vitamainTHC

check all your taps in the house where the water comes out try and see if there is a metal thing (a gauze) there with alot of holes these make beautiful shooting stars these are the best for bowls. They heat up extremely fast and are extremely good for bucket lids

papichoolo

the tip of a dr.grip pen

bonghits4christ

Dude I got a good idea today while I was working. If you go to any art supply store, like Michaels, Aaron Bros (if you live on the west coast), or any place similar, you can get these small squares of clay that cost about a dollar or two. It is called sculpey III. All you do is shape and bake for 10 to 20 minutes in your oven for 275 F. I made one today, and I am so proud of myself, I love working at an art supply place. Oh and I doubt hardened clay is bad for you, so throw away that aluminum and get the clay out.

Peace

BH4C

BigMatt

Carve a pipe out of wood, or use a regular tobacco pipe. That bowl will pack a sh!tload!

vitamainTHC

this is a thanks to papichoolo your idea gave me an idea. these work very well. as papichoolo said take your pen lid (the metal ones that unscrew) then take your gauze out of your tap and cut a circle out of it the size of the pen lid and ta-da you have a proffessional lokking bowl.

mexican dirt weed

uhh untreated stainless steel works good untreated brass untreated nickel definatly dont use copper or pvc or any plastics so basicly those three just make sure the metal is untreated oh yah i got an awsome glass pipe for 12.99 at a local hippy shop its awsome color changing and it has a carb hippies god bless em

__________________
dirt weed yah!

alien_farmer

Be careful about how you do this! Sculpey is a polymer-based modeling clay, and should not be taken up to the flame temperature of your bowl! If you wanna make a pipe out of clay, use a standard earth-type of clay and fire that in a proper kiln.
You can use sculpey to decorate an existing bowl, or to make the air passages between the bowl and you, but I can't recommend using Sculpey as the bowl itself. That would be kinda like smoking from a BIC pen cap- you'd melt it and get all sorts of nasty degenerate hydrocarbons which you have no business inhaling.

It may even be possible to use a non-fired pipe made out of dried clay- I believe that's what the early American colonists used to use. (You only fire the clay if it has to hold water) Just form the clay and let it dry for a few days and maybe throw it in your oven to finish drying it out and use it that way. I think that's called 'greenware'- run a web search on it if you're really curious.

As for low-cost and no-cost pipes, I've made many pipes out of apple wood that last a decent amount of time. If you're going to invest the time in carving a pipe, make it out of a decent hardwood or fruitwood- softwoods burn up way too fast. Tropical hardwoods last forever, but they're expensive.
That reminds me- I think I read a post somewhere else about how to make a bong out of a coconut- you may want to search the web for that little gem.

Be careful with the Sculpey, compadre.

alien_farmer

I think copper is okay- they make hot water pipes out of it. Anyway, brass is an alloy that contains copper and tin (and lead, and zinc, in some variations), so if you think brass is OK I don't know why copper wouldn't be. It's also one of the listed minerals that your body needs (not that I'd recommend eating it, but it shouldn't hurt you.).

The only drawback with copper, besides the fact that it conducts heat really well (takes more heat to get it hot because it disperses the heat so well) is that it oxidizes and turns green pretty quickly. But that shouldn't hurt you either.

bonghits4christ

Hey thanks alien farmer. I made a pipe out of the sculpey, but I haven't tried putting a flame to it. So the clay will melt when heat gets to it? Oh well, so should I get some clay that doesn't harden and put that in the oven?

"It may even be possible to use a non-fired pipe made out of dried clay"

Do you know any specific brands, so I can search for them in my store. So self-hardening clay is bad huh? Well thanks for telling me before I tried it out.

alien_farmer

Yeah, bh4c- I'd try a flame-test on anything before I'd smoke out of it. Just roast it in a lighter flame for 30 seconds or so and see if it melts and outgasses. This is a great way to clean things that are suspect, like old screens that don't draw anymore. Grab those with tweezers or forceps and roast them for a few seconds, and then wipe all the soot off.
If you want to take this to the next level, soak it in a 190 proof grain alcohol, grab it with tweezers, and torch it. Just don't... have the bottle open... when you do... thanks.

As for brands of clay, I'm not sure of any names. I've just seen it come in soggy bricks or lumps in plastic bags. As far as I know there are tens if not hundreds of varieties... if you get any clay that's suitable for pottery, it should be good for your purposes.

Here's a master list of clay suppliers:
http://ceramics.about.com/cs/ceramicsupplies/index.htm
Here's one that has a good raw materials list (most gloss over this):
http://www.pottery-books.com/cgi-loc...ies/index.html

If you snoop around on the first site, you should find ways to make your own pottery ('pot'-ery... heh) in a fire pit in your backyard. Maybe you can find some clays you can fire in your oven, or something that's better suited to greenware.

Here's a funny picture I came across while searching. The guy claims it's a ceramic digeridoo, but I bet it's a bong: