Florida smoke shops breathe easy after pipe ban fizzles

Mystik smoke shop in Orlando, Fla. can continue selling water pipes for tobacco use under House Bill 49.

At Mystik smoke shop, uttering the word "bong" will you get you escorted out.

The store has a faded sign above its shelves of glass and water pipes that reads: "Tobacco products must be referred to as pipes or waterpipes only! Any other references, and you will be asked to leave immediately!"

The rule embodies House Bill 49, which mimics federal guidelines stating that smoke shops cannot sell pipes to customers who express intent to use them illegally.

It its original form, the legislation would have made it illegal in Florida to sell various smoking instruments, such as glass and water pipes, threatening business for Mystik and hundreds of other shops.

But lobbying by the Florida Smoke Shop Association smoldered the legislation to what it is now: a rule that enforces what most shops ? like Mystik ? have already been doing for years.

So what's changed? Nothing, really.

"We're a legitimate industry," said Mystik owner Matt Tercsak, 40, who has been operating the store, on University Boulevard, since he opened it in 1995. "And the money we generate we turn right back into our local economy."

Some people scoff at the word "legitimate" when describing the head-shop business, including bill sponsor Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, a former cocaine addict who has many a time said the pipes are used to ingest illegal drugs.

However, store manager Jamie Joyce said that a tobacco-smoking culture still exists in full force. Not everyone smokes tobacco using cigarettes, which Joyce referred to as the instant-gratification version of tobacco intake.

Smoking out of a pipe is more an art form and forces you to sit down, take time with the process of preparing the pipe and ultimately chill out.

"It allows the mind to freely expand itself," said Joyce, 23, who started smoking tobacco about a year ago after a stressful research job pushed her to find ways to relax.

Even so, the industry is still attacked, which drove Tercsak to join the Florida Smoke Shop Association and motivated association President Jay Work to start the trade organization a few years ago.

Work, 51, owns four smoke shops in Palm Beach and Broward counties and provides a lot of his own inventory by glass blowing.

He started pulling the association together in 2010 to fight another regulatory bill drafted by Rouson, which was eventually passed into law. Now, the association is about 70 smoke shops and a handful of glass blowers strong.

"It was a grass-roots movement," Work said. "As an association, we were able to hire the lobbyist, and that really helped us."

Even after the bill was amended, Joyce said the store saw a huge influx of people rushing to buy their pipes before they became illegal when the law went into effect July 1.

About 95 percent of Mystik's inventory would've been affected by the bill's original version.

With the exception of a few racks of clothing, loose tobacco, electronic cigarettes and some decorative items, the store is full of glass and water pipes in glass cases and on shelves.

Some are small glass pipes with round bowls on the end to pack the tobacco. Others are larger water pipes with multiple chambers and tubes for the smoke to be filtered through.

And within those categories are different styles. Clear, minimalist pipes fall into the "scientific" pipe variety. Ornate, brightly colored pipes are considered "heady" pipes and are valued more for their artistic quality.

It's an art form, one that would've been lost in Florida if the original bill had passed and the business had tanked.

Work says he expects more attacks, but now industry leaders are ready.

"We follow the law," Work said, "and we now know how to play the game."

kvarn@tribune.com or 352-742-5930

Source: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/os-florida-bong-ban-orlando-20130706,0,3021513.story?track=rss

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