Searching for the Perfect Piece

[Decent]

Hey,

I'm new here, some quick background...

I was introduced to smoking via a joint, didn't get high.
Started smoking years later with a hookah, and then water bong. Love them.
In the past few months, I've been using joints, blunts, hookah's, pipe, and I bought a hookah-like piece:



Not this exact piece, but the closest pic I can find on the internet. Anyway, it looks beautiful, as you can see.. but it's weak. After just one use, the glass by the bowl is a filthy, uncleanable brown. It hits slightly worse than water bongs (still worked though), and it's pretty wasteful.

I'm trying to find the perfect smoking method or piece. So far, this is my humble, novice evalutation.

Joints & Blunts

Pros: 1) Burn really smooth. 2) Depending on how you roll, they actually save weed. 3) Can be stretched or laced with honey, shisha, etc. 4) Great to pass in a group. 5) Black & Mild plastic filters are fucking excellent. 6) Brief sense of esteem and accomplishment from rolling the perfect joint/blunt, that you just can't get from packing a bowl. 7) Gets you high.

Cons: 1) If rolled improperly, all of the "pros" go out the window. Basically, they're just inconsistent. The quality of the joint/blunt depends on who rolled, what papers, etc. 2) Bits of weed can get in your mouth when you pull. 3) You have to keep buying rolling papers or blunts.

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Pipes

Pros: 1) Small, easy to hold. 2) You can salvage unused weed easily. 3) They're often very pretty. 4) Gets you high.

Cons: 1) Wooden pipes taste disgusting after less than a week. 2) Very difficult to clean. 3) Glass pipes are cool, but you have to keep re-lighting the weed, burning all kinds of THC I assume. 4) One bowl is never enough, especially if you're sharing, so you have to keep repacking. 5) Hits/pulls the weakest, easily... especially if not cleaned thoroughly and regularly. See #2.

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Hookahs

Pros: 1) The smoke goes down soooo fucking smoothly. And if you put ice water in the hookah, that's a wrap. Nothing I've ever smoked comes remotely close to the feeling of a hookah pull. 2) Passing a hookah hose in a group is even easier and more fun than joints (and no droppin ashes on people). 3) So damn pretty and cool looking. 4) You can mix your weed with shisha, to stretch it and flavor it. Mint, peach, apple, etc. 5) Gets you high.

Cons: 1) Cleaning it is a bitch. 2) Charcoal is perhaps the least convenient way of lighting weed. First you have to spend minutes lighting, preparing it, and God forbid it goes out. It's great when it lasts as long as the weed, but even then, relighting more and packing another bowl is somewhat inconvenient. 3) Sometimes I taste the foil in the smoke. This may be the type of foil I'm using, or how I pack the bowl, but it's starting to disgust me.

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Water Bongs

Pros: 1) Burns really great. Not as good as blunts or hookah's, but better than pipes, imo. 2) Little to no weed is wasted. What you packed gets smoked. 3) Good for solo use. 4) Get you high.

Cons: 1) The bowl is somewhat small, just like pipes. Lots of repacking involved. 2) Not very convenient for group use.

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I've been searching these forums, and googling some pros and cons. The piece probably has to be glass, because the taste of wood and metal are starting to annoy me (they're not as safe either). And it has to be easy to prepare and clean, so that rules out hookahs (though I love them).

Here are some pieces that I'm considering. Let me know if you have any good/bad experiences with these, or any other pieces to recommend.

- Swan necked Glass Bubbler Bong
- Glass Pipe
- 8 Glass Spiral Pipe
- Boxed Glass Pipe
- Bushmaster Mini Glass 2 Bubble Bong
- Medium Glass Waterpipe

Thanks,
Decent

[WookiesAreCool]

i would go with a glass pipe from your local headshop for portability

where do you plan to smoke often? because if it doesnt have to be moved often i would get a bong...

[xericx]

a bong is the best... easy to pack, easy to set up and use and gets your riiight baked


but those options arnt all that good, but if your not wanting to spend much get a pipe

[JeraldoRonaldo]

Originally Posted by Decent

....be stretched or laced with honey, shisha, etc....

Shisha yes, honey no. Burning sugar will kill you, so uh, don't do that please.

[Decent]

if these options aren't good, can you recommend something else and explain? thanks

[Decent]

Originally Posted by JeraldoRonaldo

Shisha yes, honey no. Burning sugar will kill you, so uh, don't do that please.

People have been smoking honey dipped blunts forever. What are you talking about?

[Eazzo]

Originally Posted by Decent

People have been smoking honey dipped blunts forever. What are you talking about?

that means nothing to me, someone explained it better, but the sugar forms some sort if chemical reaction when heated=not good for you

You're hookah thing looks pretty nice there,..

I would stay with the blunts but since you want something nice get ANY glass on glass bong, in the end you will be much happier compared to anything else. (i.e. bowl bubbler,. . . )

Cleaning is suimple, alcohol + salt
Preparation: add water + ice (if necessary) + weed
Now you are ready to smoke

[Eazzo]

oh yeah, as far as the slide v. carb style bongs, I WOULD NOT GET A CARB STYLE, i just don't like them.

[Fëanor]

Out of the pieces you suggested, I see a common flaw among them.

Especially in the Spiral Pipe, but also in the Glass Pipe and the Boxed Glass Pipe, I see sections of thin, narrow tubing. Not only would this be very fragile, but these narrow sections of tubing would be the first part of the pipes to be clogged with resin and chunks of half-burnt weed. They would also be more difficult to clean, especially the spiral pipe.

The bongs are looking better, but the Swan Necked Glass Bong and the Medium Waterpipe have similar sections of fragile, narrow glass tubing for the mouthpieces. The water filtration would stop them from being clogged, however, the water filtration also means that it would take a little more lungpower to draw the smoke through those thin tubes. In addition, while I can't be certain, the Medium Waterpipe doesn't appear to have a removable downstem, which would make it more difficult to clean.

So, out of the pieces you suggested, the Bushmaster Mini Glass Bong would be your best bet, in my opinion. One possible problems I could see is water splashing up to your face, but I can't be sure without hitting the thing first. Also, the bowl seems pretty high up, and when you're lighting it the flame looks like it might be a little close to your face. Someone with long hair would have even more trouble.

Personally, I would recommend a big, thick steamroller.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...eamroller3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...eamroller1.jpg

There's a couple of pictures of my old steamroller. It's not quite as small as it could be, but the glass was thick and durable. Also, because of the wide-open mouthpiece, it wasn't very difficult to clean. After rubbing alcohol + salt had been shaken around in there, I would twist up a large rag, cram it in there, spin it around a bit, and pull it out, with all of the dirt stuck on it. Plus, as you can see, it was extremely easy to get a huge amount of smoke flowing through the thing. Just make sure you put a glass screen in the bowl; otherwise, it hits so hard that it sucks weed through all the time.

Although I've yet to smoke out of one, ROOR makes some very nice-looking steamrollers, for very cheap prices, I think. PM me if you would like a link.

[just blaze]

i love me a steamroller too feanor..

[KoRnOnTheKob]

hey decent good post, and welcome to the city. i like how you put "gets you high" on all the pros, lol. good pro/con contrast on all the smoking methods, although i do believe you left some out...

[Decent]

thanks for all of the helpful replies. i'm looking into glass on glass and steamrollers.

[overgrowray]

I enjoy cleaning my pieces, i don't understand why so many people bitch about it.

I would get a bong if i got something for smoking in a group.

[DankSpank]

Here's my breakdown (from experience):

For Group Smoke (top 3s on all categories)
1) Hookah
2) Bong
3) Glass Spoon / Blunt (tie)

Portability
1) GLass Bat
2) Joint / Blunt (altough it might get smashed in your pocket, get some eclipse mint tins)
3) Glass Spoon

Best Use Of Weed (aka least wasteful)
1) Glass Spoon (x10 if it has a screen)
2) Glass Bat
3) Tightly Rolled Blunt

Least Harsh
1) Hookah
2) Iced Bong
3) Bubbler

Personal Favorites
1) Bubbler / 10-14" Glass Bong (Portable and Smooth, big hits, great high)
2) Hookah (Everybody is high, tastes delicious with the shisha and it's socially awesome)
3) Glass Spoon (Portable, convinient, cheap and reliable)

[Deadbeatnick]

Originally Posted by DankSpank

Here's my breakdown (from experience):

For Group Smoke (top 3s on all categories)
1) Hookah
2) Bong
3) Glass Spoon / Blunt (tie)

Portability
1) GLass Bat
2) Joint / Blunt (altough it might get smashed in your pocket, get some eclipse mint tins)
3) Glass Spoon

Best Use Of Weed (aka least wasteful)
1) Glass Spoon (x10 if it has a screen)
2) Glass Bat
3) Tightly Rolled Blunt

Least Harsh
1) Hookah
2) Iced Bong
3) Bubbler

Personal Favorites
1) Bubbler / 10-14" Glass Bong (Portable and Smooth, big hits, great high)
2) Hookah (Everybody is high, tastes delicious with the shisha and it's socially awesome)
3) Glass Spoon (Portable, convinient, cheap and reliable)

Amen x1000