By Spencer Grey
If you’ve been browsing our site for a while, or if you’ve recently been initiated into the world of water pipes, bongs, and dab rigs, you’ve probably heard the term “recycler” and wondered what they are and what they do for your smoking experience. We’re going to give you a short and sweet overview of everything you need to know about recyclers, and how they can bump up your smoking bliss!
So, What is a Recycler?
Put simply, a recycler is a water pipe design, primarily seen on dab rigs, that use a second chamber to “recycle” your smoke or vapor. They are designed in a loop so that the airflow goes from the second chamber back through the first chamber, which means the smoke or vapor gets filtered multiple times.
When smoke is pulled through a percolator, it’s trapped in bubbles and flows out into the pipe’s main chamber. At this point, those bubbles pop, the water flows back down to its main reservoir, and the smoke continues on its way.
When there’s a recycler at work, the water and smoke keep cycling through two or more chambers. What does this mean?
Significantly greater filtration
Super-smooth and cooled hits
Better, more complete flavor
Thanks to its near-constant contact with water, your smoke or vapor doesn’t have time to get stale. Another surprising benefit is that your piece is actually less likely to get dirty, since gunk tends to stick to dry surfaces much better than wet ones.
Types of Recyclers
You’ll find that there are multiple types of recyclers on the market, and crazy new variations with crazy new names are being added all the time. That said, there are three basic types of recyclers, and getting a grasp on those will be enough to help you find what you need.
Standard (External)
This recycler is the easiest to produce and the most common that you’ll find. In this design, two chambers are connected by a piece of glass tubing that’s external to both chambers.
Octopus’s Garden Ultimate Recycler Dab Rig
As you can see from this example, the number of recycler arms is limited only by the size of the rig!Internal (aka “Incycler”)
From the union of “internal” and “recycler”, incyclers are a little more complex than your standard external recycler. There are actually two types. One type uses an external arm to shuttle water from the first chamber to the second, where the drain tube is on the inside of the chamber.
With the other type, water moves through slits at the top of the drain instead of travelling outside of the chamber with an external arm.
Internally Inverted Beaker Recycler Dab Rig
The above is an example of the first type of incycler, with an internal drain tube.
Klein
The most complex of the three types, the Klein style combines elements of both the external and internal recyclers. They resemble incyclers in terms of design, but rather than having the drain go right down to the bottom of the chamber, it exits the body of the pipe and then curves back around and inside.
It’s one way to prevent the drain from interfering with the percolator, and it looks pretty sweet to say the least.
So there you have it! There’s nothing intimidating about recyclers once you know what they are. And once you take your first chilled and filtered hit from a recycler rig, you’ll understand exactly what all the fuss is about.
Check out our full selection of dab rigs to find your future recycler setup, and don’t forget you can always convert one of these rigs into a dry herb pipe with compatible items from our bowl pieces page!
