Exploring the World of Perc’s

Almost every year an artist comes out with a new style of perc (sometimes spelled perk, short for percolator) to add more variety, or to simply try to increase efficiency. More often than not people will assign more than one name to the same style of perc. This can make knowing what you want and how to describe it difficult. This is why HighRollerSmoke has put this list of perc together to help navigate this industry. Underlined titles link to products on our site.

Perc-Barrel

Barrel percolators are percs that are in the shape of a barrel. They create a smooth even diffusion with a nice draw.

Perc-Circ

A circ perc is a circular percolator that usually contains numerous rings with spacing between them. The rings are usually stacked and contain slits. Unlike the showerhead perc which comes down into a single circle.

Perc-Cross

This percolator is designed with a center that has multiple circle pieces branching out from it. Each of these circles has slits in the form of a cross.

Perc-Crystal Ball

Crystal ball percs are a circular perc with angled slits intertwining across it. It is shaped somewhat like a grenade and is one singular piece.

Perc-Disc

Disc percolators are circular percs which resemble a disc. Disc percs have slits around the outside for filtration and diffusion. If it has a large number of small holes throughout it is usually referred to as a honeycomb perc.

Perc-Dome

Dome percolators are shaped like a dome that sends the smoke to its bottom where slits release and defuse into water.

Perc-Donut or Halo

Donut percs are a circular perc that has a hole in the middle to provide extra filtering of the smoke and can double as a splash guard in certain pieces.

Perc-Fab Egg

Named after the Faberge egg, this perc has an egg shape with holes for percolation.

Perc-Honeycomb

Honeycomb percs are a type of disc perc but they have a concentrated diffusion because they usually have at least 30 small holes through which the smoke must pass. These holes must remain large enough or the draw will be too forced.

Perc-Inline

Inline percolators are straight tubes consisting of slits or grids leading inside a perpendicular chamber.

Perc-Inset

Inset percs are contained inside the chamber of the water pipe and are an indented perc that create a pocket. They can sometimes be found doubled up with one inside of the other.

Perc-J Hook

A J-Hook perc is in the shape of an upside-down J. It usually connects to a different type of perc for a combination of filters.

Perc-Jellyfish

A Jellyfish perc is similar to the sprinkler perc in that is operates like an old school sprinkler system and sends water splashing against the glass to create a beautiful effect, but it is in the shape of a jellyfish.

Perc-Matrix

Matrix percs are a cylindrical chamber with vertical and horizontal slits or grooves that the smoke passes through.

Perc-Ratchet

Ratchet percs are a type of disc perc with holes only lining the perimeter of the disc instead of any in the center.

Perc-Reti

Reti percolators consist of one cylinder with slanted slits on the outside, and another cylinder wrapped around the first with slits slanted the other direction.

Perc-Showerhead

Showerhead percolators have a narrow vertical tube that the smoke travels up through then goes down into a widened round chamber at the bottom. The widened bottom is rounded out unlike the matrix perc.

Perc-Sprinkler

A sprinkler perc is a dome with multiple tubes sticking out in all directions. It operates like an old school sprinkler system and sends water splashing against the glass to create a beautiful effect.

Perc-Stemline

Stemline percs are a style of inline percolator that starts straight off the joint.

Perc-Stereo Matrix

Stereo matrix percs are two smaller matrix percolators stacked on top of each other. These can be misrepresented in some pieces, but they usually are directly connected to one another.

Perc-Swiss

Swiss percs are a diffusion system using holes added to the pipe that do not create an area for air to enter the piece. The holes cause both the water and smoke to separate and reform and can usually be found on a disc in the piece but has expanded to other styles.

Perc-Tongue

A tongue perc resembles a tongue and defuses through the slits on the top. Some artists even add a pink or red color to further resemble a tongue.

Perc-Tree

Tree percolators are one of the most used percs in the industry. This is a direct result of their outstanding performance. Some percs create too much drag and cause the piece to be difficult to hit, but this is not the case with tree percs. The tree perc is formed by several tubes with a hole on the bottom of each, and slits on the sides. The hole on the bottom is removed on some to force more smoke through the slits. The number of tubes in the tree per vary but usually have at least eight.

Perc-Turbine

Turbine percs are a type of disc perc with angled slits around the outside. The angled slits create a spinning effect which both diffuses and cools the smoke while creating a stunning visual effect.

Perc-UFO

UFO percs have typically been another term for a style of showerhead percs, but we have an actual UFO perc in our Tsunami line of products that is shaped like a UFO spaceship.

Perc-Waffle

Waffle percs are disc percs except they have holes rather than slits. Their name comes from its resemblance to a waffle fry.

Be sure to create an account so you can stay up to date on blog posts and new inventory!