How to Make Smoke Pipes From Everyday Objects
Review the diagram., Gather the supplies you'll need: Sharp shears to trim the screen A 7/32 inch (5.5 mm), 6-mm or 1/4 inch (6.3 mm) (hex end diameter) socket from a socket wrench set., Make the screen., Install the screen into the crater: with a...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Review the diagram.
A screenshot of finished crater-head, to which a 20 inch/50 cm flexible tube (hookah-hose) is attached. -
Step 2: Gather the supplies you'll need: Sharp shears to trim the screen A 7/32 inch (5.5 mm)
This is about the correct hex-end crater size to permit a low-temperature 25-mg serving of sifted herb—or 25-mg pinch of the shredded tobacco from any conventional cigarette. (A "regular" cigarette contains 700 mg net weight of tobacco, or enough for 28 "single toke" servings.
A "beedi" contains 450 mg, a "joint" typically 500-mg.) Wire mesh #40x40 screen (40 windows per linear inch), any kind of metal but aluminum.-- With strong sharp shears, cut the screen into 7/16 inch (11 cm) squares.
If you are buying round, pre-cut screens, look for 7/16 inch (11 cm) diameter, mesh-40, and proceed as described below—though you will not need to cut away as much corner wire.
A 3/16 inch (4.7-mm) outer diameter flat-ended stick or metal tube-segment for pre-shaping screen A flat-ended 1/8-inch-diam. or narrower Allen wrench, tube segment, blunt nail, etc. long enough to stick through from the other end of the socket, and expel from the socket (or other screen-shaping device), the newly-shaped screen. 20 inch (50 cm) of 1/4 inch-outer-diameter flexible tube-- a food-grade PVC product is widely available A 2-inch (5cm) safety pin, sharp enough to use for gently clearing ash from screen windows by scratching screen each time before next use, strong enough for (rarely) leveraging out the screen to clean utensil interior.
Some salvaged 20th-century 1-mm-o.d. solid-core, color-code-shielded landline phone wire-- see demolition companies about last-minute access to old buildings with a ladder to harvest it in the large wire cables which run to where office phones used to be.
Or buy it from the demo company before they sell it to scrappers! You should have lots of this wire on hand for millions of craft uses, which can also be taught to children, seniors, etc., use some and distribute some to day care centers, schools, crafts organizations etc.
Electrical tape, for sealing leak at junction between both parts of the one-heater-- the craterhead and the drawtube.
Try green or other decorative color.
Choomette Option: a piece of wood 4 inches long, up to an inch thick, which can be slightly conical, can be made into the "choomhandle"
i.e. handlestick on a "Choomette" one-heater, with the socket wrench crater-head at the top end and a flexible drawtube attached to the butt end. , (More details in preparation at "Make a 1/4"-diam.
Screen for a Single-Toke Utensil"!).
Cut, reshape and trim a 7/16-inch square screen into something resembling an upside-down bottle cap about 1/4 inch in diameter with sides 1/8 inch high:
Press it into the 7/32 inch (5.5 mm),
6.0 mm or 1/4 inch hex end of the socket piece.
Use a 1/8" (3-mm)-diameter flatted end wood stick, Allen wrench, nail or other blunt object to push it out, pressing through from the opposite end of the socket.
Trim away four remaining sticking-up wire tufts with shears, creating neat even sides that stick up exactly 1/8 inch all the way around the resulting cup-shaped screen. , (Option: a small metal ring (or piece of screening shaped into a ring) pushed down first and fitting snugly against the walls may be helpful to support the screen at this height since most sockets are slightly deeper than 3/16".), Push the 1/4"-outer-diameter draw tube into the opposite, square 1/4"-wide "driver" end hole of the socket as far as it goes.
If your drawtube is a little loose, wrap a bit of tape around the last half inch to make it fit snugger.,, Wrap 1-mm solid-core insulated phonewire around this taped area several times forming a secure grip (and tightening the air-leak closure), then form a 5-inch double wire-braid leading out to where the 2 inch safety pin is to be fastened, leaving two wire-leads about 1-1/2 inch (4.5-cm) long at the end of the braid.
This total operation will require one or two pieces of phonewire adding up to a little less than two feet/50-cm., With the two leads, wrap 5 loops of wire through the eye of the safety pin like little fingers, two going through one way and three the other, then wrap both wireleads tightly around the braid itself, forming a sort of thick wrist.
Use the firmly attached nearby handy safety pin to make your smoking utensil more practical and permanent, by gently scratch-clearing the screen passageways before the next 25-mg serving, while sucking air through the drawtube (don't worry, the ashes are nutritious).
Occasionally, after first flame-heating the crater to loosen tars, carefully lever the screen out for an occasional internal-passage cleaning with an alcohol-moistened prickly pipecleaner.
If your pin is too small and weak to pry out a screen, use a file-sharpened nail that can also be attached to the main device via a wirebraid, or kept with other supplies where you will find it when needed. , Drill a four-inch (10-cm)-long, trimmed, sanded, carved, painted, etc. wood piece (something about the size of a traditional "chillum") so that (a) one end-- the thicker top-part-- has an opening just the right width to fit the bottom (square-hole, or "driver") end of your socket wrench tightly in it, and (b) the other end-- the narrower-- has a quarter-inch hole into which a quarter-inch-o.d. flexible tube (such as food-grade PVC) fits snugly.
If you have a different diameter of flexible hose for the drawtube, drill a butt-hole sized to match it.
If insert-hole is too loose, dab latex glue on the wood inside the hole and let dry; or wrap a half-inch of the insert end of the drawtube with tape.
The advantage of having your socket wrench craterpiece embedded in a wood handle is that you can remove it to clean the screen from underneath every so often, and never remove the screen from the crater. , -
Step 3: 6-mm or 1/4 inch (6.3 mm) (hex end diameter) socket from a socket wrench set.
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Step 4: Make the screen.
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Step 5: Install the screen into the crater: with a 3/16" flat-ended stick or tube wedge it about 3/16 inch (5 mm) down into the hex end of the socket piece.
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Step 6: Insert the draw tube.
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Step 7: Seal over the resulting crack between socket and draw-tube with tape
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Step 8: eliminating any air leak.
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Step 9: Decorate and insulate.
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Step 10: Attach the screen maintenance pin.
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Step 11: CHOOMette option: wood-handlestick long-stemmed one-hitter.
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Step 12: Keep an inexpensive clean-out kit containing q-tips
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Step 13: prickly pipe cleaners and a small bottle of rubbing alcohol on hand for occasional interior de-clogging to keep your device serviceable.
Detailed Guide
A screenshot of finished crater-head, to which a 20 inch/50 cm flexible tube (hookah-hose) is attached.
This is about the correct hex-end crater size to permit a low-temperature 25-mg serving of sifted herb—or 25-mg pinch of the shredded tobacco from any conventional cigarette. (A "regular" cigarette contains 700 mg net weight of tobacco, or enough for 28 "single toke" servings.
A "beedi" contains 450 mg, a "joint" typically 500-mg.) Wire mesh #40x40 screen (40 windows per linear inch), any kind of metal but aluminum.-- With strong sharp shears, cut the screen into 7/16 inch (11 cm) squares.
If you are buying round, pre-cut screens, look for 7/16 inch (11 cm) diameter, mesh-40, and proceed as described below—though you will not need to cut away as much corner wire.
A 3/16 inch (4.7-mm) outer diameter flat-ended stick or metal tube-segment for pre-shaping screen A flat-ended 1/8-inch-diam. or narrower Allen wrench, tube segment, blunt nail, etc. long enough to stick through from the other end of the socket, and expel from the socket (or other screen-shaping device), the newly-shaped screen. 20 inch (50 cm) of 1/4 inch-outer-diameter flexible tube-- a food-grade PVC product is widely available A 2-inch (5cm) safety pin, sharp enough to use for gently clearing ash from screen windows by scratching screen each time before next use, strong enough for (rarely) leveraging out the screen to clean utensil interior.
Some salvaged 20th-century 1-mm-o.d. solid-core, color-code-shielded landline phone wire-- see demolition companies about last-minute access to old buildings with a ladder to harvest it in the large wire cables which run to where office phones used to be.
Or buy it from the demo company before they sell it to scrappers! You should have lots of this wire on hand for millions of craft uses, which can also be taught to children, seniors, etc., use some and distribute some to day care centers, schools, crafts organizations etc.
Electrical tape, for sealing leak at junction between both parts of the one-heater-- the craterhead and the drawtube.
Try green or other decorative color.
Choomette Option: a piece of wood 4 inches long, up to an inch thick, which can be slightly conical, can be made into the "choomhandle"
i.e. handlestick on a "Choomette" one-heater, with the socket wrench crater-head at the top end and a flexible drawtube attached to the butt end. , (More details in preparation at "Make a 1/4"-diam.
Screen for a Single-Toke Utensil"!).
Cut, reshape and trim a 7/16-inch square screen into something resembling an upside-down bottle cap about 1/4 inch in diameter with sides 1/8 inch high:
Press it into the 7/32 inch (5.5 mm),
6.0 mm or 1/4 inch hex end of the socket piece.
Use a 1/8" (3-mm)-diameter flatted end wood stick, Allen wrench, nail or other blunt object to push it out, pressing through from the opposite end of the socket.
Trim away four remaining sticking-up wire tufts with shears, creating neat even sides that stick up exactly 1/8 inch all the way around the resulting cup-shaped screen. , (Option: a small metal ring (or piece of screening shaped into a ring) pushed down first and fitting snugly against the walls may be helpful to support the screen at this height since most sockets are slightly deeper than 3/16".), Push the 1/4"-outer-diameter draw tube into the opposite, square 1/4"-wide "driver" end hole of the socket as far as it goes.
If your drawtube is a little loose, wrap a bit of tape around the last half inch to make it fit snugger.,, Wrap 1-mm solid-core insulated phonewire around this taped area several times forming a secure grip (and tightening the air-leak closure), then form a 5-inch double wire-braid leading out to where the 2 inch safety pin is to be fastened, leaving two wire-leads about 1-1/2 inch (4.5-cm) long at the end of the braid.
This total operation will require one or two pieces of phonewire adding up to a little less than two feet/50-cm., With the two leads, wrap 5 loops of wire through the eye of the safety pin like little fingers, two going through one way and three the other, then wrap both wireleads tightly around the braid itself, forming a sort of thick wrist.
Use the firmly attached nearby handy safety pin to make your smoking utensil more practical and permanent, by gently scratch-clearing the screen passageways before the next 25-mg serving, while sucking air through the drawtube (don't worry, the ashes are nutritious).
Occasionally, after first flame-heating the crater to loosen tars, carefully lever the screen out for an occasional internal-passage cleaning with an alcohol-moistened prickly pipecleaner.
If your pin is too small and weak to pry out a screen, use a file-sharpened nail that can also be attached to the main device via a wirebraid, or kept with other supplies where you will find it when needed. , Drill a four-inch (10-cm)-long, trimmed, sanded, carved, painted, etc. wood piece (something about the size of a traditional "chillum") so that (a) one end-- the thicker top-part-- has an opening just the right width to fit the bottom (square-hole, or "driver") end of your socket wrench tightly in it, and (b) the other end-- the narrower-- has a quarter-inch hole into which a quarter-inch-o.d. flexible tube (such as food-grade PVC) fits snugly.
If you have a different diameter of flexible hose for the drawtube, drill a butt-hole sized to match it.
If insert-hole is too loose, dab latex glue on the wood inside the hole and let dry; or wrap a half-inch of the insert end of the drawtube with tape.
The advantage of having your socket wrench craterpiece embedded in a wood handle is that you can remove it to clean the screen from underneath every so often, and never remove the screen from the crater. ,
About the Author
Debra Cole
Creates helpful guides on crafts to inspire and educate readers.
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