Bong Making 101

Many people would like to use a bong but cannot afford a good one, or else just get bored and feel like "inventing" a new bong. I am going to share some of the general principles of "bong making" and explain how to optimize your bong for a primo medical marijuana experience. Just make a bong, use it, sit back, and relax because I will also share ideas about how to make "emergency bongs" and MacGyver bong solutions, and other off the wall bong ideas to get those juices flowing. You should have not problems making a bong after reading these instructions. If you are interested in bongs you may also be interested in vaporizers, which significantly reduce the health risks of marijuana.

The first key to bong making is safety. The main concern is plastic-smoke. Needless to say, the bowl and downstem of a bong should not be plastic to avoid cancer, but the rest of the bong can be made from plastic or any other non-toxic material. Suitable bowl and down stem materials are Metal (don't use it unless it is un-painted and you can identify what kid of metal it is), glass, one, horn, and wood. Of course there are other safe materials but these are the common ones. Make sure everything you use is super clean, and 100% chemical/coating free. 

This is a question that I don't hear answered often on the internet. The ultimate goal of a bong is to deliver as much THC as possible in each hit. Therefore we want to burn the largest amount of weed in one hit with as little smoke lost as possible. Usually, the only limits to how much smoke you can get with a good bong is how much smoke you can inhale without coughing. A good bong, therefore, will let you inhale a lot of smoke without coughing. This is done by providing a lot of water volume, a relatively "deep" downstem, a small air volume, a well designed carb, and smaller bubbles.

A "deep" downstem refers to the depth of the water the downstem is in. It should be at least 4-5 inches for optimum performance. This allows bubbles a relatively "long" time to float to the surface. If you make the down stem too deep, it will constrict the flow of air. I used to think that was the only factor in the design of the water chamber that mattered, but now I am convinced that having a large volume of water is also important. A larger water volume somehow seems to make the smoke more mellow, though I am not sure how. Smaller bubbles are important because they allow greater surface area for water to contact the smoke. This aides in cooling and mellowing the smoke. Smaller bubbles can be made by punching many small holes along the bottom 1" of the downstem and plugging the end, or by using a commercial device to create more bubbles. A small air volume is important so that you can easily clear the bong in one hit instead of making the smoke wait in the chamber until you or somebody else is ready to hit it. You must avoid a direct line of site between he water and your mouth, though, because the water will tend to splash up in your throat. The imaginative bongmaker could create an effective plash guard of some sort, though.
 

Of course, you can make your bong out of any safe material, but some of the best materials to use include clay, old vases, and pop bottles. Bongs made out of clay are some of the easiest and most fun to make, and are very strong and just as safe as glass. Make a "vase" out of clay that matched the specifications for your bong. Have it fired, glaze the outside with whatever colors you like and glaze the inside clear by filling the vase with clear glaze and pouring it out. Buy a "Spear tip tile drill", which is made for drilling tile, which is made out of clay. Buy the size that matches your downstem and drill a hole for the downstem. Glue a rubber washer around the hole if the fit is not tight enough. Any ceramic vase can be drilled in this way.

Diamond core drills, which cost on a few dollars a piece, can be used to drill glass vases without cracking them. Spear bits can also drill glass but are very slow and tend to crack the glass. Instead, go on ebay and buy a "glass core drill bit" that matches the size of the downstem you have. Using water and an electric drill you should be able to drill through most any glass vase with this drill bit.

When drilling vases to make a bong, make sure that you follow the principles outlined on bong design when you pick your vase and drill your hole. I recommend finding cool funky old vases for a few bucks a piece at the flea market and drilling them for practice until you do a good one. If you want to drill more than one glass vase buy a drill bit for each one you intend to drill.

Soda bottle bongs fall into the category of emergency bongs. There is a simple device which you can use to convert any soda bottle into a bong (actually a hookah, but pretty much the same). Basicaly, this device screws onto a pop bottle. It has a bowl in the top that has a long downstem that goes to the bottom of the bottle. You breath in the smoke through a tube that goes parallel to the downstem but stops after an inch or so. This device is not much smaller than a pipe and all you need is a half full bottle of water or soda.

A bong can also be improvised from whatever you have on hand. In this case, anything goes. Tape is usefull to seal around the downstem, and bottles and containers make good chambers, but other than that you are on your own here. Take inventory of all the stuff at your disposal and try to figure out how each item could be used in a bong. Really all you need is a container, a downstem, a bowl, and some way to seal it all up.
 

Making a bong is a great idea. Weather you are just having a good time, want to make a quality bong, or need a bong for an emergency, bong making is very simple. Anyone can make a bong that will last a lifetime. Truly, bong making has never been simpler. For more information about monetizing bongs and other items check out my article "Urban Prospecting: Marijuana Collectibles"