LITTLE ITALY — High-priced, designer glass bongs that start at $1,000 are a big sell at a new smoke shop on Taylor Street.
Owners of Sight N' Sound, a longtime smoke shop in suburban Westmont, opened their second location this month at 1137 W. Taylor St. The Little Italy shop is their first in Chicago.
Kasey Salamie, who owns the shops with his father, Jim Salamie, said that the Taylor Street location is a perfect fit.
"We've been doing our research forever and customers have been dying for us to open a location in the city," Kasey Salamie said at the shop Wednesday.
The 26-year-old Salamie said he isn't surprised that the shop's pricey, heavy glass bongs, smoking devices that double as one-of-a-kind artwork, are selling well with the city crowd, from college students to serious smokers.
"I am seeing a lot more people buying a single piece of glass for $1,000," said Salamie, who lives in the South Loop. "It's happening more and more."
While a typical glass hand pipe costs $20, the smoking culture is becoming more and more upscale. Smokers willing to spend big bucks on a high-end glass pipe view the item as part art, part utensil.
Salamie said he's already sold a glass piece for more than $5,000 at the Taylor Street shop. Collectors into the designer glass pipe "subculture" compete over the status symbols, he said.
"Like anything, some people want to nicest stuff in life, and this is [an item] that some people use every day," Salamie said. "It's art 100 percent to them."
While medical marijuana was recently made legal in Illinois, Salamie said his shop sells devices only intended for use with legal tobacco products.
Sight N' Sound carries designer glass bongs handmade by local and national artists, including Montana-based 2 Stroke Glass.
In addition to tobacco hand pipes, hookah pipes and other smoking devices, Sight N' Sound carries incense, rock band T-shirts, posters and other novelty items.
Sight N' Sound accepts cash, debit and credit cards, and sells gift cards in the shop.
The Westmont Sight N' Sound was opened in 1974 by Kasey Salamie's uncle, Joe Salami. When his uncle died in 2007, Kasey's father took over operations of the family-owned business.
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