Bong has been a mainstay item for the cannabis community for ages. Its consumers exist in every corner of the world. There lie varied reasons for smokers to use bongs or pipes to smoke. A few valid reasons for smokers preferring glass bongs include:
- Glass as a static material does not dilute the smell or flavor of substances like weed or cannabis.
- Glass pipes can be held with bare hands as smoke does not get too hot.
- Glass bongs are ideally suited for smoking as they maintain the necessary temperature level.
- Customized glass bongs or glass bongs, in general, are very aesthetic. They are available in many styles, colors, sizes, and shapes.
- Not only glass bongs, but you can find other smoking accessories like classic glass spoon pipes, chillums, dab rigs, and bubblers.
Although there are varied bongs available in the market, glass bongs and hand pipes still come on top of all the other smoking accessories. That is why, here, we will learn about the making of a bong, especially a glass bong.
Bong manufacturers explained that the same core techniques for glass blowing are applied to make a bong. As per their statement, making bongs is more complicated than other glass smoking accessories. Bongs are often produced featuring intricate designs, unique colors, and costly decorations. Moreover, the making of bongs involves additional parts like percolators and ice catchers. So, we can now look into the glass bong-making process below.
The basics of the bong-making process
Step 1: Water Chamber
The glass blowing technique for bong manufacturing starts with creating a thin and long glass tube. The first stage is to form a water chamber for the bong as it is the base for the whole pipe. Heat is supplied to the glass tubing using a blowtorch. This activity enables the glass to expand into a larger cylindrical shape. Then, with the help of a blowpipe and hollow steel pipe, the air is blown into the glass to bulge it up. The glass tubing must be continuously rotated to get an even shape during this entire process.
Unless the chamber does not attain the desired shape, the hot glass must not be cooled down. After the section forms the desired shape, another tool is used to puncture a hole in the chamber’s side. This hole is for the downstem of the bong.
Step 2: Neck
After the first process is done, heat is again applied to the glass tubing positioned right above the water chamber. This glass tubing should be continuously and evenly blown until it expands to a larger cylindrical shape than the water chamber. Since forming a perfect cylinder is challenging at times, a lathe tool is also used to get a uniform shape. The neck-making process for the bong is continuous till a proper wide, and long cylinder shape is achieved.
Step 3: Mouthpiece
After making of bong’s neck, the next step is to shape its mouthpiece. The mouthpiece of a bong remains at the top of the bong’s neck. It’s like, the bong’s base is the water chamber, then the neck, and at the topmost is the mouthpiece.
Like the heat blowing process mentioned above, the same is done here to melt the glass to get the desired shape of the mouthpiece. The top part of the neck is separated from the glass tubing to start this process. As the neck is separated, it is rotated continuously to get a uniform shape of the desired size. When the shaping is done, the top part of the neck is smoothened out into a mouthpiece. Smoothening is necessary to eliminate any sharp edges of the glass. If not, it will harm the user.
Step 4: Bowl and downstem
A perfectly made bong is incomplete without a downstem and a bowl. Some bongs come with detachable bowls and downstems. Nonetheless, these two smoking accessories are essential to enjoy a bong.
Forming a downstem and a bowl for the bong involves the same glass-blowing process as for the other bong parts. In short, the overall process requires glass tube heating, rotating, blowing, widening of glass, and acquiring shape by manipulating the hot glass. The difference lies in the size and openings of the bowl and downstem.
After getting the desired shape, the downstem is fitted into the hole earlier poked at the water chamber’s side. As for the bowl, it must be of the correct size (opening) so that it can slide on the downstem with ease.
Conclusion
After the bong is all set up with essential parts, decorating the glass bongs starts. Bong manufacturers make every kind of bongs, be they simple or very intricate ones. Nonetheless, a unique bong or a simple bong requires incredible art to excite the consumers. I hope now you understand the bong-making process.
