The color indicator tube (also referred to as the Drager Tube or Stain Tube) is a device many natural gas pipelines use for a quick and rough measurement of moisture. Each tube contains chemicals that react to a specific compound to form a stain or color when passed through the gas. The tubes are used once and discarded. A manufacturer calibrates the tubes, but since the measurement is directly related to exposure time, the flow rate, and the extractive technique, it is susceptible to error. In practice, the error can be as high as 25 percent. The color indicator tubes are well suited for infrequent, rough estimations of moisture in natural gas; for example, if the tube indicates 30 pounds of water, there is a high degree of certainty that it is over 10 pounds.