Joe Morrison Glass

Joe Morrison
@Joemorrisonglass
Eau Claire, Wisconsin

“I’ve always been creative, and originally, glass blowing was just something I could do that was pretty awesome,” says Joe Morgan. “I could make my own pipes and impress all the girls.”

That was back around 2005. Now Joe has a family with a young son and daughter. During the day, he plays Mr. Mom, and after his wife comes home from work and the kids are asleep he retreats to his studio where he blows glass till the wee hours of the morning.

Joe started out making prodo pieces, which he still does, and which he takes great pride in — he’s got six different products in 30 color combinations. It’s a way for him to make a living so he can make the really cool pieces that are his passion.

He loves the challenge of sculpting what he calls “frame-working” where after he forms the shape, whether it be a guitar or a Corvette, he painstakingly fills in the empty spaces — a piece like a mandolin can take up to 80 hours to complete and has more than a thousand welds.

Octopus pipe

You might know Joe as the “Octopus Guy.” Many of his dab rigs and sherlocks are sculpted with lifelike tentacled sea creatures.

“They’re fun to make. It’s easy to take some liberties with because it could be something in the sea that you don’t know about that is only lurking in my mind,” Joe says. “It’s cool to see octopus in a lot of different colors — pulling from nature is always a good place to start.

“I have a real desire to melt glass and make something more,” Joe adds,” I’m really pushing myself to a point where I’m making what I want and what I think is cool.”

Joe Morrison
@Joemorrisonglass
Eau Claire, Wisconsin

 

Recent Articles

Running a cannabis business is notoriously complicated. For dispensaries, complex compliance burdens permeate every facet of the business, from zoning and licensing to marketing and payments. Whether you’ve been in the cannabis space for mere months or multiple decades, you’ve likely run into drawn-out approval processes, supply chain headaches, or constantly changing regulation that makes compliance challenging, not to mention the other micro and macroeconomic factors that plague all small business owners.
Blending traditional values with modernized, energetic branding, Not Ya Son’s Weed falls somewhere between the cannabis days of yore and today’s recreational cannabis boom. Not Ya Son’s Weed offers a variety of products—including pre-rolls, exotic flower, and gummies—that provide much-needed relief without being too overbearing.
The officials came for Lance Alyas once before. In 2023, they caught him in a sting, seized his merchandise, and tossed him in jail. But just seven days later, after he invoked Hawaii's version of a Freedom of Information Act request, the whole case fell apart. Alyas was released without bail, allowed to simply walk out the door. Now, he’s advocating for freedom from Hawaii’s state officials once again. Only this time, it’s not just his own freedom. As the owner of Oahu’s top-rated smoke shops, he’s fighting for everyone’s right to sell hemp products in the Aloha State.
Born Sara Benetowa in Warsaw, Poland, in 1903, Sula Benet may not be an immediately recognizable name in cannabis spaces today, but she should be. While she primarily studied Polish folk customs, Benet became known for her graduate thesis at the University of Warsaw, titled Hashish in Folk Customs and Beliefs. In the paper, she claims that the plant kaneh bosm—which is referenced throughout the Old Testament and Torah and often translated as “calamus”—actually refers to hemp. Benet’s theory remains both significant and highly controversial today, especially as various religious and evangelical groups continue to demonize the plant.
If the United States were ever a country based on strict adherence to the law, those days are long past. The modern game lies in devising methods to circumvent laws. It’s how the rich avoid taxes, the powerful avoid jail, and industries of all kinds bypass regulations. The paradox is that, despite its ubiquity, it’s not easy to stay beyond the reach of the long arm of the law. Well-moneyed, influential organizations still sometimes misjudge the political and legal playing field and have to pay up. The Sacklers (the family behind Purdue Pharma) eventually were bankrupted by the courts for their role in the opioid epidemic, and officials hit Meta with a $5 billion fine over privacy concerns.
When you walk into a smoke shop today, you might notice the glass cases that once held rolling papers and blunt wraps now display CBD tinctures, functional mushroom capsules, kava elixirs, and hemp-infused sparkling water. The staff might talk to you about terpene profiles, cortisol levels, and a new vape line.
I went home and told my girlfriend, who, after Googling the name of the business I bought it from, told me that, yes, it was technically weed. But it was CBD. She started laughing, telling me I had been ripped off.
State-sanctioned medical and recreational cannabis programs benefit the average user in many ways. Still, they remain a double-edged sword for dispensary owners, greenhouse growers, and others who earn their living from the cannabis industry. There are plenty of profits to be had, sure, but how exactly are you expected to secure your cash or process electronic transactions when banks refuse to work with you?