How To Use Water Pipes for Smoking and Dabbing
By Pete R.
So you’re interested in the world of bongs, bubblers, and water pipes for dabbing as well, but you don’t know a whole lot about getting started. We’ve got you covered!
We break down the usage of each water pipe so you can feel more confident in using it for the first time. Don’t worry, it’s a lot easier than you might think. We’ll start with how to use them smoking regular marijuana before we break down how to use them for the concentrated wax, aka dabs or dabbing.
Glass Bubblers
About Bubblers
Bubblers are smaller water pipes with usually a curved design that basically work like miniature bongs. You get the same, great cooling features in a more compact, hand-held size. These water bubblers are great for 420 smoke sessions with friends, dorm rooms, bedrooms, or hot boxing your car as it is small, easy to hold, and easy to pass. The only downside to using these is that you’d have to be able to set it down on a flat top or some type of table surface, otherwise you’ll have some smelly water to clean up.
How To Use a Bubbler
Bubblers are incredibly easy to use. All you need to do is fill the bottom with enough water that the stem is immersed but not so much that the water comes into the bowl. It can take a little practice to find the sweet spot, but you’ll get the hang of it. Depending on the construction of your glass bubbler, you will either put water in the hole in the bowl or through the carb on the side or mouth piece. If possible, putting it in the carb is preferred to avoid water remaining in the bowl and ruining your bud. If you have to fill it through the bowl, you can dry out the bowl with your lighter by dry hitting it; check it before you put your expensive marijuana in there.
Smoking Out of Water Bongs
About Bongs
Bongs range greatly in size from small to ginormous. They offer a whole slew of different features, depending on which bong you decide. There’s bongs like the Helix Stacks that are customizable, tall narrow ones that give you big hits that’ll rush straight to your head, and even ones with ice catches built in to allow you to place ice in it to cool your hit. Bongs are great for a variety of uses, but my personal favorite is smoking a small bowl to myself in a taller bong; you use less bud and get very, very high.
How To Use a Water Bong
Just like with bubblers, you’re going to want to immerse the stem without overfilling. It’ll be challenging at first to find the sweet spot, but eventually it’ll become second nature. Because bongs are larger, there’s all sorts of cool things you can do to improve your hit and have fun with your smoke session. If you add ice to your bong, it’ll cool off your hit allowing you to take bigger bong rips without hurting your throat as bad or making you cough. You don’t have to have an ice catch to do this either! If you don’t have an ice catch, be careful not to overload the bong with ice, as it can get water into the bowl and mess up your bud.
Dabbing with Glass WaterPipes
What are dabs and why a water pipe?
A dab is concentrated marijuana wax that you vaporize at extreme heat and get extremely, extremely high. Dabs are a great option because it takes considerably less to get the same job done, making it more cost effective and less time consuming. You want to use a vaporizer or water pipe with these because otherwise the hit is too rough.
How do You Dab?
The first thing you need to do is get a dab rig. They make dab attachments so that you can put them on your normal glass on glass bong or as a whole unit. You’ll need a dabber, which is typically a metal stick with either a scoop at the end or a ball, sometimes both; this is what you’ll put the marijuana concentrate wax on. You’ll also need to purchase a torch which can be found for relatively inexpensive in the camping isle of any department store and lasts a long time. You’ll scoop wax onto the dabber with the dabber itself, heat up the glass banger of the rig and wait about a minute, then run the end of the dabber with the wax in the glass until all of it has been vaporized while you’re hitting the bong.
I hope I’ve helped to break down the magical world of water pipes into digestible chunks. You can’t go wrong with bubblers or bongs; they’re all great.