Fat Buddha Blog
Glossary of Common Glass Terms
We know navigating the glass world can sometimes be a whirlwind of confusing terms you may have never heard before so we've compiled a list of the most common terms and what they mean to help you along the way!
- Ash-Catcher: An additional accessory that would be added in between the downstem and the bowl piece on a water pipe. Designed to prevent ash from reaching the chambers of the water pipe reducing cleaning time, as well as increase the capacity of the water pipe. Some ash-catchers also have percolators adding an additional level of filtration.
- Banger: An alternative to a traditional concentrate nail. Shaped like a bucket and made out of quartz.
- Beaker Bottom: This is a type of water pipe named for the shape of the base. Typically found on only scientific glass it is shaped like a beaker hence the name. Beaker bottoms allow for the use of interchangeable down stems which can add more customization to your piece as well as giving the option for additional percolation.
- Borosilicate: Borosilicate glass is a type of glass that includes at least 5% boric oxide. The boric oxide makes the glass resistant to extreme temperatures, and is typically a stronger type of glass. Commonly used to make glass pipes.
- Bowl piece: This is a piece found on water pipes (tubes) and sometimes on larger bubblers. The bowl piece is where your plant matter is packed into to smoke. When you remove the bowl piece while smoking it functions in the same way that taking your finger off of a carb allowing you to clear the piece.
- Bowl: The area of your hand pipe/bubbler where the plant matter is placed
- Carb Cap: A glass piece placed over a concentrate nail or banger to control airflow and ensure that all of the concentrate is heated evenly
- Carb: A carb is the hole generally located near the bowl of your piece that you can cover or uncover with your finger while smoking that allows you to control the airflow of the piece. When closed, air only comes in from the bowl allowing you to draw smoke into the piece. When open, air is allowed to flow into the piece from somewhere other than the bowl so that you can clear the piece of smoke. Carbs are important to allow you to control how big of a hit you are taking from your pipe.
- Dichroic Glass: glass which displays two different colors by undergoing a color change in certain lighting conditions
- Diffused Downstem: A variation of downstem with holes or slits in the bottom to add more filtration.
- Domeless Nail: A variant of the traditional concentrate nail with a hole in the center eliminating the need for a vapor dome
- Downstem: This is the glass piece that connects the bowl pieces to the rest of the tube/into the water. On straight tubes the downstem is typically attached to the rest of the glass also known as a stemless water pipe, whereas on a beaker bottom you can remove it.
- Drag: The resistance felt while hitting a water pipe or oil rig.
- Drop Down: A glass piece designed to go between the bowl piece and the water pipe that helps prevent heat transfer to the pipe and moves the bowl piece farther away from the users face.
- Dugout: A dugout is an all-in-one apparatus that contains two small chambers: one to store a bat and another to store ground, dry herbs. Dugouts are typically made from metal or wood and are useful for travel due to their relatively compact size.
- Freezable Water Pipe: A water pipe with a detachable center coil that is filled with glycerin. This detachable piece can go into the freezer and then put back together allowing you to have the benefits of ice in your water pipe without worrying about the ice messing up the water levels in your piece when it melts.
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Hand Pipe: Small glass pipes with no water involved. There are various different kinds of hand pipes that can for the most part be broken into four distinct categories:
- Chillum: The most basic of hand pipe options, a straight tube with a bowl on the end. Most have a very small capacity and the smallest are also called one-hitters since they only hold enough plant matter for one inhale
- Sherlock: A Sherlock pipe is a hand pipe that resembles, you guessed it, Sherlock Holmes’ pipe. A mouth piece attached to a bowl by a J shaped tube
- Spoon: The classic hand pipe, named for its resemblance to a spoon, it is a straight pipe with a rounded end that has a depression in it where plant matter is placed
- Steamroller: A straight glass pipe with a carb at the end rather than on the side and a bowl closer to the center. These pipes have a large chamber and the placement of the carb allows for air to enter quickly giving you a stronger hit
- Ice Catch: Inward facing points on a water pipe that allow ice to sit above the percolators and add an additional cooling factor to the smoke before it reaches your mouth
- Keck Clip(K-Clip): A clip holding the downstem to the joint of the water pipe preventing it from falling out and reducing weight pressure on the pieces helping to prevent pressure/stress fractures in the glass
- Nectar Collector: A hand pipe used for concentrates. The tip is heated like a nail and dragged across the concentrate while the user inhales from the mouth piece
- Percolation: The act of filtering the smoke through holes in the glass. This is the process that creates the bubbles you see in tubes. This process cools down the smoke and makes for a significantly smoother hit on your piece.
- Scientific Glass: Named for their looks, these pieces resemble lab equipment by design. They typically have different kinds of percolators and a focus on functionality, designed to give the smoothest hits possible.
- Slide: Another term for a removable bowl piece used in water pipes
- Slyme Glass: A particular still of blown glass pieces that resemble something oozing out of them like slime. Usually come in vibrant multi colored designs
- Splash Guard: Refers to glass near the top of the inside of the tube that prevents water from splashing up into your mouth when pulling or clearing the piece.
- Tube: Slang for a water pipe
- Vapor Dome: Placed over some traditional concentrate nails to prevent vapor from dissipating into the air before it enters the water pipe
- Water pipe: A glass pipe with water in it used to filter and cool down the smoke. These pieces are typically larger in size than a hand pipe. They are typically called bubblers for smaller pieces or tubes for larger pieces.
- Wig Wag: a pattern of reversed images along a pipe
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