As a steep decline in the artisan-driven glass pipe business continues, one captain of the industry promises to keep navigating himself and his team through rocky tides.
“There’s been times in the last few years where we’ve had to have some hard conversations,” Abe Fleishman, owner of Northstar Glassworks, said. “But I have this amazing staff I’ve worked with for so long — most of them more than 10 years. And they always say, ‘Let’s keep rocking and rolling.’”
The 49-year-old native of Santa Cruz, California, has been a pioneer in the borosilicate glass color industry for a quarter century.
How’d he do it?
Fleishman took a firm understanding of “basic chemistry” in high school and married it with an upbringing in the “Hard Knocks School of Life” that included underground sales of Cannabis throughout the 1990s. That science-savvy, street-smart hustle drove him to discover stable color formulas that have dominated a national market since the early 2000s.
His first splash into the mainstream was with Unobtainium: a steel blue sparkle created after hours of experimentation.
“At the time, I had a dream about the chemicals I was buying and using,” he said, likening it to a moment of sudden inspiration. “I was so excited, I told a couple of my employees, and we just thought it was the craziest, coolest color.”
Fleishman began with a small production shop, but he leapt at the chance to become general manager of Northstar Glassworks in 2004, eventually buying the company outright in 2006. He has developed hundreds of compatible color formulas, guiding the business as the industry emerged from the shadows and pushed toward legitimacy.
Along the way, his work has inspired artists around the world to infuse high-end glass pieces with color. That community gathers each year at the Degenerate Flame Off, widely considered the Super Bowl of the functional glass world.
Founded in 2009, the DFO is a multiday glassblowing competition that blends art, counterculture and community. Long rooted underground, the craft has found a public stage through the event, which Northstar has consistently supported throughout the Pacific Northwest.
“It’s not a trade show,” Fleishman said, who was honored for his technical innovations at the 2013 International Flameworking Contest. “We’ve never once paid these artists to compete. They come here to be a part of something special. It’s like a glass camp or a family reunion where people come to see their friends or people they’ve heard of or seen online and want to see their work.”
The 14th year of the event will be held at the Northstar factory in Portland, with Fleishman planning to shut down operations for a month to host it — a notable commitment for an event that has struggled to retain venues despite drawing crowds of more than 4,000.
The DFO was canceled in 2020 and 2025. When it returned in 2021, it did so at the height of the industry’s boom.
“When COVID hit, for whatever reason, the market went like wildfire,” Fleishman said, recalling pieces doubling in price from $3,000 to $6,000. “It might have had something to do with the stimulus checks. People had extra money to spend. So many people were buying glass pipes that we couldn’t keep up with distribution efforts.”
By 2022, the surge had reversed. The high-end American glass pipe market began to contract, squeezed by cheaper imports and shifting consumer habits.
“The same pipe that an artist here will make for 20 bucks, the Chinese are making something similar, but not as good, for five,” Fleishman said. “And then there’s for convenience sake. If you’re traveling or flying somewhere, you want to bring a little vape, not some smelly pipe.”
Changes in federal law also raised the legal age for purchasing tobacco products to 21, cutting off a key entry point for younger consumers.
“It used to be a rite of passage here in the States that when you turn 18 years old, maybe you’re finally out of your parents’ house, perhaps going to college, you go buy a bong for your dorm room or something to that effect. But that’s no longer happening because you gotta be 21 or over. And by that time, that experience or desire for it is gone.”
Industry estimates suggest sales have declined by more than 50 percent, forcing layoffs and price increases across the board. Northstar was no exception, downsizing to a team of just 10 employees.
“A lot of these artists, having accumulated this type of talent, would be making a half a million per year in other specialist fields,” he said. “The saddest part is a lot of these guys are my friends, and they’re being forced to leave the field and work a regular job because they can’t afford to stay in it anymore.”
Still, there are signs of life.
The DFO returns July 24-26, driven by demand from the community itself.
“Last year, when we reached out, so many people said they couldn’t afford it,” Fleishman said. “But over the fall and winter, so many people would call or message me saying they wanted the event to come back. They were starving for something like this. It’s just a great time.”
The three-day event will feature glassblowing competitions and collaborations, live DJs and vendors from around the world — all with the hope of reigniting momentum in a struggling industry.
“I hope I’m always going to be involved in this,” Fleishman said. “I just love this industry. There’s so much talent here.”
Tickets for the 2026 Degenerative Flame Off can be purchased at Humanitix.com under DFO Family Reunion.
