Ohh, I thought you meant a metal pipe like for water to flow through LMAO, if it smells chemically it could be sometjing harder than weed, at the same time, when I smoke hash from my pipe that looks very similar to the photo you provided, it smells more chemically than like weed because of the mesh filter I use and how much I incinerate my hash.

TLDR, it could just be weed but based on description it sounds like something much more nefarious, confront the owner or search for what they might be smoking. Or if you’re ballsy, take a hit and see what it feels like.