Glass Pipes Direct

TYPES OF GLASS - WHY BOROSILICATE (or borosil) IS THE STRONGEST

The primary ingredient in glass is silicon dioxide, so the quality and strength of the glass is usually named and categorized by its secondary components.  Soda lime glass is named as the second and third ingredients are soda and lime.  While this glass is not as strong, it has many useful applications like light bulbs and beer bottles.  Lead Glass is used to make shields for X-Rays and gamma rays and has the oxide of lead for its second component.  There is also a silicon 'pure' form of glass made with more than 96% silicon dioxide that is used to create optical fibers.  But the true breakthrough in glass making came in the late nineteenth century when experimentation with adding a new element to the glass was first tested.

Boron was used in the 17th century to add flux to metallurgy, but the true powers of boron were truly revealed when German glassmaker Otto Schott began adding it to his glass recipes. Borosilicate, or Borosil glass, was born with a thermal resistance never thought possible and a strength that some sources state is 'inexplicable'. Since we only use Borosilicate glass in the making of our pipes at Glass Pipes Direct, we found it only appropriate that we explain the inexplicable. The key to the mysterious strength of this glass can be found once again in the atoms. Boron is special because it forms uniquely stable covalent bonds similar to carbon. Carbon's ability to do this is the reason that its the building block for all living (organic) things. The strong bonds that Boron forms at the molecular level translates to strength throughout the glass pieces that are made with it.

We realize most glass pipe consumers do not think about molecular structure when purchasing a glass pipe, but we thought it would be worth explaining why some sites offer such unbelievably low prices.  If you still want to smoke out of a light bulb after knowing all of the facts that is your choice, but at least now you understand why you are buying three pipes a year to replace the broken ones...