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From Your Smoke Shop in Fort Lauderdale, FL: Tips for Choosing a Spoon Pipe

In the market for a new smoking pipe? You can’t beat a glass spoon pipe for ease of use, reliability, portability, or even durability. Often made of one piece of glass, they can be compact, easy to carry around, and exceptionally tough, despite the fact that they are typically made of glass.

Need some advice for how to pick out one you’re going to love, whether it’s your first or your fiftieth? You’ve come to just the right place – your choice smoke shop in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Take these tips to heart before you buy your next spoon pipe.

Choose glass, preferably borosilicate glass
We’re aware there are many different types of materials out there that are used to make spoon pipes. Some of them are really cool, too, especially the ones made from metals like steel and crystals like quartz. We know some people love to collect them, and we don’t blame them.

But when it actually comes down to lighting up, go for glass – borosilicate glass, to be specific. Borosilicate glass, which is made by adding boron trioxide to the glass, which gives it a much lower coefficient of thermal expansion than other grades of glass, such as soda-lime glass, which is much more common.

This means that borosilicate glass pipes are much better able to handle the stresses of having a flame applied to them, so they are less likely to crack or shatter. They’re also physically very tough; you can drop a borosilicate spoon pipe in your pocket without too much concern, hence the term, “pocket piece.”

In addition, glass smoking pipes have a number of other advantages as well:

-Glass is not permeable and relatively to complete non-porous, making it much easier to clean. In addition, it also will not react with any herbs or tobacco, or impart any flavor to them.

-Glass doesn’t produce any toxic vapors or fumes when heated up.

-Glass does not conduct heat as well as other materials, like metal. Some metal pipes get too hot to use too quickly.

-Since we’re talking about spoon pipes here, they’re also smaller, more portable, and less complex than alternatives like water pipes.

Thicker glass is better
All things being equal, you shouldn’t just make borosilicate glass a prerequisite, but pay close attention to the thickness of the glass.

Thicker glass is better for two reasons. One, because it is more durable. Although borosilicate glass is certainly very tough, it is not invincible. Rough use can crack or break the thinner glass.

The other reason is that thicker glass helps to absorb and dissipate heat more effectively than thinner glass. The better a pipe dissipates heat, the better the quality of the smoke, and thicker glass is better here.

A longer stem can mean a cooler smoke
Here’s another tip for you to keep in mind – generally speaking, the longer the stem, the cooler the smoke. Now, admittedly, spoon pipes are pretty well known for producing harsh, hot smoke, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything about it.

Glass spoon pipes are also known for their short stems, which are a pretty common feature, but we’re going to let you in on a little trick. There is a way to extend the total length of the stem without extending the length of the pipe itself: by creating a spiral.

Now, pipes with spiral stems are more fragile and can be much harder to clean than glass pipes with straight stems, but all the same, they will cool the smoke off a bit more before it gets to your mouth and lungs. The stubbier the spoon, the hotter and harsher the smoke; just something to think about.

Look for a glass pipe with a carburetor
Most if not all glass pipes have a carburetor, frequently known as a carb. The carb is a small hole in the side of the bowl that regulates airflow over and through the bowl. When you light the bowl, you close the carb with a finger or your thumb. This draws smoke into the bowl and stem, after which point you open the carb, enabling you to inhale the remainder of the smoke from the stem.

A pipe without a carb will not allow you to inhale all of the smoke, so it’s best to avoid any models that don’t have them.

Pick up some ash screens if you’re picky
Another tip that may be able to improve your smoking experience is to pick up some ash screens, especially if you are sensitive to ash.

Some bowls have built-in ash catchers or ash screens that help to prevent ash from getting into your mouth, but if you like a glass pipe that doesn’t have one, just pick up some thin, disposable ash screens and drop them in the bottom of the bowl before you pack it. They won’t interrupt your draw and are extremely effective at keeping ash out of your mouth.

Looking for something else? Try a water pipe
By the way, if you’re not totally set on a glass spoon pipe, the staff at your favorite smoke shop in Fort Lauderdale, FL have another bit of advice. Try a water pipe instead.

Spoons are great; they’re light, portable, and discrete, but make no mistake about it, that smoke is hot and harsh.

Water pipes, by contrast, cool the smoke down significantly by passing the smoke through a water-filled percolator before delivering it through the chimney to your mouth. Some enterprising water pipe smokers even fill the chimneys of their water pipes with ice to cool the smoke down even more.

They may have fragile parts and be tough to transport, but taking a hit out of a water pipe is silky smooth compared to a spoon pipe.

Buy from a reputable supplier: your smoke shop in Fort Lauderdale, FL!
Looking for more help? Come on down to our smoke shop in Fort Lauderdale, FL, or our shop in Pompano Beach to get up close and personal with our glass hand pipes and water pipes. Our staff would also be happy to help you, so if you have any questions, give us a call at one of our head shops, 954-530-9357 (Ft. Lauderdale) or 954-933-7083 (Pompano Beach).