If you’ve ever been handed a bong—and especially if you haven’t used one yet—you know how ridiculously confusing those twists and turns of glasswork or metal sculpture or plastic tubing can be. The lesson of how to use a bong isn’t just for beginners.
Hitting a bong can be a tricky process, but one that’s especially rewarding for the enjoyment of cannabis. When you learn how to smoke out of a bong, you’ll be able to have a clear and clean inhale that will get you high, fast. Whether you’re smoking out of a bong for medicinal or recreational purposes, you’ll want to get it right.
Below, you’ll find all the details on how to hit a bong in four simple steps. The key to success is to get the best flavor while also limiting the amount of tar and resin you inhale. Part of the reason why so many people prefer to smoke a bong is for health reasons. These steps will give you the healthiest bong smoking experience.
Ready to learn how to smoke from a bong? Grab a lighter and let’s go.
4-Step Process for Learning How to Use a Bong
Compared with smoking joints, pipes, vaping, and even eating edibles, smoking a bong provides perhaps the most flavorful experience. That’s because the design creates a filtration system that circulates the airflow through the water. When you learn how to smoke weed from a bong, you’ll be ready to make cannabis part of your healthy, active lifestyle.
1. Set up Your Bong
Before learning how to rip a bong, you’ve got to master the setup piece-by-piece. Water bongs can be complex or quite simple systems, so let’s start with a little vocabulary needed to understand how to set up a bong:
- Bowl. This is a small, cup-shaped piece that’s found at the base of the bong’s chamber. This is where the weed goes.
- Downstem. Connected to the bowl, this piece slants downward and serves to filter the smoke through the water before tracking upward toward your mouth.
- Water. You’ll want to add fresh water into your chamber. Only fill it enough to just cover the bottom of the bong, where the downstem is located. If you add too much water, you risk inhaling bong water.
- Ice. Many high-quality bongs these days have an ice chamber, which helps to cool the weed smoke before you inhale. This is healthier for the lungs, but it’s completely up to the user if you want to add ice through the mouthpiece before smoking from a bong.
- Mouthpiece and Filter. You’ll put your mouth on the top of the chamber, on a section known as a mouthpiece. However, people who care about their health will also add in a triple carbon weed filter.
The bong filters only a small portion of the tar and resin from the smoke, which enhances the flavor, and creates smoother hits. But it’s a mistake to think that the water does all the filtration necessary.
Moose Labs MouthPeace uses a triple layer activated carbon filter to reduce tar and resin build up from a bong rip.
Just check out the before-and-after of the filter to see how much junk a bong filter saves your lungs from.
2. Grind Your Weed
Once you’ve filled your bong with water and understand the components, it’s time to prepare your marijuana. Especially when you’re learning how to take a bong hit, spend an extra minute to prepare your weed. Learn more on how to prepare your weed and the best way to smoke cannabis.
You’ll need a small grinder so that you can separate the seeds and stem from the leaf material. Evenly break up your cannabis by twisting the grinder back and forth, but not so much that it’s powdery. By grinding it before you put it in the bowl, you’ll create a foundation for an excellent rip that isn’t impacted by restricted airflow.
3. Pack the Bowl
Some people will just pinch off a nugget and jam it into the bowl. That can work, but it’s not the best way to deliver a high-quality and even hit. Instead, take your evenly ground marijuana and tap it gently into the bowl.
Don’t press it in so tightly that it blocks airflow, but don’t keep it so loose that it may fall out. The happy medium will produce the best results.
4. Light and Inhale
Do you want to learn how to smoke a water bong? Well, it’s finally time to do it! Using a lighter, draw the flame to your nicely packed bowl and put your lips to the MouthPeace filter. Inhale slowly and deeply as you watch the chamber fill with smoke.
The bowl itself acts as a carb, which you may be familiar with on pipes. You’ll need to remove the bowl from the chamber, just like releasing your finger from the carb hole on a pipe. Wait until the chamber is filled with smoke, take out the bowl, and clear the smoke with an inhale.
How to Inhale for Maximum THC
If you’re like many cannabis enthusiasts, you’re learning how to use a water bong because you’re looking to get the most out of your smoking experience. This means you want to inhale as much of the THC from the weed as you can.
Don’t make the rookie mistake of taking a huge inhale and then holding it in your lungs for a super-long time. This won’t get you higher. In fact, it’s good practice to only inhale for no longer than two seconds. The minute the THC in the smoke touches your lungs, the effects will begin. There’s no reason to hold your breath.
How to Take a Bong Hit and Avoid Coughing
You may be an expert on how to use a bong now. But what about how to not be one of those people at the party who coughs up a lung after they rip? Lung irritation happens when you take a hit and get too much tar and resin for your body to handle.
The key to avoiding coughing is to reduce the harshness of the hit. That’s where the mouthpiece and filter come in again. A healthier hit is a smoother hit.
Practice Makes Perfect
Once you follow these steps, you’ll be an expert at using a bong. But the only way to master it is to practice. Keep smoking from the bong with the Moose Labs Mouthpeace so you can show others how to use bong water chambers and enjoy your cannabis smoothly every time.