The Import House

This is the best smoke shop in Columbus, hands down. The glass is up the staircase to the right of the entrance. To be honest, I have no idea what’s downstairs. :) They sell detox products, incense, and smoking accessories of all kinds, nice selection. As far as top end glass goes, they sell Roor and Illadelphia. The prices are fair, I seldom see pieces for cheaper than what they sell them for. The people complaining about this being a «pricey» store don’t know much about glass apparently. If they are so pricey, tell me where you can get an Illadelphia for cheaper? Have a nice mixture of hammers, spoons, and tubes. I don’t give them 5 stars because they could have even MORE top end glass, but I think they have to buy what sells, and seeings how they’re across the street from OSU, and budget minded college students, they sell more affordable pieces.

I like a lot of the things about the Import House WAY more than most head shops I have been in. For instance, all the glass is upstairs so when you walk in you are not immediately staring at a bunch of bowls and bongs. Likewise, if you are staring at a bunch of bowls and bongs you are not the first thing that someone is going to see when they walk in the door. Cuts down on awkward moments. Plus, they always have the good glass-​on-​glass stuff like Roors and whatever has taken the place of RooR these days.
The Import House has some of the most helpful head shop employees I have ever encountered, and has been so good to me and my friends through the years… I have to share two stories with ya’ll.
1: A friend was buying something that cost a total of $ 15.75 one day and only had a $ 20bill on him. The 4 foot tall $ 1100 bong (hand blown, changing shape and colors every three or four inches) in the window was being raffled and the girl at the counter tried to sell him a raffle ticket for $ 5. He agreed, as long as she spotted him the $.75, which she did. He won the bong, and kept it at my place since he still lived in the dorms. I want to take this opportunity to thank that young lady for my 2. something GPA that quarter. No seriously, thank you. Luckily we broke it after a few months and I went on to graduate.
2. One time I was in need of one of those «get-​a-​job Gatorades,» or cleansing drinks. I go in there and have a pleasant chat with a lad that recommends a different product entirely, something I had never heard of and, quite frankly, would have never tried had this guy not been so adamant about what a great product it is. He was right, and it was a 1000 times less painful than slamming one of those disgusting drinks. (Quick Fix is the product, and I highly recommend it.) Thank you again, helpful Import House. I don’t see myself being in need of your services quite like the college days, but if I ever am I will remain faithful.

The Import House is the Lexus dealership of headshops. In fact, it does a very nice job of feeling more like a hippy boutique than a bong store with its downstairs selection of clothing and tapestries, leaving the more, shall we say, utilitarian selections upstairs, where all the fun stuff is sold.
You can’t really beat the selection at The Import House when it comes to their drug paraphernalia. Exquisite hand-​blown glass pipes of every conceivable size, shape and color, more pipes than you could smoke out of in a lifetime and the highest of the high-​tech: herbal vaporizers. Moodily lit and just small enough to feel cozy, perusing the showroom at The Import House can be a special moment for the right group of people– or the act of foolish, immature stoners, depending on your own personal opinions and predilections.
Still, I can’t say I’ve ever taken time to stop in the downstairs room, where the more normal end of the purchasing spectrum lies. It’s more an obstacle to the impressive handiwork upstairs for me, but I have to assume that at least some of the quality in the merchandise upstairs is evident in the various wares in downstairs.
With its inviting smell and display of tapestries outside, it’s hard not to stop at the Import House. The cash-​conscious freak will stop by on April 20^th, when everything in the store is 20% off in honor of the (ridiculous) «stoner holiday.»

If Puff N Stuff is the working mans smoke shop, than The Import House is the high end alternative. If one could state that a smoke shop is more sophisticated, than you could say that about The Import House.
The first floor actually has no smoking paraphernalia and instead has plenty of tapestries, clothing, and bags. Colorful and bright, it’s a giant hippie trap!
But upstairs you’ll find case after case of high quality water pipes, including the highly prized ROOR, a German brand pipe that runs around $ 300.
The Import House runs a little more pricey than other smoke shops around campus, but they do have a killer ⁴⁄₂₀ sale.