TIFU by trying to cut on combustibles when smoking weed

I'll preface this by specifying that I am Canadian, so this TIFU isn't about anything willfully illegal.

3 months ago I have decided that while I like weed, I could do it without burning so much paper down by lungs. I tried vapes but they weren't my thing, good vaporizers are bulky, and as I don't smoke indoor they are not a good fit for me. Same thing with bongs.

So I went to my local headshop and asked them for an alternative to burning papers. I know about pipes, but I don't trust heated up aluminium and I didn't really want anything with potheads motifs on it. Eventually he got a box from under the counter and suggested a nice alternative to pipes: A glass tube, about the size of a large pen, and with a space with a glass separator with a hole on one end to fill with herbs. He assured me that the hole wouldn't let grossly cut herbs pass, and suggested to push a bit a steel wool down as a filter the tube if it became a problem. That thing had a classy look to it, unbranded, handheld and useable with one hand, so I bought it thinking it was ideal. I even went to the grocery next door to get steel wool pads to go along with it, what a nice suggestion that was.

So I've been using that glass pipe for the last 3 months, going on the back porch every other evenings to smoke a bit. Unlike a rolled up joint, I can control my intake by refilling the pipe, I don't inhale paper, it's easy to clean with some agent orange, with a torch lighter it's quick and easy to use, I love it!

Fast forward to today, when my neighbour struck a conversation with me. After a few minutes of talking he asked point blank if I was ok, if my girlfriend took to my "new habit" well, even asked if I needed help. He looked very concerned and I didn't undestand why at all, everything is actually fine and I couldn't phantom what he saw to think otherwise. Then he told me "I know you enjoy weed, and I'm no stranger to it, but escalating to crack will kill you and your relationships". I was so confused, I assured him that I never touched anything like that, that my 3-4 joints a week were enough and maybe even too much, but hard or illegal drugs were not my thing.

He then told me that it was useless to deny it, he and his wife could see me regurlarly using my crack pipe from their kitchen window, that it's been going on for a few months, and he'd prefer if I didn't that inside if I had to do it.

And the it hit me... I've been Googling crack paraphernalia for the last 3 hours, ashamed of myself, angry at the headshop guy who knew exactly what he sold me (suggesting steel wool?! Wow!) and of me using this in front of people. I'm ashamed to go on the back porch now and probably won't go for a while...

TL;DR: I've been unknowingly using a crack pipe to smoke weed in front of the whole neighborhood for 3 months and just got asked not to flaunt my illegal habits by a neighbor.