A blowpipe is a long steel rod with a hole that runs from end to end so that air can be forced from the glass blower's mouth into the glass gather to create the bubble that will become the interior of the vessel.
Unlike the blowpipe, a punty has a solid end. The rod that makes up most of the punty can be solid or hollow (and thus lighter weight). Often, after a vessel is blown with a blowpipe, it will be transferred to a punty so that the artist can work on the opposite end of the glass.
The word punty is also used to refer to the glass rod(s) (often borosilicate) on which lampworkers will gather glass for creating canes and other objects.
Punty (also French "pontil") comes from the Italian word punto, meaning point.
