Finding An Indianapolis Head Shop

By Paulette Short


If you're a smoker, you may find that it's becoming more and more difficult to buy the paraphernalia you need from regular outlets. So many people frown upon customers buying rolling papers or pipes that you may feel as if you're buying something illegal. In Indiana, the solution is to visit an Indianapolis head shop for all your smoking needs.

Head shops are outlets that sell smoking paraphernalia as well as other products for use with tobacco. Along with pipes and cigarette papers, they also sell items like cigarette filters, rolling machines and vaporizers or water pipes if you want that flavored tobacco to go down more smoothly. They sell other items too, from candles and incense to clothing and underground comics.

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.

The early smoke shops often began as shops where you could buy candles and incense. This is why you'll still be able to find more than just smoking paraphernalia at a head shop. You'll be able to go here for interesting clothing and jewelry, novelty items, underground publications, comic books and art too, just like in the Sixties when these shops often gave artists and writers their first break.

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.

Especially in Indiana you shouldn't make the mistake of thinking the local smoke shop will approve of you using their products for illegal drugs. Marijuana laws in the state are still very strict and penalties for possession are severe. Until the state relaxes its laws in this regard, you're better off using the paraphernalia you buy for legal substances like flavored tobacco.

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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