What You Can Expect From An Indianapolis Head Shop

By Paulette Short


If you smoke but don't like brand-name cigarettes, you probably know how difficult it can be to find the items you need to make that puff possible. As soon as you purchase cigarette papers, people immediately assume that you're a pothead. This is why it's such a pleasure to buy your smoking paraphernalia from 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.

The stores originated during the 1960s with the rise of the counterculture. The first of these shops seems to be one that opened in 1966 in Haight Street, San Francisco, a famous hippie hangout. Shops like these are now making a come-back, especially with the growth of the medical-marijuana industry.

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.

Many people think of the stores as 'those hippie shops'. They associate the merchandise with illegal drug use. However, the stores are adamant that their wares are for use with tobacco and other legal substances only and not for use with marijuana unless it's in a state where you can get medical marijuana with a doctor's prescription.

Marijuana is illegal in Indiana and the possession of it carries severe penalties. This means that unless you want to get into trouble with the law, you should use the paraphernalia you buy at your Indianapolis store only with tobacco, no matter how suitable they may be for use with marijuana too. It is possible though that the state may change its marijuana laws some time in the future.

Smoke shops in Indianapolis are great places to shop for unusual gifts too, even if you're not buying something for a smoker. For instance, it can be a nightmare to find a gift that an artistically-minded teenage relative will like but something like a unique T-shirt or a poster that responds to black light may be just the right choice. If young Jimmy or Jane finds out where you bought their birthday gift, you may even become the 'cool' family member in their eyes.

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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