Dont skin me, but I have a question about glass pipes.

[coty]

I have been wondering lately if there is any reason you can not make a proper tobacco pipe out of glass. I brought this particular question up on Reddit a few days ago and I was met with a lot of negativity and guffawing about how terrible weed pipes are, but very little actual information on glass as a pipe material. So I thought I would ask the same question in a more civil atmosphere.
Assuming you built a glass pipe specifically for the purpose of smoking tobacco, how would it smoke? Since glass is a poor thermal insulator, would that keep your tobacco burning cooler? Or just make the tobacco go out easier and burn your fingers trying to hold onto it? Would it just be a sopping tongue biting mess since glass absorbs nothing?
I'm not sure why I'm so curious about this but the idea has been ratting around in my mind for awhile and I have not been able to find much real information. I'm half tempted to have someone make me one just so I can learn for myself why you don't see any glass tobacco pipes.

 

[northernneil]

Glass pipes do not offer the pours material required to absorb the moisture generated by the tobacco. That is why pipe manufacturers use materials such as briar, meershrum and clay. Also, I don't think you would be able to keep the bowl lit quite as easily in a glass pipe as in a proper tobacco pipe.
All that being said, it never hurts to try something new. But in my opinion, glass if for marijuana, not tobacco.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

You would burn your fingers, and probably with the slow smoking style of Tobacco, you'd risk thermal downshock, breaking the glass between the hot burning tobacco and the a gentle cool breeze. The reason it works for illegal substances is that the smoking style of weed is to puff quickly, inhale, and pass. This burns quickly, not allowing a build up of sustained heat in the bowl. With tobacco, you sip slowly over a long period of time, bringing the temperature way higher than weed.
Does that help?

 

[spartan]

I imagine if it was well made, it would smoke much like a ceremic pipe.
I have heard great things about ceramic pipes, but they aren't too popular.
One day I hope to own one. They are doubled walled to help with not burning your hand off.
These guys seem to be the most referred to, but again, not a huge following, but they look damn well made.
http://www.lepeltier-pipes.com/

 

[coty]

Alright so I guess it wouldn't be as neat as it seemed in my minds eye. I just imagined it producing the pure flavor of a meerschaum at the price point of a cob. Maybe it would, as long as you were willing to wear an oven mit and fitted a 40MM NATO filter to the pipe.
Thank you folks for actually satisfying my curiosity rather than writing my question off.

 

[redheadedsmoker]

I once got a 'Sherlock' style glass pipe as a gift. Although not a great pipe to smoke tobacco out of, it is do-able. I haven't smoked out of one recently, but at the time, since it was a gift and I don't smoke marijuana, I humored the gift-giver and used it for it's advertised use. I had to use a screen so I would not inhale ash. The carb was a problem, and honestly by not finding a way to keep it plugged, the tobacco wouldn't stay lit.
Essentially, it was the pure taste of whatever tobacco I put in it. If you want to give it a go, go ahead...I just found struggling with it was more than it was worth and now that particular "pipe" is tucked out of sight and out of mind. The only thing I would recommend is something in terms of the 'Sherlock' as a spoon or similar would be too short and there will be plenty of bite and moisture heading your way from the bowl.

 

[mso489]

Since the briar seems to have been passed from on high for the purpose of making tobacco pipes,

it seems sort of ungrateful to be smoking Brylon, glass, or anything else too odd. Meerschaum,

corn cobs, and clay are also natural gifts so rate with briar and a few other woods. If it ain't broke,

don't fix it; some things just can't be improved. Hookahs, well ... for Hookah smokers. I'm playing

the old coot here, but I think that's about right.

 

[blueeyedogre]

I have a Zenith ceramic and its a very dry smoker, super light for clenching, but still gets a little warm if you puff to fast. The local B+M still have 3 brand new one in stock for $49.95 a piece.

 

[andrew]

They make them, I know a guy who had a super rare early glass pipe, it was just a glass bowl and there was a metal part it rested on.

 

[sfsteves]

Can't say I'd be inclined to try one, but to each his (or her, as the case may be) own ...

 

[swhipple]

If you are just curious get one of "those" pipes and give it a shot. Just don't smoke it in public if you want to avoid chatting with Johnny Law. I'm thinking it would give you too much liquid, tar, etc, but I dunno? I'd actually be curious to know how it works out.

 

[msandoval858]

My theory is that glass pipes are more designed for shorter smoking duration of a small quantity of... ummm... smoking material.
Pipe tobacco that those of us here enjoy is generally smoked slower, at a lower heat, and in a pipe made of a material designed to better handle the heat. You generally aren't going to see a glass pipe that hold near as large an amount of leaf as a briar, meer, etc. Those style those of pipes are smoked at a higher temperature because the leaf (at least the good stuff) generally has a lot of resins when burned. You would typically light a glass pipe for a few draws then set it down to cool. Glass is not the material you would want to use to pack a large bowl of pipe tobacco and expect it to light and smoke slowly for an extended period of time. It would likely get extremely hot and not be a pleasant experience.
On the other hand if you wanted to take a small pinch of pipe tobacco and get a few puffs off it to taste/test it, glass would probably be fine. It would certainly impart no flavors to what you are smoking, which is why people who smoke the other stuff in glass really enjoy them.

 

[metalmilitia]

it would have to be thick glass or built like a dope pipe which would make it difficult to clean. on the other hand, it would guarantee that you only taste the one tobacco that you are smoking and nothing else

 

[teufelhund]

I've only had a bit of experience with porcelain pipes, but primarily I believe they are just decorative. They are functional, but I don't think they smoke as well as a briar or other materials.

 

[taerin]

I've tried one before, I think it sowers really fast because the moisture has no where to go during a smoke.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

You may be onto something here. I wonder if most cherry blends would work better in a bong? It might take the bite out of them. :mrgreen: