To take a hit off the biggest bong in the world, someone will have to stand at the top of a staircase as a partner below lights the weed with a blowtorch and sends smoke curling through the massive pipe.
That's the scene glassblower Jason Harris describes as he gears up to create the piece, which will be 24 feet tall and weigh at least 800 pounds. According to the artist, the bong's bowl will be so huge that it may hold at least a quarter-pound of marijuana.
Harris, from Jerome Baker Designs, is collaborating with other glass artists on the enormous project. They will blow roughly 25 pieces of glass in Seattle during the 4/20 weekend, which they will then transport on semi-trucks to the new cannabis museum Cannabition in Las Vegas. There, the glassblowers will build them together to create the final piece.
The enormous bong requires specialty equipment both to blow the parts and put them together—including a crane.
"In the end people are gonna be able to smoke from this 24-foot bong," Harris told Newsweek with a laugh. The smoker's mission, should he or she choose to accept it, will be to inhale and exhale until the clouded pipe is completely cleared. Harris called it "the bong hit challenge."
Smoking will occur at private events, though the bong will be on display at other times. Cannabition, which is set to open July 1, says on its website that smoking or buying cannabis on-site is not included with standard admission.
People also have to be 21 or older to visit the new museum and view the mighty bong. Tickets are going on sale starting on 4/20, with the prices starting at $4.20.
Even though it will arrive at the museum in parts, the big bong will be built to "hide the connections from the eye," Harris said. He described it as being a classic design of a shaft and a bubble, but one of its key design elements will be its color—the glassblowers are mixing in uranium so that it will glow bright green. "When you shine black lights on this thing, it's gonna light up like there's no tomorrow."
Although the uranium's radioactivity would register on the sensitive Geiger counter, glass made with uranium does not emit much radiation.
Harris referred to the bong as "a giant metaphor."
"I've been arrested for making water pipes before and now we're making the biggest water pipe," he said.
The glassblower added that social views on marijuana and paraphernalia are a challenge when it comes to finding people to sign onto a project like this. "There's still a scare factor."
To his point about the stigma surrounding his field, Cannabition previously had a Kickstarter in place to support the giant bong, but the website suspended the fundraiser earlier this month.
Vancouver-based cannabis company Weekend Unlimited, where Harris is listed as a consultant, financed the project.
"If I was in there making the biggest fine wine glass in the world" instead of a huge bong, Harris said, he would have people "applauding me." Instead, "my artwork represents something different."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
