how to choose a the right bong for you

A Guide To Purchasing A Marijuana Bong

By Marley Fumar and Amelia Sense

Are you thinking about buying a new bong? Let’s be real: what stoner isn’t always on the lookout for a new bong? But if your piece is broken, or if you’re sick of cleaning it, or if you happen to have come into some extra money, or if you need to upgrade from your resinated old pipe, or if you’re just in the mood for a new high, then you’re probably thinking seriously about buying a new bong. Even if you are perfectly happy with your current piece, every bong could use a partner, or a party, of other devices.

Without even thinking about pipes, chillums, steam rollers, vaporizers, or any other devices used for smoking, shopping for bongs can be overwhelming. There are so many varieties to choose from including glass, acrylic/ plastic, ceramic, and wooden (bamboo, for the most part). Glass is classic, of course, and it’s a material that is hard to go wrong with. Plastic bongs are the cheapest (yet still effective) bongs, ceramic bongs often come in crazy, fun, and beautiful designs, and bamboo boasts durability and style. Buying a bong is ultimately a matter of personal preference, and gaining all the knowledge of the existing options can take years of experience and exposure. Hopefully I can at least point you in the right direction or give you a better idea of what type of bong you’re looking for.

The first question you should ask yourself is what will this bong be used for? We all know the obvious answer, but more specifically: what will be the bong’s environment? Are you going to use it once a week or three times a day? Are you going to use it as a personal piece or pass it around when people are around hanging out? Are you going to take it with you on road trips? Are technicalities important to you? How often (be honest with your lazy selves) are you going to clean it? All of these factors should contribute to your decision making process when it comes time for you to choose a bong, be it your first or your fifteenth.

If this is your first bong, be mindful of your lung capacity. If you

Bigger bongs have a better chance of breaking. They take up more room, and subsequently are more often in the way of other activities. Though big bongs are usually awesome to hit, make sure that you have a safe place to store your bong (any piece, but especially larger ones) that will reduce that chance of breakage. And speaking of breaking…decide if you are going to be the only person using the bong. Friends who don’t know not to just drop ice onto the ice-catcher or percs, or who don’t know to not take the downstem out of the marbles, or who don’t know how to hold onto the bong properly are the number one way bongs get broken. Simply having your bong on the living room table or in the garage puts it at a greater risk of being kicked or hit and knocked over than keeping it on the shelf above your clothes dryer or tucked under your bed, but we often like to show off our best pieces to our friends.

A very technical, easy to break, glass bong

If you’re planning on being the only one to use your bong and are confident that it will be kept safe, you should try out a really technical bong. Although these can get expensive, the cool, clean hits they produce, and the optimal THC absorption are worth the extra money. Generally, technical pieces mean glass; attachments, diffusers, percs, splash guards, ice catchers, and ash catchers also come to mind. Glass that is fragile or precarious is also best applied to personal or controlled use, and these pieces remain successful because of their intricate and often beautiful designs.

Do not be discouraged, however, from buying a glass piece just because of their breakability. There are many glass bongs that are quite sturdy and ideal for casual, everyday use. Soft glass is generally a good thickness (but be cautious with setting it down too roughly because the glass is thinner in the blown-out bottom chamber). Glass straight pipes or beaker bongs are also fairly sturdy for frequent activity and for being passed hand to hand as long as the height isn’t outrageous. Inevitably, when thinking about glass bongs, you have to think about attachments: ash catchers, party bowl (male) pieces, extra percolators, single snap pieces, upgraded downstems (females), ect. I’ve seen stoners interchange and build on their attachments like leggos. Of course a quality bong without anything added on can be ideal in its simplicity and structure, but accessorizing is definitely a point to ponder.