Bowls, Bongs & Blunts: How Your Smoking Tool Affects the Experience

Smoking weed has transformed from an activity that you did with your friends in the woods to, well, an art form. We’ve all been there, a buddy shotguns his beer so you guys have an empty can. Someone pulls out their keys to poke a hole for your bud as well as a hole on the side in an attempt to create some semblance of a razor sharp, aluminum carb. Someone pulls out some dry seedy cannabis straight from their pocket and drops it on top of the empty can. Everyone would gather ‘round and pass a blisteringly hot aluminum can around, unsure if the coughing fit was because the weed was so damn dry or because the aluminum can was emitting a sundry of noxious byproducts from being heated. Things are different now though. You’re a grown-ass adult and you’re smarter than that (…right? Aren’t you?). We’re all aware of the vast sea of cannabis consumption methods out there these days. Most folks think these just boil down to personal preference but that’s far from the case. Let’s take a look at how your smoking tool affects your cannabis experience.

Bongs

Sure, they can get pricey and aren’t terribly portable but there are lots of benefits to these glass behemoths that make it worth having at least one at your disposal. One of our favorite things about bongs are how unique they are. Think about it, have you ever used a bong and said to yourself, “oh! I know someone who has this exact bong”? Chances are that you haven’t and that’s because there are countless varieties out there so simply the act of shopping for and purchasing a bong is a unique chance to personalize your cannabis smoking tool. That aside, bongs are the powerhouse when you’re wanting to combust your cannabis. Their water reservoir works as a dense filter to capture the hydrophilic garbage before it makes it to your lungs. This is the reason that it is so easy to roast an entire bowl using a quality bong, because the hits are typically much smoother. Some bongs are even equipped to hold ice cubes which cools your smoke even more. As with anything, there are cons involved as well. As we mentioned, bongs can not only get expensive and are difficult to travel with but they can also be a pain in the ass to clean (though there are lovely attachments called ash catchers that help keep your bong significantly cleaner). There is also some discussion around the water reservoir working as a filter for some of the psychoactive THC (the good stuff that you want!). While a bong is a great tool when you want to experience flavor (especially if coupled with hemp wick) or impress your buddies with the size of your hits, we certainly wouldn’t recommend it as a daily driver but instead perhaps a cool coffee table piece. If you’re smitten by the bong and want to constantly utilize it, be sure you’ve got a massive amount of free-time to burn alongside that weed.

Bowls

A tool that has withstood the test of time. As easy to personalize as the bong but much less expensive, much more portable and much easier to clean. What’s the catch? You still have to clean them which is typically a process and one that you should do frequently. While not as much as bongs, bowls can still be pretty fragile unless you’ve got one of the new age silicone styles. One of the most commonly touted complaints when it comes to bowls is the inevitable inhalation of charred weed bits when you’re trying to get the last bit of green smoked. Bowls tend to deliver a harsher hit than bongs as well, being that they lack the water filtration system. Bowls can be excellent daily use tools. We prefer packing the bowl for an afternoon getaway. These are excellent for day trips where you and some friends aren’t so much concerned with the flavor of the experience as much as you are just getting high….something the bowl has been delivering for ages!

Bubblers

What happens when a bong and a bowl love each other very much? They produce what is referred to as a bubbler. Bubblers are a creative little tool that provides most of the portability of a bowl and some of the water filtration of a bong. Bubblers aren’t as versatile as bowls given that they have water reservoirs that can spill but this doesn’t stop them from being a crowd favorite. If you combine fresh bud with a bubbler and some lower-temperature hemp wick, you may very well have found yourself a new favorite daily driver. The flavor from a solid bubbler gives many vaporizers a run for their money. With the liquid filtration, the smooth hits are inundated with delicious terpenes and flavonoids (unless you blast it with a butane torch like some sort of monster). We will warn you though, bubblers tend to “clog up” more frequently than other tools given the nature of their design but cleaning a bubbler is a hell of a lot less intense than cleaning a bong. Everyone should have a bubbler in their collection but not without a word of caution…don’t hit that bubbler as hard as you do your bong or you WILL end up with a mouth full of stale weed water!

Joints and Blunts

Ahh, the classic “I don’t want to leave any evidence of this happening” way to smoke. Don’t get us wrong, most 420 friendly citizens have a very special place in their heart for blunts and joints. Most of us probably had our first taste of the Devil’s Lettuce after someone emptied out the tobacco from a cigarette or used that weird filing tool on nail clippers to break open a Swisher Sweet. Sure, there are enough studies out there by now to dispel anyone from smoking joints or blunts on the reg due to the potential health risks. However, nobody is trying to deny that they roll one of these suckers up every now and then, if for no other reason than experiencing the nostalgia of where we came from (or perhaps you just didn’t feel like cleaning your bubbler today). When it comes to these, other than convenience and/or nostalgia, there’s not a whole lot of redeeming qualities behind using them to smoke. Study after study shows that a great deal of THC is lost from using these due to the fact that they’re burning even when you’re not inhaling. Furthermore, though they don’t leave evidence behind (assuming you collect your ashes), everybody is familiar with the delicious smell of a blunt or joint burning. All of these don’t even matter if you don’t know how to properly roll one in the first place. Ending up with something that looks like a caterpillar with a broken back is not going to get you many points when you pass it around the circle. Sure, there are “less unhealthy” options available like organic hemp wraps but at the end of the day, you’re still inhaling additional combusted material. You’re not going to experience any of the flavors that your cannabis is known for and unless you’re in a bind, inhaling the potential nasty byproducts from blunts and joints probably isn’t something you want to do frequently, or at all. This was as difficult to put into words as it was for you to read it…RIP our sweet blunts…you served us well.

Vaporizers

We’re not talking vape pens or electric powered vapes here. We’re talking about vapes that still use a flame near the bud, which is placed into what essentially functions as an oven. From here, your flame is used to heat the aforementioned oven and what you get out of this is a delicious blend of flavor and cannabinoids, without the smoke! Basically, the flame gets the surrounding surface area hot enough to boil off the goodies from the plant matter without combusting the actual bud. There aren’t as many options for non-battery powered dry flower vapes like the EZ Pipe so don’t expect to come up with something unique. That said, DO expect everyone to want to give it a shot. These things are typically super portable, very discrete and leave no evidence behind. These things provide a solution for a quickie or full-on session. You’ll likely stretch your bud further and you probably have less to worry about when it comes to nasty byproducts from smoking since you’re not actually combusting the flower! They’re also pretty inexpensive and make great gifts to your smoke buddies!

We can hear you now…”but what about this way?!” and we get it, we covered the basics here but don’t you worry, this segment has sequels in the works where we do a deep dive into all of the other fun ways to enjoy your cannabis! Until then, grind up that weed, grab a spool of our hemp wick and take a look at some of our other posts now that you know how to preserve some of that flavor.