There are so many different kinds of percolators for your water pipes, each one with it's own pros and cons. This is our list of the most common kinds and how they function:
- Coil Perc: Literally a coiled tube with a hole at the end. Coiling increases the length the smoke must travel allowing for it to cool down further
- Diffused downstem: The most basic of percolation, slits in the base of the downstem below the water diffusing the smoke as it enters the water pipe
- Dome Perc: Named after its shape, the smoke is pulled through holes/slits in the sides of the perc which is where the diffusion happens
- Donut Perc: Obviously shaped like a donut, the hole in the middle forces the water and smoke to diffuse around it. This also acts as a splash guard
- Fritted Disc Perc: Thes percs have down the most diffusion of any current perc. It is made with glass crumbles that are loosely fused together into a disc. Because of this fritted discs have the most airways for smoke to travel through making this perc the best for intense percolation. The downside is that because the holes are microscopic it can get clogged easily and can create a lot of drag during use.
- Gridded Inline Perc: An inline perc with gridded slits around the chamber. Also known as a barrel perc
- Honeycomb Perc: A type of disc perc with holes covering the surface. Honeycomb percs are able to create a lot of diffusion by forcing smoke bubbles through the small holes making the bubbles smaller and breaking them up.
- Inline perc: Horizontal arm extending out from the water pipe. The arm is covered in slits that are responsible for creating the bubbles.
- Matrix Perc: A cylindrical shaped perc with vertical and horizontal slits, creates high volumes of diffusion because of how many areas the smoke can separate out into.
- Ratchet Perc: Disc perc with holes along the edge of the disc adding more diffusion.
- Reti Perc: A cylinder inside a cylinder with opposing diagonal slits.
- Showerhead Perc: Named for its resemblance to a showerhead, it is a long tube with a round chamber at the base. Slits or holes go around the outside of the base to increase diffusion
- Stereo Matrix Perc: Two smaller sized matrix percs stacked on top of each other
- Swiss perc: Named after swiss cheese this is a vertical disc perc with large holes.
- Tree Perc: Multiple arms with slits in them connected to a stem attached to the bottom of the pipe, smoke is pulled up through the stem and out the slits in the arms, more arms=more filtration
- Turbine perc: A type of disc perc with angled slits that create a vortex effect with the water as air is pulled through the water pipe.
- UFO percs: Named after their shape, these percs have slits around the edge of the circle with a dome to direct the smoke through the slits. Easy to clean and quite efficient.
- Waffle Perc: Close cousin to the disc perc but uses holes instead of slits. The name comes from its resemblance to a waffle fry
