As the popularity of hand blown glass water pipes have literally blown up in recent years, largely due to legalization and decriminalization efforts by Gen X, more and more cannabis enjoyers have started to collect these tools as fine art. Many artists are gaining prominence in the 420 community and have been able to fetch thousands of dollars for individual pieces.

This new interest has sparked the meteoric rise of the high-end bong market, seeing prices sky rocket to the tens of thousands and more.

For your average stoner anything over $50-100 is seen as a luxury item and something that they might have reservations about collecting. With the prevalence of glass and the so far mostly unimpressive silicone pipes available, the lower to mid range consumers have been left out.

Glass is beautiful and the pieces available now are amazing, but let's face it glass artists have pushed the limits in detail and colors as about as far as they can. There is only so much detail that can be sculpted into molten glass and using a mold can produce amazing work, but it is high risk and also limited in the internal structures it can reliably produce. Glass is also extremely fragile and expensive.

Which brings us to Acrylics; now hold on, before you pass judgement on "plastic bongs" just look for yourself at the intricate highly detailed and even photorealistic results achieved in acrylic water pipes today. Using high end software and hardware, modern artists are able to achieve designs unimaginable by glass artists and for much less cost and a much stronger bong.

How many times have you broken a glass piece just by cleaning it, much less dropping it on the floor? Who wants to spend upwards of $100 or more on a bubbler that gets broken after 6 months of use? No one wants to break a collectible functional fine art piece by accident.

So many of these gorgeous creations sit unused and untouched. For those reasons many consumers are seeing acrylics as a great solution and many collectors are starting to take them seriously.

Designers are pushing the limits of what a bong can be and finding new and unique ways to redefine the form

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