The Glyco Glycerin Chilled Water Pipe by Ooze is a 6.5-inch borosilicate bong that gets its cold from freezable glycerin rather than from ice. Glycerin sits in the base and in the screened glass bowl. Put the piece in the freezer about an hour before you use it. $50.
Glycerin instead of ice
Ice is the normal way to cool smoke and it has two problems. It melts into your water, which changes the water level mid-session, and it needs a freezer full of cubes and a piece with notches to hold them.
Glycerin is sealed inside the glass instead. It holds cold far longer than water does and it never dilutes anything, because it never touches the smoke path. An hour in the freezer is the whole preparation.
Cold in two places
What separates the Glyco from most chilled pieces is that the glycerin is in the bowl as well as the base. Smoke is hottest at the moment of combustion, so cooling it at the bowl catches the heat before it travels rather than after.
The base then does the second pass. Between the two, the smoke meets cold twice on a path only six and a half inches long, which is how a piece this small competes with much taller glass on temperature.
Perc, joint and mouthpiece
A showerhead perc sits at the end of a fixed downstem, pushing the smoke out through slits so it breaks into many small streams and picks up more water contact. The joint is 14.5mm female, which is one of the two sizes American glass is built around, so replacement bowls and adapters are stocked everywhere.
The mouthpiece is bent. On a short piece with an energetic perc that is not styling — it puts a corner between the waterline and your face and keeps the heat at a distance.
Specs
- Type: Bong (water pipe)
- Height: 6.5 inches
- Material: Borosilicate glass
- Cooling: Freezable glycerin in the base and in the screened glass bowl
- Preparation: About one hour in the freezer
- Percolator: Showerhead
- Downstem: Fixed
- Joint: 14.5mm female
- Mouthpiece: Bent
- Price: $50
Colourways and alternatives
The Glyco comes in a wide range of colours, all the same piece at the same price. Availability moves between them, so it is worth confirming the colour before you settle on one.
Ooze's Kettle silicone bubbler is the near-indestructible option at $40 if durability matters more than cooling. For the same glycerin idea at full size, Kryo's Freezable Glycerin Showerhead XL scales it up, and the Freeze Pipe Beaker puts a glycerin coil into a classic beaker.