Hey, so I just found this forum section on this site and its AMAZING! I cant believe I havent found it before hahaaha! You guys have so much useful information! Im trying to buy my first bong and there are a lot of threads that are great! Nothing has really been what Im looking for, if you have any links that would be perfect! The biggest issue Im having is what is useful verse what is overkill. I want to say i know nothing about bongs so any advice would be great! My price range is $300-$400 to start off. So here are my questions: -brands? -Are bends in the piece worth anything, is a straight shot the best route? -Beaker bottom or plain? -Glass thickness? -Bowl size? -is the downstem anything special? -and then are ice catchers?, perks, ash catchers? useful? How much is too much? Im sorry its kind of a lot and not very specific but ya i dont know anything about bongs and I want to get the best bong to get high and has some personality!
shit man a lot of questions. I recon you could find out a lot with some smart googling and searching of this forum!
The Grav Labs Stax line would be a great one and done start as you can just change it up if you get bored or want a slightly different setup.
damn dude i wish i had gone for 300 dollar bongs right off the bat, ive wasted so much cash on shit i dont use anymore.. Anyway im not too into brands but i do like RooR, and my blown glassgoods bong has never failed me. As far as bends go, theyre pretty cool if youre into that sort of thing, i personally prefer the look of straight tubes, technically the bends give the smoke more time to cool tho. Beaker bottoms, they take a ton of water, like twice as much as normal ones but they look all scientific and awesome, but they dont give off that classic "people have been gettin stoned outta bongs like this for 60 years" feel. it seems to me that the thicker the better, i could see how it could get too thick tho, i feel like thats just a thing youll have a feel for. Well ive got bongs with big bowls and some with small bowls, i use my big ones when im with a few buds, but when im tokin alone i tend to use my smaller bowls, so youve gotta think of what youll be doing more. My diffuser downstem is nice. I love my ashcatcher, it depends on how you like your smoke to taste, the more you filter it, the more filtered itll taste, but i take gigantic rips with mine on, i was hanging with these taggers i met up with under a bridge, and one of them just fuckin blazed my entire huge bowl in one hit, filled my car with thick white smoke, i think the hit could only have been half as big if the ashcatcher wasnt on. Then think about practicality, i use my 9" bong 10x more than my expensive 19" simply because it doesnt take 10 minutes to set up, and i can take it with me places, this is even more true for putting ice in em, youve pretty much gotta be at home for that, unless you bring a cooler, or get ice from a fast food place i guess. Personally if i had your price range i would get a solid quality bong $250-300 then get a nice ashcatcher a small bowl and a big bowl, and maybe a nice downstem. It mainly comes down to preference, hold as many bongs as you can, smoke out of some if possible, and take note of what what you like and what you dont. Any solid quality bong, no matter how its shaped or how many percolators its got will get you HIGH so just go with what feels good. sorry if i ranted im bakedsa FUCk
if youre gettin a daily smoker for around the house i would look into stemless as well, theyre much cleaner
Stemless is just the new style. You don't have to worry about a downstem either. With that budget you can get a VERY nice single perc tube like a mobius matrix perc or a soverenty stemline. You have a lot more things to look at the straights and beakers lol.
ssfg gridded stemline bubbler 135$. great starter piece. or get a 14 mm travel tube. My local headshop sells a 14 mm downstem called a chandelier - 64 slits :O...oh by the way thatd be like 115 total for that setup
Thank you all for the help, so pretty much what im getting at is the more percs, the more filtration. And then it comes down to you get what you pay for and everything is just preference? Is that a somewhat true opinion?
Well that's what I think little fella. If you get a mobius, soverenty, Dave goldstein or something of the like your going to pay 300 to 400 but your going to get a very very nice peice . And yes, the difference between these tubes is personal prefence as all will hit very well, and be very well made.
Alright ya that makes sense. The blowers know what they're doing. So my last two questions would be how to pick a glass thickness? and then when is getting too many percs and ash catchers and so on to much? Will it be eventually be just to hard to clear and get through all the chambers?
Get 5 mm glass. all the major company's use real good boro glass. Anything that's 300 plus should Automaticly be at least 5 mm thick. Most tubes 300 - 400 will just hAve one perc, but it will stack like nuts. A ash catcher on a nice tube can ruin the whole exsperince. Generally, a really nice tube or bubbler won't need a a/c.
If I were you I would get a BLOWN glassgoods piece, especially the new line they came out with last year! So sick! or if you wanna get real classy with it get a boom felazi water pipe. Might be hard to find one but when you do you will see how amazing those bongs are!
At 300-400 you can get a really nice United States made HOSS, with all those specs. I was in the exact same situation as you a few days ago. I ended up going with a HOSS 7mm 55cm double dome perc, for $290. It is china made, but amazing. The glass is so thick it feels so sturdy it could be a weapon. Anyway, I love it, hits so strong and smooth, so I recommend HOSS as a brand, if you want something very sturdy. Get at least 7mm at that price range. Anything lower and it wouldn't be worth paying that much. I guess the overarching question is if you want one of the top top guys, or a mid-top sturdy beast that hits amazing. I like 2 percs I think 3 is borderline too much and 1 not enough.