I bought my first bong a couple days ago, $250 piece, a Hoss 9mm 14" straight tube, and I absolutely love it so far. Pretty big rips for the size of it and it absolutely fucks me up, way more than any of the bongs my friends own (one exception). But I've got one complaint, and that is harshness in the hit. Right now I essentially have no diffusion, just a basic slit diffused downstem. A 5+ second brew will leave a harsh taste and burning sensation in my throat right now, which sucks because I love taking big rips! I've planned my upgrade, and decided to get a new downstem, as well as a Hoss inline pill bottle ashcatcher with interchangeable downstem. This leaves me with a few options for downstems: - 2 Showerheads (guessing this will provide the smoothest, but smallest, hit of the bunch) - One showerhead, one 4-arm diffuser (would it make any difference which one was the actual downstem and which was the AC downstem? or same results?) - 2 4-arms (don't like this one, I am trying to improve the smoothness as well as size of my hit, not just get huge hits) With the added capacity and diffusion of the AC, along with an improved downstem, which option would be the best? I don't like very much drag, like to take as large hits as possible without making the smoke too harsh. I'm basically looking for a balance between hit size and smoothness. What do you guys recommend?
Haha dude legit, I have pretty much a mirror set up coming in. Right now I have an illadelph 18 inch straight shooter with the stock slitted diffy. I just ordered a SG gridded 180 stem because I am also getting a custom pill bottle with removable downstem. I have GMD making that and a showerhead downstem for me, because the illadelphs have a weird downstem angle. SG's are better for situations where you either have percs or an a/c that needs to stay straight for them to fire most efficiently. While showerheads you need to tilt your tube so the downstem is straight. If you're going to have two showerheads then you won't ever have both firing to their potential. If your'e going to go with the showerhead in the pill bottle, you should go with the SG in your tube so you can hit it standing straight up. Also: The SG's are known for being near dragless, while the showerheads don't have too much drag either. My SG comes this friday so I will let you know how that pulls. I'm not getting the a/c for a 3-4 weeks though haha.
Okay, I didn't realize that showerheads worked best when held vertically. I honestly like hitting this bong leisurely while sitting down with friends more than having it sit on a table, but you gotta do what you gotta do for quality I guess. I've definitely settled on the showerhead for the AC, after some reading it seems that the consensus is that is the best option for a pill bottle AC. Now I need to decide on the actual downstem. It looks like a gridded downstem would be my best option? Which of the following would you guys rather have on a small straight tube?: - Alex K showerhead diffuser (comfort and Alex K stuff is awesome) - SG Gridded and Hoss AC w/ showerhead diffuser (maximum diffusion)
I'd get the sg gridded downstem so you don't need to hold it at the right angle. Just make sure the AC you get is going to sit right when you lean your tube back.
Well the way I see it there's no way a pill bottle AC with a showerhead is going to sit right if the bong isn't sitting flat. Will a pill bottle AC with a showerhead downstem in it make much difference diffusion-wise or is it pretty much just gonna help with keeping the tube clean?
well you could get more of an extreme angle that leans the AC forward when the tube is sitting flat, that way when you lean the tube back, the AC will be sitting up right. but that looks weird imo you'll definitely notice a difference in smoothness with the AC. I've owned tons of ash catchers and they definitely do work well, but after all the diffused ash catchers I've owned (inline, shower head, tree perc).. the carbon filter tops them in smoothness. and the amount of drag added is minimal compared to an ash catcher. If your going to add another chamber, you might as well make it healthy
I see you talking about the size of your hits and then about which upgrades will make your hit larger. Sure if you get an ashcatcher it will add volume so more smoke is present, but you control the size of your hit. Unfortunately even though you get all that stuff, when you milk your tube for 5+ seconds, chances are the smoke is going to be at least a little stale, and therefore harsh and possibly hurt your throat. $250 on a straight tube is ridiculous, should have gotten something with a perc. Your lungs, throat and wallet would be thanking you. But to answer your question, any well made 180 gridded downstem would be optimal for your tube, and then maybe a honeycomb downstem for your pill bottle, which is a waste of an ashcatcher if you ask me.
Well I wasn't able to order online for various reasons (impatience being one of them, customs fees/regulations being another), and locally it was by far the best piece for the price, as in Canada we have no real options locally other than Gear, Hoss and Red Eye Glass, and out of those Hoss is the only one that isn't china glass. For a 9mm piece I didn't think $250 was really that bad tbh especially considering how uniform the thickness is, yea I could've gotten a 7mm from a "quality" company (Hoss is actually quality for those of you doubting it, definitely not even close to china glass they just don't have their own designs which is why they're hated on) for like $180-$200 but then I would've also been looking at shipping fees, Anyways, I must have overemphasized the importance of hit size here. Yea, I do want some increase in capacity, but my main focus here is smoothness of hits without adding a lot of drag.
I have a straight tube and I use an Apixdesign 180 gridded downstem, paired with a Name Brand showerhead ashcatcher. With them both, I can milk it long and the hit isn't harsh. Also I wasn't saying anything negative about your piece, just seems a bit pricey from my perspective. Can't go wrong with 9mm glass any day, but without diffusion it doesn't mean much other than you won't break it.
Beautiful, exactly what I was hoping to hear. I'll probably end up grabbing the AC w/ showerhead and ordering a SG 180 gridded for the future. And no offense taken, I went out knowing I wanted at LEAST 7mm, and in the 7mm+ category it was get the Hoss and pay a bit too much, or take a risk with china glass just to get something a little fancier/bigger. I've got a friend who's bought $150+ bongs from every LHS in my city, and the Hoss 7mm is the only one he hasn't broken other than his new one, and he's had it third longest of his 5 bongs. Sounded good to me hahah!
You know it might be just as simple as using warm water. Hits used to be super harsh when I used ice and super cold water, now I use warm water and it helps with the harshness alot. I have a 12" straight tube with slitted downstem and can milk it quite a bit stock with warm water. Give it a shot
[quote name='"MR_"']You know it might be just as simple as using warm water. Hits used to be super harsh when I used ice and super cold water, now I use warm water and it helps with the harshness alot. I have a 12" straight tube with slitted downstem and can milk it quite a bit stock with warm water. Give it a shot[/quote] This. Warm water offers the smoothest hit. Its a nice treat to throw ice in with hot water
I'll definitely try the warm water. I actually stopped by the place I bought it from today to take a look at what they had in stock, they didn't have the pill bottle AC in in 14mm so they're ordering that in for me, but when I mentioned to the guy working (who I've known for awhile) which bong I bought and that I was looking for a better downstem, he just handed me one of the ones with holes (16 holes total 4 per "side"), and was shocked they hadn't upgraded the downstem for free on that particular bong because it was a sick piece but used the standard stock downstem. Brought it home, I just cleaned my bong so I haven't been able to use the new downstem yet as it's drying to let any leftover ISO evaporate, but I'm excited. One thing though: The downstem I was given is the same joint size, but a fatter tube and probably 2-4mm longer. It fits perfectly still in the joint, but length-wise rather than being suspended dead center in the tube, it continues to descend to the point where it's like half a cm off the bottom , basically the bottom corner of the bong. Is this acceptable? I feel like I remember reading that this was in fact better than it sitting dead center but I can't remember and wanted to double check.
I know that Illadelph actually has their downstems at a steeper angle so that the tip of the downstem sits lower in the bong I personally prefer it because it allows for less water.