I just bought a little metal pipe from my local gas station but ive been reading up on this and I'm seeing that some people are saying that metal pipes are potentially toxic to smoke from? How do i know if the metal it is made from is safe? Looks exactly like one of these but with a different design http://twistedheadzcom.homestead.com/diamond-cut-metal-pipe-562-p.jpg
That pipe looks fine to me. In my experience, there are really only two commercially used metals (most of the time). Stainless steel and aluminum. The pipe in that picture looks like it's made of stainless steel, which is completely fine to smoke out of. Aluminum, however, is the polar opposite. The easiest method to know if an alloy is smoke-safe is if you put an open flame to it for a few seconds. Typically, it will give off a distinctive odor which you'll know is pretty much poisonous when you smell it. There are other signs as well, like permanent blackening due to poor heat capacity [edit] after just a few seconds on an open flame (you don't want to smoke out of that lol). Make sure that the pipe has no paint on it either. I've seen a lot of Chinese knock offs that paint stainless steel patterns onto cast aluminum. Make sure you check the specifications of the item before purchasing it. If there are none, do not buy it.