How Do You Like to Bong?

Bongzilla at Cannabition, the Immersive Cannabis Museum in Las Vegas

Sexy, smooth and sophisticated or big and brawny, what's your bong pleasure?

Bongs come in all shapes, sizes and price ranges, from the homemade “Honey Bear Bong” that Brad Pitt used in the movie True Romance to the 800-pound 24-foot long “Bongzilla” that was created for Cannabition, the Immersive Cannabis Museum in Las Vegas. Bongzilla has a 100-gallon water reservoir and requires about a quarter pound of weed to smoke. Of course, it’s not actually used (that we know of), it’s only for selfies.

Regardless of shape or size, a bong usually contains five basic parts and is used to filter smoke through water, facilitating a smoother and more intense cannabis experience.

The Five Parts of a Bong

Every bong has a bowl, where you place your dried cannabis flower; a carb, which is a small hole that allows you to clear the bong chamber of smoke and complete your toke; a base which holds the water that the smoke is filtered through; a small tube called a downstem, which allows the smoke to travel to the base, where it percolates through the water; and a mouthpiece stem, which is how the smoke reaches you after it’s been cooled and filtered through the water.

Depending on the sophistication of the bong, there are also various percolator designs that diffuse the smoke in different ways. Trees, domes, showerheads, gridded inline, honeycomb, matrix, swiss, cyclone and helix are among the styles used in custom-designed percolators that provide their own unique experiences. Regardless of construction, all bongs are basically designed to do the same thing, decrease the harshness of the smoke and provide a clean hit.

“Some of our bongs have percolators in them,” said Brett Calsbeck, a Cannabis Specialist at Delta 9 Osborne. “The whole point is to filter the smoke through water, so it takes out some of the debris that might be sucked up if you were smoking a joint or using a one-hitter. It also makes the hit a lot smoother. Some of the bongs here also allow you to put ice into them, which cools the smoke down even more. The different types of percolators filter and bubble the water, and they also look cool.”

Mothership Glass display at Delta 9 Cannabis Store – Osborne Village

The Art and Culture of Bongs

Bongs have become much more than just an accessory, they’re also pieces of art that have sold for tens of thousands of dollars and in some cases even a million. If you’re looking to add to your high-end art collection, stop by Delta 9 Osborne (478 River Ave.) to check out our exquisite one-of-a-kind creations by Mothership Glass.

Looking cool has been part of bong culture forever, as has naming your bongs with monikers like Long Bong Silver, Dank Sinatra, Hannah Bongtanna and Sinbad, the name of the double donut bong used by Brian Finch in the Netflix series Limitless.

A bong is an extension of your personality and ultimately helps make your cannabis experience more intimate. It becomes like a friend to you, and it needs a name. Once you’ve used a bong on a regular basis, you’ll know why. It’s a social thing.

When you have friends over, they’re going to want to know the name of your bong and the story behind it. And you’re going to love telling it, especially when you’re in the right frame of mind. Of course, your story might not be as lively as that of the Scythians, who are now considered to be the world’s first bong users.

Bongs are thought to have originated in Africa, where cannabis residue was discovered in 11 pipes in Ethiopia dating back to between 1100 and 1400 BC, but in 2015 two 2,400-year-old solid gold bongs were discovered in a stone-lined chamber during a construction dig in Russia.

Tests revealed the residue found in the gold bongs came from cannabis and opium smoked by the tribal royals of a nomadic warrior race named the Scythians, who ruled large areas of Europe and Asia 1,500-2,800 years ago.

“Scythians used a plant to produce smoke that no Grecian vapour-bath can surpass which made them shout aloud,” wrote Greek historian Herodotus, who died in 425 BC. It is now thought that Scythian kings would smoke the potent combination before leading their troops into battle.

Anastasia Kornelsen, Cannabis Consultant, Delta 9 Osborne, shows a Jane West bong

Jane and Her Bong

Thousands of years later, bong stories continue, with one of our favourites being that of Denver businesswoman Amy Dannemiller, who was asked to resign from her job after she was seen on NBC Nightly News vaporizing cannabis in the 2014 CNBC Documentary Marijuana in America: Colorado Pot Rush.

Dannemiller had already been hosting monthly bring-your-own-marijuana dinner parties since October 2013 under the alias Jane West. You can guess what the short version of this story is.

Dannemiller not only founded the cannabis accessory company Jane West, she also co-founded Women Grow, the cannabis industry’s largest professional networking organization, which was dedicated to changing the perception of women in cannabis, both as consumers and as business leaders.

In 2016 Dannemiller was named “the most widely recognized female personality in cannabis" by Inc. magazine and in 2019 she was listed by InStyle magazine as one of their “Badass 50” women who are "changing the world.”

Delta 9 sells Jane West bongs, and a number of other brands, one of which is sure to match your personality.

What are you waiting for? Discover your own bong story today!