If you’ve never used a bong before, it can seem like they’re ridiculously complicated. But for regular bongs it’s quite simple: all you need is some water, some weed, and a bowl.

There are different types of bongs: there are traditional bongs, there are vape bongs and there are bongs that can be attached to vaporizers through a conector so you can vape from a bong. Today we are going to talk exclusivelly about traditional bongs.

The water acts as the filter to make your smoke smoother and clearer, while the bowl holds your weed so that you can light it up without burning your fingers. Contrary to popular belief, there’s no need for any elaborate or expensive precursors — just fill up the container with water and use whatever object you have laying around to hold the weed (we often prefer toothpicks). Then, just slide the weed in through the hole before lighting it up.

How To Roll a Joint with Bongs and Water

This is probably one of the more popular ways that people use water pipes. It’s also really cool because you get to see water making smoke! This is an excellent way of getting some quick hits as well.

1. Take the bowl and cut a square with scissors. You can use any object really: a bike lock, a spoon, etc. Use the scissors to make a hole inside of this square as well as some holes on either side for air flow. Then, if it’s not already attached, add your screen.
2. Now take the bowl and slide it onto the bong with a little piece of paper tucked inside (like you do with joints). You want this piece of paper to be very small so that it doesn’t come out once you’ve packed up your bowl with weed.
3. Take your bowl and fill it with water. You can add more if there isn’t enough to fill it up. The most important thing is to make sure that the bowl is completely filled to make the hit perfect. Then, take the piece of paper and fold it over several times.
4. When you’re ready, hold your bong in one hand and your other hand on top of the bowl. Gently squeeze both hands so that water comes out of both sides at once, creating a foggy column inside of the bowl that looks like smoke (it’s actually clean water).

How To Smoke Out of a Bong

There are several ways to smoke out of a bong, but this is the most simple and straightforward way.

1. Take your bowl and fill it with weed as you would normally. Then, hold it at a 45-degree angle (with water inside) and bring it down so that the corner of the bowl is under the water line (make sure that you can see the screen).
2. Then, you can either use scissors or your fingers to poke holes in the side of the bong near the screen to let smoke in — or you can take out some more water until there is only about 0.25 cm of water left over the screen. If you don’t poke any holes, you can just bring down the bowl even further until it’s underneath the water and then smoke it (but that tends to get a bit harsh).
3. Now that everything is in place, light up your bowl. Remember that if you used scissors to create air holes, cut them toward the front of the bong so they don’t get in your way. Also, try to use long matches for lighting and smoking so that they don’t go out mid-session.

Cleaning Your Bong and Bowl

First, take a piece of toilet paper and fold it in half — then, stuff it into the bowl. It’s okay if it doesn’t fit because you can stuff more into the bowl as needed. Then, take your scissors and cut off any excess paper. Then, dip your bong into some rubbing alcohol to disinfect it — but only on the outside (the inside of a bong is made of glass). When you’re done, you can use baking soda for a more environmentally sound way to let water out of your bong.

How to Clean Your Bong With Baking Soda

This works best if you have a removable downstem so that you can take it out of the bong after you get everything ready. Make sure that it’s completely clean before you do this by using rubbing alcohol.

1. Prepare your bong as normal, but make sure that the bowl piece and downstem are detached from the main chamber. Then, get a thin coat of baking soda all over the inside because this will help break down any residues or stains on the glass!
2. Let everything sit for about five minutes — but don’t put any water inside just yet.
3. Then, use a pipe cleaner to grab as much of the baking soda that you can — but only on the inside (the outside still doesn’t have any water). This will make sure that all the residue is completely removed.
4. Finally, take the bowl and bowl piece out of your bong and fill it up with water like normal. You may also want to use some more baking soda on the outside of your bong if you want it to stay clean! Here’s a good article for detailed instructions on how to clean your bong and bowl with baking soda.

How to Clean Your Bong with Rubbing Alcohol

This is an effective way of disinfecting your bong because you can use it to flush out any toxins without putting water on the inside of it. But be careful — this stuff can really burn! You’ll have to let it dry before you use it again.

1. Prepare your bong just like you would if you were going to fill it up with water. Then, take some rubbing alcohol and soak your downstem and the piece that connects your bowl piece and downstem in as well as the bowl piece at the top of the bong so that they’re completely saturated with alcohol.
2. Let everything dry for about five minutes — and I recommend doing this over a sink so that you can easily grab the pieces that will be submerged in alcohol.
3. Then, use your pipe cleaner to grab the parts that were saturated with alcohol and pull them out of the bong so they’re completely dry (be careful not to damage your bong). Then, take the piece of glass out of your bowl piece and dump more rubbing alcohol on it to disinfect it like you would if it was made out of plastic — but only on its outer surface (the inside is still completely clean). That will help any bacteria or mold inside from getting anywhere.

There you have it! I hope you liked our tips!