Since their invention in the 1500s, Hookahs have always been a way for craftsmen to show off skills by creating ornate, elaborate, and functional pieces of art. This still holds true today, as easily seen above. Found on the Hookah subreddit, this pipe was pieced together by recycling an old vodka bottle, as well decorating and re-purposing a number of plumbing items. Some finishing touches such as LEDs and gears to the base, as well as a set of turn-valves to the hose plugs give this hookah a very distinctive look.
As always, we at Hackaday do not recommend or promote smoking, no matter what goes into the bowl of the hookah. However, whether you smoke or not, the final product is worth appreciating. Be sure to check out the higher resolution pictures after the break.
You might want to check in to what the gland seals on those valves are packed with, they can react chemically to different substances. So while they may be safe for tap water which is particularly stable, that may not be the case for hookah smoke.
Its pretty though.
I hope he used lead free solder for those pipe fittings :)
@Booker
That’s why i like GoG (glass on glass) products :)
Needs a ball valve for chambering, otherwise NICE! :D
For what reason do you not recommend smoking no matter what goes in the bowl?
Indeed, nice!
-but I ain’t cleaning it.
@ GottaBeThatGuy:
Health protection and legal deflection.
Now deflect that thing to the left, if you would. ;)
Next step: adding a chiller while retaining the nice proportions.
I’m not too sure I would use the words “skills” or “craftsman” if I were describing this.
Also, I am pretty sure the largest “gear” on the base is actually a Construx tyre spray painted gold like the rest of the base. Here is a pic google turned up: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpstanley/224886204/
Awesome work, really love the gearing on the bottom.
i want to point out “shisha” is hookah tobacco … not an illegal substance …so you can promote smoking a hookah…
@Pete:
Trolololol
The construx tire has no hard edges, but the gear on the hookah actually does. (Read: the thread of the construx tire is rounded but the “thread” of the gear is flat)
Nice, and I don’t even need to use it to appriciate it.
I think HnD should consider pre-employment drug screening as this type of stuff is becoming the norm. I can find this on high times if I was interested in smoking my brain away thanks.
Dreams are made of this.
1: Mankind was born and evolved within 10 feet of a smoldering fire.
2: Even the Hindenburg had a smoking room on it.
So some shoddy spray painted crap is all it takes to get on HaD now?
I’ve seen my drunken friends make better contraptions than this thing.
In my youth I made a 4 person hookah from a stainless steel cow milking tank. It held 5 gallons of water. Many stoners are hackers when it comes to making cool stuff to smoke out of.
I don’t think smoking through PVC is a good idea. Like the SteamPunk idea but stoners make thousands of pipes like this everyday.
@Noob
No one tests for nicotine
I don’t know why people think a hookah is a bong. It is traditionally and many used to smoke tobacco. I own a hookah and I used it to smoke tobacco, and nothing else.
I’m with Ajoakim on this one-hookah are traditionally used for tobacco. You go to the middle east, and you’ll see hookah pipes set up in all kinds of establishments, it’s the norm there. It’s just part of the culture.
I myself am an AVID hookah user, and appreciate the look of this one. Granted, I’m more a fan of the traditional Egyptian styled, but that’s just me.
I would like to know where the purge is…?
Since when did Hackaday become HACKaday (where hacking is coughing)?
D:
This has nothing to do with hacking in my opinion.
i would have added a chiller, defuser and ash ketcher but it is a real peace of art
@Chewy1993i started smoking when i was 12 and i never hacked while smoking XD
i now switched to electronic cigges :3 …. no tar, no smoke just flavor, water and nicotine :3
@xhewy1993 but this is semanticbitching.com then you think?
And you are not even right, this was made from old vodka bottles and has LED and what not, it’s a hacked together waterpipe.
but…. where is the arduino?
Of course is has to do with hacking. Once you’ve got a hookah, you can hack it into something else, like an electrolysis chamber or something! Not sure if wood gas would be a possibility, but if it is, the pyrolysis and smoke would help keep with the original aesthetic, if not it’s purpose. I guess an electrolysis system could be used to make an oxygen bar, though?
Kind of disappointing that the link only goes to a pair of images, though. It’d be nice to at least have some pictures of the assembly process. Where did you get the third one for the title picture?
I would suggest to anyone making any smoking apparatus to avoid using copper, PVC, lead (lead based solder) or pewter, silicone, galvanized steel or pressure treated wood. Each of these releases toxic chemicals when encountering heat.
@-HMav
removed for fear of ignorant trolling overwhelming the troll rat :3
HOLY CRAP
Did NO ONE think of the Troll Rat?
Poor thing…at least it’s well fed.
This reminds me to get crackin on an absinth chiller.
I have to say, I like the concept of this idea. The metal and glass combination is well thought out. The only thing I’m disappointed in is the execution of the idea. The workmanship is shoddy at best, the large resolution pictures prove that. I don’t know whether it’s welding or glue that holds the base on the bottom, but it looks messy either way. I would say this is better as a first run prototype example of what’s possible.
What a bummer. It’s one thing if this was built from precision CNC milled parts and was the result of some intricate design process. This is a guy who bought some pipe fittings at Home Depot, slapped them together, and spray painted it gold. Oh I’m sorry, there’s also some crap glued to it.
@mrbippers
Exactly.
@mrbippers
And despite the hacked together approach it looks and functions pretty good.
check the URL up top, we’re not on professionallyfabricateaday.com
“I would suggest to anyone making any smoking apparatus to avoid using copper, PVC, lead (lead based solder) or pewter, silicone, galvanized steel or pressure treated wood. Each of these releases toxic chemicals when encountering heat.”
I don’t agree with all of this statement. PVC, when burned releases chlorine gas. pressure treated wood, galvanized steel and lead are also no good. But copper or brass (assuming it is truly lead free – not the 0.5% which is called
lead free”) and silicone (which can take 400 degrees F all day long without problems) don’t give off toxic chemicals.
Now, cheap silicone caulk or peroxide cured silicone can give off nasty stuff when BURNED at 900F+ but platinum cured silicone can take 400 – 600F all day long without releasing anything.
Pure pewter will melt. Many pewter alloys contain lead or antimony though – so you have to watch out for that.
@CutThroughStuffGuy
you dont use the PVC as the bowl you use PVC as the tube
i find glass to be the best for bowls and a glass bowl can be made with a torch and a light bulb
punch out the bottom pull the filament out … remove the white powder with salt (fill 1/4th salt and shake) than heat up the top of the bulb until glowing red than push it inward until its concave (or suck on the other end if you can take the heat) than reheat and puke a small hole in it with a small eyeglass screwdriver
you can get fancy with a screw base on the bowl
another common method is take a short 1/4th inch copper tube and stick a bolt driver head on it than push in a standard pipe screen
personally i find smoking threw copper painful as it leaves a copper taste
poke*
Our culture does not embrace smoking in any other form than the cigarette. the hookah is immediatly associated with illigal marajuana use and/ or Arab cultures, be it in a peacefull or hatefull way.
i too agree that this is not quite Hackaday material. Perhaps Craftaday.
CutThroughStuffGuy: Copper forms cupric oxide on its surface when exposed to moisture and/or heat. It’s a toxic dust that will cause severe lung problems. Brass should be fine though.
Silicone may or may not be a wise choice, there are a number of different formulations. Some are designed to take upwards of 600 degrees, but others will give off gasses at 200. I like to remind people that your lighter gets over 2500 degrees.
PS: PVC releases a lot more than just chlorine gas, but all sorts of stuff including DEHP, BPA, Hydrocloric acid, etc. It doesn’t even need to get very hot to offgas, so people who claim it’s fine so long as it’s not near the bowl are dangerously ignorant.
Brass contains copper though. And almost always some lead. In general, I would suggest avoiding copper too.
Addition cured (platinum) cured silicone is fine up to about 700F or so for a while – 900F for short bursts. Any other kind, like single cure caulk (moisture cure) or peroxide (tin) cured silicone would not be fine. Silicone will eventually break down and burn above 900F (or lower if it has a ton of fillers in it).
Stay the hell away from PVC at any elevated temperature. You are right it gives off all kinds of nasty stuff. I don’t cut it on my laser cutter for this very reason. BPA in PVC though? I thought the decomposition products of hard unplasticized PVC did not include BPA – but epoxy or polycarbonate would. Same for DEHP and other phthalates – how often are those added to rigid PVC? PVC releases hydrochloric acid when burned as well. Nasty stuff.
Glass works very well as a material to be heated. Prone to stress fracturing due to thermal gradients though but other than that it is fairly inert.
Holy crap! I didn’t know that my hookah made it on this website until just now.
definatly a hack
hey look my hookah, it’s not as elaborate as the one above, but works very well
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn6/emmanuel_rguez/PICT0125.jpg
Funny to fear copper since most normal heaters and waterheaters in your house use copper pipes and heatexchangers, and that’s good since copper prevents bacterial growth.