The bong is a scientific masterpiece for creating a functional yet stylish home accent for consuming dry herbs. It combines hydro-engineering and glass working into an almost perfect smoking device that provides potency, smoothness, and simplicity. Using a bong isn’t rocket science, and a lot of the time it comes down to the piece you’re using, but maximizing its use makes smoking even more enjoyable. Think of it likes its own skill that you begin to perfect. We’ll show you exactly how you can do just that.
How to smoke a bong or water pipe in the most efficient way comes down to four main elements:
Pouring Water
The water inside your bong’s chamber will filter and cool down the temperature of your smoke. It is arguably the most important element of a bong next to the quality of thickness of the glass itself. This enables you to take larger hits of your herbal choice: dry herb, cannabis, marijuana, weed, or tobacco.
So how much water should you add in a bong or water pipe?
This will depend on how your bong is constructed. Standard bongs have glass downstems that enters the bottom chamber at an angle. The downstem will carry and guide your smoke into the chamber. The water level of your bong must cover all openings at the bottom of your downstem including the slits.
With the downstem as your minimum marker for coverage, you will get a hit with the least amount of drag and highest amount of smoke volume. With larger bongs, you won’t need to worry about water splashing into your mouth. If you want smoother smoke that’s cooler but with more drag and less smoke, put more water into your bong. More water also means you are able to clear faster and reduces stale smoke.
Pay careful attention to the temperature of water that you’re using. Cold water is convenient and cools down the temperature of your smoke, it also condenses the smoke making it more potent but sometimes harsh for some. Warm water is an option for those who want a smoother inhale that’s balanced between filtered, cool, and consistent. That may mean you sacrifice some of your smoke’s potency. If you re-use your bong water, it will be at a moderate room temperature without any strong affects on your experience. Be careful to change your water frequently as the longer water stays in your bong, the more difficult it will be to clean and will increase residue build up in hard to reach areas.
Packing The Bowl
Before you begin to pack, make sure to finely grind your herb. If you’re looking for efficiency, not just for your rip but for maximizing the value of your bud, stick to using a grinder. While you could just fit a clump of bud into your bowl, ground herb is easier to inhale, burn, and maximize the surface area of trichomes that will burn from the ember. To make your inhale even easier, be sure to loosely pack the bowl (don’t finger-press it in) so there is a good amount of airflow. Be sure to pick out any stems as well.
Taking A Rip
To smoke a bong, you need to light the herb while inhaling and then remove the bowl to clear the chamber. As a low pressure zone forms which pulls the smoke through the water, pulling out the bowl sends a blast of fresh air to flush out any stale smoke. You should wait at the minimum for the smoke to reach your mouth before removing the bowl.
If you want to make sure each time you or your friends take has a fresh flavour, learn how to corner your bowl. Don’t think that you have to clear the entire bong in one rip. Cornering is simply burning one edge of the bowl at a time to limit the amount of cannabis, herb, bud, or tobacco that’s blackened from the flame. Nobody wants to burn the bowl to reach the untouched bud at the bottom!
Since your herb burns for some time after you light it (often referred to as a “cherry”), you can place your bowl on the joint to inhale before it goes out again.
Choosing a bong
We’ve made this the simplest choice by offering our Plain Jane bong. We’re not the first to make a beaker bong in this classic silhouette, but we didn’t want to complicate something that doesn’t need to be. The glass beaker bong is a staple in every smokers collection.
We recommend thick glass that acts as its own cooling agent, and a straight chamber and neck than enables the most volume of smooth and least resistance when inhaling (a clogged bowl, downstem, or opening leads to inefficient pulls). Although percolators and ash catchers may cool down your smoke further, more choke points lead to more resistance and opportunities for residue to build up and require frequently cleaning.