from the LP Black Sunday, Ruffhouse Records, 1993Ahhh bongs… The evolution of bong-making has been fun to watch over the last couple decades, from the plastic Graffix monoliths of yore to the intricately sculpted crystal towers of today; indeed, like any other commercial product or advertisement, bongs have changed to meet the demands of the buying public. Take, for example, the ice catcher---here someone clearly responded to both the increasing popularity of using ice in bongs & the fallout from so many broken stems due to large chunks of ice falling straight down the tube and hitting them (we used to avoid that peril by stuffing snow in the barrel); these days, you’d be hard pressed to find a glass bong without that friendly dimple towards the base of the tube. Good looking out bong-makers! In the spirit of honesty however, I must share a firm observation that my friends and I have come to realize over the years (and countless thousands of sessions), and that is: when you smoke weed through water, be it a bong or bubbler, you don’t stay high for as long. Well, that is unless we are speaking of the old-school “gravity bong”---you know, the 2-liter job where one cuts the bottle in half and keeps the part with the cap, then one heats up the bowlpiece from an old metal pipe on an electric stove burner (which you melt through the plastic cap to make a tight seal), followed by filling the sink with water and proceeding to force ungodly amounts of smoke down into the inner recesses of one’s stomach & intestines. Remember those contraptions?! I will gladly make an exception in their case, but many of us are too old for that shit anymore, so pass me a pipe or a joint already…
