Why you should always make sure your glass pipes, glass
bongs and bubblers, or your dab rigs and oil burners are manufactured from borosilicate glass.
The first and only reason is safety and lessening the
risk of serious, life-changing injuries. First, we need to not necessarily
understand physics; but we do have to appreciate some physics. Have you ever wondered
how a thermometer works? It is because when things get hotter, they expand or
get bigger and when they get colder they contract or become smaller. So, when
it’s a warm day the liquid in the thermometer expands and travels up the tube and
on a cold day, the liquid contracts and drops down the thermometer. It’s not
just liquids in a tube that do this, it is everything to a smaller or larger
degree. This degree of how much something expands or contracts is given a
number or coefficient and the lower this number the less a thing expands or
contracts when heated or cooled. The higher the number, the more a thing
expands or contracts with heat or cold. The chemicals and materials used to
make borosilicate glass when combined, create a material with a very low expansion
number. This means that when it is subjected to extremes of heat and cold it
does not expand or contract violently like when you put boiling water into a
glass straight from the freezer and it shatters into hundreds of pieces. This
is because normal glass can only withstand a change of temperature of around 40
degrees Celsius. Whereas borosilicate glass can withstand a temperature swing
of 165 degrees Celsius. It can also hold its shape in heated environments up to
around 500 degrees Celsius. This is why glass cookware is normally made from
borosilicate glass, you might have heard of it as PyrexTM which is a trademark
name for borosilicate glass.
So, before you go using any old bottle or piece of glassware
and think of turning it into a homemade or custom glass bong. Think about
it. Think am I going to heat this glass with a high-temperature heat
source like a jet flame lighter? Could that glass potentially get too hot too
quickly and shatter? Is that glass close to my face and eyes? Is it worth the
risk of losing my sight or the sight of someone else who is vaping from a homemade
glass bubbler you made and who doesn’t know the dangers?
Just because it’s borosilicate glass, It doesn't mean
it's indestructible, it does break if dropped and can crack and become weaker
when you apply heat to glass. Always take care when using heat on any type of glass.
Other things to look out for to prevent accidents or
injuries are:
- · Check
your glassware for defects or cracks. If it is damaged don’t use it, it is much
more likely to break.
- · If
you do break some glass, don’t use your bare hands to clear it up, wear gloves
and use a dustpan and brush before vacuuming the area.
In the event of an accident have a first aid kit to hand
and seek appropriate medical attention
Always take
care and keep safe. A cut or burn may heal well and may not even scar, however,
your sight is a different thing
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