Extending The Bottom Of My Stem...

[Geiseric]

I am a chronic vase breaker. In the last 3 months I have broken 4 of them. Four! Anyways, my currently favorite Hookah was lacking a vase, so I ordered it's 2nd replacement, this time going a little more spendy and getting a little higher quality vase with thicker glass. It was a little taller than my last one, and so I had to extend the bottom metal pipe to get the proper water circulation. I origanally used some tightly fit plastic tubing, the kind used in some sinks, but I have recently come to think that while quite far from the bowl, the smoke is still hot enough to heat the plastic and depart a taste, not to mention the odd carcinogen here and there. Has anyone else run into a simalar situation? What would be a better metal alternative your average joe could pick up from a big hardware store, and what would be a good way to get a good seal? I am a little strapped for cash right now, so a cheap fix-it would be cool.

[nicayotte]

I would honestly stick with the hosing, puncture holes in it and you have a heba bubble diffuser!

[Geiseric]

I actually tried two things on it diffuser-wise I tried using one of my actual official ones from hookah-shisha, and then I ghetto-rigged one using a lint screen and some zip ties (hoping for more bubble break up) neither of them seem to really make small bubbles because it tends to lean a little to the side, being a soft plastic. This causes all the bubbles to go one way, making them rejoin immediate and nullifying the diffuser effect. This is actually another reason on top of the taste for me to want to change it up, if only to a stiffer plastic, but i have heard so many bad things about plastic pipes health-wise that I wouldn't really want to risk it. I have seen some brass piping, it is a little pricey, but I have heard less bad things about it than copper (heavy metal poisoning and all that jazz).

[Dr. Atkins]

Bendy straws for the diffuser (pretty sure you can find some heat resistant ones). For the vase, just go to the supermarket and get one of those 1.36 liter glass Pom bottles... 5$ gets you a new, perfectly sized/shaped hookah vase and a refreshing beverage.

[Geiseric]

If one has no appreciation for aesthetics, sure. I actually made a pipe somewhat like that when I was on the road without a hookah some time back. One steel pipe extension, one pipe connecter (not sure what its called) one Jolt can, and an entire roll of electrical tape. Needless to say, quite harsh. But, it did in a pinch.

[Dr. Atkins]

IMO, the large POM bottles look much better than the vast majority of the pseudo-traditional knockoffs out nowadays. Just about 90% of the hookahs I see on the popular sites are downright FUGLY. Plus with a clear vase, you can actually see the smoke, which also happens to look 10x more beautiful with a bendy straw diffuser in place.

[Geiseric]

Hmm, perhaps I will use one at some time, I have another stem that isn't being used right now (you guessed it, broke that one too). I had it modified to fit a glass tube that is normally used for for candles at weddings. I do want to continue using this vase, as it is a very nice vase. It has a very nice gold paint that looks similar to gold leaf running down it with very nice hand painted symbols all over the bottom. Below is 3 of my hookahs, far left my mini hookah (for travel); in the middle is the one I have been speaking of; and the far right is the old glass one. In this case it was filled with water, normally it would be filled almost to the bottom with smoke, but I had a shorter tube running through the vase at the time. You can't really see the quality of the green vase in the picture, but I assure you, it looks quite nice.