Understanding Glassware for Cannabis
By Ryan Najjar
If you’ve hung out with a stoner at their house, you might’ve seen them use some crazy looking pieces of glassware to smoke weed.
They may seem intimidating at first, but understanding how things like pipes, bongs, and bubblers work is simpler than you’d think. Hopefully, after a walkthrough from us, you should be able to use these pieces of glass as adeptly as anyone.
What is a Pipe?
A glass pipe is as straightforward as it gets when it comes to smoking; a straight glass tube with a hollowed-out center, featuring a mouthpiece opening on one end & an adjacent concave bowl with one hole inside & another on the outside.
Ground-up weed gets packed into the bowl, you put your mouth on the mouthpiece, but when does that outside hole come in? Well, that hole, called the “carb”, is essential for controlling how much air comes in when you light the bowl.
You cover it with your thumb to start, as you light the bowl & lightly inhale at the same time. Then, when you’re ready to take your hit, you take your thumb off the carb, inhale harder, and air rushes in to ignite the weed as you breathe in the resulting smoke.
What is a Bong?
Bongs all look a bit different, but they all share the same key features. To start, they all have a base partially filled with water, and a small arm extending from the side featuring a detachable bowl & interconnecting hollow glass stem.
In turn, they also have a larger hollow cylinder extending from the top, which ends in an opening that serves at the mouthpiece.
To smoke with one, pack the bowl with ground weed, light it, and start lightly inhaling from the mouthpiece. When you’re ready for the hit, just pull the bowl out and steadily inhale the smoke inside.
Since some ash & bits of weed will fall into the water, we recommend you dump it out and replace it after every smoke session.
What is a Bubbler?
Now you’re familiar with pipes and bongs, we can introduce you to their child, the bubbler. Like a bong, bubblers feature a base partially filled with water, along with a cylinder extending upward, although it may stem from the side of the glass instead.
Like a standard pipe, though, the bowl is built into the glass, and there’s a carb hole on the side of it. They also sit between bongs & pipes in terms of size. They aren’t small enough to fit in a pocket, but they’re rarely more than 10 inches tall.
Smoke out of it like you would with a pipe, although keep in mind that you’ll need to replace the water regularly like you would with a bong.
Which Works Best For You?
So, which of these types of glassware do you think works best for you? Many have their preference, but many others will just get one of each kind & use them when the time’s right. That’s the beautiful thing about smoking; there’s no one right answer or method.
Go ahead and try one of each kind from a friend, if you can, and see what you feel most comfortable with. Pretty soon, we’re confident you’ll be using glassware with ease!