A bong is a long tube with two or three holes, normally enclosed at one end and used to consume cannabis herb. One is for the mouth at the end of the vent, one is for the bowl where the herbs are burnt, and the other is for a “speed-hole,” which is a hole that is covered and exposed to enable the chamber to fill with smoke and then be cleared.

The herb is inserted in the bowl and lit, generally on top of a gauze or tobacco plug. The person then closes their mouth around the end of the herb and inhales deeply, smoking the herb. This draws the smoke into the bong’s chamber, where it can be cooled by bubbling it with ice, water, or something else you can think of. When the herb supply is depleted or the chamber is loaded, then the bowl is raised away or the speed-hole is exposed, enabling the person to inhale the smoke.

What To Search For In A Bong

When it comes to buying a bong for yourself, much like every other purchase, you should take the time to consider a few key variables in determining value.

1. Style

The first consideration is the bong’s design and shape.

The first thing to pay attention to are the bong’s straight tubes that consist of a downstem that leads to a straight tube that has a very constant diameter throughout, but this will differ as percs are added.

Then there are the beaker bases that resemble an Erlenmeyer flask but come with a bulb-like form rather than the triangular shape of the beaker base.

Side cars can be seen as a sort of a combination of the 2, with a smaller width than a similarly shaped straight tube or beaker foundation and a neck that humps back at a ~45-degree angle, lowering the bowl part to around 2 to 3 inches under one’s eye level.

Straight tubes clear faster and provide a little less drag. However, since beakers possess more volume, you can handle a far bigger rip with them. Sidecars are simply cool, and although they aren’t necessarily better or worse than a beaker, they are usually smaller in scale. Oil rigs as well as smaller vessels are often used as recyclers. Basically, the level of water & the suction draw water directly from the initial perc into a pipe and into the chamber where the smoke escapes the mouthpiece and water drains down through the bong’s base.

2. Thickness of the glass

Since all glass may get shattered, we advise you choose the thickest option out there. Always go for a bong that has thick glass construction since a bong made of thin glass is likely to break in a day or two.

3. Physical vs. natural downstem

Natural downstems are simply where the actual bowl part slips through a vertical joint with the tubes leading down to the bong’s base. Physical downstems are glass tubes that can be removed. If you have a natural type of downstem, ensure that the bong has good perc since a natural downstem cannot be upgraded. The benefit of actual downstems, on the other hand, is that you can customize them. You can have them with slits or gaps on the bottom, as well as a showerhead or chandelier perc at the top. This provides you with the ability to upgrade, so if you can find a bong with an all-natural downstem and some killer percs, go for it over one with a downstem; the downstem is just another item to clean or break.

4. Useful things that aren’t necessary

Splash Guards are used in nearly all bongs, so if you’re searching for a bong with perc inside that’s somewhere near your mouth, about 6 inches apart, make sure it has one. They don’t actually add percolation to the item, but they do keep one’s mouth from sucking up the bong water.

Ice catchers are also cool, but they’re not essential. They’re just three indentations present in the conduit that will trap ice crystals you drop off, making smoking much easier.

Ash catchers are also a must-have accessory for every single bong. They’re basically just a different chamber that one plugs into the downstem to add an additional perc to the piece while still collecting all of the pipe’s ash, allowing you to clean just a specific chamber rather than the whole bong. They arrive with almost any kind of perc you can think of.

5. Percs

This is when things start to get complicated. Try a few out to see the one you like the most. Our scoring criteria is based on the sum of drag and then smoothness/bubble motion. Some head shops, such as Smoke Zone, Smoke Rings, and Wilde Side would let you try out their bongs by filling it up and allowing you to drag on it to assess the way it feels on your lungs, something we suggest doing if you have the opportunity. Now it’s time to get down to the flesh and bones of the percs. The scale goes from 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best.

Showerheads resemble a mushroom head with slits running the length of it. Smoothness is a 6/10, and drag is a 9/10.
Turbines resemble a glass disc with many angles slits in it, causing water and smoke to swirl about like a tornado. They have a nice texture to them, with low drag and good bubble action. 5/10 for smoothness, 6/10 for drag.
Disks resemble a glass disc that has sunk a bit from its starting point and resembles the bottom of a soda cup, except that the large area of the disc is solid, whereas the thin areas that your soda cup rests on are smoother and slit along the length of it. They’re good and sleek with low drag, but the bubble motion isn’t great. 6.5/10 for smoothness and 9/10 for drag.
Inlines are a little conduit that goes horizontally through the bong and has slits or holes on the end. The larger the inline, the less drag it will produce, so it is a matter of size. Bubbles and interflow are fantastic and we prefer openings on the top of the tube to slits. 7/10 for smoothness, 4/10 for drag at 2″ length, and 7/10 for drag at 5″ length.
Honeycombs are a kind of glass disc with a lot of holes in them. Percolation and bubble motion are fantastic, with very small drag. On the other hand, if you smoke a tonne of wax/oil, the honeycomb will quickly clog, and the oil will simply collect in the gaps. 8/10 for smoothness, 8/10 for drag
Froth resembles a large tube-like framework with a bunch of slits along the sides that run down to the bottom of the bong’s base. Excellent bubbles and drag efficiency. 7/10 for smoothness, 8/10 for drag
Chandelier resembles a barrel that has a slew of holes all over it. 7/10 for smoothness, 6/10 for drag
Palm Tree arrives with a variety of arm sizes, ranging from three to twelve. Smooth, but challenging to clean effectively with cleaners that are shake-based. 7/10 for smoothness, 7/10 for drag, but the more arms you get, the cooler.
Stereo matrix is hard to describe, but it’s a big ring that’s sunken into the water with a ton of holes and slits all over it. 9/10 for smoothness, 9/10 for drag
Halo has the appearance of an imperfect circle with gaps on the sides and ends. Very cool bubble action that gets stronger when you get more holes. Smoothness 8/10 and drag 8/10 based on hole size and whether halo ends are capped or free.
Fritted Disk is without a doubt the finest perc. It looks like a glass disc in the bong that’s made up of a lot of glass fragments that have been broken up to tiny bits, heated until they adhere, and then sprayed with air to transform the air passageway into perc for smoking. It makes a lot of bubbles. It’s crazy how seamless it is. For Smoothness it gets a 10/10 and for drag a 10/10.

6. The small details that you miss

Cleanup is what most people seem to miss as they go shopping, but depending on your laziness, it will make or ruin your individual smoking experience. If you smoke a tonne of oil, tiny gaps will soon clog with reclaim, and ash and spit will get stuck beneath fritted discs and honeycombs, making cleaning more difficult for you.

Another factor that many people overlook is the scale of the bowl. Joints, downstems, bowl bits, and other items come in two sizes: a 14mm size and a 18mm size. There are several unusual measurements, such as a massive 26mm and the smaller 9millimeter, but the most popular are the 14mm size and the 18mm size.

It’s crucial to keep in mind that if you intend on getting more bongs anytime in the future, making them all make use use of an idential bowl piece is a lot easier, so if you can, have all of them use an identical joint size.

Finally, there’s balance and top heaviness. If you’re looking to apply an ash catcher to your bong, you should initially think about how and if it is top heavy. It would be perfect if it has a good base. If you don’t have one, be cautious when purchasing an ash catcher since the extra weight place on one bong side will make it easier to fall and break.

Let us know in the comments below about your experience with bongs or perhaps your very own advice on this topic.