TOBACCO, PIPE SHOP EXPANDS TO GRESHAM

All Star Pipe & Tobacco's clientele includes a growing number of
medical marijuana patients

To the average Gresham-area consumer, it may seem odd that a golf
shop in one of the city's highest-profile retail locations was
replaced by a store that sells handcrafted blown-glass pipes for
smoking tobacco and marijuana, both legal and otherwise.

Yet that's just what happened when the former Pro Golf shut its doors
last summer and All Star Pipe & Tobacco opened in early October.

Specializing in elaborately designed blown-glass pipes, water pipes,
hookahs and tobacco accessories, All Star also caters -- with its
cedar-lined humidor -- to cigar aficionados as well as
run-of-the-mill smokers with discounted cigarettes.

Sami Hales, 29, opened the shop with his partner, Muhammed Alya, 31,
as an East County spinoff of House of Pipes, a business Hales opened
four years ago on Powell Boulevard in Southeast Portland.

Aware of the stigma and controversies surrounding any kind of smoking
these days, Hales -- who moved from the Middle East to Gresham at age
18 -- matter-of-factly defends his product line as serving a growing
clientele of medical patients who find genuine relief in smoking
legally grown marijuana.

Others, he says, just like the ritual -- common to Middle Eastern
culture -- of relaxing with fruit-flavored hookah tobacco.
Furthermore, the Vancouver, Wash., resident says he provides a retail
outlet for 15 glass-blowing artisans in the Gresham-Portland area.

At ease and clearly comfortable with the niche he and his partner are
carving, Hales took a break from a slow-but-steady stream of
customers on a recent afternoon to talk with The Outlook about his
latest business venture.

Outlook: After operating a pipe shop in Portland for four years, what
prompted you to open a new store in Gresham in the middle of a recession?

Hales: "I've always wanted to open (a store) in Gresham. It's kind of
my dream. There are big (busy) streets, big neighborhoods. It's a
good area, and there's very friendly people."

Outlook: What creates demand for the glassware you sell?

Hales: "In Gresham, you have very good quality medical marijuana"
being grown. "Most (customers) are using it for medication. I give
them 15 percent off" if they have a medical marijuana card.

Outlook: What is your philosophy about selling accessories that are
often associated with illegal activity and vices?

Hales: "I have a good philosophy. The first thing is, when you think
about it, (marijuana) is a medication. For people who have medical
problems, it does help. And they appreciate the art" that goes into
the blown glass. "I support a lot of local glass blowers from
Portland and Gresham."

Outlook: Have you tried glass blowing yourself?

Hales: "I don't. It's kind of hard. But I understand how it's done."

Outlook: So how is business at this point?

Hales: "There is huge potential. When new customers see me, they're
really excited. They say 'Oh, thank God you're here.' More people are
coming to the business every day."

Outlook: Do you fear you might offend people in the community who
don't condone or understand the products you sell?

Hales: "If people don't like this type of business, they can go
somewhere else. My customers, you're not going to see (lying) on the
street or drunk driving. I think alcohol is more dangerous than anything else.

"I don't tell you to smoke. You do that on your own. I just give the
best price."

Pipes and such

What: All Star Pipe & Tobacco

Where: Burnside Road at Division Street

Products: Locally made blown-glass pipes, water pipes, hookahs,
tobacco, cigarettes, convenience items

Hours: 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Sunday

Call: 503-512-8477