Monday, September 30, 2013

What You Can Expect From An Indianapolis Head Shop

By Paulette Short


These days it isn't easy to be a smoker. Finding paraphernalia like pipes or cigarette rolling papers can be a little like the search for the Holy Grail. Luckily there are shops that specialize in these items and if you find yourself in Indiana, you'll find what you need at an Indianapolis head shop.

At a head or smoke shop you'll find many tobacco-related products. Cigarette papers and filters for roll-your-own tobacco, pipes and hookahs or vaporizers are the main merchandise at shops of this type. You may also find other items for sale, including legal drugs, incense and underground magazines.

Smoke shops were all the rage in the late 1960s, when the counterculture was blooming. The store that started it all was established in 1966, in the famous hippie mecca of Haight Street in San Francisco. When the hippies became respectable citizens, many stores closed their doors but now they're becoming increasingly popular again, especially in states where medical marijuana is legal.

While the stores focus on tobacco-related products, they are different from traditional tobacconists. Often they developed from candle shops and they still sell homeware items. Along with these you'll also find things like T-shirts, posters, jewelry, novelty items and underground publications. In fact, many underground artists and writers of the 1960s first made a name for themselves by selling their work in these shops.

The same people who think cigarette papers are for rolling marijuana cigarettes often think that smoke shops are where you go to buy illegal drugs. This couldn't be further from the truth, however. The merchandise is strictly for use with tobacco and legal herbs.

It's important to remember that Indiana has strict laws about the use of illegal substances. The possession of even a tiny amount of marijuana can get you in serious trouble and may land you in jail. If you buy pipes or rolling papers from an Indianapolis shop and want to stay on the right side of the law, it's best to use your purchases for legal substances like tobacco only.

It may be difficult to find an unusual gift for an artistic nephew or niece in Indy. This is where the local head shop can come to the rescue too. Parents may frown upon it if you give their teenager a water pipe but an unusual T-shirt or piece of jewelry or a poster that glows in the dark may be a welcome gift. Simply buying it from the right shop will earn you some street cred with the young relative.

Indiana has a surprising variety of smoke shops and you'll find many of them right there in Indy. They're located in different areas across town, usually in the sprawling outlying neighborhoods rather than downtown. If you find yourself in the city, the best place to look for an Indianapolis head shop is in Broad Ripple Village, where most of these stores are located. This neighborhood is near Butler University and less than half an hour north of the downtown area. While you're here, you may also want to check out the local bars and restaurants, art galleries and quirky stores that make this ethnically diverse area Indy's answer to famous bohemian neighborhoods like Greenwich Village in New York.




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