Great Movies While High 420 Edition | Degenerate Art: The Art and Culture of Glass Pipes

Degenerate Art: The Art and Culture of Glass Pipes

Finally! Someone made a documentary showcasing what I like to call the greatest sub-culture of a sub-culture – heady glass. Degenerate Art: The Art and Culture of Glass Pipes chronicles glass pipe making from its Dead Head hippie roots to present day “flame offs” where the finest artists in the country compete and collaborate – pushing each other to continue evolving their craft. The film explains how there has always been a market for weed pipes, but within this market was a higher end niche market, hungry for art. Through a series of demos and interviews with the high end glass scene’s most iconic names, esteemed glass blower and documentarian M. Slinger explores the special relationship between a head piece artist and said piece’s stoner owner.

I for one was enamored with this documentary because it gave faces to familiar names. Being raised on heady glass, I have been fascinated with some artists’ work for over a decade without knowing about the blowers themselves. It was so refreshing to learn that these guys — despite their celebrity in this expanding counter culture — are still a just bunch of chill potheads. Speaking of potheads, I would like to give a special 420 shoutout to b2 over at b2Glassworks. “He had me at hello…” with just the mention of this documentary, but my interest was captivated when I learned the color-changing bowl was an accident discovered by one of the film’s subjects, the legendary Bob Snodgrass. If you don’t know who Snodgrass is then you REALLY need to watch this film; I dare you to do so and not take a puff in his name. Thanks Bob! This dab’s for you… Happy 420, high society! #lightersup

Degenerate Art: The Trailer

Watch the entire movie on Amazon: Degenerate Art: The Art and Culture of Glass Pipes

Degenerate Art: The Synopsis

From the film website:

“Degenerate Art” tells the story of glass pipe-making from the origins of the “color-changing” pipe, to the radical emerging art movement it has become today. Despite federal laws, pipe-makers have created a whole new genre of American folk art. A huge multi-million dollar industry has formed around this taboo culture. This subversive art challenges our right to free speech and expression, as well as reflecting the nature of the people who make and collect the pieces. One of the last true underground American scenes, glass pipe art remains invisible to mainstream culture.