The Ultimate Guide to Common Marijuana Pipes and Smoking Devices

Doesn’t it seem like smoking a joint is going out of style? These days, the array of cannabis accessories you can buy in Canada is mind-blowing. Visit any head store and you’ll see all sorts of decorative Marijuana pipes, Smoking Devices and bongs, from the simple to the ceremonial.

Add in the fact that vaping and dabbing are quickly becoming popular, and the choice can be overwhelming. And each device has its own advantages and drawbacks, depending on what you’re looking for.

The good news is that with so many options on the market, you’re bound to find a smoking device to suit you perfectly, once you know what you’re looking at. So here’s our quick guide to ten of the most popular Marijuana Pipes, Smoking Devices & cannabis accessories you can buy online today.

 Hand Marijuana Pipes

One of the oldest methods of smoking cannabis, hand marijuana pipes remain incredibly popular among regular users. The way they work is simple. Pack dried cannabis flower (bud) in the bowl of the pipe, light it, and then inhale through the pipe. As you pull, you’ll draw air through the pipe, pulling smoke into your lungs.

Most marijuana pipes are made from glass, and they can be wildly creative. Pop down to any local store where you can buy cannabis accessories in Canada, and you’ll see a dazzling array of elaborate and beautiful marijuana pipes. More subtle options are available too, and pipes can be a convenient and cheap way to smoke if you’re a regular user or don’t want to smoke rolling papers.

 Bong

Water marijuana pipes – or bongs, as they’re more commonly known – are another very popular way to smoke cannabis. They work in a similar way to hand marijuana pipes, allowing you to smoke dried cannabis. But bongs use water to cool filter the smoke from the burning bud. That means the smoke you inhale is less harsh, and your lungs will have a more pleasant experience!

Like hand marijuana pipes, bongs are often made of glass and can be incredibly elaborate. Recently, silicone bongs have grown in popularity, as they’re more portable – and less easily broken – than traditional glass bongs.

One-hitter

The clue is in the name: a one-hitter is a small marijuana pipe designed to deliver just one hit of bud at a time. One-hitters are often designed to be discrete. They consist of a simple tube (often made of glass), with a mouthpiece on one side. To smoke, simply pack dried bud into one end of the one-hitter, light it, and inhale through the mouthpiece.

One-hitters often look like cigarettes, but not always. Like marijuana pipes and bongs, they can also be made of beautifully blown glass, but also metal, clay, ceramics, or even wood. They’re easy to carry discretely and are perfect if one hit is all you need.

 Glass blunts

If you miss the feeling of smoking a blunt but want the convenience of a pipe, glass blunts are the cannabis accessory for you. A bit more niche than marijuana pipes and bongs, glass blunts look like blunts (or cigars), but made of glass. They have a mechanism for loading with flower, and then disposing of ash – often this is a screw-like mechanism inside the pipe.

Like one-hitters, glass blunts are smaller and more discreet than marijuana pipes. They’re also more convenient than always having to roll a joint whenever you want a hit.

 Vaporizer

While marijuana pipes and bongs have been around for centuries, vaporizers are a relatively new way to consume cannabis. We say consume because vaping doesn’t actually create smoke as traditional marijuana pipes do. This is one of the biggest advantages of vaporizers, and the reason they’re becoming more popular.

Vaporizers work by very quickly vaporizing cannabis, rather than burning it. This produces less toxic by-products and purer cannabis vapour, which is then inhaled. Vaporizers can work with cannabis flower or concentrates, depending on their design. All vaporizers have an internal heating mechanism and a battery capable of producing a lot of heat fast, to rapidly vaporize your weed and deliver a cleaner hit.

 Vape pen

Vape pens are similar to vaporizers and are one of the fastest-growing ways to consume cannabis today. Unlike vaporizers, vape pens use cannabis oil, usually in a cartridge. Other than that, they work in the same way – quickly heating the oil and producing vapour to inhale.

Reusable and disposable vape pens are available. Which one you choose will depend on your budget, as well as how often you use. Disposable vape pens can be great for occasional users, but the cost quickly adds up if you smoke every day. Reusable pens are popular, and allow you to experiment with different cartridges and strains, depending on what you feel like.

 Dab Rig

Increasingly, dedicated cannabis users are turning to dabbing to get their hit. Dabbing involves rapidly heating a cannabis concentrate like resin, shatter or wax. The vapour is then inhaled through a glass water pipe similar to a bong. There are a few other tools you need to get started, including a nail, dabbers, and a torch.

Dabbing isn’t for the uninitiated and can be an overwhelming experience the first time you try it. That’s mostly because cannabis concentrates like resin often produce up to 80% THC per hit (compared to 25% from bud). But plenty of regular users swear by their dab rig for a cleaner hit that they can tailor to their tastes.

Dab pen

Dab pens are kind of a hybrid between dab rigs and vape pens. They allow you to use the pure concentrates used in a dab rig but offer more portability and convenience than a full dab rig. Unlike with a commercially-made vape pen, you can still control lots of aspects of your experience: including the concentrate you use, the dose, and temperature.

Dab pens look like vape pens, and typically have different settings to allow you to control the temperature. You add your own concentrate of choice to the “oven” of the pen, and then inhale just as you would with a vape pen.

 Nectar Collector

Another fairly niche and new way to enjoy cannabis, a nectar collector is a type of portable dab rig. Nectar collectors are made of glass or silicone, and have a few different parts: a water chamber, mouthpiece, and a titanium or quartz tip used to heat dabs. They also come with a dish to hold dabs. Like with a dab rig, you’ll need a torch to heat up the tip of your nectar collector enough to vaporize the concentrate.

Nectar collectors are more convenient and cheaper than dab rigs, so don’t be surprised if they become more popular with dabbing enthusiasts over the next few years.

Home-Made Marijuana Pipes

Pipes, bongs, and nectar collectors share one thing in common: beautiful craftsmanship. At the other end of the scale, when things get desperate, you can always try a home-made pipe! It won’t look pretty, but it will deliver a high in a pinch.

The mechanism of smoking a Marijuana pipe is pretty simple: you just need to be able to draw air through burning weed. People have made pipes from pretty much anything, but fruits and vegetables are a common choice. Apples, bananas, potatoes and squash all do the job. Simply carve out a bowl, create a mouthpiece, connect the two, and pack with weed. Voila!

What Marijuana Pipes, Smoking Devices & Cannabis Accessories Do You Own?

In the end, it’s all down to personal preference! Whether you’re looking for the convenience and subtlety of a one-hitter or the complicated ritual of a dab rig, there’s a smoking device out there for you. We’re living in perhaps the best time ever for the choice of cannabis accessories in Canada, so try some out and discover the perfect one for you!