my brother made one out of small metal pipes. not a smoking pipe but like a tube pipe. they were small as hell though and he had to put a bent up paper clip in the bowl so the bud didnt go straight into your mouth when he breathed in
Please read the entire thread I linked before pronouncing all the ideas as coke-bottle cheap. It's intended as a work in progress and there are a few contributions there.
well the great thing is two of those pieces there you dont have to use tinfoil (potato and apple pipes you can cut in a little nitch to put the weed in if you dont like tinfoil). But honestly if you want to make your own piece it doesnt get much nicer than those. Unless you want to carve out your own wooden bowl (although i prefer smoking out of tinfoil than inhaling smoke from the wood). also if you read a little further into theres links saying tin foil isnt harmful but i think you have to use your own judgement on that one.
actually you could make one out of wood. i know someone who carved an entire pipe out of a piece of wood. easy to fuck up but if you dont want tin foil i dont see another way besides buying one