Hi bumclot,
I see it's been some time since your post. If you're still interested, I have some info. Stone pipes hit well if they are made properly. Alot of the cheap ones have small holes, and flat bottom bowls. Not good. You want one with a larger hole (not huge), and a cone shaped bowl. No, they don't get hot, and aren't hard to clean. You want to treat them somewhat gently...no tapping on the ashtray. Mass produced pipes might not be the best way to go. I have a good friend who carves stone pipes. You can see some of his work at stonehands.etsy.com Hope this helps.
justjan Reviewed by justjan on . Stone pipe I broke my glass piece recently, still smokable but I wanna get another piece anyway. I was thinking of going with stone. Does anyone know of any problems with stone pipes? Do they get too hot? Do they not hit well? Bitch to clean? They look sooo nice though, really wanna get one: Carved stone shotgun pipe Stone Hand Pipe Rating: 5