Bong School

This is my breakdown if everything I know about bongs:

We are all familiar with the standard shape of the bong:



We'll start where the herb starts: the bowl.

bowls come in basic

and fancy


a bowl is a bowl, and it holds the weed for you to burn.

The bowl connects to the downstem on a regular bong, but we'll cover everything here. On expensive glass the next step after the bowl should be an ashcatcher

An ashcatcher is essentially a mini bong before your bong. Its purpose is to catch the largest pieces of ash and to help keep your expensive glass clean. It does smooth out the hit somewhat, but not to a great extent.


that ashcatcher has a removable downstem between it and the bowl.


that ashcatcher is built into the bowl.

The next step from there is the downstem.
On nice glass, the downstem should be diffused, which means that instead of one large hole at the end there are smaller holes



that downstem has slits. The reason for the smaller holes is that if the smoke is filtering through smaller bubbles, more pieces of ash will be caught, since there is less room for them to hide from the water.

The next step is further filtration of the smoke, through percolators. Percolators are simply another level of water filtration. Usually there are three downstems that go into a water chamber, though I have seen as many as 10 stems on one level.

This is a diffused percolator.

some bongs have percs stacked on top of each other.

This RooR has 2 percs:


The final step is to cool the smoke. Many modern bongs comes with indents in the sides of the main body, these are known as icecatchers, as they can be used to hold ice in place. The smoke will pass over the ice and become cooled, making for an easier pull. The above RooR has an icecatcher in use.

Illadelph has a unique method of cooling smoke, through a glycerin coil that is put in the freezer (glycerin will not freeze) and the smoke passes through a glass tube that in suspended in the glycerin.


Part 2: Bong Accessories

Lighter:
The universal agreement is that bics are the cleanest burning and cleanest tasting lighters for use smoking. You can never go wrong with a bic.



What's bad: Torch lighters and wicked lighters (zippos) why? A torch will demolish your herb, and the added heat is of no value whatsoever. Zippos taste like shit due to the inefficiency of their burn and their fuel.

^^Torches are bad, mmmkay?

Some people use alternate methods of igniting their herb, to avoid any burning contaminants, illadelph supplies heat wands (glass rods) that are first heated to red hot then touched to the herb to ignite it. Other people use soldering irons to the same effect. heat guns are also used, though uncommon.


an illadelph heat wand.

Screens: screens help keep your glass clean and stop you from pulling through unburnt herb. Screens come in glass and metal. I only use glass screens, I prefer the flower shaped ones. Metal screens are slightly more effective, but some have said that using metal can lead to health issues in the future. The screen goes in the bowl, and blocks the hole in such a manner as to make many smaller holes.


a metal screen


different shapes of glass screens


if there's something I forgot, let me know and I'll add it!

your the f*ckng man +rep. I always wondered about some of that stuff. great post man

thanks man! this info is great! maybe I'll go buy one now

haha you must have been bored

Metal (bronze/steel) mesh filters AKA 'gauzes' or 'screens' need to be burnt over a candle before you put them in your bongs bowl.
this is because the metal has a coating of plastic, to stop the blade that cuts it into shreds slipping. they arent meant for use in bongs, they are pipe filters, for plumbing.

if you find the gauze is too large or keeps POPPING out of the bowl when heated, you can just cut it into a smaller circle using scissors.
curved nail scissors work best.

dont inhale too hard, try to avoid using a lighter with an overly powerful flame, as it means your inhaling more waste hydrocarbons.

you should burn the weed and stop there. dont try to get the most out of the bowl by flaming the ashes.. youll only heat up the mesh [glowing red] and inhale unwanted metal

maybe add some of that to your bong post, mkay?

You've only covered glass bongs?

Good guide so far but you've got ages to go..

Acrylic, Wooden, Metal etc

I love bongs, but I can only hit it solidly 50% of the time.(Sad I know). Does practice make perfect or should some leave the bong alone?

some bongs are built very inefficient.
for example:
when you fill the smoking chamber with smoke by sucking, youll want to exhale that 'empty' portion before going on to inhaling the column of smoke..

as well as this, you shouldnt over-inhale, even if theres a tiny bit of smoke left, the amount of excess air you breath in makes it pointless.

when you figure out how to get a neat column of smoke in you without diluting it with too much air, and manage to hold it for at least 10 seconds. youll only need one bowl

gravity bongs [2 litre bottle with bottom cut off, submersed in water] use this principle, since you cant suck in anymore air before or after the smokes gone

i watched this video 3 or 4 years ago, built a simmilar one and never went back [well, till i figured out how to use a bong more efficiently, even then it doesnt come close to the gravity bong]

Not your standard gravity bong

I don't plan on going over practice and use right now, nor do I plan on going over different materials (what is there to cover anyway? durability?)

This thread was done to show new people what all these crazy bong terms mean when we talk about diffusers and percs and whatnot.

Though I might add that other stuff later.

I think the safety tips are quite important, people using foil or people who overburn there screens can end up with Alzheimers at a young age.

no ones fussed with multi-colored lighters and glass.
btw, glass is an inefficient bong material as the cannabinoids tend to stick to the cold sides, this happens especially more when ice is involved. in actuality your distilling all the goodness straight out of the smoke, condensing onto the ice as it passes it. when you pour your bong water out, notice an oily film ontop. that should be in your bloodstream, not your bong.. once you try a nice bamboo bong youll never go back

try a bong with lukewarm water in, no ice,
youll only need to take one or two hits, compared to your usual round of like 5 hits with an ice bong, thinking your cool, throwing your weed out the window

hey, Can you tell me what a "choke mechanism " is?

http://www.bongs-sale.com/prod/Giant-Pampering-Long~Foot-Glass-Water-Bong/

looks like a flue, like the kind in a fireplace. you can open and close a flap to control airflow.

This guide is great, Bookworm. It's too bad people can't appreciate it without nitpicking. You would almost think that seeing a knowledgeable opinion somehow calls into question their own prowess and makes them go on the defensive.

Mokie is right, though, you have a long way to go. You can hardly expect people to pay attention to it until you have included a list of the exact chest and neck muscles involved in taking a great bong rip, as well as the ideal order of contractions. Who do you think you are?!

good shit man keep it coming

so do you own any illadelph glass...?

Good shit bookworm


Post some of you bongs

You forgot to mention techniques: such as milking, clearing, and etc.

Also, have you heard of the pieces that attach to the whip of a vaporizer and the other end fits in the downstem? They work pretty well...

beginningbotanist420 said:

You forgot to mention techniques: such as milking, clearing, and etc.

Also, have you heard of the pieces that attach to the whip of a vaporizer and the other end fits in the downstem? They work pretty well...

Click to expand...

I have in fact heard of these, but have yet to see one in person.

I guess I should write up a bit more and add it on.


Well, for some reason, there is no edit button on my original post, so bong school continues here:

How to spot (and pick out) a quality bong:
Alright, bongs come in three levels of quality: absolute shit, poor, and good. An absolute shit bong has one thing wrong with it: it cannot hit well. Maybe it's cracked, or missing an O-ring (more on those later) or has mismatched parts, but you just don't get that luscious, thick smoke that bongs are known for. My sister has a bong like this, I avoid it like the plague. The way to test if a bong hits well is ridiculously simple: cover the bowl with your palm and pull on the mouthpiece like you're taking a hit. If you can pull in air you've got a bad bong, don't use it, or if it's a cheap bong, check the seals.

If the bong is a Glass on Glass (GonG) and does not seal well, you're straight outta luck. If it's a cheaply made bong (trust me, you'll know) try rotating the bowl to see if it fits better another way, and if it has an O-Ring (rubber ring) on the bowl stem, try moving it up and down the stem tp make a better seal. You may need to press down on the bowl to make the o-ring seal while you're hitting it. If you're on a budget, this is something you may have to deal with.

Once you've determined if the bong has a solid seal (or at least a tolerable one) it's time to check build quality. This is all about the glass. Is the glass of uniform thickness, does it have any imperfections, bubbles, cracks, or other issues? (Don't listen to the guy behind the counter, ANY deviation from how the glass should look is a weak point, and you don't want anything to do with it). The thicker the glass is the better. A KEY point to look for problems is where the downstem meets the main chamber.

As long as the piece you're looking at has good build quality and nice glass, anything else you want is up to you.

Hitting the bong:
Hitting a bong can be either no big deal, or quite an accomplishment, depending on the circumstances. Hitting a 10" tall bong is not a problem, get your source of ignition, place it over the bowl and inhale, when you're ready, pull the bowl and clear that chamber like a champ.

Hitting a larger bong is more complex though, they hold such a large volume of air that taking a "normal" hit isn't very efficient. What you want to do here is pull on the bong until you taste smoke in your mouth, then exhale (NOT back into the bong) all that clean air you just pulled, then pull the bowl and clear the bong. What size bong you can clear all depends on your lung capacity, and practice makes perfect.

The techniques mentioned by beginningbotanist420 of milking, clearing, etc.

Milking: pulling slowly and in a very controlled manner, so as to make the smoke as thick as possible, and maximize the size of the hit.

Clearing: pulling the bowl and sucking all the smoke right out of the bong.

Like a champ: Not being phased by your hit.

Cornering: Holding the source of ignition in such a manner so that you take the greens only in a corner of the bowl, rather than torching all that clean taste for yourself.

or taking a snapper: loading up about 0.2 of ground tree into a bowl, control your draw so that you can blow that whole bowl, snap it through and clear the residual smoke all in the same breath...which having an EXCELLENT bong will help you with, and every body gets fresh green taste every time...

If you have a glass on glass you might run into the problem of the diffuser wanting to get stuck in the bong. If you gently but firmly try to wiggle it free you can probably get it out, but don't try to force it. You can try boiling it and then firmly wiggling it out. Ever since mine first got stuck I've started lubing it with a bit of vaseline before each use and never ran into a problem since.