What would be your choice for a quick and secure way to hitch on to a smooth pole or pipe? I am looking for a hitch for pulling 20' sticks of copper pipe or galvanized pipe up on roofs. Right now I am considering using a short loop of small diameter rope or maybe even webbing, and just make a Klemheist and hook my haul rope into it.
I don't think this is the right application for a lengthwise pull hitch, if that is what you are talking about. Lengthwise pull hitches should only be used on objects where slippage will not be catastrophic. That is not the case here. If something isn't applied right, you could drop a pipe and have it crash through a window or worse. You need something more foolproof.
I assume your buildings are fairly tall if you can't merely hand off 20 foot pipe lengths.
A quick, safe method would be to insert rods into the ends of the pipe. They don't have to be tight fitting. At the center of each rod, drill a hole to help to attach the rope ends. See the attached image. The rods are shown in blue.
After you have it made, there are no knots for the help to mess up. Just insert the rods, hoist, and remove the rods. You could even hoist a bundle of pipe at once, if the bundle is secure enough. A stepped rod or some hose for protecting the rope from the pipe edges would be a nice addition.