What Is a Head Shop?

What Is a Head Shop and Where Did the Name Come From?

A head shop is a store that sells pipes, water pipes, rolling papers and other smoking accessories, and its name comes from "head," slang for a habitual drug user, especially of marijuana or LSD, as in pothead (Dictionary.com). Cambridge Dictionary describes a head shop as a store selling equipment for smoking cannabis and tobacco, often along with New Age products, and Dictionary.com calls the term an Americanism from between 1965 and 1970.

San Francisco's Psychedelic Shop, opened by brothers Ron and Jay Thelin at 1535 Haight Street on January 3, 1966, is sometimes called America's first head shop, San Francisco Heritage notes. It started out selling books, posters, fabrics and bells.

Do Head Shops Still Exist?

Head shops still exist, and they have outlasted crackdowns before. In February 2003 the Justice Department announced Operation Pipe Dreams, a national sweep it said put 55 paraphernalia sellers out of business (Justice Department release).

What has faded is the name. Only 13 of the 605 Colorado shops we list have "head shop" in their name, while about 6 in 10 have "smoke" in theirs. The goods haven't gone anywhere: reviewers bring up glass, water pipes or pipes at more than a third of those 605 shops, and most of those stores are listed on Google as smoke shops or vape shops (our October 2026 data).

What Is a Smoke Shop?

A smoke shop is a store that mainly sells tobacco, nicotine products and smoking accessories, and in Colorado it needs a state retailer license for each location before it can sell any tobacco or nicotine (Colorado tobacco code). The state's Clean Indoor Air Act calls this kind of store a tobacco business: one engaged primarily in selling tobacco or smoking devices and accessories, vapes included, where everything else is incidental (C.R.S. 25-14-203).

Our Colorado vape and smoke shop directory lists smoke, vape, tobacco, cigar, hookah and glass shops city by city. It leaves out the gas stations and the convenience, liquor and grocery stores that sell vapes on the side.

Head Shop vs Smoke Shop

Head shop vs smoke shop is mostly a matter of emphasis: a head shop centers on glass pipes, water pipes and other gear linked to marijuana, while a smoke shop centers on tobacco. In practice they overlap, and the same store often sells cigars, papers, vapes and glass.

The law draws its lines by intended use. Federal law makes selling drug paraphernalia a crime, but it exempts items traditionally intended for use with tobacco, including any pipe, paper or accessory (21 U.S.C. 863). Colorado goes further for adults: since Amendment 64 took effect on December 10, 2012, the state constitution has made it legal under state law for anyone 21 or older to buy and own marijuana accessories, and to sell them to other adults 21 and over (Colorado Constitution, Article XVIII, section 16).

What Do Smoke Shops Sell?

Smoke shops sell cigarettes, cigars, rolling tobacco, papers and wraps, lighters and torches, pipes, water pipes and hookahs, and many add vapes and e-liquid. In reviews of the Colorado stores Google lists as smoke shops, glass comes up most: reviewers mention glass, water pipes or pipes at about half of them, and vapes or e-liquid at about 4 in 10 (our October 2026 data).

What they can't sell matters as much. No Colorado smoke shop can sell marijuana, and since SB23-271 passed in 2023, none can sell intoxicating hemp products such as delta 8, HHC or THC-O, which state law keeps inside the licensed marijuana system (C.R.S. 25-5-427). A federal change adds more limits on December 11, 2026 (Public Law 119-103); here's what the hemp THC ban changes.

What Do Vape Shops Sell?

Vape shops sell e-cigarettes and the supplies for them: disposable vapes, refillable pod and mod kits, e-liquid, replacement pods, coils and batteries. In reviews of the Colorado stores Google lists as vape shops, e-liquid comes up most, at about 4 in 10, followed by disposables and glass at more than a quarter each, then coils and mods (our October 2026 data).

Local rules change the shelf. Since January 1, 2026, vape shops in Denver can't sell any nicotine vape with a taste or smell other than tobacco, menthol and mint included (Denver Department of Public Health and Environment). The Colorado vape laws page covers the rest of the state's rules, from other towns' flavor bans to taxes.

Vape Shop vs Smoke Shop

Vape shop vs smoke shop comes down to focus: a vape shop is built around e-cigarettes and e-liquid, while a smoke shop is built around tobacco and smoking gear and often carries vapes as well.

Colorado law treats them alike. Both need the same state retailer license to sell nicotine, both must check the photo ID of anyone who looks under 50, and both fall under local flavor bans like Denver's. Google often files one store under both names: about two in three of the Colorado shops we list carry more than one of its shop categories, such as vape shop and smoke shop together (our October 2026 data).

Smoke Shop vs Dispensary

Smoke shop vs dispensary is a legal line in Colorado: a dispensary holds a marijuana license from the state's Marijuana Enforcement Division, while a smoke shop holds a tobacco and nicotine license and can't sell marijuana at all.

Dispensaries are the only stores in Colorado that can sell marijuana and THC vape cartridges. Retail stores sell to adults 21 and over, and medical stores sell to patients on the state's medical marijuana registry (Marijuana Enforcement Division). That's why our directory labels dispensaries and lists them apart from vape and smoke shops, as how we list shops explains. The counts below show how the Colorado listings break down.

Colorado Vape, Smoke and Head Shops by the Numbers

Colorado vape, smoke and head shops by the numbers, from the 605 shops in our directory: 316 are listed first as vape shops, 185 as smoke shops and 104 as tobacco or cigar shops, going by the main type on each Google listing.

Most shops carry more than one label, so a smoke shop that also sells glass counts once in the first three rows and again in the glass row. None of the Colorado shops we list uses a head shop category on Google, so the glass and pipe count is the closest match for head shops.

Can You Go Into a Smoke Shop Under 21?

You generally can't go into a smoke shop under 21 in Colorado: state law says a store that mainly sells tobacco, vapes or smoking accessories must keep out anyone under 21 and post a sign saying so (C.R.S. 25-14-204). The rule is part of the Clean Indoor Air Act, which exempts those stores from its indoor smoking and vaping ban (C.R.S. 25-14-205), and Denver's tobacco program hands out the sign, noting that state law requires it at every retail tobacco store exempt from that act.

The sales rule reaches every store in the state, not just smoke shops. Colorado bars selling or giving a tobacco or nicotine product, or any device that can be used to deliver tobacco or nicotine, to anyone under 21 (C.R.S. 18-13-121). Marijuana accessories follow the same age line: the constitution protects buying and owning them for adults 21 and over only, and outside the medical marijuana program, having them under 21 is a petty offense (C.R.S. 18-13-122). The federal and state age rules are on our vaping age page.

Head Shop FAQ

This head shop FAQ answers the questions adults ask most before a first visit.