Glass Terminology
18mm- This is when the joint's diameter measures 18mm's. General rule of thumb is if you can fit your pinky finger inside the joint it is 18mm. NOT ALWAYS. Most joints are different and obviously most pinkies are different.
14mm- This is when the joint's diameter measures 14mm, obviously smaller than 18mm joints. Next to each other it is pretty obvious which is which.
10mm and smaller- I don't think I need to list every mm, I have seen it as low as 8mm. Now a days blowers are starting to use smaller and smaller joints. My opinion is that it helps conserve flavor and smoke expansion.
45 Degree Joint- This is when the water pipe joint is at a 45 degree angle to the water pipe. Usually only down stem/fixed stem tubes have a 45 degree angle.
90 Degree Joint- This is when the water pipe has a joint that creates two right angles between the joint and water pipe. The joint is straight up and down, tend to be on stemless pieces.
Ash Catcher/Pre-Cooler- A/C for short, this is an attachment for your tube(s) similar to a bubbler that adds an extra point of percolation while also catchings your ashes and helping keep your tube cleaner.
Bubbler- Tend to be smaller in size, similar to hand pipes, but still offer water diffusion. Carbon Filter- Looks similar to a slide,smaller glass chamber that goes in a glass on glass joint. Can be filled with organic cotton or organic carbon. CARBON MUST BE CLEANED BEFORE USE. Follow the instructions included. This is used to clean the smoke and filter out some nasty stuff in the smoke before you get the hit.
Diffuser- Most commonly refers to the down stem of a tube. Diffused down stem means it offers more diffusion than the single open hole downstem. (6 slit, showerhead, 6arm)
Down Stem- This is a glass stem (usually removable) separate from the tube. One end has some sort of diffusion (open ended, 6 slit, showerhead, multi arm) while the other end has a large opening where your slide would be placed. Fixed Stem- Becoming more and more popular over down stem tubes. This is when the "down stem" is fixed to the piece and non removable.
Fuming- Refers to pure gold or silver that has been fumed on or in glass. This is what causes your pipe to change colors after use. Glass On Glass (GonG)- The norm today for sealing down stems and slides to the water pipe. Uses glass ground joints to create the air tight seal. The joints will appear to be almost frosted/white. Not clear/transparent.
Gridded- This is when a normal slitted perc has a line of glass (some times multiple) running perpendicular to the perc's slits. Creating an almost checker board pattern. This creates much smaller holes. Smaller holes = smaller and more bubbles. Thus making the perc much more efficient at cooling the smoke
Grommet- The original way to seal the down stem to the water pipe. This uses an O ring type rubber grommet.
Heady- This is a word to describe a worked piece. The more working and more badass the piece is, the more heady it is. Their perc systems range from the most simple in existence to the best functioning percs out there.
Perc/percolator- Way to many to list and it seems new ones are released all the time. This is a form of water diffusion inside your tube in addition to the down stem/fixed stem. This would be found in another chamber higher up in the tube.
Recycler- This is a design that recycles the water while you hit the piece. A few different reasons for this, one being to create the shortest path for the smoke to travel from perc to your mouth.
Scientific- This is what water pipes with high functioning perc systems are called. Very common today.
Slide- The piece where weed is actually packed, commonly known as a bowl. When you are finished taking your hit you will pull this out of your joint, allowing air to enter clearing all the smoke and thus the tube. Many different variations of slides exist, such as ice pinch, 3/4 hole, disc diffused. The most basic slides tend to only have one hole at the bottom. This tends to restricts air flow causing the percs to not function to the best of their ability. The slide variants I posted are all quality ways to create a slide with high air flow. Smoke Shop- The most common name for shops that carry all of our smoking accessories. Also known has a head shop (LHS= Local Head Shop). Do not call your shop a head shop while inside. This is considered a negative slang term. Splash Guard- Several different variations. This is when a piece of glass is placed closed to the mouth piece. Most commonly looks vary similar to a dome perc but has different slit orientation allowing air to flow through and stopping any water, or splash, from getting to your mouth. Stemless- Almost the norm today for bigger high end tubes. This is when the "down stem"(I guess you could call it) is usually parallel to the water pipe. This allows much more complicated perc systems to be used. These water pipes usually are designed to be hit straight up and down on a table. (Not tilted back like a lot of down stems) Water pipe/tube- Known to a common smoker as a bong. The smoke travels through water in the form of bubbles. Once the bubbles pop the smoke is cooler and cleaner than when it entered the water. Worked- In this context worked refers to the glass being worked with color instead of being all clear. Common Perc Types Dome- This is one of the most common percs there are. It is a glass dome inside the tube that is slitted adding extra diffusion. Donut- Heavily used by the glassblower EFS. It is exactly what it sounds like, a donut shaped circle (with the obvious donut hole in the middle) I have only seen gridded ones. Fixed Tree- A tree perc connected to a directly to the stemless portion of the water pipe. Fritted Disc- Used by DG. Tiny glass chunks and bits fused together causing an amount of holes pretty much unmatched. Glycerine Coil/Cooling Coil- This is a removable glass chamber filled with glycerine with a glass tube going through the middle. You would place the coil chamber in the freezer. Freezing the glycerine, thus when you use this on your tube it will cool the smoke similar to ice. I don't believe this is considered a perc but still cools the smoke like one. Horizon Line- This is similar to the stemline but the slits run front to back instead of the typical side to side. (gridded) (Front of most water pipes, is having the joint/slide at the 12 O'clock position) Inline- This is a glass tube that tends to be at least twice the width of the water pipe itself, running perpendicular to the water pipe. The diffusion comes from slits either facing up or down, sometimes blowers utilize both. The number of slits varies from blower to blower. Inverted Showerhead AKA Showerhead/showercap- Heavily used by SYN. This is a vertical "barrel" like glass tube slitted all around the bottom. Instead of bubbling around the perc like normal, this perc sucks all the water inside where the bubbling action happens. Advantage to this is little water is used and all water needed in the water pipe is actually used to function, not just filling space like most. Matrix- Designed by Mobius glass works to mimic gridding as closely as possible without actually having the perc gridded. May be hard to give a good description but looking at mine. The perc appears to have 2 smaller lines of glass going 360 degrees around fused to the inside wall of a "barrel" like fully slitted chamber. This creates tiny grid like holes using "basic" concepts, if you could call them that, with a genius flare on them. Natural perc/natty perc- This is when the only bubble action is coming from the stemless joint turning into the water pipe. Creates bigger bubbles with no drag. Netline- A stemline used by BC Glass that is gridded 360 degrees Peyote/Pillar- Two different "percs", but most commonly used together. The peyote is a peyote ball (not totally spherical) with slits going from top to bottom. The slits tend to be gridded as much as possible. The pillar is not really a perc, but it transport the bubbles from the perc much closer to the mouth piece. This helps preserve flavor. Puckline- Almost like a mix between the donut and the circ. This is an almost barrel like shape (hockey puck) no holes on top but as many gridded holes as possible 360 degrees around the puck Stemline- Very similar similar to an inline but much more compact, these usually fit in the tube diameter. Making a much sleeker water pipe vs the inline. Like an inline these tend to have up facing and down facing slits. Stereo Matrix- Another design by Mobius glass works. This uses 2 matrix percs together creating great bubbling action. Tree- Maybe even more common than dome percs now a days. It is a glass cap with several individual trees(almost like mini down stems) coming down. Tree percs can very in a couple ways. Some have open holes at the bottom and some are reinforced to the bottom of the can of the tube. This obviously closes the bottom hole but also makes the trees stronger. Most commonly each tree will have 2 slits but can easily have more, the highest I have seen is 5/6 I believe. It is totally up to the blower how he/she feels on making that perc. Top Hat- Another name for a circ, used by BC Glass. (gridded) UFO- Tends to be the same as a circ/showerhead but is a different named used by some companies. Waffle- A gridded perc similar to the stemline but in the shape of a circle instead of a straight line. The original creator SGW(Stone Glass Works) only uses them facing up and I have yet to see a down facing one. It is totally possible to exist though. ~I am not condoning anything involving the extraction process, please do EXTENSIVE research~ BHO- Butane Hash/Honey Oil- This is an extraction of the flower we all love. Has higher contents of the good stuff and less of the bad stuff. A long and hard process. Oil Dome- This is a glass dome used in combination with a nail, glass, quartz, or titanium,(NOT A HARDWARE NAIL) To smoke our extracts. The dome is used to catch the vapor while you are in haling through your piece. Nail- ~NOT A HARDWARE NAIL~ Comes in different mm sizes to fit your water pipe joint. Heated up and used to vaporize extracts. Come in glass, quartz, and titanium. Glass=Not great heat retention, breaks easy/Quartz=*I've heard good flavor* stronger than glass, possible worst heat retention of the 3./Titanium=Longest heat retention by far, strongest of the 3. Nicer ones are adjustable to several pieces where as glass and quartz dimensions can't be altered. ~Some nails need to be seasoned~ Swing/Skillet- This is a titanium pad connected to a wire which is wrapped around a glass "funnel" that connects to your water pipe joint. The pad is heated and used to vaporize the extracts and the funnel catches the vapor and passes it through your water pipe.