Eight years ago I lived a very different life. I had two jobs I worked 5 days a week. I had just taken a gamble and bought the tattoo shop I was learning to pierce at, and wasn’t willing to fail. I was making a lot of money and living in the cheapest, dumpiest part of town in the cheapest, dumpiest apartment one could find. I spent most days working early at a filthy car wash before heading to the tattoo shop for the rest of the day. My evenings were spent partying with friends and clients.

During that time one of my favourite people – my cousin Dave, came home from BC for a visit. It was around this time of year (he was home for xmas) and for some reason he and I ended up in a bong shop. He insisted on buying me a new bong, and a few minutes later we were christening a fine piece of Canadian made glass on my couch with no legs, in my shitty apartment.

Recently that very same bong has been what I refer to as the “office apparatus”. I use it semi-hourly regularly to clear my head and keep focused while working on things that bore my giant mind. My cousin was home last week and as we hit the bong we reminisced. I even bought a brand new bowl for us to use on the second night. I treat my bong well, clean it regularly, and am generally cautious with it at all times (thanks Larry). So it came as a huge shock to me yesterday when I discovered a crack, then floating shards of glass.

The bong is fine (I’m starting to think that thing will never die!) but the stem is trashed. The likelihood of me finding a suitable replacement stem is slim to none. I will try, but I think in the meantime I’ll get something small and cheap. I picked up a neat little vaporizer today, but I don’t think I can use it exclusively. Now if I had one of these, I’d use it and only it (I think).

Bye bye bong. Hopefully you’ll return with a vengance.