agree that it isn't something to get too annoyed bout - and as much as i agree with the idea that the term comes from saying "crack pipe" - they're not even.
your standard freebase pipe is a straight glass tube with gauze or something in it, right?
what australians call crack pipes are what i understand to be hash oil pipes. at least, that's what i use mine for.
sure, people understand the local context of the slang, but it just seems a bit silly to reinterpret it that way.
it's like if someone offered you hash, but they were talking about marijuana or something.
pedantic, maybe. but it's as if people think saying 'crack' is more hard, more street.
some sort of ghetto chic.
kinda lame if you ask me, but each to their own.