9: The kind of plastic the little bags that drugs come in are made of. Based on very limited (non-existent) personal experience, I think cellophane sums it up.
So it is. I should look things up in the dictionary sometimes. I thought "glassine" related to "glass", (see, e.g., bears --> ursine) and was thinking, gee, that's a very fancy package for drugs.
glassine really looks like wax paper, basically. translucent, papery. the "bags" are just that, like tiny grocery bags but folded over into an envelope shape. I always wondered about those, too; did drug suppliers have their own machines to produce them? martha stewart weddings suggested using slightly bigger ones with a few jordan almonds inside and your names printed on them as a wedding favor, and I almost had it done, but I thought it was just too depressing, though hilarious. also, re: glass packaging, people do sell crack in vials sometimes.
I knew what glassine envelopes were (from reading American crime novels) but also thought it was some sort of cellophane. Slightly startled to realise now that I sent out Christmas cards in glassine envelopes a few years ago. (They came from Habitat.)
I remember the first time I saw a sandwich in a baggie - initial thought: How clever - not just for weed anymore!
But that was very long ago, when really good weed was about $20/oz. Had I but known, I could have saved all those baggies and paper-towel roll bongs and opened a museum...
Speaking of paper towel roll bongs. I never owned a proper bong or pipe. Just a cardboard toilet paper tube with some aluminum foil.
The guy I bought pot from in high school would give you an audio tape case (always the Stray Cats for some reason). The pot would be in a plastic bag in the case. You'd give him the case back with money in it.
Reminds me of this.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 8:18 AM
Does it say that there is something deeply scarred about my psyche that the title of this post seems very sexual-violent?
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 8:26 AM
Sil- Do you want us to answer that?
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 8:28 AM
Or just tear you open and lick your insides?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 8:31 AM
Gross.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 8:35 AM
Well, yeah. That was the point.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 8:43 AM
I guess this would be the right time to say that I have absolutely no idea what this post is about.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 8:44 AM
A guy with a collection of the bags dealers used to sell heroin in, with different logos on them?
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 8:46 AM
I am confused by the word "glassine."
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 8:47 AM
I have absolutely no idea what this post is about.
Paraphernalia memorabilia.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 8:48 AM
Cane toads. Tearing them open is unnecessary but fun.
Posted by John Emerson | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 8:49 AM
9: The kind of plastic the little bags that drugs come in are made of. Based on very limited (non-existent) personal experience, I think cellophane sums it up.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 8:54 AM
Is it a coincidence that I was intercepted with a full-screen anti-drug ad on the way to the article?
Posted by SP | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 9:02 AM
So it is. I should look things up in the dictionary sometimes. I thought "glassine" related to "glass", (see, e.g., bears --> ursine) and was thinking, gee, that's a very fancy package for drugs.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 9:03 AM
If you tear open bears and lick the insides, you will get very high indeed. Or die tryin'.
Posted by My Alter Ego | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 9:18 AM
1: Yeah, that's the first thing I thought of.
Mmm, globes.
Posted by Mo MacArbie | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 9:22 AM
glassine really looks like wax paper, basically. translucent, papery. the "bags" are just that, like tiny grocery bags but folded over into an envelope shape. I always wondered about those, too; did drug suppliers have their own machines to produce them? martha stewart weddings suggested using slightly bigger ones with a few jordan almonds inside and your names printed on them as a wedding favor, and I almost had it done, but I thought it was just too depressing, though hilarious. also, re: glass packaging, people do sell crack in vials sometimes.
Posted by alameida | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 9:23 AM
No, glassine isn't like cellophane: it's more like waxed paper. Like the kind of envelops the post office gives you when you buy stamps.
I read that NYT article and thought the same thing about the Taschen book.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 9:27 AM
this post worries me
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 9:35 AM
Pwned.
You can buy glassine envelopes. After all, the USPS uses them. I imagine big dealers just buy them wholesale?
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 9:36 AM
Wow, they really are all the rage at weddings.
Posted by FL | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 9:40 AM
You can get them with your stamps.
Posted by Mo MacArbie | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 9:43 AM
Glassine is the stuff that makes up the windows in envelopes that have windows in them. That's the only context I've ever seen the word in before.
Posted by Cryptic Ned | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 10:05 AM
I knew what glassine envelopes were (from reading American crime novels) but also thought it was some sort of cellophane. Slightly startled to realise now that I sent out Christmas cards in glassine envelopes a few years ago. (They came from Habitat.)
Posted by emr | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 10:40 AM
Also, "rassafrackin" is a great word.
Posted by emr | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 10:43 AM
I remember the first time I saw a sandwich in a baggie - initial thought: How clever - not just for weed anymore!
But that was very long ago, when really good weed was about $20/oz. Had I but known, I could have saved all those baggies and paper-towel roll bongs and opened a museum...
Posted by DominEditrix | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 5:10 PM
Logos on dime bags? Curious. Is that a New York thing, an American thing, or more widespread than that?
Posted by Doctor Slack | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 5:27 PM
Speaking of paper towel roll bongs. I never owned a proper bong or pipe. Just a cardboard toilet paper tube with some aluminum foil.
The guy I bought pot from in high school would give you an audio tape case (always the Stray Cats for some reason). The pot would be in a plastic bag in the case. You'd give him the case back with money in it.
Posted by Anonymous | Link to this comment | 08- 1-06 7:45 PM
11: Ah, it harkens back to my distant semi-rural upbringing that my thoughts were exactly along these lines.
Posted by Ukko | Link to this comment | 08- 2-06 12:04 AM