Let’s just get this out of the way first: gravity bongs aren’t for casuals. If you’re new to smoking weed, don’t start out at the top. You need to learn to crawl, then walk, then run before you can accomplish a marathon. Gravity bongs, in this scenario, are the marathon. They’re best for seasoned smokers who understand that a gravity bong rip is a lot more powerful than a normal bong rip.
What is a gravity bong?
Gravity bongs, or geebs, are bongs that use gravity to work up a huge hit. Rather than taking a bong rip by inhaling, a gravity bong pushes the hit into your lungs. It’s almost like force-feeding, but with weed. A gravity bong is basically just an empty plastic bottle and a large amount of water in a larger container, like a giant bucket or a bathtub. It isn’t anything complicated, and it’s easy to make one at home.
How do gravity bongs work?
A plastic bottle with the bottom cut off is affixed with a bowl of weed that fits on the cap. You submerge the bottle and light the cannabis on top. As you slowly lift the bottle out of the water, the suction pulls the smoke from the weed down into the bottle, trapping it.
You take the cap off and use the mouthpiece of the bottle as the mouthpiece of the bong. When your mouth is over the mouthpiece, you push the bottle back down into the water, and the water force rapidly pushes a giant hit of weed right into your lungs.
Suction and gravity work together to create the biggest possible hit. You don’t have to draw anything up with your lungs. Natural forces handle the entire process.
Do you get higher from a gravity bong?
Yes. Definitely. You get much higher with a gravity bong. Gravity bongs are very efficient at generating huge clouds and getting them from the bottle into your body as quickly as possible. A single gravity bong hit is significantly more powerful than a normal bong rip or a hit of a joint.
You might want to consider using a lower THC strain with your gravity bong unless the entire point is to get as high as possible. If that’s the case, do your thing. Just make sure you know your own tolerance. Stop after one hit and see how you feel. Don’t go back for another one just because there’s still weed in the bowl.
Who should use a gravity bong?
Do not introduce your friend to weed with a gravity bong. That friendship won’t last very long. A gravity bong delivers an entire bowl in one hit. How much “an entire bowl” is depends on how much you pack. You should use a gravity bong if you know exactly how much of a specific strain will give you your preferred high.
You shouldn’t use a gravity bong to try a new strain for the first time. A ⅓ gram joint rolled in a neutral paper is always the best way to try a new kind of cannabis. You’ll get the flavor and the terpenes without any residual flavor from resin left behind in your hand pipe or flavorings in your rolling paper. You’ll also be able to determine when you’ve had “enough.”
Making a gravity bong
You can buy a gravity bong, but they’re very easy to make. There’s a pretty big caveat that you need to consider before you make a gravity bong. Most of them are made with plastic bottles, which is technically recycling. It may not be the most perfect way to recycle, but it does keep a bottle out of a landfill.
There’s some debate about the safety of polyethylene plastics coming into contact with heat. They may release chemicals that are unsafe to inhale. When you smoke a gravity bong, you’re never technically heating up the plastic. Even still, heat + plastic + your lungs may be a little too close for comfort.
You can make a gravity bong out of a glass bottle. It’s a little more difficult, but the end result is something more durable and reusable that doesn’t contain polyethylene plastic. Which one you choose is totally up to you.
The plastic method
Wash out a plastic single-serving soda bottle. Cut the bottom off a plastic bottle and cut a hole slightly larger than a pencil eraser in the center of the bottle cap. Wrap the bottle cap in a few layers of aluminum foil, and gently press it down into the center hole. You can wrap it higher around the perimeter of the bottle cap to keep your weed from sliding out. Use a safety pin to make a few tiny holes in the center, so air and smoke can pass through.
Pack the bowl and set it aside.
The glass method
The glass method isn’t as hard as you’re probably thinking. If you smoke weed and you like to paint your nails, you already have everything you need in your house. It’s a fun project, and you get to play with fire.
Take a bong bowl you already have and try to fit it into the glass bottles you have in your house. Wine bottles, beer bottles, and soda bottles all have slightly different necks. Your best bet will probably be a wine bottle.
Take the label off the bottle. Wrap the bottom of the bottle five or six times with yarn, tying it together. Slip the yarn ring off the bottom of the bottle, and put it in a small container filled with acetone. If you don’t have pure acetone, you can use acetone nail polish remover.
After the string wrap has soaked up the acetone, slide it back onto the bottom of the bottle, around the portion you want to cut off. Fill your sink with ice-cold water and stand near it. Get a lighter and spark the string. Hold the bottle horizontally by the neck and keep rotating it in circles so the fire will burn the yarn evenly. When it looks like the glass is starting to melt, stick the end into the ice-cold water. The bottom will break off.
Use a nail file to sand down the exposed edges of the bottle. Smoothing them down will prevent accidents. Stoners and sharp glass don’t get along very well. Then, pack your bong bowl and set it aside.
Using your gravity bong
Find a vase, bucket, or large bowl that’s deeper than your bottle. Fill it with water. If you prefer a really cold hit and you usually put ice in your bong, you can put ice in your water vessel. Submerge your bottle into the water until only the mouthpiece is dry. Screw on your bottle cap or set your bong bowl into the neck of the bottle.
Light the bowl, and slowly raise the bottle out of the water. As you raise the bottle, it’s going to pull in all the smoke. The smoke stays trapped inside, cooled by the water in your water vessel. When you’re ready, unscrew the bottle cap or pull the bowl out, and put your mouth over the mouth of the bottle. Slowly lower the bottle back into the water.
As you lower the bottle, the smoke is going to be forced into your lungs. Although the water cools the smoke and makes it feel less harsh, the sheer volume of it is tremendous. If you feel like the whole hit is too much, stop lowering the bottle. You can quickly pass it off to a nearby buddy if you don’t want to finish it.
The takeaway
Gravity bongs are undoubtedly for expert-level cannabis smokers. You want to use a weed you’re familiar with in a quantity you’d normally smoke in one sitting. If you approach a gravity bong the same way you’d approach your normal solo bowl, it’s going to work out much better for you. It will also be gone in seconds. It may not be a chill smoke sesh, but it’s undoubtedly very efficient. (If you’re looking for a chill smoke sesh, take a look at our recommendations for the best Indica strains here and roll up a classic joint.)
Get to work making your gravity bong, and we’ll get to work delivering you your cannabis. Emjay can deliver flower to your doorstep in about half an hour. By the time you’re done assembling your gravity bong, we’ll have your cannabis to your house. How convenient is that? It was totally meant to be.
