Novelty Item Doubles As Crack Pipe

[Alfa]

NOVELTY ITEM DOUBLES AS CRACK PIPE
DAYTONA BEACH -- Convenience stores are peddling a rose by another name, and law enforcement says it's called a "crack pipe."
A handful of convenience stores along Ridgewood Avenue and International Speedway Boulevard have been selling 4-inch glass tubes with a plastic rose, the size of a pinky nail, tucked inside. The rose, however, isn't going to the customer's sweetheart -- instead the glass tube is being used as a crack pipe by drug users and sellers.
They are called "love roses" or "rose tubes," and they are not illegal to sell here, police said. But, whether or not they know it, store owners, managers, and clerks are selling items used to smoke crack.
"They may not be selling them the dope," said Sgt. James Newcomb of the Daytona Beach police narcotics task force, "but they're giving them the tools."
Newcomb bought several rose tubes from stores along Ridgewood Avenue and International Speedway Boulevard earlier this month.
The rose tubes sell for about $3 and are meant as an impulse item -- a chintzy gift for a loved one. But often the items are tucked behind the counter, and the only impulse driving people to buy these items is to use as a portable crack pipe that can easily be pocketed. The tubes are bought with a copper Chore Boy scouring pad used as a filter when stuffed into the tube's tip.
"I don't see any commercial application," Newcomb said of the items, which are sold across the country and outlawed in some places. "They know exactly what it's being used for."
The situation is troublesome for police because to make an arrest, officers must prove the store owners know the items are being used for unlawful purposes, said Lt. Jesse Godfrey, who heads up Daytona Beach police's narcotics team.
Store owners and managers selling love roses said they were surprised to learn the notorious use for the novelty item.
"Everybody has it," said Sonny Bhavani, manager of the Texaco at the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and International Speedway Boulevard. "But if they are using it for that -- it's not good."
Some said they would stop selling the roses if the items were illegal.
"If it's not illegal, I cannot interfere with a customer's personal life," said Vinny Rakesh, operator and soon-to-be-owner of the Hess station at 300 N. Ridgewood Ave.
The glass tubes have been banned from sale in some cities and states across the country. They're bought by the stores from mobile vendors; the box says the tubes are made in China.
The owner of a Daytona Beach Texaco station, who asked not to be identified because he fears reprisals, said he knows exactly what the tubes are used for. He calls the rose tubes "crack pipes," and said he stopped selling them about five years ago after they attracted unsavory characters, and created a dangerous atmosphere for him and his staff.
He scoffed at the idea that the owners of the convenience stores selling the rose tubes had no idea about the ulterior use of the items.
"If you are in this business," he said, "it would take you five minutes to figure it out."
Rose tubes were bought by The Daytona Beach News-Journal last week at four convenience stores in the heart of Daytona Beach's most notorious drug areas.
Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, said the rose tubes present a muddy situation.
"If you took away everything that can be used to make or take drugs, you would be pulling a lot of things off the shelf," he said.
The bigger issue is stores that are one-stop shopping for crack kits, Lenard said, selling precut scouring pad material with the rose tube, and a lighter.
There is a precedent for holding the store owners responsible, said ethics professor Ronald Hall, chairman of the Philosophy Department at Stetson University. By selling items that teeter on the edge of legality the store owners are neglecting their responsibility to the community, he said.
Hall challenged the store owners to stop selling the items, although it might cut into their profits.
"What we need is somebody to stand up and say they're not going to do this," he said. "I think the community would admire it."

Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal (FL)

[motorhead]

They are giving them the "tools" to smoke crack? lol. Then I guess they will have to ban coca cola sales world wide. Any crackhead can whip up a pipe out of a coke can when hes in a jam. They dont call it coca-cola for nothing lol.
This is interesting because where swim lives meth isnt even on the radar, but the lone head shop around sells meth pipes. They come with a little fake rose in them, and are for 'aroma therapy'. Maybe if meth becomes big enough there will be a story in swims local paper.

[GDxCAT]

heh, those things are actually intended as gifts? i always saw them as crack pipes.

[raven3davis]

SWIM has also noticed that they have glass pens now. It works like a regular pen but if you take the internals out it is a perfect little crack pipe!

[obusucks]

Here in the midwest, they have crack pipes with the roses in them, but also pipes for smoking meth, too.(the amazing incense burner)

Everyone knows what they are for, as did the cop when one was found in SWIMs car.

'what is this?' 'uuuuummmmmmmmmmm, an incense burner?' 'hahahahah, how stupid do you think i am?'

Most of these pipes suck beyond belieff, but what else can you do when you break your other one at 1 in the morning?

[Sitbcknchill]

They bring this old story up everywhere complaining about this shit...I see it about every couple months or so from different towns bitching about it...but anything can be made into paraphanalia, I mean come on do we want to get rid of soda cans cause they can be turned into a bowl in about 15 seconds?? So whats gonna happen if we have no more roses in a mini tube? All crack smoking will cease I tell ya!!! pfff gimme a break.....everyone just finds something else....I hate stupid people that raise hell over shit like this....ain't you got anything better to worry about than someone smoking crack from a tube they got at the gas station???? Fuck off




Sorry for the rant but ehh.....



Edit: Wouldn't it be a sweet gift to give to your crackwhore on Valentines day.....You got her a rose and a pipe....She'll prolly love you for life

[jduba]

swim once was searched by a cop after purchasing 2 of thses roses out of a store. (thank god) the stash was at home but a crackhead will find a pipe no matter what! ive seen a guy snap an antenna off a car and put a choreboy in it for a pipe. ahhh the creativity of crack

[jduba]

these are also great for hot railing ice

[CrookedEye]

BAN FOIL!!! and lightbulbs, rolling papers, cigars, even apples....

[davidlaska]

They are trying to ban all tube like glass things that sell but are not needed in this town. Little glass vile of air freshener is on the hit-list. Swim said that he will take the lightbulbs from the larger copying machines. He said they are long clear tubes up to a quarter inch wide and over 8 inches long. He said they are made from quartz and never melted when he use a torch with a oxygen attachment on it. He breaks of each end and lets the filament slide out. Because it is quartz, it is not sharp like glass would be.
Swim has actually picked up a few burnt bulbs and it works great. So if you see a copying machine that is larger (new ones are leds) or heavy, it will have two glass tubes in it. Now Swim gets some points for recycling to use to get into heaven if asked for.

[davidlaska]

One very important point though. There is glass and there is glass. Glass comes clear but with a wide range of points. Swim saw someone try to use a glass cigar tube for testing the heat output of his cigar lighter. When it cracked (heated gently by the way) it sent a tiny shard of glass flying that would impale the people in the land of the giants show. But could do some serous panic at best if it land in a eyeball. Other glass like the one mentioned does not crack with shard ejections. But goggles or glasses (no pun intended) can make this issue irrelevant.

[radiometer]

It's a guarantee that any store which sells those roses will also be selling baking soda and steel wool, most likely "Chore-boy" brand!

This gave me a big laugh when I found out about this on an online forum, as I had always wondered who the fuck would buy one of those things!

[obusucks]

Hey, when you have some newbie at smoking break your last bowl (a fucking pyrex! How do you even break those?) at 12 at night, you gotta take what you can get!

[Sklander]

SWIM won't lie, the local gas station has bailed him out a few times.

[davidlaska]

But some might not know how to poke a vent hole into it. Some like their vent hole to bulge out and others might like it inward. Like a mini funnel to through stuff in and it fall through the vent on the bottom into the lightbulb. This hole is made by heating the lightbulb at a spot and sucking on the other opening were you cleaned of the base. But no one like to do that with hot glass to could get sucked into your mouth. You can make either hole without sucking or fancy blowing and get a even bulge that won,t crack. The inside of the bulb is almost a vacuum (no air like space) and outside air is pushing on it to get in but the glass is strong. So here is what you do for a bowl like vent or blown out or bulge vent. Before you make any holes in the bulb, heat the spot were the vent should be with a mini blueflame torch. (always glasses for glasswork) That part becomes hot and soft and the air will push in and pop a hole in the little crater. Some of you already know that. But for a bulging hole, first heat the whole bulb, not red hot or such, just pretty hot and then direct your flame at the spot you want to make a vent. Watch for the glass to bulge out, (that tiny bit of gases inside has expanded so much that now it pushes out) if no bulge, heat the whole thing some more and try for the bulge. Once it starts, keep the flame to you hear a pop and your done with making the vent. So cold light bulb for a crater vent with a hole at the bottom and a very hot light bulb for a bulge like vent with the hole on top. No blowing or sucking here which is safe to.