3. one travel bowl or chillum one piece for sharing with friends one waterpipe of some sort. Honestly though, the better question is how many pieces are too many?
I've got a few pieces.. one "king" piece i smoke alone or with close friends - SG pillar one community piece - SGW waffle bubbler one minitube for errls - KSG mini one dry for a non water hit - Niko chillum
A bong and a pack of papers or a few cigarillos are all I need, an extra piece like a bubbler or something for the go like a chillum is cool too.
Probably one or two but if your gonna enjoy the herb a selection is best. I have quite a few pieces but really the only ones I use are (Listed in order of use) 1) Magic Flight Launch Box 2) Da Buddha 3) Glass pipe I named the dinosaur. Oh, and of course papers. I love a nice jay.
A stoner doesn't need anything, I know plenty of stoners who don't own pipes and just smoke papers or blunts; but a connoisseur definitely needs more than one pipe/apparatus. Right now I believe I have the perfect setup. Da Buddha; small Zob circ bubbler (for dabs and vapor-bonging), and a larger more diffused piece for flowers, I have a oversized Joel Halen gridded circ sidecar bubbler thing haha, no idea what to call it, its hard to consider it a bub with its size.. here's an example: picture actually makes it look small haha but the guy's at least 17 inches at the mouthpiece I also own like 5 dry pipes, and about the same amount of slides. I think dry pipes are becoming a thing of the past, sure they have their uses, when you're on the go, etc. but In those situations these days I much prefer a joint or blunt so they never get any use