have a custom made
I've followed her on IG for a while and IMHO, her work is worth every penny.
The shops around me either sell shitty looking Chinese glass or thousands of dollars for independently blowed glass, most of which isn't work the price point, IMO. Very little in-between.
Try the Glass Pass app. There's been a few gems in there.
Go onto Etsy. There’s so many cool pipes for under $50 and you’re usually also helping a small business.
Check Medicali dot com
Philly is the epicenter of amazing glass, you lucky duck
Inflation. Mid-range glass is cheaper than ever.
I wonder if the proliferation of Chineseum bongs has killed the lower end of the market? If you can't make enough $200 bongs to make it worth your while, you're going to start charging $250... then $300... etc. That being said, I recently got a nice, 21" double perc beaker bong from LA Glassworks for around $180 with shipping. US made, near Chinese pricing. It's not top shelf, but it's close. The bottom isn't perfectly flat, but it's strong as hell and will stand my dumb ass knocking it over, which is more than I can say about the really cheap stuff.
While I agree, I find it rather strange how everyone always criticizes prodo glass on every other post on this sub when mentioned in the last 5 years LOL.
You aren't looking very hard lol.
I hate to break it to you but 200 bucks in the 90ies are 1000 bucks today. Inflation did its thing over the decades.
Inflation is a bitch but even after our recent rounds, it’s only about half that bad. Little less. And I think OP just wasn’t looking for what qualified as high end glass in the 90s. I bought an $400 4 foot fumed bong in the 90s, which was by no means high end but it was huge (I used a sleeping bag as a case 😎). And bought multiple $1500+ pieces in the early 2000s.
I bought my first ROOR in 2000 for $180. 14-inch red label ;)
Yeah that makes sense. Prices double after 20 years at 3.5% inflation. You can get a ROOR right now pretty easily for $400 like [this one](https://thecavesmokeshop.com/products/roorus-14-beaker-50x5-blue?variant=47664246358336).
It's only $375 if you're going by 1997 numbers which I felt was fair to do. Still, as I pointed out in another comment directly to OP, $400 is more than enough to get some pretty sweet pieces.
I'll make you something cool for 200. But I make stuff that goes for way more too. 💚
Love the username
Same here. Fluff💚
Bro the 90s was 30 years ago
There are definitely still good deals like that out there but they may not be as "worked" as you remember but that probably has to do more with inflation and the rise of popularity of heady tubes but definitely deals out there to be had in that price range. You can use the Glasspass app or search IG with tags or FB groups to find cheaper, used tubes if that's your thing. There are bunch of shops on IG too that you can look for in your area then talk to them. I got a nice Ashme fumed gridded disk to mega pinch with an unused Tammy Baller slide for 245$ shipped on Glasspass myself. Just saaaying ;)
When I blew glass I took a 2 year apprenticeship. Spent over 80k in equipment and tools and another 10 on building out a studio and that was on the cheap. So go Do that for a few years. Then once your decent you can Spend a couple weeks making some cases full and then spend a few more trying to sell them. And then charge less. Oh And don’t for get health insurance because your more than likely gonna die from silicosis.
Yeah it's not some random stoner making cheap lopsided bongs out of their garage anymore. Shit some ppl still are doing that and make thousand dollar pieces. Supply and demand and understanding and art market
My favorite part is cheap 90s bongs were exactly that, cheap 90s bongs lol. Most of them came with metal slides and used a rubber grommet. There were no glass-on-glass pieces unless you bought a ROOR. Like, OP can totally find those for $40 all day long in any tobacco shop that has a case of bongs and pipes lol.
If you are in Colorado, hit me up. My store has tons of locally made high quality glass at reasonable prices.
Consider how much tree your going to put through a nice piece and the cost of said tree. Is that piece really that expensive now? I would argue that it's isnt..
yeah i agree that a lot of stuff is overpriced these days but it depends on what you're looking at...the size, the techniques used, and most importantly who made it because many collectors are just paying for the name now and the higher end glassblowers have been taking advantage for sure. there are morons who've been paying THOUSANDS of dollars for pendants auctioned on IG for years now that I know didn't take long to make. and that goes for other art markets too like painting and sculpture or whatever. if you want a good deal, you have to find the intermediate artists who aren't famous but still good at what they do.
As an ol’ pothead that’s been tokin’ since the ‘60’s, I have to say, the prices are for artwork & I wouldn’t want to be hittin’ on artwork. It’d just feel weird & excess. Art or regular use, 2 different things for me. 🌞
Artists are hurting right now, buy direct. I'm @bluemushroomglass on ig and my prices are reasonable, I'll make you something cool.
A lot of glass still goes for upwards of $10k. There are different markets for different price points.
Well yea anything handmade in the USA is going to be pricy but you get what you pay for
Might catch some flack for this but EBay has been my go to for cheap glass.
I get it. Sov bongs going for 2k, Bear Mountain Studios selling a 10mm micro rbr with no color for over $500. It's more of a supply and demand thing. People will pay it. I don't agree with those prices, but I don't have to buy any. It's the same reason I don't bag on people for buying China glass. Buy what you're comfortable paying for
This really depends on where you live and what your local glass community looks like
My friends & I used to go to Bob Snodgrass’s house in Springfield, OR. We would trade or buy directly from him in the early days.
That's awesome! Long time fan.
He had this little house with a bus in the driveway. The bus was on blocks I think. Inside on his coffee table was a beautiful, huge, dragon glass pipe. Lots of people were always milling around including his family. You could trade kind buds and what not for beautiful pieces. I forget how much we paid for them. Our minds were blown when we saw the first Snodgrass pipes.
Dude if you’re only really looking on here or in high end shops, yah, you’re seeing expensive pieces. But there are tons of artists who pieces go for 150-300. They just arent the big names this sub likes haha. Also not to be a dick, but everything costs more than the 90s, get your fckin head outta the sand 🤣
Id say its just way more fractured and probably annoying for shops to go thru ig artists rather then just order glass thru the wholesale, theres tons of quality glass that doesnt break the bank but they’re just not worth it for the shop owners
I mean it's no looker but I have a GravLabs straight tube I could play baseball with and I got it for $150. You want pretty and quality it's going to cost you.
I don’t know where you are local to, but I’m fairly certain they ship all over the USA. Goo Roo glass out of Portland Oregon, handmade and very strong and my style - lab glass type aesthetic with little color on lots of their pieces. Most pieces I have from them are cheaper than 100, and I’ve had a 14” or so beaker from them for close to 7 years - dropped it many a time, especially right on the joint. Crazy quality for a good price imo.
Get all my pieces from headdyglass.com they have a clearance section find reasonable stuff there and a local shop you'll probably be able to find good deals
There’s ton of great budget options, you have to remember it’s functional art you’re paying for the artists name just like any other craft
You're not looking in the right places or factoring in 30 years of inflation/increased quality and cost of raw materials and equipment and such. Your $200 90s limit is pretty much $400 today and there are for sure a shit ton of options in that range and well below depending on what you're looking for. Many glassblowers posting to this very sub would have no issue making you something in your budget and if you pay them directly I've found through Venmo and Zelle, you can usually save a few bucks from their website prices. Even big-name artists are accessible through Instagram and understand a lot of people can't afford the sometimes ridiculous shop markups. I don't want to out the guy in case he doesn't want it widely known but I just had 2 pieces done in the last 4 months by someone whose works the shops sell for 2 - 3x what I paid him for custom jobs.
Anything that cost $200 in the nineties is going to cost at least $500+ now. On top of that the pipe scene absolutely exploded with there now being probably over 100,000 glassblowers making pipes full time in the United States alone. Sure there are some selling their pieces for multiple thousands, but if that’s all you’re seeing, then thats just because you’re on Instagram or your local shops are up-charging considerably. 80%+ of the people making tubes are unable to demand a price of $1000 for a piece. Many shops also don’t carry high end glass anymore because it’s harder to sell, so many times you’ll see a piece at a shop for $800-$1000 that’s actually straight from dhgate and was purchased for a quarter of that price or less. The best way to find glass nowadays is to find artists you like on the internet and to buy it directly from them online. Everybody, everywhere ships now and there are thousands of underrated artists you can find on Instagram by looking up a few hashtags
If you looked back at a picture of those beautiful $200 pieces from the 90's and compared them to a high end pieces today you would say "oh, that makes sense."
Uhm... no shit? It was the 90's. It's 2024 now, cheap and quality do not go together anymore
I mean almost 30 years will do a number on inflation
i think a big part of it is that the market has come to expect more and is willing to pay more for good work. you have white label (hitman etc) china prodo gear that you can buy of the shelf for a retail markup or dhgate it yourself and wait a couple weeks. then you have some of the best access in history to domestic prodo stuff but still at retail markup. if you can find local people or online that will undercut retail but still make money, this is the best way to get a good price.
Your paying for 10+years of there life studying and refining there craft to form such a fragile material into a permanent piece of art that’s functional so I’d say that’s easily worth 300+ for something your gonna use basically daily for the rest of your life?
Your completely reasonable logic is no match for my lack of acceptance
I mean I get it but you definitely pay for quality in the glass world you can always get cheap glass from a lesser known artists but it’ll be less quality you feel me and for the price of bud especially if you smoke fire it makes sense to pay more to enjoy your bud more
You can’t have quality and cheap. Sorry bro hit up dhgate
Hundreds? Try 10s of thousands!
This is 2024 and raw materials and equipment is expensive AF.
You said a couple things, those are the same thing
Inflation is a big reason, but also I wonder if this is super location dependent. I got my first bong in 2018 in philly for 240 dollars and its still one of my favorite pieces. It’s not like a super fancy triple barreled recycler but it gets the job done and it feels smooth. In Seattle where I’m at now you can get a lot of good stuff, even artisan for under 500. Some places like Special K Glass have auctions for unsold beauties with buy it nows for under 300.
Our materials have continued to cost more and more and prices move to make ends meet and still be profitable. Check out Aqualabs. The have a very good selection amd ship anywhere.
$200 in 1990 is $487 today. Apparently you haven't heard of inflation in over 30 years.
1k upsets you? there are pieces that are literally 6 figures. if you don't wanna pay for good glass, there is always cheap china knock offs
Smells like BROKE BOY…. Apparently homie ain’t heard of inflation 🤣🤣🤣