The history of bongs and water pipes is a very long one. They have been used for hundreds and even thousands of years, mostly in the Asian culture, and were used for smoking tobacco. However, recent discoveries have turned up very old bongs in other cultures like Russia and Ethiopia as well.
Today, bongs are used all over the world for smoking different things besides just tobacco. Cannabis smokers use bongs for smoking dry herb. They can also be used to smoke CBD products and other herbal substances.
The main reason these water pipes are so popular is that it makes the smoking experience so much more pleasant than a regular dry pipe or rolling the herb or tobacco into a paper cigarette or joint. Drawing the smoke from either substance through the water of a bong provides a much cooler and moist feeling smoke that is much easier of the mouth, throat, and lungs.
Even though you can purchase bongs in a huge variety of sizes and shapes, most of them work in a similar way, but they can have different types of parts. If you are new to using a bong, you need to know what all of the parts are, how they can or can not be modified, and what each part does during the smoking experience.
The most common bong shapes are a straight tube or they can have a shape like that of a scientist’s beaker. In distant history, bongs could have been made from metal, pottery, wood, or bamboo, long before glass was invented.
Most bongs today are made from borosilicate glass which is very strong, but they can also be found made from unbreakable silicone, ceramic varieties, translucent acrylics, and wooden tubes.
Different Parts Of A Bong
Besides the body and mouthpiece of the bong, there are other pieces involved that make the entire water pipe apparatus work. The bowl is the round, bulbous piece that holds the dried herb. A thin metal screen is used in the bowl to prevent the herb from being sucked into the bong. Some newer bowls are made with built-in glass screens so the bowl is one piece and easier to clean with no wire screens to replace.
The herb or tobacco is lit on fire inside the bowl and then the smoke is delivered into the bong when someone places their mouth on the mouthpiece at the top and sucks the smoke through and is inhaled. The carburetor is a little hole that the user covers with a finger as he pulls. When the finger is removed it permits the user to clear out the smoke from inside the entire chamber and finish the bong toke.
The Function Of The Downstem
The downstem is a long tube-shaped piece of glass that is open at both ends. It can be removable from the bowl and bong or it might be permanently attached. A permanently attached downstem is harder to clean a detachable downstem. The downstem runs from the bowl of the bong and runs inside the bong into the water. The hole in the top allows the smoke to be pulled through the downstem and the hole in the bottom allows the smoke to be pulled into and through the water when the user sucks on the mouthpiece. As the smoke circles through the water, the smoke is cooled and moisturized. When this is done, the water will bubble as the user inhales.
What Is A Diffused Downstem?
A diffused downstem serves the same purpose as a regular downstem except it is designed differently. Instead of the downstem being open-ended at the down where it goes into the water, it is closed up yet it has slits on the sides at the bottom of the tube. This causes the smoke to be aerated and creates smaller bubbles. It will provide the user with a much smoother and cooler toke.
One might add a percolator to their bong if they choose to. A percolator is simply an extra filter that the smoke can pass through after it comes from the water. A splashguard is another feature that prevents water from getting into the mouthpiece if the bong is being used with heavy percolation.
