A little background first. I smoked my first joint in the 1960's, but I can"t ever recall smoking out of a water pipe, tho I"m sure I have. I recently became interested in water pipes, and picked up a low cost beaker pipe. It has the old fashion rubber gaskets and no diffusion. First time I used it was probably more about learning how to hit a water pipe as I wasn"t successful and it was super harsh on my throat and the high wasn"t anything to write about. Yesterday I took some good hits off this pipe that got me higher on weed than I can Ever remember being. Too high actually. Took me by surprise. On the third and last hit, I picked the bowl up by the bowl, and not the handle. Needless to say, it burned me and the shock and surprise led me to drop the bowl on a tile counter top breaking it into 3 pieces and losing a bunch of weed that ended up in the sink. Bummer. The bowl and stem were one piece, and if I can get a replacement, I will. Ever since I got this pipe, I"ve been looking for something a little fancier, but breaking the bowl has put a little more urgency into buying a new pipe. I"m looking at a bent neck, stemless female water pipe. Since I can"t post links, one of the pieces I"m interested in is the Thick Ass Glass Bent Neck Matrix Diffuser to give an idea of what I"d like. It is 11.5 inches tall. A little taller than I want, but I"m starting to dig the TAG glass. I"m thinking a 14mm joint would be easier to hit for this old guy vs an 18mm joint. So what are the experienced peoples opinion on 14mm vs 18mm joints? 14mm easier on the lung power? I lean towards 14mm, but no matter what I go with, it seems like a good idea to stick with the same joint size for future pipes so that bowls/slides and even an oil rig would all be interchangeable.
14mm smaller hole smaller airways for smoke - 18mm bigger hole bigger airways for smoke - Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Thanks. I"ve done hours and hours of research in the last couple of weeks, but since I won"t have the opportunity to try each size out, it just seems like drawing from a 14mm stem would be easier, but looking for opinions from those with experience to help me make the decision.
Personally, I would go with 18.8mm: Replacements are more common ( as is the size itself ) this is why there are more 18.8mm bits to purchase at retailers. Airflow sometimes feels restricted on 14.4mm or tight even, because its that bit smaller. And 18.8 - just because!
Thank you. That"s the kind of info I"m looking for. My one water pipe I own, that I just broke, seems to be 10mm and I didn"t feel air flow was restricted at all. I have noticed, now that I"ve narrowed my search down to the stemless bent neck pipes, most seem to be 18mm. You bring up another question I have. All pipes seem to be 14mm or 18mm, but when I look at bowls and stems, I see 14.5mm, 18.5mm and now 18.8mm. How does 14mm and 14.5mm relate to each other and the same with 18mm, 18.5mm and 18.8mm.
That's an interesting point, as some manufactures say '14mm' when they are really not being specific enough, as these will be 14.5mm - BUT there are some manufactures that actually go against the trend and make really random sizes almost for fun that will be in fact 14mm on the dot, so its hard sometimes. Bottom line is, if you are going to be seeking replacements and other such parts, ( precoolers etc ) its always going to be ( 9 times out of 10, bar the random odditys you may find ) 14.5 or 18.8mm. Those 10mm parts are almost impossible to find replacements for as spares manufactures understand the industry standards are 14.5 and 18.8 so they don't waste time making anything other than these sizes. Hope that's clear enough to help
Thank you again. I just looked at 3 different sites and they all say 14mm or 18mm and never mention decimal places. Another question. If I went with a 14mm Female stemless pipe, wouldn"t the bowl/slide be 14mm also? Had to ask that as I saw this on one site and it totally confused me. Joint: 18mm Slide: 14mm (style will vary)
yes 14 to 14 and 18 to 18. What it seems like with that one is it is a 18mm joint and then the downstem is an adapter to a 14 so the bowl would have to be a 14. That's just a guess without seeing the piece.
Hmm. I think you are confusing 2 different things. A stemless doesnt have a slide. So the joint size is the size bowl you want. They do make reducer slides for bongs... Which make the slide shorter because the 2 joints are inside one another.
this would be an example of the downstem I mentioned http://www.grasscity.com/us_en/black-leaf-slitted-...
Had to go back and read the forum rules about posting links. I thought it was a no no, but as long as it pertains to the subject of the thread, it"s ok, so here is a link to the pipe I was talking about. It is not on my wish list, but I"d sure like to understand what "Joint: 18mm Slide: 14mm (style will vary)" means. http://www.brotherswithglass.com/HVY-Glass-8-50-In...
This is where it gets confusing to me. If I look at bowls on a site, it is always called bowls/slides. Here is a link to what looks like a bowl to me, but it called a "Replacement Character Slide†http://www.brotherswithglass.com/Greenlite-Glass-1...
If I read that link correctly, it is a 18.8mm downstem that allows one to use a 14.5mm bowl on an 18.8mm pipe?
that's exactly what it is, and after looking at the link you gave, that bubbler has the same style of downstem. They're really good if you already have attachments you don't have to limit your self to the same joint size.
Thank you. Looking around on that site, and I don"t see any replacement slides that look anything like that. Are slides like that hard to find?
Well, the sale at the place I’m going to order the pipe ends in two days plus I have a 10% off coupon and I’d like to place the order tomorrow and I still have not made a decision on 14mm or 18mm. It will be a bent neck rig. It seems to me (keep in mind, I have zero experience here) that 14mm would be easier to draw thru. Less lung power, and I’m no spring chicken. So I welcome anymore experienced opinions on what kind of difference there is drawing thru 14mm vs 18mm.
Rawdney, at your age (which is my age) I would think you'd be thinking more about vapes than bongs. As someone alluded to above the larger the stem the easier the draw. The easier the draw the easier on your lungs. The way a bong is drawn upon is not very natural (to the lungs). So if you've been smoking since the 60's I'm not sure why you'd want to start bonging now. In defense of bongs, they make a nice bubbler for a vape (low water fill) and if you're going to do concentrates off a nail you'll need one (just remember to keep the water level on the low side so you're not sucking your lungs out). As a fellow golden ager, I'm just sayin' try a vape, your lungs and throat will thank you
It didn’t look like I was going to get anymore replies, so I ordered the pipe this morning. It is a Thick Ass Glass 9.5" Bent Neck Honeycomb with Spinning Splash guard. It is 18mm. Here is a link. I got the green one. TAG - 9.5" Bent Neck Honeycomb with Spinning Splashguard* | Thick Ass Glass Their site lists this pipe as a flower rig and an oil rig. I can get a reducer stem and use it like a 14mm pipe if I want to and also use it as an oil rig if I want to. Know nothing about oils yet, but it gives me the option and it also gives me the option of using it as a 14mm rig also. Nice to see someone on this site my own age. Probably very few of us. I have picked up 3 cheap water pipes in the last 3 weeks and enjoy the extra high I get from them, which is why I want one, and I wanted a quality piece of glass. I also have a GRAV Hammer Bubbler that I’ve only used once and haven’t formed an opinion on yet. I’m looking forward to getting this pipe and using it. As for vaping. I know little to nothing about vaping. It’s only been in the last week or two that I’ve even been trying to learn something about vaping. It is definitely something for me to look into. I watched a review on what a guy called a Wax Rig” this morning, but since my knowledge on concentrates is nonexistent, I have to ask if oil would also work? Here is a link to that. SOURCE 10cig | SOURCEvapes Even that site calls them Wax rigs and makes no mention of oil. Confused...