Smoking Buddha Smokeshop
Heady… What does heady mean? When I first heard the term, it was geared more towards high end glass, but now I think the best way to describe it is a way of life. I’m sure most know it all started with pipes and bongs being sold and traded as art because, well, pipes and bongs were considered paraphernalia and illegal almost everywhere. But what seems to be most popular in the Heady scene today are dab rigs along with dab tools, carb caps and bangers. Personally, I have a fascination with terp pearls. I’m not quite sure where my love for Heady glass started, but it grew quickly, especially since all these Heady items seem to need their own accessories and tools such as temp gauges, cleaning solutions, etc. Being here in AZ, there is definitely no shortage of shops carrying some really nice Heady art and accessories, but when I went back home to Chicago for a while, that was just not the case and I found myself on a Heady Hunt.
With Arizona being home to artists such as Hendy, HicDogg, Frostysfresh and so many more it makes sense that a lot of local shops carry local art. Walking into shops in Illinois, mainly throughout the Chicagoland area, was like taking a step through a time machine, a lot of lower quality Chinese glass, acrylic tubes, and cheap incense. The nice glass that I did find were spoon pipes or CCG hammers and bubblers. Maybe the quality of the art in these Illinois shops is because of the lack of local artists. When I think about it, there are only a couple glass artists I can think of from Illinois: Ghost Glass and Smart Glass, or maybe it’s just because the dab scene just isn’t that big. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there are some connoisseurs and Heady collectors, but nowhere near as many as here in Arizona. High quality extracts are hard to find and barely any American glass in head shops. Although it was difficult, I did end up finding a couple shops worth mentioning and if you are ever in Chicago, you should definitely swing by and check them out.
Smoking Buddha Smokeshop
Smoking Buddha in the Southside neighborhood of Pilsen in Chicago. A smaller, well put together shop with all your Heady needs from rigs to tiny terp pearls, they have it all. I went to check it out myself and spoke to Owner Aldo Zambrano. Aldo told me that they have been open 10 years and have had to just evolve with the times to stay in business and ended up being one of the Headiest shops in Illinois. I found them by following black market vendors and seeing where they shopped, because honestly, it’s mostly the hustlers that I saw with the Heady glass in Illinois. Like I had said, Smoking Buddha is a smaller shop, but honestly that’s what I like about it. I hate walking into smoke shops that are just huge and overwhelming for no reason or just filled with a bunch of nonsense like a novelty shop. Aldo also wants to set up a glass blowing area for artists to come in and show their live work. There were some amazing pieces in the displays, including pieces from AZ locals Hendy and Steve H. , but the one piece of art that really stood out to me was a sculpted recycler that was an alien in a space suit by Ghost Glass. I went in the shop for a new torch and walked out with a torch, blast shield, ruby terp slurper set, Halloween terp pearls from Dematteo Art and a couple bangers, so yeah, most definitely worth a visit if you are ever in the Southside of Chicago.
So as I said, Heady is more of a way of life. Rigs don’t function without quartz bangers, quartz bangers need carb caps, carb caps that spin pearls are cool, cool pearls look even better. Then, obviously, you want to treat your stuff with care and keep it organized, so you might get a heat gun or terpometer to get the perfect temps and prevent chazzing the banger. With some stands for your tools and caps, before you know it, it’s a whole little collection and both Smoking Buddha and Lit Glass and Vapes have everything you need. So, if you’re ever in The Windy City, North or South, check these spots out and tell them that The Cannabis Cactus sent you.