Bongs are so much more. They’re not just a way to look cool or get high. We can create our own rituals with the bong. Just look around today—it seems as if Americans are lost. Cannabis culture could fill the void in our society and help inspire positive change. This change can come about through the bong. The bong is something I know very well as a co-founder and glass artist of Jerome Baker Designs.
This is how a bong lives: it’s bought from a shop, it gets named, it’s hidden from your parents and it goes in the car with friends. This goes on until it is broken by police or stolen. The feeling is horrible. A bong can represent a style. It is true for all cultures, including hip-hop and hillbilly.
Jerome Baker Designs – How Did It Get Started?
Jerome Baker, the glass artist leader of America today is jeromebaker.com. Prior to becoming CEO of JBD in 2004, I was an art student at a local college. I was a college art student when I first met Bob Snodgrass, an elderly man living down the road. It just so happened that he was a glass pipe inventor who had achieved worldwide fame. He was the first person to create a glass pipe that changed color as you used it. It was through him that I became acquainted with some of Oregon’s most interesting characters. This crew taught me how to blow glasses.
My glassblowing colleague Jordan Shefter (who was also a JBD employee) and I went door-to-door to the frat house, banging the door during the parties. With a wholesale bag of bongs priced at $125 we tried to sell these. The business grew from that point. There are now collectors’ groups on Facebook, where we can connect with individual customers. JBD’s pieces can increase in value up to twenty-fold over time.
JBD became a multi-million dollar company in early 1990s. By 1999, it had grown to a $4-million business, with 70 employees, in Eugene. This is an important city in Oregon for arts and outdoor activities. While staying true to the bongs Jordan and I made in our college dorm, we were able to create art that was recognized by others.
While staying true to the original idea that Jordan and I had in our college dormitory together, we were able to create bongs people recognized as artwork.
JBD is attacked in Operation Pipe Dreams
Tommy Chong, among others, was also arrested as part of Operation Pipe Dreams on the 23rd February 2003. There were many red flags before his arrest—people digging through garbage cans for evidence and the like. JBD headquarters were raided. JBD’s staff were bound up while federal agents, police from the state and the postal services tore through the building.
All was confiscated by police. Also, our old archived website was confiscated. Our computers, as well as the photos stored on them, were also taken. All the glass in our shop was confiscated. All I had left was a camera and a CD. Only the photos from that camera survived. My old domain was auctioned by the federal government in 2000. I then bought it back.
I was stunned. Jerome Baker Designs once had 70 workers, but the following day they were a distant memory. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania the accused were brought before a federal court to answer for their crimes. Tommy Chong spent an entire year behind bars. Jordan Belfort played by Leonardo DiCaprio as the former stockbroker in the film “The Wolf of Wall Street,” was Chong’s cellmate.
Tommy Chong was used by the Bush Administration to make an important political point. Although the times may have changed, the federal law remains the same: the cannabis industry continues to be illegal.
How to Build Back-Up JBD
JBD had already returned to action by the time Colorado legalized marijuana in 2012. From the start, I always knew we’d have our best chance at success once cannabis became legal. At the 2012 Cannabis Cup we smoked weed and knew that it was the right time.
In the skateboard market, we had maintained the brand. As we anticipated that Las Vegas would make a great business location, we opened a shop in the Arts District where we are still making our pieces today by hand. Inside our studio, called the Las Vegas Dream Factory, we have a retail shop akin to Harry Potter’s wand shop—you can cruise in and see which piece speaks to you.
Jerome Baker Designs is a company that has grown remarkably since the very beginning. Back in those days I followed the American rock and roll legends Grateful Dead, with my friends, on their tour, while blowing glass at the parking lot. After the guitarist Jerry Garcia passed away, we finally decided to create a business and name it Jerry Garcia. Jerome was named after Jerry. Baker is a reference to being baked. It was Grateful Dead’s first entry into the cannabis premium glass market. JBD had long been talking with Grateful Dead about this partnership. The band and our brand go way back—they inspired it all. It seemed like the right time, as cannabis legalization is gaining momentum across the country.
All these years later—after all those shows—it’s such a trip to be working with the Grateful Dead on high-quality glass cannabis products. Through this partnership, all Grateful Dead artwork featured on JBD bongs is officially licensed—it’s the real deal. The glass bongs and pipes are designed for the “everyday” stoner. They use cannabis in a normal way. The glass bongs are a modern take on stoners’ and cannabis’s current craze. Everyone who uses cannabis daily, from soccer moms and recording artists to musicians should have access to the products that we created in collaboration with the Grateful Dead. These products are made with the old Jerome Baker designs quality. We use the same designs as we did 30 years earlier. These designs have stood the test. While we continue to innovate, we also knew exactly what we were doing in the past.
The Big Picture
Cannabis is an enormous play. The cannabis industry generated $10 million last year. The goal of my vision is to humanize cannabis, and make it a part of the everyday conversation and consciousness. After all, they are our glass pieces. You can find out more about this by clicking here. Conversation pieces are needed at a moment when we need more conversation. These pieces bring thoughts to life and give the sacred a new dimension. It’s not like we talk about bongs in the same way as other paraphernalia. For us, these bongs are works of art.