The mark of a true pothead is his (or his
smoking community's) collection of nifty smoking apparatus*. Four-footers, jukas,
zongs,
evaparators... these things indicate that smoking is not merely an occassional recreational endeavour, but part of a daily (or semidaily..demidaily) routine. The paraphernalia collector is in a living situation where the threat of getting caught by parents, resident assistants or
patrolling cop cars is next to non-existant. Getting high is no longer a risk or accomplishment, and especially not a goal. New paraphernalia returns part of the old sense of magic and excitement, but is usually a method of improving one's social standing among fellow stoners. "Smoking is weighted so heavily in *my* value system that I dropped $xx in order to slightly vary the experience." Anyone with a rudimentary intuition for
fluid dynamics can accomplish the same thing by designing new devices out of
any old trash lying around the house (and if this is not done out of sheer necessity, it is probably a sign that the
MacGyver smoker in question is just looking to impress his friends with his technical skill). It all depends on if one prefers
aesthetic or
function,
consumption or
production,
Romantic or
Modern style.
My advice is to keep the receipts for your paraphernalia transactions in an old shoebox. Figure the total each time you stick a new one in. Once you've gotten into the three-figure range, you should start considering whether life has more interesting experiences for which you can exchange your hard-earned dollars.
As a side note, possession of drug paraphernalia is
illegal in the United States. Legal tobacco pipes become paraphernalia whenever trace amounts of cannabis
resin can be scraped off and identified by the authorities. Paraphernalia exists for substances besides pot, but I'm unqualified to provide information about such.
* I've been informed that
this word undergoes no change when pluralized. Still sounds funny, though