MichiGanja in Review: Tempest by Artifact is basically modern art that gets you high

It’s heavy. It’s beautiful. It sits on the coffee table and confuses your friends. And yes, it actually smokes.

MichiGanja in Review is a column that publishes twice monthly as part of The MichiGanja Report—our free, weekly newsletter about all things marijuana. Click here to sign up. 

MICHIGAN—If you’ve ever looked at your crusty glass bowl and thought, “Damn, I wish this thing looked more like a prop from Blade Runner,” then good news. Somebody finally built that.

It’s called Tempest, and it’s the debut pipe from a Portland-based brand called Artifact—a design-obsessed company founded by a filmmaker who reportedly got fed up with smoking out of ugly things during the pandemic and decided to try to reinvent the whole category.

Pipe or art?

My free sample came in a shiny gold finish, which immediately made it feel fancy. It was also as heavy as a paperweight, which made it feel sturdier than just about any other pipe I’ve handled.

Courtesy/Artifact

First impressions: This thing is funky. It looks like a Cybertruck, yet feels sort of like something you’d see on display inside a museum gift shop. It’s sleek, sculptural, and the bowl is square. 

And this hard, anodized aluminum is solid. 

I didn’t test it, but I’d imagine this thing could survive a pretty big drop without a dent. 

How does it smoke?

It’s a simple bowl design without a choke, so there’s not much to learn. 

But inside, the Tempest hides a patent-pending geometric maze that’s designed to cool and filter each hit as the smoke snakes its way through tiny angular pathways that are built into the bowl.

Courtesy/Artifact

It feels like a gimmick but it works. 

The hits are noticeably cooler than a standard glass bowl. It’s not bubbler-level smooth, but definitely less harsh on the throat than a straight shot from most other pipes on the market.

The catch? The hole at the bottom of the bowl is way too tiny—and that maze clogs up with resin way too easily. The included titanium filter is clever and easy to remove. But after two days of normal use, it was pancaked with black gunk and desperately needed to be cleaned. 

Courtesy/Artifact

It opens magnetically, making cleaning easy with an included brush fits perfectly into the maze. But just because it’s easy doesn’t mean I want to be doing it constantly. Maybe it’s a result of smoking good, sticky Michigan-grown weed that doesn’t grow in Portland. Maybe the labyrinth is just a resin trap waiting to happen. Maybe both. But the maintenance demands here are real.

Behind the design

Ryan Rickett, the founder of Artifact, told High Herstory that he built the Tempest during COVID-19 because the pipe he owned sucked and everything on the market felt too generic.

So, with his pandemic-induced free time, he designed something folks won’t feel compelled to hide when their guests arrive. And honestly? Mission accomplished. My parents stopped by to visit last week. My mom even picked it up before she had to ask: Is this thing for marijuana?

The bottom line

The Tempest is not trying to replace your everyday pipe. It’s just trying to be the coolest-looking object on your coffee table that starts a conversation and also happens to get you high. 

The pros: It’s absolutely gorgeous—like art-piece gorgeous that feels premium without being too pretentious. It’s also heavy, durable, and borderline indestructible. And it genuinely provides cooler hits than a standard dry pipe. The magnetic closure also makes for super easy cleaning. 

The cons: The bowl hole is just too small. That means it clogs up quickly, especially when packing with sticky weed. As a result, it needs regular cleaning—maybe more than you want. 

My take: If you want a cool looking pipe that feels like it was excavated from the year 2147, the Tempest is worth a try. It’s functional, stylish, and genuinely fun to show off. But if you prefer low-maintenance smoking tools that don’t require consistent upkeep, try something else.

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