Modern Glass Bong Designer Smoking Essentials
I am happy to see that pipe smoking seems to become more popular again. Tn the following I will briefly discuss the history of pipes, explain the mechanics, buying options, how to clean it, and of course how to smoke a pipe. While we try to fill the needs and hands of the pipe smokers community, we also do our best to keep tobacco pipe the pipe making process an art of form, not to be commercialized and machine made. Over the years we have successfully sold over 2,000,000 pipes, and are the leader of the European pipe market. Next to the more current water pipe described above, a longer, self-standing variety exists which is said to be developed earlier.
Wood pipes are easily the most commonly used, and for good reason. Wood is widely considered the best material, both in terms of pipe durability and the smoking experience that it provides. Briar is the most popular wood material used by far, for various reasons. It’s also highly resistant to fire, which, as you can understand, is very important. Meanwhile, it keeps the smoke very cool as well, which prevents harshness along the throat. It’s resistant to charring, as charring can interfere with flavor and be difficult to clean.
Plastic pipes are typically used as party favors and the like because they’re not very high in quality. They’re not great at resisting heat, and you can imagine that it’s hard to avoid getting the taste of plastic mixed up with your smoke. There are people who prefer bent mouthpieces (a Holmesian look) or straight ones (less embarrassing). There are smooth and sandblasted finishes, or ‘rustic’ style pipes that look hewn out of rock. Famous manufacturers – Italy’s Savinelli or Castello, or London’s Dunhill – produce pipes for which hot battles are fought on eBay.
This pipe can be called the most typical Chinese tobacco pipe, although in the antique trade always designated as opium pipe. The most essential is the pipe with the long, bent pipe stem and a water reservoir at the bottom. The other, shorter tube is the pipe bowl, in fact a separate part that has a longer tube downwards, ending under the water level. This two-parted pipe fits into the container that holds on the other half the tobacco box, mostly cylindrical with a flat lid. In between two small holes hold the utensils, like the tongues and a needle combined with a brush on top. With a sting or chain the whole set can be attached to the belt of the user.
One large cigar can have as much tobacco (up to 20 grams) as a pack of cigarettes (1 gram of tobacco per cigarette)! Even though many cigar smokers do not inhale, the amount of nicotine is higher in a cigar (1-2 milligrams in a cigarette versus up to 400 milligrams in a single cigar). A smoker’s saliva holds the chemicals from the tobacco smoke, exposing the mouth, lips, tongue, and throat to these carcinogens. Also, see our fine selection of hand carved Standard Meerschaum Pipes, Churchwarden Meerschaum Pipes, Deluxe Meerschaum Pipes, Special Meerschaum Pipes, and our Lighters and Pipe Accessories. A calabash pipe is rather large and easy to recognize as a pipe when used on a stage in dramatic productions.
This pipe, called pa-kong, is believed to date from the eighteenth century and continues to be produced into the twentieth century. These pipes are normally larger and more impressive than the water pipe in a container together with its tobacco box. This makes it a pipe to be smoked at home, so it has no point of suspension to attach it to the belt.
From there, one can jump off into an ever expanding realm of marvelous and creative shapes. As to the smoking characteristics of straight versus curved pipes, there is an ongoing debate. My experience and the modest trend of opinion seems to indicate that straight pipes tend to offer a slightly better smoke.
Their heat resistance and flavor work great for smoking tobacco, and they’re surprisingly durable. They can last a lifetime, in fact, as long as they are properly maintained. Most clay pipe making was done in London and Bristol in the 1650’s using clay from the abundant nearby deposits in Devon.
However, metal pipes, as one would assume, do get very hot, as metal absorbs heat inevitably. Humans have been smoking tobacco out of pipes for thousands of years, so it’s no surprise that throughout history, more and more materials have been used to construct pipes that are capable of improving the smoking experience. Today, the pipe market boasts a wide array of materials used for construction, with each one having its own unique pros and cons. Factory brands and most high volume pipe makers generally cannot take the time to focus on this fine, but important factor.