Hello! I am new to this forum and am also pretty new to smoking - been smoking for about 4 months now and I've recently worked my way up the smoking-ladder and now have a decent quality bong and some other crap for it. Right now my go-to smokin' pipe is a Lux Scientific 14" tube with the inline 4-perc. I use a downtube that branches off into 6 little tubes, each one has two slots and a hole at the bottom. Attached to that is a Grav pill-bottle ashcatcher with the included shower-head downtube installed (it can be swapped out). I then use one of my various slides/bowls, all of which have just a "funnel" on the inside and come to a small hole. I've been creeping this forum quite a bit and was interested in the discussion about snap/drag/diffusion and the quality of the "milks" that some of you are getting. So, finally, my question is this: What are some of the extra things I can do to make my smoke more enjoyable? As of now, if I milk it, it get's brown very quickly and will almost always leave me feeling some throat pain for a while, so I just take moderate hits off of it. My ash catcher has a 90* bend instead of 45* so it does not sit straight (which is fine, since I think it looks neat) but i'm wondering if that may be part of the issue - or maybe it's just too small of a bong and i'm over thinking it. With regards to bowls - what advantage would I have to use a disc-diffused bowl vs a standard bowl with just a hole in it? The ones i have all are from a reputable name and are all made from quality glass, so it's not like I'm just using complete horseshit or anything Finally, I was reading about people use carbon filters and I saw a guy who just recomends that people put the carbon directly in the water, but not until the carbon is rinsed for a while - do you need to rinse carbon if it's being used in a gauzed down-stem? tl/dr new to smoking I have a bong What are some neat tricks to get the most awesome/enjoyable smoke? Thanks for any and all help! I'll try to have some photos up of my crap in the next few days.
Changing your water often helps get tastier smoke. Putting in colder water helps makes hit smoother, as does ice. Some people claim hot water does? Hemp wick will let you taste the bud better and gives you less resin. Other than these things, I noticed not too much really matters to me for smoking technique besides having water. You might want to get a 4 piece space case grinder for like 90 bucks, collects kief.. well worth it. a "pollen box" or kief box is worth it as well.
The problem I see is that you have a lot of potential diffusion you're losing since all your percs/diffusers aren't firing efficiently. Your bong has the 4 arm inline perc so ideally your bong should sit straight up so all 4 arms fire evenly. Most diffused downstems work best when they are vertical, so either your percs or your downstem aren't going to work to their potential. Also the downstem in your a/c needs to be vertical to fire most efficiently.
Also in regards to using carbon As a person who always tells other people the miracles that activated carbon can do, putting them in the bong water itself doesn't usually work to well. In my experience, the charcoal leaves black "fingerprints" all over the inside of your bong, and the water always looks dirty, even when you just added it in. A good cheap way to see the effects of a carbon adapter is to get some type of metal screen and have it rest somewhere in the middle of your downstem. (make sure it's above the water level) Pour in a little activated carbon (too much obstructs airflow and gives you drag) and use your bong like normal. If you think that gives you a nice improvement, spend the 20 something dollars and get the adapter, they're really worth the money
your smoke gets brown because it collects and the smoke volume in one space increases but does not expand overall that much, creating a dense thick, brown cloud. One of the reasons this happens is when a piece has a bit of drag, the smoke tends to just collect at the bottom and slowly make its way to the top. so there are a few things you can do.. 1.) if you want to reduce drag therefore allowing the smoke to travel up the tube faster without getting as "brown" try changing out your 6 arm downstem for a sovereignty gridded downstem. not only is the diffusion way more efficient, you'll reduce drag a lot and MAYBE your tube will be a tad smoother. 2.) get a carbon filter. this removes carcinogens and toxins, which also happen to be irritants, so your smoke will be a lot cooler than any ash catcher can make it. Getting rid of your ash catcher will also reduce drag. And idk why the guy told you to put it in the water.. if you want all the smoke to come into contact with the carbon, putting it in water will not do the trick nearly as well 3.) Use disk diffused or ice pinch slides. since they are way more open they reduce drag by a lot. which i guess could reduce brownness. 4.) to make smoking different or maybe more enjoyable, play around with different ways to light your bud. Try buying a quartz rod and torching the tip till its hot enough to combust your bud. Or you could try hemp string. hemp string burns at a lower temp then a lighter so your smoke will be a bit smoother, and you don't have to worry about inhaling butane. 5.) you can try putting juice or tea in your bong instead of water? 6.) you play around with water temps and food colored water. Maybe you could try putting warm water in one perc and cold in the other. Some say since warmer smoke won't expand in your lungs, it reduces coughing, but idk.. then theres the obvious stuff like watch movies listen to music eat food.. that kinda thing. Other than all that i can't really think of anything else you could do..
Thanks for all the input guys. I like to have my bong as "clean" as possible and that's why I'm opposed to having a dedicated carbon holder piece - I'll probably get a screen for my downstem (or whatever downstem I end up using) and tossing in some carbon. Water will surely pass through it, but I assume that's of no harm...? One of my bowls is a "ice pinch" bowl and I don't use it much since it's a wide - maybe I'll use that without the ash catcher and with the carbon and see how it does... should be good Smell ya later.
Second the SG gridded. I have one coming in this thursday myself An SG would be ideal for your situation because SG's are meant to be hit straight up. This way, both your diffuser and your percs would fire efficiently. And no, water won't do any harm to the carbon, just make sure you run water through the carbon before putting it into your downstem. You don't want to be breathing in carbon dust! As canibuss stated, your smoke is getting discolored because it's getting stale. I'm assuming your bong is a beaker? Beakers and percs are both notorious for keeping smoke concentrated in the bottom portions of the bong. I would say first to try using your ice pinch bowl with your regular setup. Try pulling slightly harder than normal to get all your diffusers and percs firing and see if you can milk your bong and clear it before it goes brown. I believe that with the added flow you get from the ice pinch bowl, you may be able to prevent the smoke from getting to stale. Alternatively, you could try to hit your bong without water in the perc? This way less smoke would get trapped? Post up a milk vid We may be able to help you out a lot more then
heh, thanks for your help It IS a tube, actually, not a beaker - so "flow" should be pretty straightforward. I'll try to get some media up ASAP.