What Happened to the Bong? This year's 4/20 will usher countless new stoners into the hazy world of legal cannabis, given the ever-expanding number of states with recreational weed laws on the books. But one thing you're not likely to see amid the ecstatic smokeouts and clouds of stoner jokes is any mention of the humble bong. Even as pot culture went mainstream over the last decade, bongs remain a symbol of its seedy, black-market past. They're a delivery method that can't help but look outdated and/or needlessly elaborate compared to intuitive technology like vape pens, but also weak and collegiate compared to dab rigs (the crack pipes of weed). Bongs became synonymous with cannabis in the 1960s and '70s, gradually adapted as they were during the counterculture boom, and encouraged by depictions that presented them as the ultimate avenue to getting high. Like beer bongs (or keg stands, or shotgunning cans of beer, or any number of stunts that rarely seem as cool in hindsight) they're both spectacle and endurance test, a sign of one's tolerance but also sense of adventure. I remember visiting my cousin on Long Island one summer in the late '90s and watching him extract a 6-foot glass bong from the ceiling vent in his bedroom, which struck me as an improbable but ingenious clown-car of a hiding spot. The fact that I coughed for five straight minutes after hitting it (he needed to spark it for me, given the distance between my mouth and the bowl) did little to diminish my awe. Bongs have more personality than pipes, pens, or edibles. Yes, some people are prone to naming their possessions no matter what they are, and the stunning variety of hand-made, carefully crafted weed paraphernalia these days frequently deserves nicknames like Gandalf or The Green Goblin. But unless you're South Park's Towelie (who prefers joints, of course) you're not going to wring a whole lot of personality from a smokeable USB stick. Dab rig A pipe designed for vaporizing cannabis concentrates, sometimes referred to as an oil rig, vapor rig, or concentrate pipe. Similarly to a bong, a dab rig filters concentrate vapor through water at the base. In addition to the central piece, dab rigs include a glass, quartz, ceramic, or titanium platform (called a nail or banger) to hold the concentrate or “dab”. Consumers also use a long, slender tool to apply a dab to the nail and a butane or propane torch lighter to heat the nail before the dab is applied. I prefer using a quartz nail with my dab rig. Dab rigs or oil rigs require flash-heating, so be sure to use a butane torch. What are dab rigs? A dab rig is the chamber of a glass pipe, connected to a nail or banger, used for dabbing, in the place of a traditional bowl typically found on a bong. New dabbers may be overwhelmed at the technique, upfront cost, and number of accessories required to use dab rigs and pipes. But they may also appreciate the strong, streamlined effects and heavy terpene flavors that concentrates and dab rigs provide. Once you get the dabbing process down, using a dab rig can be easy and efficient. The key steps are simple: heating the nail with a torch, placing a dab of concentrate in the nail, and inhaling the resulting vapor. What Does Stash Jar Mean? In cannabis culture, a stash jar is any container, vessel, or receptacle designed or reconfigured for the purpose of storing one’s supply of marijuana, cannabis edibles, or other related consumables for recreational or medicinal purposes. Stash jars are either used to conceal said possession from possible discovery, or just to store it in a manner that will prolong its freshness or usability. Ideal stash jars are sealed in such a manner to eliminate or reduce the amount of oxygen, heat, light, and moisture that can come in contact with the stored product(s). They may be stored in a cool environment such as a refrigerator, but a freezer is not advised. Cigar cigar, cylindrical roll of tobacco for smoking, consisting of cut tobacco filler in a binder leaf with a wrapper leaf rolled spirally around the bunch. Wrapper leaf, the most expensive leaf used in cigars, must be strong, elastic, silky in texture, and even in colour; it must have a pleasant flavour and good burning properties. Christopher Columbus and the explorers who followed him in Cuba, Mexico, Central America, and Brazil found that the Indians of those regions smoked a long thick bundle of twisted tobacco leaves wrapped in a dried palm leaf or corn (maize) husk. A pottery vessel discovered at Uaxactún, Guatemala, dating from the 10th century CE or earlier, shows the figure of a Maya smoking a string-tied roll of tobacco leaves. The Spanish word cigarro, from which cigar is derived, probably was an adaptation of sik’ar, the Mayan term for smoking. By 1600 the cigar had been introduced into Spain, where it was a symbol of conspicuous wealth for two centuries before it was widely used in other European countries. The use of cigars in New England probably followed closely the settlement of Connecticut in 1633. Modern cigars are described by their size and shape as follows: corona is a straight-shaped cigar with rounded top (the end placed in the mouth), about 5.5 inches (14 cm) long; petit corona, or corona chica, is about 5 inches long; tres petit corona is about 4.5 inches long; half a corona is about 3.75 inches long; Lonsdale is the same shape as a corona, about 6.5 inches long; ideales is a slender torpedo-shaped cigar, tapered at the lighting end, about 6.5 inches long; bouquet is a smaller torpedo-shaped cigar; Londres is a straight cigar about 4.75 inches long. These descriptive terms appear after the brand name. A panatela is a thin cigar open at both ends, usually about 5 inches long with a straight shape but sometimes having a shoulder, or drawn-in portion, at the mouth end; originally it had a finished top that had to be cut off before smoking. A cheroot is a thin cigar, open at both ends, usually thicker and stubbier than a panatela, and sometimes slightly tapered. The name whiff, used in Britain, refers to a small cigar, open at both ends and about 3.5 inches long. What is a hookah? A hookah is a water pipe used to smoke specially-made tobacco. The tobacco usually comes in different flavors, such as mint, cola, cherry, lemon-lime, coffee, chocolate, coconut, apple, licorice, and other fruity blends. Hookahs vary in size, shape, and style. The set-up of a typical hookah water pipe includes a bowl for the coal and tobacco, an ashtray to catch the ashes, a hose with a mouthpiece to draw the smoke into and allow it to cool, and a water bowl to cool and humidify the tobacco smoke. Hookah smoking is often a social activity in hookah bars, particularly with young adults, with users passing the same mouthpiece around the group. While many believe hookah smoking to be safer than cigarette smoking, it actually is just as dangerous to your health, if not more so. Other names for hookah include shisha, narghi, bute, argileh, shisha, hubble-bubble, and goza. How Do Mini Rigs Work? Mini dab rigs are unique in that they don’t require repeated learning. They function in the same way as full-sized dab rigs. You will already be familiar with the smaller dab rigs if you have used one in the past. These aren’t as complicated as full-size dab rings, so you can easily switch between them. Mini MJ Arsenal rigs have less space for air so they produce more flavorful, condensed vapor. The vapor can be quite harsh once you get dense hits from a regular-sized setup. You won’t have to worry about this if you use a mini-dab rig. The mini rig produces dense flavor and vapor without the harshness of a larger one. A growing number of manufacturers are creating their mini rigs as the demand for them grows. The final decision on which dab rig to buy will depend on your budget, personal preferences, and requirements. How Do Silicone Bongs Stack Up to Glass? When it comes to cannabis smoking paraphernalia, it’s hard to find a more-worthy material than glass. Smoking out of a glass bong has a lot of advantages, except for... Oops! [crash] You guessed it! Gravity has struck again, breaking your bong to the point of making it unsafe or unusable. What smoker doesn't know the pain of watching a "ride or die" glass piece be dropped and shatter?As a result, silicone bongs and rigs have been gaining in popularity, finding a market with frequent travelers and clumsy stoners, alike. Some smokers will never give up glass, but if you find yourself breaking a lot of pieces, using a silicone bong just might be your answer.A leading online headshop, DankStop, has a huge selection of glass and silicone bongs, as well as insights into differences between glass vs. silicone bongs and rigs. What is Silicone? Silicone is a man-made polymer with a rubbery texture, consisting of silicon and oxygen that can be created in almost every shape and color. Silicone is also incredibly durable. As one DankStop representative articulated, "Silicone is nearly impossible to break. Run it over with a car, or hold the torch directly to it. It doesn't matter." There is no danger attributed to smoking out of a silicone bong, silicone is non-stick, non-toxic, and can easily withstand high temperatures ? It's also used to make baking sheets and oven molds. What Is A Beaker Bong? Now you’ve got the basics down, let’s take a closer look at the beaker bongs. A beaker bong literally looks like a piece of science lab equipment. Aside from adding to this bong’s geeky appeal, the conical flask-shaped base of this piece offers a number of benefits to the smoker. Reasons Why Every Stoner Needs A Beaker Bong Strong, Stable Structure The wide footprint of the beaker bong gives it greater stability. The beaker bong has a much more sturdy base than many other bong styles meaning that this bong is able to withstand flailing arm or elbows, meaning fewer spills and less clean up. The heavy bottom of this piece makes it great for daily use. Not only this but the wider base will also generate lots of smoke giving you a more rapid hit. A Better Tasting Hit / Pull A beaker bong is a great way to enhance the taste of your herbs. The reason for this is simple; the wider base of the beaker bong holds more smoke, giving you a more generous hit and ultimately a bigger high. More Water Means Better Cooling Any bong devotee will tell you that more water means better filtration. The larger surface area of the beaker bong gives it a greater water capacity, meaning it delivers a cooler, smoother and tastier hit compared to some other bongs, such as small bongs and so on.