I have a bright idea

[Groundjoints.com]

I was listening to the news in the shower this morning and heard a news report about childrens Mattel toys made in China having lead contents up to 95x the acceptible limit. I remember a while ago some CEO in China killed himself over lead paint in childrens toys. What do you think it would take to create a scare over Chinese and Indian imported glass products about their construction and possible health hazards resulting from putting such said Asian manufactured product in ones mouth? Hangings for everyone!!!

[phab]

...just tell the truth. chinese lampworkers dont wash their hands after going to the bathroom.

[wildrokproductions]

oh my! import glass has a high amount of lead in it TOO!!!

Got to get that rumor started soon, it's worth million$

[yinzer]

haha. maybe would be good? i dont know, recently someone i know came back from bonaroo with this glass piece he was super excited about. and he got a "REALLY GOOD DEAL" for it. he showed it to me and showed me the little chip he found in it that gave him the bargaining power to get such a good deal. lol, i told him the chip was cause they drilled the hole out and probably didnt clean it and he probably got i mouthful of glass with that deal. his response "whatever, it was cheap and it looks cool."
some people care, some people never will.

[The Bigles]

ha, nationwide recall on wrap'n'wrakes. Would make a cool news story.

[The Lorax]

haha. maybe would be good? i dont know, recently someone i know came back from bonaroo with this glass piece he was super excited about. and he got a "REALLY GOOD DEAL" for it. he showed it to me and showed me the little chip he found in it that gave him the bargaining power to get such a good deal. lol, i told him the chip was cause they drilled the hole out and probably didnt clean it and he probably got i mouthful of glass with that deal. his response "whatever, it was cheap and it looks cool."
some people care, some people never will.

`yea those people suck, lol.:crazy:

[Firekist]

heh.. i'm pretty sure there's enough janky american glass to get it recalled.

i'm sick of seeing sandblasted pipes from Chameleon glass that are all dusty inside and out. they don't wash those before shipping. i'm pretty sure you could sue for that kinda crap.

z--seth

[menty666]

Let's work on the ad copy :-)

Yes, when you're taking a puff of that fine, smooth American tobacco, filling your lungs with it's carcinogenic goodness, make sure you've bought American! Foreign made pipes often contain high levels of lead, arsenic, and of course, don't forget the Chinese poopies. You don't want to smoke Chinese poopies do you? Well of course not, buy American.

[Groundjoints.com]

I've smoked Chinese Poopies. They taste different based on what region of China you are in.

[JANKYglass]

my friend new this guy that got sars from a chinese pipe.

[nickglassdood]

but the rant about imports on the camilion page is cool

[nickglassdood]

why not imports


Many of you have asked why cheap imports are not the way of the future. Without waving the flag because it suits our business, there are some extremely good reasons why imports are NOT the future of Glass Tobacco Accessories.


Tobacco is a controlled substance. Some people are surprised by this, but one needs only try and buy tobacco to find that most states require a purchaser to, like alcohol, be 21 years of age. As a controlled substance marketed to adults, accessories for use with tobacco are also controlled. Walk into any tobacconist or pharmacy and try to buy a pipe; glass, wood, corn-cob, you name it, or other accessory such as RYO equipment and you will find the same age restrictions applied to the accessory as well as the tobacco. Well, US Customs restricts these types of accessories to domestic manufacture, with exceptions given only to members of SMA and only for specific RYO products. All other items for import are regarded as contraband because of the controlled nature of the product. Imported Glass Pipes are Illegal Contraband!

Importers of Glass Pipes typically do not support SMA activities because of expense and especially because of regulations concerning the design and manufacture of tobacco accessories. There is also a great deal of accountability required for SMA condoned imports.

None of the large importers in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston or Miami conform to SMA guidelines. To get around these guidelines, importers simply do not blow a hole at the bottom of the bowl.

RETAILER & CONSUMER READ THIS! Because the bowl has no hole upon entry, the importer then DRILLS a hole in the bottom of the bowl. Most of the importers care so little for the end consumer that the NOXIOUS GLASS DUST from the drilling process is LEFT INSIDE the pipe, only to be INHALED BY THE CONSUMER during first use of the pipe! Glass dust is 100X MORE DANGEROUS THAN ASBESTOS!

Not only is the dust a horrible leftover of the drilling process, drilling leaves permanent stress in the glass surrounding the new hole. Residual stress is the number one reason for failure (cracking/breaking) of Glass Pipes over time. It is exponentially more prone to failure where the glass is constantly expanded and contracted by heat, most notably this occurs at the bottom of the bowl where heat is concentrated during the lighting of tobacco, and is precisely where importers drill and impart enormous amounts of residual stress. Most importers also do not anneal the glass. Annealing ovens are expensive and are often not available in the third world countries where they manufacture the pipes. Ovens also draw enormous amounts of electricity, again, often not available in these countries.

Annealing is the same process used in the production of Steel to allow the molecules to flow back into re-alignment after the steel has been shaped and formed. In much the same way, glass flows back into it’s polarized alignment and strongest state once properly annealed over the course of several hours in a specialized glass-annealing oven.

YOU PAY A LOT for your glass pipe whether it is imported or domestic. Shouldn’t it last a good long time? Imports don’t. Imported Glass fails 100X more often than domestically produced products simply because of the drilling process and the fact that the finished product is not annealed properly.

As an aside: Always wanted a glass sex toy but could never afford it? Ohh, but now there is one in your price range? Guess what, it’s probably imported and was most probably not annealed. The same truth of glasswork in pipes is even truer for sex toys due to the thickness of the glass. Sex toys average a requirement of 3X the annealing time of pipes. So, buyers beware! There are no limitations or restrictions on the country of origin of sex toys! Be careful where you put that thing, and while its there, if it is a cheap imitation, don’t push the limits too far, you may be surprised at how brittle solid thick glass can be!


Global Citizenry. So, don’t get off on a tirade that we are espousing some one-world order, were not. One should know however that according to readily available videos on the internet, customs documents (click to view as an Adobe Acrobat file) and numerous articles by National Geographic, Amnesty International, Green Peace and others, indentured child servitude (child slave labor) is rampant in developing third world countries. It’s not just that the items are cheap; it’s why they are cheap. Children die making imported glass pipes on a daily basis. Some of you who have been to these countries to source fabrics, bags, beads and the like have seen these “factories” up close and personal. Do you really want to support people who chain five year olds to a stake in the ground? Labor is the key ingredient in glass pipes, so to make them cheap, one must have cheap labor. Importers typically pay less than 5 cents a day for a child to be enslaved for their use. Care to be educated and disgusted at the same time? Take a look: http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0309/feature1/index.html

OK, so your response is something like…child slave labor was rampant in America at the turn of the century during our industrial revolution, so while it may be “wrong” maybe it’s their turn? Well, flawed as that statement is from a human dignity perspective, how about YOUR CHECKBOOK? In December of 2003, the main importer in Miami was busted in a Customs sting. He was busted not only for contraband, but also for what he was doing with the cash he had collected from several smoke shops in the greater Miami area. That importer was attempting to use the cash to pay for a container of Chinese made AK-47 assault rifles. Perfectly legal except that the cash was also to bribe the Chinese manufacturer to change the destination from the US over to Palestine mid-shipment so as to avoid any customs intervention in the US. I mean, really, just what we need in the Middle East; MORE GUNS. And just what we need for our industry; Glass Pipes tied to Terrorists.

Now, back to YOUR CHECKBOOK. Many of the stores who had purchased the contraband were served with civil forfeiture warrants through Customs and were accompanied by DEA officials. The stores were stripped of all tobacco accessories (some lost more than $100,000 in inventory) because the agents “could not differentiate” between the items, so that everything was seized in an effort to “not miss any legitimate evidence” against the importer. After the link between the Glass Pipes, Cash, Guns and Terrorists was made, a wave of store search and seizures occurred in the greater Miami area. Hmmmm, how unusual. Go figure.

Since the initial link was established, several of the major importers have been busted, most recently in Los Angeles, where the single largest producer of Chemical Pipes, Bongs and other glass ornaments was confiscated.

Imported Pipes = Child Slavery + Terrorists + Dangerous Glass Dust + Lousy Quality + American Artists Out of Work.

All for an over price differential of between $3 and $10. As an end consumer, is the $3 worth it to You? As a Retailer, is the $3 worth getting a visit from Customs?


As always, all Chameleon Glass products are made exclusively in the good old US of A!! A cautionary note to both our wholesale and end consumer customers; the disappearance of several American glass manufacturers has spurned a noticeable increase in the volume of imported glass finding its way onshore.

With Chameleon you can rest assured that your customers are receiving only the finest American made tobacco-smoking accessories.Look for our seal of quality, the Chameleon Glass sticker is adhered to every Chameleon made pipe to let you know that you are getting a 100% satisfaction guaranteed, American made Tobacco Accessory.

[nickglassdood]

i like the erase the last two paragraphs and give it to shops with import shit

[jiminyrootkit]

has chameleon slid that far downhill? all janky imports now?
that's kinda shitty, i remember right before i started blowing, one of the shops nearest me (like 4 hrs) had a chameleon blower setup, in the shop, makin custom pieces for people. i sat and watched him for a while, talked to him a little bit...cool guy, lived somewhere around the area....
sucks if they sold that out and went for the quick buck.
-f
ps.
i like the erase the last two paragraphs and give it to shops with import shit

[Doc Holliday]

Holy shit Janky my friend knows that guy that got SARS from imports too! But if you guys want to see some bullshit look at these 2 Indian bubblers that were purchased from a local shop that closed down... I paid what he paid for them and it was $23.00 a peice... At first i was pissed off, but now Im thinking that I need to find this Indian and pay him to make me R-balls, Ill give him twice what they give him! haha but seriously thats a damn good idea if your a prodo machine! and it would be legal to import, someone get on this and hook me up! :crazy:

[Groundjoints.com]

Chameleon gets tons of raw from me monthly. It would be my educated guess that they do all of their production in house. They do have a shop with about 50 stations. It's really nice.

[Pilgrim]

Nice work

[nickglassdood]

ya if you read the thing it says chamillion is all agianst imports

[garrick]

the chameilion stuff i see locally is actully really nice stuff

[puddletown]

isnt UST made in china?


not trying to be an ass, but arent you just helping to support their market Adam?

I'm guilty too, I buy cheap colored glass from there, so dont think im tryi9ng to get all high and mighty.

Just putting adding another point out there to be discussed.

Let the shit talking begin, Im sure I deserve it for something.

[kraig]

thats what I thought too

[Kool]

Here are a few rumors for you:

Chinese and Indian imported glass products...

...hate us for our freedom
...are hiding WMD's
...are tyrranical rulers that need to be taken down.

Maybe "we need to fight them there so we don't have to fight them here." Because, you know, "they'll follow us home" (oh yeah, I guess they already did that.)

[Brian Newman]

So what does a rich man in China want made out of glass?