New Cannabis Laws Inspire American Artists to Create Amazing Glass Pipes

As states across the US move to liberalise the laws restricting cannabis use, there has been an unlikely set of beneficiaries.

Glass artists are now applying their expertise in blowing, moulding and colouring glass to create pipes of astonishing intricacy and imaginative daring.

As part of World Cannabis Week, the Galleria Glass exhibition in Denver highlights the work of some of the art's best practitioners.

Colorado recently became the first US state to legalise the recreational use of marijuana, and artist Robert Mickelsen said that increasingly relaxed attitudes towards the drug's consumption had given him and his fellow glass artists a huge boost.

"The root of all the money is the cannabis revolution going on in this country right now," he told Vice UK.

Artist Salt said that the traditional crafts market had taken a dip in the 1990s, and took to pipe making to make ends meet, and raised the art to new heights of sophistication.

"And then there was this evolution—the pipes became more and more artistic, and minds began to change," he said.

New technology has played a role too, with many of the pipes incorporating vaporising devices for high potency cannabis concentrates like BHO, and users prepared to pay more for premium sculpted devices.

Below, IBTimes UK looks at the work of the new generation glass pipe artists.

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