it can be =\ even fatty nugs will crumble to fine ash if your using a torch lighter or just taking good old fashion gigantic hits and burnin the fuck out of it, i seen nugs burst into dust and fly down ppls throats - that my friends, is true entertainment i havnt used metal pipes with any regularity for awhile, i have my little chamber piece for takin on trips as a cheap pipe i can chuck if i need to but if i have my choice its glass always...and forever glass theres no reason to use a screen on glass (most especially a bong) piece if its even decent the hole in the bowl wont be all that big