16 Different Types of Bongs Explained: Which is Right for You?
Smoke MEGA |
There are sixteen types of bongs worth knowing, and only four decisions separate them. What it is made of, what shape it is, how it filters, and whether it is really a bong at all.
Glass for flavor, silicone if you drop things. Beaker for water volume, straight tube for a fast pull. One percolator suits most people, more if harshness is the problem you want fixed.
Then there are pieces that get shelved with bongs but work differently, like hookahs and electric rigs.
Sorted into those four groups below. Three of the sixteen are types we do not stock, and they are marked, because a guide that only covers one shop's inventory is not much of a guide. If you already know the shape you want, skip to our bong buying guide.
By Material
1. Glass Bongs
The default, and for good reason. Borosilicate glass is inert, so it adds nothing to the taste, and it copes with temperature changes far better than cheap soda-lime glass.
It is not flameproof. Hold a jet flame on one spot and borosilicate cracks like any glass. What it gives you is the cleanest flavor of any material here. Shop the glass range.
2. Silicone Bongs
Food-grade silicone that bends instead of breaking. Drop one and nothing happens, and plenty of models fold or come apart for a bag.
The one rule is keep flame off the body, because silicone melts. Every decent silicone piece uses a glass bowl so the heat lands on glass. Full picture in silicone bongs explained.
3. Ceramic Bongs
Ceramic trades transparency for sculpture. It moulds and paints before firing, so shapes and detail are possible that glass cannot do.
The downsides are weight, and that you cannot see inside to know how dirty it is. We carry one, the 10" Multi-Color Ceramic Beaker.
4. Acrylic Bongs
The cheap plastic option. Light, hard to break, usually in bright translucent colors, and the standard first bong for a lot of people.
Flavor is the trade, and it is a real one. Plastic picks up smell and taste in a way glass does not. We do not stock acrylic. If you want cheap and unbreakable, silicone does the same job without the plastic taste.
5. Bamboo Bongs
Traditional, sustainable, and about as far from a lab-look piece as you can get. Bamboo is tough and gives a distinctly earthy session.
It also absorbs, so cleaning is harder and the piece changes over time. Not something we carry.
By Shape
6. Beaker Bongs
The shape everyone pictures. A wide flat base holds a lot of water, which means more cooling, and puts the center of gravity low enough that a knock does not tip it.
The best all-round starting point. Browse beaker bongs.
7. Straight Tube Bongs
Less volume between the bowl and your mouth, so it clears faster and takes less lung to finish. Quicker and sharper than a beaker of the same height.
Less water though, so less cooling. We put the two head to head in beaker vs straight tube.
8. Zong Bongs
A zig-zag neck instead of a straight one. The bends are not only decorative. Water heading up towards your mouth has two corners to get round first, so splashback drops off sharply.
Not eliminated. Overfill it and you will still catch some. Shop zong bongs.
9. Travel and Mini Bongs
Scaled down to fit a bag or a cup holder. Some in glass, some in silicone, some that come apart into pieces.
Smaller chamber means less water and a warmer hit, which is the trade you accept for portability. Shop mini bongs.
By Filtration
10. Percolator Bongs
A perc is an internal glass structure with slits or holes that splits the smoke into small bubbles on the way up. Tree, showerhead, honeycomb and inline are the common styles.
More surface touching water means more heat pulled out. Which style suits you is in percolator bongs explained.
11. Multi-Chamber Bongs
Two or more percolators stacked, so the smoke gets filtered more than once. Cooler and softer than a single perc.
Every chamber also adds drag and another place resin hides. Two is comfortable, three you feel, past that you are working for the hit. We cover where the trade stops paying in multi-percolator bongs.
12. Recycler Bongs
Two chambers joined by external tubes. Water rises with the smoke and drains back down through a second arm, so it never stops moving.
That loop cools hard and pulls water away from the mouthpiece, so splashback is rare. It is also the hardest style to clean. Shop recycler bongs.
13. Ice Catcher Bongs
Pinched indentations in the neck that hold cubes above the water. Smoke passes the ice on its way up and arrives colder.
Simple, cheap to add, and the most noticeable cooling per dollar of anything here. Shop ice catcher bongs.
Not Quite Bongs
14. Hookahs
Built for long social sessions. Coals slowly heat flavored shisha above a large water basin, and multiple hoses let a group share one piece.
Different device, different pace, and the sessions run an hour rather than minutes. Shop hookahs.
15. Gravity Bongs
Mostly a homemade thing rather than a product. Water pressure pulls smoke into a chamber, then pushes the whole lot out at once.
The obvious problem is dose. You get the entire chamber in one go with barely any filtration, which is a lot harder to judge than pulling on a normal bong. We do not sell these.
16. Electric Rigs (E-Rigs)
Battery-powered heating instead of a torch. You set a temperature and the atomizer holds it, which takes the guesswork out of heating a banger.
Built for concentrates rather than dry herb, and you are charging a device rather than refilling butane. Shop e-rigs and wax pens.
Find Your Piece at SmokeMEGA
Most of the range sits under $50, and it all ships from our own warehouse in Los Angeles.
Free shipping on qualifying US orders, 14-day returns with no restocking fee and no return postage to pay, and a free surprise gift on anything over $30. If glass arrives broken, a photo within 14 days gets it replaced.
