I’m new to smoking cannabis and I’m not sure what the difference is between smoking joints and bongs. Can someone explain it to me?
One answer “What’s the difference between smoking joints and bongs?”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Smoking cannabis can be a daunting experience for a beginner, but with just a little bit of education it can truly be an enjoyable experience that can provide a range of social, medical, and spiritual benefits. One of the first decisions a cannabis smoker will make is how they’re going to smoke their marijuana: bong or joint?
Joints are rolled like cigarettes and are the most traditional method of smoking cannabis. They’re easy to roll, require little equipment and are very portable.
The construction of a joint is pretty straightforward. Start with low-grade rolling papers, often made of hemp, wood pulp or rice paper, that come in various sizes and flavors. Most people put a filter on one end, created with a thin paper or a small cardboard cylinder, that prevents the marijuana from entering the smoker’s mouth while they inhale. Cannabis smokers can fill their joints with ground marijuana buds and/or hashish. Extra THC can be added with kief and/or extracts.
Drawbacks of joints are that they often burn faster than a bong and they don’t produce as concentrated of a smoke. They also can release damaging chemicals when burning, so smoking large or dense joints is not recommended.
Bongs, or water pipes, are the preferred method for many cannabis smokers because they provide a highly concentrated and smokeless inhalation due to the water filtering and cooling the smoke.
Bongs are typically made from glass, stone, wood, ceramic or acrylic so they can vary greatly in size, shape, and price. Depending on their size, most bongs are usually filled with a small amount of water, which cools and filters the smoke making for a much smoother hit than a joint.
Bongs can also be used to smoke a variety of other materials, including legal smoking herbs, such as damiana and mullein, as well as some of the cannabis concentrates and waxes on the market today.
Advantages to bongs are that they provide a much cooler, smoother puff, and use the water to filter and clean the smoke, theoretically reducing some of the tar, carcinogens, and chemical residue that one will find in the smoke from a joint.
The downside to bongs is that they can be expensive, and you need a flat surface to use it. Bongs also require constant maintenance and must be cleaned regularly to avoid unsafe bacterial growth. Plus, they are not very easy to smoke on the go due to their large size, weight, and fragility.
So, there you have it. Joints and bongs are two of the most popular ways to smoke cannabis and each one has their own advantages and disadvantages. Ultimately it is up to the individual user to decide which method works best for them. But no matter what you choose to smoke, remember to be safe, be responsible, and enjoy the experience!