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can pipes be made from quartz,

#1cheesebuds

#1cheesebuds

Well-known member
Veteran
SO to day I went walking in the hills/woods and found a huge quarts rock. and was wondering if a smoking pipe could be made from it?

Ill get a pic of it tomorrow.

thankx fo yall's info on this.

1cb.
 
N

Nirvana_Papaya

Member
I don't know if I would smoke out of something made of rock. Only because it might not be pure, there might be something in the rock that melts/burns at low temps, something that might be toxic (idk). I've gone rock hunting and have found all kinds of fucked up stuff in rocks. Just look at it closely, and run some fire through it while it's empty a few times. Sounds like it could be interesting. (I'm in no way an expert on rocks)
 
R

rick shaw

Yes go to a headshop you will see cheap quartz pipes.Lab glass is made with quartz crystal.
 
Weird

Weird

3rd-Eye Jedi
Veteran
in the olden days of the 70s (perhaps 60ss but i was not smoking at 3) we had granite pipes and smoking stones

FUCKING PWNED

granite keeps the heat so the bowl kept toking
 
makedadproud

makedadproud

Member
The only problem you might run into (if its pure quartz) is finding a drill hard enough to make your holes without it snapping from the heat. I used to make quartz countertops and tried to make bowls from it but you gotta keep water constantly flowing over your drill bit ( you can use a friend with a spraygun). Be careful if working with electricity. If you have access to a pneumatic drill with a diamond tip drill bit that would be best. DO NOT DRILL IT DRY, you can produce a lot of silica powder which will become lodged in your lungs FOREVER. It causes silicosis. I don't know what it is but i know its bad. This is from the training videos i watched while making http://www.cambriausa.com/
 
Prof Sublime

Prof Sublime

Hard working pothead
Veteran
I dbout it... Quartz is VERY hard to work with you cant even get it hot enough to work in the torch.
 
Phedrosbenny

Phedrosbenny

Trying to have a good day
Veteran
Ive smoked in stone pipes and stone smoke stones before and had no problems.Before glass came around there was some stone pipes floating around here and there.
 
N

Nirvana_Papaya

Member
Wow, I had no clue they made pipes from rock. Only reason I'm so paranoid about it is because I've found all kinds of fungus and mold growing in the middle of rocks, and some stuff that looked like spider webs...but couldn't be, because it was in the middle of solid rock.
 
cannadelic

cannadelic

Member
Nirvana_Papaya said:
Wow, I had no clue they made pipes from rock. Only reason I'm so paranoid about it is because I've found all kinds of fungus and mold growing in the middle of rocks, and some stuff that looked like spider webs...but couldn't be, because it was in the middle of solid rock.
Click to expand...

Nirvana_Papaya said:
I've gone rock hunting and have found all kinds of fucked up stuff in rocks. (I'm in no way an expert on rocks)
Click to expand...
sounds like you're getting your phd in dinosaur turds dude.
 
#1cheesebuds

#1cheesebuds

Well-known member
Veteran
makedadproud said:
The only problem you might run into (if its pure quartz) is finding a drill hard enough to make your holes without it snapping from the heat. I used to make quartz countertops and tried to make bowls from it but you gotta keep water constantly flowing over your drill bit ( you can use a friend with a spraygun). Be careful if working with electricity. If you have access to a pneumatic drill with a diamond tip drill bit that would be best. DO NOT DRILL IT DRY, you can produce a lot of silica powder which will become lodged in your lungs FOREVER. It causes silicosis. I don't know what it is but i know its bad. This is from the training videos i watched while making http://www.cambriausa.com/
Click to expand...

thanks for the info. I was thinking of making a water pipe bowl.
gunna do a shit load of research on this first.

and if it looks like it would work then I might do it. but probly not.
 
geopolitical

geopolitical

Vladimir Demikhov Fanboy
Veteran
rick shaw said:
Yes go to a headshop you will see cheap quartz pipes.Lab glass is made with quartz crystal.
Click to expand...

Lab glass is borosilicate, it's glass that's been doped with boron & potassium (in some formulas) as well as other trace ingredients depending on manufacturer & specific use. One big advantage to the "doping" of the glass formula with boron is a decrease in density and an increase in resistance to thermal shocks. Borosilicate will shrug off thermal shocks that would shatter a "standard" soda lime glass. This is why it's used so heavily in pipes, beakers, etc.

Quartz is just silicon dioxide. All "glass" has silicon dioxide as a starting ingredient. Here's one huge difference. Quartz is brittle and has poor thermal shock resistance. Which is probably why you won't see a TON of pipes made out of pure quartz.

I doubt they're any more dangerous than most carved stone pipes. Keep away from pieces with obvious cracks, voids or other flaws that could take heating/cooling poorly and you should be just fine. I have a small granite piece and a few carved out of local soapstone that have been fine.
 
ZoSo

ZoSo

Member
If you do decide to take a wack at it, just do your research and go really slow. You'll probably break it a few times so I hope you have a good chunk of quartz.

Anyone that's drilled glass knows how much of a pita it is, and quartz is even more brittle.
 
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