MAD HYDRO REOPENS PIPE MARKET IN MADISON

With the opening of Mad Hydro at 449 State St. Thursday, hydroponics
growers, glassblowers and glass-pipe buyers now have a new retail haven.

The basement level of the store will open today as a glass-pipe shop as
well as a glassblowing studio with benches available for rent, said owner
Jane Davis of Mukwonago.

The 14 cases of inside-out spoon pipes, hammers, sidecars and cigar-holder
pipes that will be available Friday were created mostly by Davis. The
thickness of the pipes, the evenness of the glass, the number of colors
used and the amount of the pipe that is filled with color are all elements
Davis said make her products superior to catalog-ordered pipes.

Despite recent federal raids on head shops that caused Madison pipe sellers
to reduce their pipe supply, Davis said she is not worried about her store
closing. By advertising her pieces as "for tobacco only," Davis said she
hopes to avoid a raid as a drug-paraphernalia seller.

"You can't know you're selling someone something they are going to use
illegally; that makes you a party to a crime," she said.

Steve Agee, owner of Knuckleheads, said he reduced the number of pipes he
sold because the federal raids last February made selling pipes "too
dangerous," but he does not see Mad Hydro as significant competition.

In addition to selling pipes, Davis said her store will offer glassblowing
lessons and demonstrations, but she is unsure if she will sell glassblowing
supplies.

Davis said she hopes to open up glassblowing as a hobby because no classes
or workshops are offered locally, and many prospective blowers are forced
to go to the West Coast for workshops.

"Out west they'll smoke you up so you don't remember what you've learned,"
she said.

Davis said she opened her first shop for hydroponics, which is the science
of cultivating plants without soil, after she became friends with people
interested in the subject.

Mad Hydro's street level is dedicated to supplies for growing plants using
hydroponics. Davis explained the method as giving nutrients to the roots of
a plant without the roots having to search for them in soil. Using
hydroponics, nutrients are dripped onto the plant while it sits in water,
rock or stone.

"This plant is constantly getting water and nutrients, but not too much,"
Davis said regarding a hydroponics system she set up in the store.

The store sells complete growing systems, lighting, air purifiers and
fertilizers for hydroponics. Davis divided the fertilizers into organics,
which enhance the taste and smell of plants, and chemicals, which increase
the quantity of the plant.

According to a hydroponics-supplies manufacturer, growing plants using
hydroponics helps them grow up to 50 percent faster because of the easy
access to food and water and also gives growers higher yields and better
quality because of the air/water balance that is maintained.