Friday morning outside the Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Airport, the warm, sunny weather was enough to lift anyone's mood, especially those of us who had just left behind a cold, rainy spring in Amsterdam. Small planes took off into the blue sky as the CK Wholesale Expo guests began to arrive and pick up their badges for the event. Stepping into the old hangar, it's tough to look cool while your eyes adjust to the stark contrast from the bright daylight, but from the sign-up stand to the vendors and visitors milling about the entrance, the mood was just as sunny as the weather outside, with that mellow, easy-going vibe that Southern California is famous for. A lot of the booths were still being set up, so we did a lap of the room and soaked in some atmosphere. It was billed as a private event and not open to the public, but that was no dull corporate crowd! Like any trade expo, there were vendors, buyers, visionaries and business-types mingling together, but what's different about the Connoisseur Kulture show is that there's no need to wink quite so hard when you say out loud that a bong is meant for smoking tobacco. There was a slightly trippy element in the atmosphere, mainly radiating from the psychedelically-painted Further bus parked by the entrance. Everyone was drawn to it and wanted to pose next to it (or on it) for pictures. OK, so I had to look up some of this, but that rainbow monster was the actual school bus from Ken Kesey's LSD-fueled cross-country trip that Tom Wolfe wrote about in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Ken Kesey is most famous for his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and did you know his middle name was Elton?! Well, you can look it up too, it's a good story, and an iconic attraction considering the crowd! It sort of overshadowed the also-cool black and red A-Team van parked nearby, though I was never able to find out if it was really the van from the show. Bob Snodgrass (in orange t-shirt) posing with fans and the Further bus At the very first booth, the crew at 2K Industries kicked off our day with irresistible enthusiasm for the products they had on display. We were there not only to enjoy the event we proudly sponsored, but to meet and greet and scope out some exciting new stuff for Grasscity.com. 2K Industries makes the bong diffuser beads you may have seen on Grasscity, and it was really cool to see that the people behind the beads were so genuinely excited about fun ways to enhance your smoking enjoyment. For weeks before the show, we couldn't wait to hit the expo floor and see some inspiring glass and clever smoking accessories, but one thing we were especially looking forward to seeing was Snoop Dogg's new Executive Branch brand! I'll bet we weren't the only ones who envisioned ourselves passing a doob around with Snoop at a loud, smoky party after the show, but in real life, skinning up with his rolling papers is about as close as most of us will get to smokin' tha chronic with tha Doggfather. But the booth did not disappoint, they had a DJ, lots of merch and Snoop Dogg was there in flat-screen form. His plush blue slippers, featured front and center, promised any wearer the timeless sophistication of a playboy smoking ensemble - just add a long cigarillo and some foxy ladies in short shorts, both plentiful at that table! The rolling papers come in regular and king size, and the flap is perforated so it's easier to rip off a strip to use as a roach tip. Keep an eye out for these, the blunt wraps and more from Snoop Dogg's Executive Branch coming soon to Grasscity! With so much top-notch glass under one roof, it was really difficult to pick just a few to add to our site this round. We'd sold out of all our Hops Glass bong attachments a while ago and were on a mission for more, so expect to see some of the latest inline bubblers, ashcatchers and perc tubes from Hops, many in clear glass and some with color work. At the Hops Glass table there were some truly stunning pieces of glass art on display, including a glass drag-strip racer that doubles as a functioning bong. It turns out it's not so easy to photograph glass art under fluorescent lighting with a point-and-shoot camera, but here you can see just a few of his amazing pieces. Glass blowing can produce truly beautiful manifestations from the artist's imagination, and the fact that they are so fragile and even evasive to being captured on “film†adds to the magic. Speaking of artists' imaginations, we got to see some amazing paintings in progress in the live art battle featuring talented artists Chris Dyer, Shie Moreno and Dunkees artist Daniel Militonian, whose painting (shown here) was voted as the winner of a Golden Pig trophy. Daniel's art is popular with bike companies, skateboarders and within the smoking culture, and recently he drew the cover image for 420 Magazine's May 2012 issue. Check out the Dunkees blog to see more of his work! We found some really cool bongs and bubblers and met some very friendly folks at the Pulse Glass booth, where we were really impressed by the handmade quality and innovative percolation! Several pieces feature either a pierced tongue perc (it's shaped like a tongue!) or the wheel perc, which quickly spins and spits out bubbles when you take a bong hit. We liked lot of their pieces, so look for them soon! We're happy to welcome the Pulse Glass team to Grasscity! Pulse Glass hollow base bubbler Pulse Glass oil bubbler with male joint Pulse Glass wheel perc bong These will all be joining Grasscity in the next few months! Some other highlights from the stands at the expo that you can expect to see soon: * SYN Glass (Smoke Yourself Numb)'s nested shower perc bongs and affordable concentrate smoking utensils * Ceramic hand pipes, in a huge variety of character designs from JM Ceramics * Cool T-shirts, tanks, backpacks and accessories for weed-lovers from SeedleSs Clothing * V-Syndicate Grinder cards in fun designs, including one featuring Cheech & Chong! * Really beautiful hand pipes made of lava stone and plated gold from Celebration Pipes ...and there's much more! We wanted to see awesome new stuff and we got what we came for! Mary Jane Botanicals Wicked 66 Glass Throughout the two days of the expo, the Good Stash customized, fully-equipped glass-blowing trailer sat parked just outside the entrance, across from the Further bus - the site of the big Flame Off. We did see Bob Snodgrass around (his team won last year's Flame Off and the first Golden Pig trophy) but this year it was a battle between heaven and hell, with the heavenly skills of Kristian Merwin pitted against bad boy Derrek “D-Wreck†White. Both worked furiously on their projects but were not too busy to answer questions from the crowd. When we arrived on Saturday, there were broken blue and green bottles on the ground around the trailer and Kristian was holding bottle pieces at the end of a long pole inside of his kiln, labeled “Little Miss Meltyâ€. We got to see the work in progress, a chandelier pipe made from recycled glass bottles. I never got to find out who won in the end, though! I heard that there would be online voting for two weeks after the show, and I'm really curious to find out about the finished pieces and the voting! But really, the best part was the chance to watch these two pros at work. It's often thrilling to watch an artist working but especially when it's two interesting characters working with fire and red-hot molten glass! The Flame Off contenders: ...from Heaven: Kristian Merwin! ...from Hell: D-Wreck! Kristian at the kiln Little Miss Melty Chandelier pipe in progress Grasscity would like to thank all the vendors and artists we met and everyone who helped make the expo such a success, especially CK Wholesale Expo organizers Laura Wentworth and Jason Harris. Thanks for fun and exciting weekend, and for putting on a great show! -Miss Spliffstein for Grasscity.com On the Santa Monica pier