Shop Sells All Things Hemp--Well, Almost : Retail: The Vermont Hemporium carries twine to sandals, made from the stem of the cannibis plant.

At the Vermont Hemporium, there are huge balls of hemp twine. There is honey-chocolate chip ice cream made from hemp. There are sandals, shorts, hats, and shirts--all constructed of cannabis.

Wow, man. Far out.

But not illegally far out. The Hemporium sells everything made from “The most amazing and beneficial plant known to mankind,” as a sign proclaims on the store’s back wall, except the thing that might interest the authorities.

Not that the store’s owner and proprietor, Joe Shimek, objects to hemp’s most infamous use--far from it. Dry the weed’s leaves and flowers, grind them, and you have marijuana, and that’s just fine with him.

But to Shimek, hemp is more than a controlled substance. It’s a cause.

“The thing about hemp is that it’s four times more durable than cotton,” said Shimek, a native of Wisconsin. “In the agriculture world, over 50% of all chemicals and pesticides go into making cotton; hemp will grow with no pesticides and no fertilizer.”

Hemp, or cannabis sativa, can be grown again and again on the same land, said Shimek, who has a license to import it, and whose activities at the Hemporium are legal. The cloth repels water, and doesn’t mildew. Its pulp can be made into paper, saving forests.

Not only that, but hemp has played a long and distinguished role in America’s past. Hemp historians say the original copy of the U.S. Constitution was written on hemp paper. In letters to people overseas, George Washington wrote fondly of the hemp plant and its flowers, Shimek said. And when George Bush bailed out of his airplane in World War II, Shimek added, hemp ropes were there on his parachute to carry him to safety.

“Hemp saved George Bush’s life,” Shimek said.

With all this going for it, why was hemp cultivation outlawed in the United States in the 1930s?

“Mass hysteria,” says Shimek.

But he prefers to accentuate the positive, and profit from it. He set up shop in downtown Burlington in April, offering an array of products made from the tough stem of the hemp plant--boots, bags, dog leashes and collars, paper products, and jewelry, even soap and lip salve made from hemp oil.

Hemp lost some of its standing as a practical, tough weed after it was driven underground by legislators. These days, the first applications that come to mind are more, well, recreational. That’s a side of the weed the Vermont Hemporium doesn’t emphasize. But Shimek doesn’t hide from it either.

“I do smoke pot, and I’m proud of it,” Shimek said. He needs it for “stress reduction. If I don’t get my stress reduction daily, I become more or less a bear.”

But what if the police find out?

Shimek shrugs. “They already know I use cannabis. I own a hemp store.”

But he doesn’t sell bongs, or anything else used to smoke the weed.

“I wouldn’t confuse the issues,” he explained.

Shimek, 25, could be the poster child for the hemp movement. Tall, calm, bespectacled, today he’s wearing an elegant hemp shirt that looks like ironed black linen. He’s articulate, unflustered and passionate about his cause.

The store itself is a peaceful place. It’s a little bit dark, and it’s cool. The walls are blue. On the stereo, Midwestern folk singer Greg Brown sings, “Make hay while the sun shines.”

Or something.

Most of the visitors are young, and many are in tie-dyed clothing. One is a dog with a bandanna around its neck. Some come in for one of the monster balls of the twine advertised outside; others drift in just for a look. At times the conversation does, well, wander; one cash register transaction seems to take a long, long time. Maybe that’s because it’s still early. With store hours of noon to 10 p.m., 2 p.m. is practically opening time.

But one thing’s for sure: Down at this end of Church Street, surrounded by homes, a restaurant and bars, the Hemporium is doing a brisk business. Later, Shimek hopes he’ll be able to expand his catalogue sales--now limited mainly to hemp hats--and parlay hemp’s economic success into legitimacy for the weed.