code: public static Function makeToBlobFunction(AbstractType<?> fromType)
      {
          String name = fromType.asCQL3Type() + "asblob";
          return new AbstractFunction(name, BytesType.instance, fromType)
          {
              public ByteBuffer execute(List<ByteBuffer> parameters)
              {
                  return parameters.get(0);
              }
          };
      }
docs: bytes internally. They only "trick" the type system.