According to an interview with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo, "Hash Pipe" was written on the same night as the song "Dope Nose" off Maladroit.

The story goes that Cuomo took "a bunch of Ritalin and had like three shots of tequila," paced around for a while, then wrote both songs.

[3] Since late 2001, the band has played the song live with a reworked guitar solo that no longer follows the verse melody.

AllMusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine chose "Hash Pipe" as one of the 4 highlights from the album.

[9] Slant Magazine writer Sal Cinquemani wrote that the song "is further evidence of the band's punk rock origins, with its crunchy guitar licks and sticcato (sic) vocals scorched with the residual edge leftover from the alt-rock boom".