Why Stop At One? Collecting Water Pipes & Dab Rigs

When you have a hobby that requires more than one piece of gear, it’s really easy to get caught up in collecting. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, friends. When it comes to recreational legal herbs there are many glass pipes that can not only add to your collection and serve a different functional purpose. This makes it pretty seriously easy to justify hitting up your wallet for another piece.

Different situations call for different water pipes and it’s nice to be able to handle anything that gets thrown your way. But there’s a difference in assembling a huge collection just for the hell of it, and creating somethign special. There are some basics you should think about in order to round out what you’ve got. We’ll walk you through what pieces are a must for any avid collector.

Basic is Best

If you’re into the herbs and smoke on a regular basis you’ll want to ensure you’re stocked with a basic water pipe like this. While there are many cool designs out there that work pretty awesome as a conversation starter, if you’re smoking alone that doesn’t really matter.

It’s a smart idea to have your basic water pipe be made of scientific glass and to try to keep the size under 15”. This glass beaker pipe, as an example, will let you see the amount of smoke and water inside which will help you control your hits.

Basic water pipes should meet basic needs: size, percolation and construction. Keeping all of this simplified will help you from getting too caught up with the flashy pieces that are available out there. Remember, we said basic. A piece that meets these needs will be easier to clean, store and go softer on the throat.

Dab It While It’s Hot

If you partake of concentrates along with your legal herbs then you want to make sure you have yourself an outstanding rig from our dab rig collection. While you could totally use a dry herb glass pipe to take care of your concentrates as well, there are some serious drawbacks that should make you think otherwise.

Residue from dabbing is going to affect the flavor of your legal herbs in a way that’s not overly pleasant. Also, dab rigs were created for a reason. It’s almost cruel not to use them for concentrates. Again, you can get several cool pieces (this one is severely awesome), but if you want to have a basic piece in your collection, look for something with a 90 degree angle joint to help support using a torch and look for something lightweight. You don’t want this to be awkward to use and carrying around too many heavy pieces detracts from the chill feeling you want to enjoy from dabbing.

Travel Size for your Convenience

If you’re a social smoker and tend to go to a lot of gatherings and parties and want to bring your gear with you, you’ll want to make sure you have a nice, smaller water pipe like this that can make that journey with you. You’ll need to be careful about what it’s made out of and how you transport it. You don’t want to be shattering your gear while in transit.

Silicone might be the way to go if you find yourself on the road more often than not. Something under 7” would do the trick if you want to have something that’s easily portable. You can also consider a reclaim collector for your concentrates. These babies were made to be transportable so you know you’ll have an easy time with them.

Since most dab rigs are already small, you should be fine with whatever strikes your fancy. Just make sure you don’t go tossing your glass gear into the back of your car or you’ll be sorry when it comes time to pull it out.

Let’s Get The Party Started

Everyone likes having that piece they can show off. You could consider it the center of your collection. These are nice to add to your collection because it allows you to show off your own personal smoking style.

The majority of water pipes made specifically for showing off are crafted by glass artists. They are typically called, "functional glass art". You know that these pieces are functional and beautiful. Realistically you don’t have to even use this kind of piece. You can just set it on display and let it do the talking for you. But if you’ve gone through the trouble of selecting something that suits your personal style, why wouldn’t you want to bring it out when some friends are over? Just remember that the more elaborate the construction, the more time it’ll take to clean. Well worth the pain.

Come One, Come All

Now that you’ve gotten the party started with your pretty piece, you might find that you’ve got a big group that wants to partake of legal herbs together. This is where the bigger pieces like this 30" beaker monster are going to come in handy. While the current myth is that bigger bongs give you more potent hits, the reality is that they are just able to hold more smoke so that those partaking can get an equal hit.

Bigger bongs are going to be heavier, but that’s okay. Being closer to the ground is better when you want to share with several people. This will help prevent you from knocking it over and ruining your time.

Wind It Up

Here you’ve got a nice little list to help you get started on building your collection of pipes and other gear. You want to make sure you have some basic pieces to form the foundation and then branch out with more elaborate or exciting pieces like recyclers, depending on what you want to use them for.

We’ve given you four examples of situations where you might want a special piece to use, but in reality the opportunities are endless. There’s a lot of great gear out there, so take a gander through TAG's site and see if you can’t find that special piece that will just add the finishing touch to your collection.

source https://www.thickassglass.com/blogs/enlightenment/collecting-water-pipes-dab-rigs