What piece should I get?

chillum. $20 should get you a decent quality one. fits in your pocket comfortably. you can take big rips or little rips. (ask your friend to show you how to properly smoke with a chillum if they know). Bubblers aren't really portable and create bong water, they're more suitable for home use in my opinion. i love my bubbler. but i do miss my old chillum every day.

 

"Pieces" dont "maximize" high...good weed does...pieces are just a means to an end and a way to keep up with the crowd....a simple thin paper is all you need...but a chillum is nice and neat..pocketable,..portable...all the other pieces you mentioned are just flash.......sort of consumerism run amok..but spend if ya wanna..waste if ya ask me...a JOINT or simple bong will do just fine.

 

 
Get a small bubbler from a gas station. It can either be a little bong or a hand pipe that can be filled with water

 

You can't get a decent bubbler for $20 anywhere I know of, or even one at all. I'd go with the chillum, I appreciate mine a lot more now that it's gone 

 

I can't speak to chillums but if you only have 20 bones to spend, my money would be on getting the best, most serviceable bowl pipe you can get. Agreed with everyone about the bubblers; they are fun to look at and use the first few times but after that I tend to break them easily. Not because they are fragile (they are) but because I go nuts trying to clean all the little nooks and crannies in a bubbler whose creator thought it was cool to make one shaped like a dogs-leg or something. Those tend to get thrown against a wall I have in back for just that purpose, like a shitty bong graveyard.
 
The point of getting the pipe is:
1. Will last a really long time with only the most basic care
2. The basic small pipe is better for stealth if that is important to you.
3. The basic small pipe works great for herb but also kief, hash, etc.
 
The "big rips" you get are going to be dictated by the smoking device (and until you get into the range of 3-chamber bongs, don't talk about big rips) and like the other poster said, the herb quality. Old engineering principle says "garbage in, garbage out" and that applies to pot too.
 
On the other hand if the MONSTER rips are what you crave on your budget, go get/make a real power-hitter. Done properly, that will end all conversations amongst your friends about who can take the biggest hit.
 

Note: you will know that you are hitting the power-hitter right when you hear someone say something to the effect of "I felt that one hit my asshole..."

 

What about a steamroller? They're a few different styles. One is a tube with a bowl on top, one is a tube with an indent in it, like a horizontal chillum. They rip like bongs, but not as smooth (no water), and are easy to hide & transport (especially with the second type, although I love how the first looks)

 

No prob although having seen some folks hittin the chillum, I just cannot see the stealth angle but whatever works. Actually if interested, the power-hitter is one of those devices that can be made from damned-near anything for zero cost and with a friend helping (you could black out if you tried it yourself and did the power-hit properly) can be one of the funnest and most powerful of highs. Start with any two-liter soda bottle (empty, washed), and a joint. Then either poke a hole in the cap to mount the joint on the inside or you can do like we used to do in the Army and poke a hole down near the base of the 2-liter bottle.
 

 
This picture is the closest thing I could get to give the right idea. Instead of the small bottle of Dew, replace it with a two-liter. Instead of the bowl in the pic, just poke a hole and then you set a joint into the hole where the bowl is in the pic. Then while a friend applies fire to the joint sticking up, you hit hard on the open end of the bottle; the point is to fill the two-liter with smoke, even if it takes half the J. When full, your friend replaces the lit joint with his finger to block the hole and at the same time, slams the sides of the bottle together, effectively ramming close to two liters of herb down your throat in a single hit.
 
Hope you are not busy for a while...

 

Well there is good but to get what you are actually asking for is in the science world known as the "perpetual motion engine" or a utopian goal that can really never be met. You can conserve pot by not wasting it and you can have monster hits BY wasting it but the two are pretty mutually exclusive...

 

Bowl. Bubblers are not as easily transported plus need water and I don't get big hits from chillums.

 

I hear wood chillums are the cats pajamas.  

 

Personally I fucking hate bubblers there so I would go with a bowl. You can do so much with a bowl. You need one every stonner has one. You can use it on the go like in the car or just going to a friend's house. Or sit and home and peacefully smoke your weed. But you should get a bong at home there even better.

 

Chillum or Spoon. Chillums are pretty awesome for stealth smoking, and spoons are the classic.

 

I kinda agree. Just bought a bubbler and I'm kinda underwhelmed. Don't get me wrong, it rips like a champ, but it is hard to clean and cashing it is an inconvenience. Plus some of the taste gets filtered out.

 

Dugouts are nice...

 

I traded my bubbled for a bowl after a week of having it. I never liked it. I hated cashing it out so I just never put water in it then I just got rid of it. ITs a nice piece I guess just not for me.