How Do You Use A Bong?

Okay, so you’ve got your bong, your favorite strain ready and you’re ready to smoke – but where do you start? Don’t worry; we all had to start small once. Whether you’re a complete novice or reading this section as a reminder of sorts, you’ll find invaluable information on how to successfully prime your bong. Although it may seem a little scary at first, our practical steps will remove any doubt or uncertainty.

1. Fill the bong with water

Fill your round base bongs with fresh water before sitting down with it. With most bongs, you pour the water in through the large mouthpiece opening at the top. You want to fill your bong with enough water to submerge the end of the chillum by about 2-3cm.

Some complicated bongs have percolators in the form of disks, spirals, round domes, etc. in the chamber or other parts of the bong. These percolators can provide additional filtering and cooling of the smoke. Fill these percolators with water as well, making sure all air holes are covered. Depending on how fancy your bong is, you may also want to check your bong instructions for proper filling.

Optional: Fill your bong with ice

If you want, you can add ice cubes to the water. This will cool the smoke even further, making it gentler in your lungs. Some mini bongs for sale also have special inserts or notches to hold the ice cubes.

2. Chop up your weed

Before you fill your bowl, you need to chop up your buds. Take a weed grinder, fill it with some buds and grind them to a medium-fine consistency. If you don’t have a grinder, you can use your fingers or small scissors, but the result won’t be as good.

3. Put a sieve in the head

Your bowl wills most likely need a strainer, so make sure it has one as this will prevent pieces of your crushed bud from falling down the down comer. If you’re using a bowl without a screen, a good practice is to place larger chunks of crushed bud at the bottom, directly over the hole. This will help prevent those fine pieces from falling through.

4. Stuff the head with weed

Take some of your shredded weed and pack the bowl loosely. The ideal method for this is to stuff your bowl almost full, but loose enough that you can breathe comfortably. If you have to pull really hard, you’ve stuffed it too tight.

You’ll likely want to remove your bowl to stuff and then put it back on the downspout once you’re ready to light it. Some choose to plug the head already attached to the downspout. Whatever is easier for you?

5. Take the bong in your hand

Grip the chamber of your bong firmly with your non-dominant hand. If you want a little more support, you can place the bong’s stand on a flat surface. If you are already more experienced, you can place the stand on your thigh or clamp it between your legs if you are sitting. If you’re brave, you can even hold the bong unaided, but you should be extra careful when doing this.

6. Cover the carb hole

If your bong has a carb hole, cover it with a finger. If you don’t do this, you will only be drawing air into the bong and no smoke.

7. Put the bong in your mouth and light the bowl

Place your mouth on the bong’s mouthpiece with light pressure to form a seal. It’s best if you purse your lips a little, like kissing. Make sure the seal stays tight; otherwise it will be harder to draw the smoke.

Light a match or lighter with your free hand. Tilt the lighter down to the edge of your head and inhale at the same time. As you inhale, the flame is drawn down, igniting your weed.

Tip: If you want to reduce the amount of chemicals you are exposed to when smoking cannabis, you can use a natural hemp wick instead of a lighter. Use the hemp wick to light your bowl and you won’t be inhaling unhealthy substances like butane!

8. Take away the flame

You’ll only need to hold the flame against your weed for a second or two while inhaling slowly. Once your weed is lit, take away the flame but keep dragging. Your head will stay lit as long as you draw air through it. Stay cool and relaxed. You don’t have to inhale until you’re out of breath to fill the bong with smoke.

9. Open the carb hole and inhale

Now take your finger off the carb hole. If you have a bong without a carb hole, you will want to remove the bowl so you can inhale the smoke.

10. Exhale without holding the smoke

Exhale you don’t have to hold the smoke in your lungs. Research has shown that the active compounds in cannabis are absorbed immediately, so contrary to what some stoners will tell you, there is no benefit in holding the smoke in your lungs.

11. Pass the bong around!

Before passing the bong on, you should blow out any stale smoke that may still be left in the chamber.

You can now pass the bong on or place it on your table.