The image of glass in the eye of the public is ever evolving. From heady glass collectors hoarding some of the nicest pieces in existence, to TV shows on Netflix like “Blown Away” that showcase a variety of glassblowers and their skills, there are a number of ways in which heady glass continues to make room for itself in the art world. Glass and Cannabis proponent Nik Dimitrijevic gave us an inside look at his insane collection and a glimpse into how he sees the world of glass and its place in modern culture. With a six-figure collection, showcasing his pieces to the masses is his approach to shifting the perceptions surrounding the artform, whether it’s a bong, marble or anything in between.
Nik grew up in Northern Virginia and upon turning 18 in 2011, he bought his first pipe – a Sovereignty bong. Up to that point he only smoked blunts and bowls, but he instantly fell in love with his first piece. Fast forward to 2021, he came into a little bit of money and wanted to spend some of it on something special. After following some glass pages on Instagram, he tried to buy a couple pieces from Illusionz Glass Gallery in Colorado. He went to their website and made two insane heady glass purchases – one for $30,000 and one for $60,000. Right after the transaction went through he was contacted to let him know that they couldn’t actually sell him the pipe for “that cheap.” Illusionz had some of their glass on consignment from collectors, and the owner wanted more for the pipe after the sale went through. Nik was extremely bummed out and confused, but determined to get some heady glass in his collection.
Nik decided to go back to where he bought his Sovereignty 10 years prior, Glass Stache in Alexandria, Virginia. The store owners had a couple pieces that were technically not for sale, but Nik had a special relationship with them and talked them into selling him a Burtoni flamingo and a Eusheen x Yoshinori Kondo collaboration. At the time, he didn’t even realize how heady the artists’ glass he was buying was. The Kondo collab was the first functional pipe he had ever put a marble on. From here Thomas Rose, more commonly known as @glassgamestrong on IG, was introduced to Nik by the owner of Glass Stache. Thomas is known for being able to source pretty much any high-end piece of glass art under the sun, and Nik ended up scooping a bunch of different pieces with his help. Some of the coolest pipes in Nik’s collection were acquired with the help of Thomas, including the Joe Peters x Banjo Ganesha on the cover of this magazine. Being familiar with Roor, Nik asked Thomas to help him secure a heady Roor pipe and less than a week later, he had some options on the table for him – most notably a Eusheen x Yoshinori Kondo x Roor x Disk Glass collaboration from a shop in Canada. It had never even been water tested, let alone smoked out of. After taking it to a local glass show, Nik brought the pipe out and while sitting there not thinking about it, let a random stranger take the first rip off his historic pipe. He looks back at the situation and laughs, realizing how bright eyed and bushy tailed he was, being new to the glass game. “I don’t need to smoke out of these pieces, I just need to look at them when I’m high because they’re so fuckin’ dope,” says Nik. “It’s crazy that humans can create these beautiful pieces of functional art that people can smoke out of. That concept to me was insane.”
As Cannabis products have continued to evolve in their quality and forms, so has the glass used to smoke them. If we have the best hash rosin available to the public, why wouldn’t we want to smoke that hash out of the best and most artistic pipe possible? Nik attributes that sentiment to being part of the reason people are so interested in high-end glass art. “As things got better for weed itself, you can see the progression of glass and the newer designs like Eusheen’s redisculators. These are basically the same concept of an old school recycler, but people have gotten so creative in how they’re able to figure out the physics,” explains Nik.
At the end of the day, the glass world is now turning more heads than it is raising eyebrows – and that is a testament to the artists and their dedication to their craft. Glass artists can spend days on days working on pieces, and some of them don’t even make it out of the kiln – while other artists collaborate all around the world, sending sections of glass internationally to make one-of-a-kind pieces. Thankfully we have collectors like Nik canvasing the globe for the finest expressions of this artform, bringing them together and giving us the chance to ponder just how profound a pipe can be. Shoutout to Kyle from Glass House Gallery in DC for hosting us for this photoshoot and a legendary sesh!