While bongs come in a whole range of materials from ceramic to plastic, by far the most popular is glass.
Glass bongs are incredibly popular in the UK bong scene and any aficionado will assure you that they swear by them.
What makes them so good? What sets them apart from all the other bongs out there? And do they have any drawbacks? Let’s investigate!
Why Choose Glass?
Glass bongs are regularly touted as the gold standard in bong design, but why? Well if we want to see why glass bongs are so good we need something to compare them too, so let’s look at the second most popular material; acrylic.
Acrylic is much cheaper than glass, there’s no escaping that, glass isn’t a cheap material.
On top of this acrylic is MUCH sturdier than glass, you can hurl your acrylic bong into a suitcase or backpack without even a passing worry. Glass however… Just don’t try it. Please
Acrylic falls down where it counts though, it is simply put an inferior smoking medium.
Unfortunately the qualities of acrylic can change the taste of your herb leading to a nasty plastic taste in your smoke.
There’s no real counter for this, it’s simply a quality of the acrylic bong.
Many acrylic bongs also have a metallic downstem which can further increase the taint on the taste. Portability and toughness clearly come at a price.
Acrylic bongs also have a tougher drag when compared to glass bongs. This results in wasted herb and isn’t exactly good news for your lungs!
Glass bongs do not have this issue. High quality borosilicate glass is very non reactive and is very resistant to thermal forces.
This means that on an atomic level your glass bong is INCAPABLE of affecting the taste of your herb.
Glass is also very easy to clean, being resistant to staining and resin build-up.
Another advantage of glass is that it is, naturally enough, transparent. This allows the user to see the quality of the water in the reservoir, they can see exactly when they need to change the water.
Glass bongs are also catered to by a gigantic range of accessories, everything from percolators to ashcatchers can be easily found on our UK web store to further enhance your smoking experience.
Glass bongs tend to cost somewhat more and are, of course, brittle and can be hard to repair if badly damaged.
You need to be careful with your glass, as an errant elbow could send the entire piece plummeting to the floor!
Finally, glass bongs are simply beautiful. They are amazing functions of form and function and some models are handblown by master glass workers.
Truly a joy to behold and much more attractive than some rainbow coloured lump of plastic.
Good Glass Bong Brands
There is a whole host of high quality glass bong brands on the UK market, here are a few of our favorites.
Roor: German company Roor are legends in the UK glass bong scene. They are master glass workers who produce some of the finest pieces on the market.
Roor bongs are the epitome of quality and are truly beautiful objects.
Grace Glass: If Roor is the master of tradition Grace Glass is the craftsman who pushes himself to innovate.
They review all their designs constantly, looking for new and interesting ways to refine the smoking experience.
Based in Amsterdam they are at the very heart of the bong scene and are more than willing to listen to feedback from their customers.
White Rhino: White Rhino is one of the top USA glass bong manufacturers.
They are dedicated to producing the highest quality bongs. Sleek and functional these bongs are intended to stand up to the rigors of day to day use.
For a massive selection of glass bongs check out our UK web store for premium quality at great prices.
Remember for the smoothest results you should go with a glass bong, you won’t regret it and it’ll be money well spent.