Ashbury Tobacco Center

by ray f.

i went in expecting to spend beaucoup bucks to feed my hookah addiction.  being that i went in to buy my first hookah, i didn't know what i needed to buy.  the staff here was EXTRA friendly.  i forgot the name of the girl who helped me, but she helped me pick out the perfect hookah, hooked it up with some small accessories, and apparently, they have this deal going on where they give free shisha with any hookah!  can't wait to go back here to get some different flavors of shisha!they even have a bar where you can smoke your brains out!

by B B.

I've been to the Ashbury Tobacco Center many times.  Usually just to peruse but sometimes to buy.  Friday I was here with a friend killing time and then we had an idea.  Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a nice piece of kit why not assemble something? Ideas began to flow through my head as we went through their selection of stems, bowls, and carbs.  We ended up with a gigantic stem and equally intimidating bowl.  Off to our next destination down the street to grab a bite we discussed options for our purchase.  We realized that there was only one solution.  A water pipe made from our Heinekin keg.  Heinekin for the record is a beer from Amsterdam- the home of legal consumer ganja.  Seemed like a perfect fit.  Two hours later and a few broken Dremel bits we had ourself a massive device nicknamed the Fat Bastard.  Their Mango Golden Wraps are also delicious.

by Kristina S.

I am not much of a smoker, but on occasion I will give into the temptation to nicotine.  I mean you can't blame me.  Apart from having a great selection of pipes and other cool items, they seem to lack a real selection in chewing tobacco.  I know the whole concept of chewing tobacco is not the most lady like of qualities; however when I wanted to try the skoal pouches, most of the products were not well in stock, nor fresh.  The labels on most of the skoal pouch products had selling dates that far passed the present year of 2007.  So note to the manager, please make sure that you are doing a better job of ordering new merchandise and taking proper inventory to detect such erroneous situations.

by michael s.

Went on my own tour of interesting places in the Upper Haight today..saw the Abner Phelps house, the Floyd Spreckels Mansion and some residences where Rock and Roll legends briefly dwelt. The Ashbury Tobacco Center occupies the bottom floor of the house Jimi Hendrix lived in back in 66 or 67..I thought to myself, 'how appropriate there's a 'head shop' here. There was an ulterior motive for going in. I'm trying to stop smoking and I ended up buying one of the electronic cigarette kits for $59.99! I'm excited as I was told by the very helpful employee that one cartridge equals about two packs of cigarettes! He showed me how to set it up and now I'm at home charging the battery component. Methinks I will gradually wean myself off American Spirits completely in a short while! The only drawback I can forsee is someone seeming me puffing on my electronic gadget and wanting to bum a cigarette. Not sure of the etiquette one should use in such a situation...hmmm..

by Matt M.

They are an authorized RooR dealer, so far the only one on Haight street i believe.  They have RooRs, Lux, Zongs, phX, US tubes, and custom blown glass.  They have a great selection of slides, downstems, steam rollers and ash catchers.  They even carry a couple different types of RooR ash catchers.  My only beef with ATC is that when i bought my phX trinity from them, at a very good price.  They replaced the stock phX downstem and slide with Amsterdam style downstem and a custom slide.  The place is ran by 2 different owners I believe and i was dealing with one of them (the other employee's where asking him questions consistently on availability, when the next shipment was coming, prices etc) but he never told me anything about the none stock parts.  When you buy a piece especially a name brand, You really want to have all the stock parts if you are buying the piece as a whole and not just the tube.  But other than that, the place is pretty legit.  Good prices, great selectionParking can be a bitch since it is on Haight, 25 cents gets u 5 minutes now =(  But if you go to Haight try to go in the morning or around noon, you can find parking by buena vista park for free.  Can be a bit of a hike but we all need exercise =P ahha As far as i kno, the only authorized places that sell RooR's are here, Big Al's and Whelans but both of those smoke shops are in Berkeley.  So if you are hitting up Haight, and want to see how far your money can go, this is a must stop.  Just be sure you know exactly what you want bc they might slide something by without you knowing.

by John Q.InfodivaMLIS B.Lety M.Danyell K.Matt M.

F%$@ a Roor, this genius shop is one of the only places I've seen high quality custom glass on glass components for so low. Not to mention the staff is respectable, knowledgeable, and sincere.I love dropping in here to check on any new gear, or just to get off of Haight when the tourists are swarming. Selection: 5 starsLocation: 4.5 starsPrice: 5 starsService: 4 starsAtmosphere; 4 starsLast impression: 4.5 starsThere is quite al selection at this one of a few head shops on Haight.  The Haight-Ashbury is thought to be the birthplace of head shops.   These smoke shops sell items such as hookahs, hand or water pipes and other smoking items. The also sell tee-shirts, patches, stickers and souvenirs.I didnt exactly buy stuff here, but still i went in, I looked around, they had great prices. My boyfriend on the other had is a sucker for smoke shop novelties. hey got 2 different stash bottles.  They are a water bottle and an arizona ice tea that are hide aways for your herbs. Well since we were their he grabbed a big thing of Nag.  thanks darling my allergies will forever thank you!This is the best one.I'll fight you if you don't believe me.Regardless, it's cheap. I've gotten more here for half-the-price of elsewhere. They have the biggest selection of papers I've ever seen. The staff has always been super-friendly with me....and there are some touristy objects near the doors. (It IS a few steps from the intersection of Haight-Ashbury, after all.)And, of course, there's the historical factor. Jimi Hendrix used to live just upstairs.They've remodeled recently...there's now a hookah lounge downstairs. I'll have to get back to you on that ;)They are an authorized RooR dealer, so far the only one on Haight street i believe.  They have RooRs, Lux, Zongs, phX, US tubes, and custom blown glass.  They have a great selection of slides, downstems, steam rollers and ash catchers.  They even carry a couple different types of RooR ash catchers.  My only beef with ATC is that when i bought my phX trinity from them, at a very good price.  They replaced the stock phX downstem and slide with Amsterdam style downstem and a custom slide.  The place is ran by 2 different owners I believe and i was dealing with one of them (the other employee's where asking him questions consistently on availability, when the next shipment was coming, prices etc) but he never told me anything about the none stock parts.  When you buy a piece especially a name brand, You really want to have all the stock parts if you are buying the piece as a whole and not just the tube.  But other than that, the place is pretty legit.  Good prices, great selectionParking can be a bitch since it is on Haight, 25 cents gets u 5 minutes now =(  But if you go to Haight try to go in the morning or around noon, you can find parking by buena vista park for free.  Can be a bit of a hike but we all need exercise =P ahha As far as i kno, the only authorized places that sell RooR's are here, Big Al's and Whelans but both of those smoke shops are in Berkeley.  So if you are hitting up Haight, and want to see how far your money can go, this is a must stop.  Just be sure you know exactly what you want bc they might slide something by without you knowing.

by John Q.

F%$@ a Roor, this genius shop is one of the only places I've seen high quality custom glass on glass components for so low. Not to mention the staff is respectable, knowledgeable, and sincere.I love dropping in here to check on any new gear, or just to get off of Haight when the tourists are swarming. Selection: 5 starsLocation: 4.5 starsPrice: 5 starsService: 4 starsAtmosphere; 4 starsLast impression: 4.5 stars

by InfodivaMLIS B.

There is quite al selection at this one of a few head shops on Haight.  The Haight-Ashbury is thought to be the birthplace of head shops.   These smoke shops sell items such as hookahs, hand or water pipes and other smoking items. The also sell tee-shirts, patches, stickers and souvenirs.

by Lety M.

I didnt exactly buy stuff here, but still i went in, I looked around, they had great prices. My boyfriend on the other had is a sucker for smoke shop novelties. hey got 2 different stash bottles.  They are a water bottle and an arizona ice tea that are hide aways for your herbs. Well since we were their he grabbed a big thing of Nag.  thanks darling my allergies will forever thank you!

by Kevin G.

Not a very big vaporizer selection, but the ones they have are priced competitively vs. prices you'll find online (mostly box/whip vaporizers with choice of steel or ceramic heating element). Nice thing was I found a small defect in mine and the owner exchanged it, even though it was used. Owner is nice and often defers to the judgment of his staff when making recommendations.