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I want to paint a small metal smoking pipe. All of the paint I can find that's "high heat" / heat resistant says it can go up to 1200F, but apparently a regular bic lighter can get up to 3500F!

Is there any paints that can withstand this? Or perhaps a special coating to go over the paint? Or perhaps the paint part doesn't get as hot and in worrying for nothing?

There has to be an answer as I've seen pipes with paint on them before.

stackers
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  • Nah, a smoking pipe, commonly found in direct contact with a bic lighter :) sorry for the confusion – stackers Dec 09 '16 at 16:51
  • You should [edit] that into the question. That reduces confusion as lets us know that you are working on... which I am assuming is glass and not metal now? This should also be clarified. Most pipes I see (glass) the glass is coloured not painted... I don't look at pipes much – Matt Dec 09 '16 at 16:52
  • Edited! And they are in fact metal. They typically come painted, so there must be some paint that works. – stackers Dec 09 '16 at 16:55
  • Thanks for updating the question. Someone should be able to help. – Matt Dec 09 '16 at 16:55
  • There must be a paint that can be used because these small metal one-hitters come painted like cigarettes it's just that after a while the paint comes off so there must be something to redo it with. – B.C. Oct 08 '18 at 15:54
  • thats what I thought too – stackers Oct 09 '18 at 19:29
  • I don’t think that they’re necessarily painted. Maybe anodized? Just a thought. I haven’t ever heard of a paint that was safe to apply any amount of heat to without the concern of some hazardous reaction. – Randi Oct 23 '18 at 01:14

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After looking into a few options that you might have already seen I think this will be a safety concern for yourself that you should best avoid.

I am not insinuating what you do with the pipe but this discussion has come up before on a few forums about pipe smoking.

The consensus is don't risk doing it. From a general standpoint you cannot guarantee that the paint, once sealed/cured/dried etc, wont react in some way once heated regardless of the temperature limit. I know this does not meet your threshold but consider the MSDS for Rustoleum High Heat Spray which is designed for resistance extreme temperatures (1200ºF). It list several chemicals that are known carcinogens1. It is also worth noting these types of paints were not meant for direct flame contact.

Sure you might not paint near the bowl.. but why risk it anyway? If you are trying to personalize it it might just be better to buy one that already has what you are looking for. I don't know what the motivation for painting it though. Personalization was just a guess

1. I understand those chemicals are listed as present in the can before sprayed but surely enough of them are still present in the paint and have the potential to be released later.

2. This forum post goes a little off topic but the sentiment of not painting a metal pipe is shared.

Matt
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    Of note is the final part of that forum, and my first thought: the coloring on the pipes as purchased is probably not paint but anodized or electroplated metal. –  Dec 10 '16 at 03:06