Put That In Your Pipe

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Guess what’s coming to the Los Angeles Convention Center? Hemp Con, a trade show for products related to – you guessed it – the booming medical marijuana industry.

Exhibitors range from purveyors of stoner products, such as a guy who makes

22-karat gold-plated pipes, to the more serious sounding, such as the L.A. Journal for Education on Medical Marijuana.

“Marijuana is big business,” said Rubin Lopez, the journal’s president. “It has been for years, and Hemp Con is helping expose how big the industry is.”

Mega Productions, a trade show company in Hacienda Heights, is staging its second Hemp Con on Sept. 10-12 at the downtown Convention Center. The first show, in February, attracted 30,000 who visited the booths of about 200 exhibitors.

“It’s become a serious boom industry,” said Matthew Fox, who’s running Hemp Con for Mega Productions.

Exhibitors pay between $800 and $1,000 for booths. Sponsors, such as Rubin’s journal, get free booth space in exchange for advertising the convention.

If you go, you might see products such as Enjoy Jars, which “keeps your medication fresh,” or Celebration Pipes, which are Hawaiian-themed smoking pieces plated with high-grade gold that sell for $99.

Steve Lach, creator of Celebration Pipes in San Luis Obispo, said the February convention helped connect him to stores and dispensaries that now stock his product.

“Hemp Con is quite a good vehicle, and a great concept,” Lach said.

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