The Star of David (Roach Clip)

When I was a teenager, I thought--for reasons I can't explain--that Jewishness was the hippest, funniest thing ever. I'm sure a lot of it had to do with Woody Allen. And of course I had grown up in upstate New York, where there is a much heavier Jewish influence than here in New Mexico.

Anyway, at one point I had Vance cut me a tiny brass Star of David to hang from my hiking staff. Later, as a gift, he bought me this Star of David Roach clip from The General Store head shop. This was like my prize possession. Apparently--though I don't remember the incident specifically--it got left somewhere when I was in basic training and I went AWOL to get it. Martin's mom found out and that was one more thing she had against me.

Recently, while researching doing research for this site (Yes, we do research!) I came across the actual patent application for this device. It was invented by a Jerry L. Samuels of Philadelphia, PA.

For those of you who don't know what a roach clip is for, it was used when you were smoking a joint and got down to that last little nub that you couldn't hold in your fingers without burning them. Mostly these were just adapted alligator clips, but every now and then, someone came up with this clever idea. I wore mine all through basic training and beyond, never getting popped for possession of paraphernalia.