Cannabis Pipes—From Onesies to Megabongs Cannabis pipes come in all shapes, sizes, and forms, from tiny “one-hitters” to enormous water pipes with multiple filtration and cooling stages. Depending on the design, pipes are often much more efficient for delivering cannabinoids than cannabis cigarettes. Modern cannabis pipes are chiefly fashioned from borosilicate glass, although metal, ceramic, and wood pipes are available. Some of the most exotic cannabis pipe designs use a water system to cool and filter the smoke.

Water pipes originated in the Gansu Province of northwestern China over 400 years ago, just after tobacco smoking was introduced to East Asia from the Silk Road. This Chinese design was subsequently simplified in bamboo water pipes used by country folk across Southeast Asia. Alfred Dunhill claimed that water pipes were actually invented in Africa by the San people, the earliest inhabitants of South Africa, before tobacco reached China.

A small “spoon” pipe. Current trends have seen the emergence of all manner of glass designs that include sculptural, sometimes amorphous forms in a swirl of different colors and patterns. Many are real works of art.

Today, glass pipes are categorized as art glass or scientific glass. Art glass pipes emphasize glassblowing techniques, colors and finishes, and sculptural form. Scientific glass pipes feature sophisticated functionality and form with their ash-catchers and intricate percolation designs. Many cannabis patients enjoy the aesthetic pleasure derived from using an art glass pipe. Other patients prefer the innovations that scientific glass pieces bring to smoked cannabinoid delivery. Some glass companies, such as Illadelph, combine art and scientific glass pipe design to produce extraordinarily complex water pipes featuring chilled condenser coils, sophisticated percolators (percs) that create hundreds of thousands of tiny bubbles and cool the smoke as it streams through the pipe’s water reservoir, and exotic sculptural ornaments. Other companies such as RooR, Mobius, Salt, and Dave Goldstein continue to push the envelope of glass design.

A glass pipe or shabong. Cover the end opposite the mouthpiece when igniting the cannabis in the bowl. Allow the chamber to fill with smoke and release the covered end in order to inhale.

How to Light a Pipe Bowl Initially, use the flame to gradually heat the cannabis in the pipe, preferably from the edge of the bowl, until the lighter terpene molecules in the cannabis begin to vaporize. This technique results in the best-tasting, least-irritating inhalation. Take care to avoid igniting the cannabis, since if cannabis burns with a visible flame its terpenes are being burned off along with some of the cannabinoids. Oily cannabis flowers ignite quickly and it’s important to tamp down any flame the instant it appears. Go slow. Quickly incinerating the bowl of cannabis with the flame destroys too many active ingredients. Cheap butane lighters tend to make smoked cannabis taste terrible. A more palatable alternative is a torch lighter designed for cigars, but torches burn so hot that incinerating the cannabis becomes more likely. Developing a light touch with a torch takes some practice. An alternative to using a flame can be provided with a ceramic soldering iron, like those used for working on electronics. The Hakko 15-watt N452 heats the cannabis to just under 700°F (371°C), which is low enough for it to vaporize, but not burn, the cannabis. However, tools like the Hakko pose fire risks and caution must be strictly observed when using such a device.

Lighting a spoon pipe. The trick is to heat the cannabis without actually igniting it.

Smoking Cannabis Extractions Smoking concentrated cannabis extractions, such as hashish, can reduce exposure to combustion byproducts produced by burning plant material. The downside to smoking extractions is that dosage can be more challenging, making it easier to overmedicate, especially for new patients. It is especially useful to know the precise potency of an extraction in order to calculate dose. To prepare pressed, dry, or sieved hashish for smoking, gently warm the edge of the hashish with a lighter. This gentle heating will soften the resin and allow it to be fluffed back into its pre-pressed kif. Take a small amount of this fluffed resin powder and place it in a small glass bowl atop a steel or glass screen. Very gently light the edge of the powder, taking special care not to set it aflame. If the powder catches fire, immediately extinguish it. Ideally, the resin powder should smolder like incense, not burn like a log. Because hashish is considerably more potent than cannabis flowers, it is important to take a very small inhalation and thoroughly gauge its effect before smoking more.

Chillums, Hubble Bubbles, and Sebsis Chillums are smoking devices designed for cannabis charas, the rubbed hashish popular in India and the Himalayas. Chillums and charas are associated with sadhus, holy men that follow the Hindu god Shiva. Chillums are usually made of fired clay, sometimes metal. Smoking a chillum is traditionally is a two-person job: one person holds and smokes the chillum, while the other person lights it. Chillums are never supposed to touch the mouth, so a wet piece of cloth is wrapped around the mouthpiece. This moist rag cools the smoke and prevents embers from being inhaled.

Hubble bubbles are the traditional Afghan water pipe used to smoke hashish. They deliver a prodigious amount of smoke and can pitch the unsuspecting person into paroxysms of coughing. Hubble bubbles and their Persian cousin the shisha (or hookah) are rarely used for medicinal cannabis since the dose is difficult to control. Porsche Design introduced a high-tech shisha water pipe at their outlet in Harrods, the London department store. Its price: £2,000 ($3,000) . . .

Sebsi pipes are the favored hashish pipe in Morocco. Sebsis feature a very small metal or ceramic bowl, which makes dosage easier, and a long pipestem. The metal bowl and long stem combine to cool the smoke.