Sovereignty Glass: The King of the Stemline!
Sovereignty Glass is as legendary in the glass community as it is mysterious. Helmed by Stephen C. (often styled as just Steven), Sovereignty Glass is possibly the most sought after name among heady scientific collectors and enthusiasts. Known for exquisite design and craftsmanship, Sovereignty has carefully curated and built their reputation over the years through careful management of the brand and their products.
You probably aren't going to find a piece of Sovereignty glass at your local head shop, unless they're one of the exclusive Sovereignty partners, and even then their stock is carefully meted out in timed Drops. There are several drops a month, shared out across retail locations and online stores all over the US, but finding one close to you is mostly an exercise in patiently watching and waiting. This controlled limit to the supply has created a whole community of collectors who buy and sell amongst each other, each trying to complete their own ideal of the 'perfect' collection.
What can one expect in one of these Drops? Sovereignty's product line focuses mainly on full size water pipes and accessories, often featuring creative color accents in their percs, supports, and horns. Sovereignty is known for their use of specific perc types in their products, offering a wide range of functions, but still sticking to tried and tested forms. They're well known for various percs, such as their gridded Stemline, F4, and very clean 8 Arm percs. This intense focus on design and construction of their water pipes is what gives them their distinctive sound and feel when smoking.
Sovereignty really is at the confluence of scientific and heady glass, allowing them to marry incredibly form and function with gorgeous eye-catching color work and techniques. Even their supports are often finely crafted colorful embellishments, another example of their dedication to fusion of function and art. However, there is also art in the workmanship itself. Even fully clear pipes from Sovereignty have impressive shelf appeal, which is compounded by smooth, almost luxurious feel of the glass. Blowing glass requires delicate control and balance of heat, all while working with, or sometimes against gravity. For this reason, imperfections are a reality every glass artist strives to massage out of their finished pipes, and it's fair to Sovereignty has great success in this endeavor.
Since most Sovereignty glass is built on clean clear tubing, the rarer full accent pipes tend to be the most sought after by collectors. Considering their 'production' glass can easily reach 4 digit prices, the full color pieces are definitely the cream of an already impressive crop. Even their horned bowls can reach over a thousand dollars, depending on how much color or retti work they feature, especially if they are a Stephen C. made product.
