Jam is the primary noun serialization function. It allows any noun to be packed into an atom for tranmission over the network or storage on disk. The jammed noun can be unpacked again with the cue function. Jam and Cue are used extensively by the kernel.
Example in the Dojo:
> (jam [1 2 3])3.426.417> (cue 3.426.417)[1 2 3]
Note that vases shouldn't be jammed as non-trivial types pull in a lot of the standard library and result in an enormous jam file. Instead, they should be cue'd to a raw noun and then molded to the desired type.