Operation Pipe

Considering the debilitating effects of the illegal substances authorities contend were to be smoked in the pipes put on display Thursday, the bowl designs that predominated were especially macabre. There were skulls with swords thrust through them, skulls with roses and, of course, skulls with crossbones.

Considering the debilitating effects of the illegal substances authorities contend were to be smoked in the pipes put on display Thursday, the bowl designs that predominated were especially macabre. There were skulls with swords thrust through them, skulls with roses and, of course, skulls with crossbones.

Dozens of dot-com entrepreneurs saw their businesses go up in smoke Monday after they were charged with selling water pipes and other drug paraphernalia on the Internet. In all, the Justice Department nabbed 55 online merchants -- including several in California -- in connection with Operation Pipe Dreams. "With the advent of the Internet, the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has exploded," Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft said.

This is another pot story, starring Tommy Chong. So it should be funny. Only this time, it's not. Not to U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft, who announced dozens of indictments under "Operation Pipe Dreams" in February. Not to U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania Mary Beth Buchanan, who heads Ashcroft's advisory committee and turned up in court in Pittsburgh to personally accept Chong's guilty plea. Not to Asst. U.S. Dist. Atty. Mary Houghton, who prosecuted the case.

Tommy CHONG is fit, free and about as mellow as you could expect anyone to be after serving nine months in prison for selling a bong. Most afternoons he can be found at the World Gym in Marina del Rey working on his deltoids and kibitzing with Zabo, the 80-year-old bodybuilder who performed as a stunt double in Cheech and Chong movies. Zabo returned the favor in July when Chong finished his sentence by giving the movie star a job at the gym.

In a spacious garage two doors away from a private Pasadena elementary school, two men use blow torches to mold thin Pyrex cylinders into fancy glass pipes favored by marijuana smokers. At a private after-hours club in Hollywood, a budding entrepreneur sashays about the dance floor, giving patrons free water pipes, or bongs, to create a buzz about his paraphernalia business.