Revere Glass: Forerunner in the 7/10 Revolution

Dustin Revere smokes only concentrates. The flowers, he says, begin to taste carcinogenic after a steady regimen of high-quality dabs.

As the director of Berkeley, Calif.-based Revere Glass, Dustin has been at the forefront of the concentrate, or dabbing, culture that continues to gain momentum.

Revere was the first company to make a production line featuring the male joint needed for dabbing and now has an entire line of dab rigs shaped like raindrops, the drop and the droplet.

Dustin has been blowing glass for almost 20 years and noticed the emergence of concentrates when Honey Bud, cannabis buds soaked in hash oil, appeared at the Third Floor cannabis club in Oakland around 1997.

“No one knew exactly what it was at the time,” he said. “There was no rigs and no support system for smoking oil all by itself.”

When butane hash oil (BHO) appeared in 2002-2003, there was still no way to smoke it and, as concentrate aficionados know, it just doesn’t work to put the oil on top of flowers. Dustin initially dabbed on a bubble at the end of a glass rod before putting his glass blowing skills to work creating beautiful custom dab rig designs. Now, he says, there is a huge support system for dabbing, with many pieces and devices designed specifically for smoking concentrates. Even the date 7/10, chosen because it looks like the word oil upside down, is now being celebrated as a dabbing holiday.

At Revere Glass a three-person dab rig by Eusheen is on display in the area between the glass blowing classroom and the artist studio space.

“Definitely there is a huge concentration on making rigs and oil pieces,” Revere’s administrative manager Carlos Valdovinos said, noting everyone must learn the techniques needed to make the basic spoon for flowers, “but everyone kind of uses those skills and starts making oil rigs.”

Valdovinos is originally from San Diego and gave some friends down south their first dabs.

“I still think [dabbing] is in it’s beginning stages in other places, but here in the Bay Area it’s pretty much poppin’,” he said.

For Valdovinos a smaller rig works best. He has a small all-black droplet that doesn’t allow for much air and thus, results in a better oil flavor. His friend Matt says, “it’s the flavor savor player.”

Valdovinos has seen many beautiful dab-associated creations come out of Revere, including carb caps made of glass.

“Once you learn to mess with glass you can really do anything with it,” he said. “You can progress very quickly with glass blowing if you put in the time. Time behind the torch is the most important thing.”

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