High Quality Glass Bongs

A glass bong is a device used to smoke tobacco or cannabis. It is believed that the name ‘bong’ originally came from the Thai word baung (บ้อง), which means a bamboo tube used for smoking. Modern  bongs are made from glass and although they maintain the same basic function as a traditional bamboo smoking pipe they can have many more advanced features. You might also hear people referring to Glass Water Pipes as an alternative name for Glass Bongs.

There are many different types of Glass Bong, the most basic is a straight tube bong. All glass bongs feature a body, a downstem and a bowl. The glass bong will have a mouth piece at the top, a cylinder shaped body,  a tube coming out of the body called the downstem and a bowl where you can put the material you want to smoke.

To use this type of basic glass cylinder bong (sometimes called a Straight Tube Bong) you must first put water in the main body, put the material to be smoked in the bowl, then place your mouth over the mouth piece and inhale while applying a flame to the bowl. Air will be drawn through the material in bowl, which will help it burn and create smoke. The smoke will then be drawn through the water, which helps cool the smoke and finally the smoke will go up the tube and into your mouth and lungs.

We have explained what a very basic tube bong looks like and how it is used. But glass bongs come on many different shapes. The two main shapes you will see are straight tube bongs, which we described above and beaker shaped bongs. Beaker bongs are shaped like a beaker you might find in a chemistry lab. A beaker bong’s flared shape means they can hold more water in the base and because they have a wider base they can be more stable than a straight tube cylinder bong.

Glass bongs are available in many different sizes. The size difference can be how tall the bong is or how wide the bong is. A fairly standard height for a glass bong would be around 15-20 inches tall (40-50 cm) and have a main tube diameter of around 2 inches (5 cm). Of course there are many size variation and at Molino Glass we sell both tall glass bongs and short glass bongs, we even have smaller bongs that are called Mini Bongs, whatever size you want we probably have something you’ll like.

Another thing that can vary from one bong to another is the thickness of the glass used to make the bong and people often ask what glass thickness is best when they are buying themselves a glass water pipe.

In actual fact the thickness of the glass does not affect the bongs performance, but thicker glass is much stronger and a bong made from thick glass will be more stable, especially a beaker bong or a cylinder bong with a nice thick base.

Molino glass bongs come in three main thicknesses 5 mm, 7 mm and 9 mm.

We have described the two types of basic glass bong,  which are the Straight Tube Bongs (also called Cylinder Bongs) and the Glass Beaker Bong. 

But there are some other types of glass bong, these are Percolator Bongs and Stemless Bongs.

A percolator bong is a slightly more advanced type of glass water pipe that incorporates extra features to generate bubbles in the bong water.  This percolation of the water in the bong aids in cooling the smoke and removing impurities.

A percolator bong can be a straight tube bong or a beaker shaped bong, it can be a tall bong or a short bong, the difference however is that these are more advanced bongs designed to create a lot more bubbles and produce a cooler, smoother smoking experience. Part of the enjoyment of smoking a bong is in seeing the smoke and the bubbles when you are using the bong and a percolator bong adds a lot to this experience. We explain percolator bongs in greater detail on our Molino Glass Percolator Bongs page.

A stemless bong is one that has a fixed downstem. Typically this will be vertical as opposed to being at an angle and this can make it easier to use with a quartz banger for smoking cannabis concentrates. Because the downstem is fixed there is one less part to lose or break. Although they look different a stemless bong will work just like a regular glass bong, so choosing one is really just a choice based on aesthetics. Some people just like the look of a stemless bong. You can check out our Molino Glass Stemless Bongs here.

The downstem is the part of the bong that connects the bowl to the main body of the bong. These are usually removable and often feature some slits or holes to help create smaller bubbles. They are sometimes called an adaptor diffuser as they convert the hole on the main body of the bong from a large size into a smaller size. A removable downstem is also easier to clean. 

Most larger bongs made by Molino Glass feature ice notches or an ice ring in the main tube section. These are designed to allow you to put a few ice cubes in the main tube, which will then cool the smoke as it rises up the tube for you to inhale. Using ice is not a requirement to smoke a bong, but if you have ice available its a very nice way to make the smoke super cool.

Glass bongs have several advantages, how important these are is personal preference. A bong is easy to use, some people find rolling their own joints or spliffs to be fiddly and therefore they prefer using a bong for that reason. Bongs also cool the smoke better than a joint or a dry flower pipe, because they pass the smoke through water, making the smoke less hot and dry.

Various studies have shown that glass water pipes do help to filter out some carcinogens and other toxic substances such as tar, which are produced when cannabis burns. This is especially true if the bong has a diffuser or percolator.