Glass on Glass Bongs! Things you need to know!

NOTE

ALL PICTURES ARE TAKEN FROM OVERGROW MEMBER'S GALLERIES. THESE ARE NOT MINE, THEY ARE JUST BEING USED AS REFERENCE MATERIAL. IF YOU WISH YOUR IMAGE TO BE REMOVED JUST LET ME KNOW.


I figured I'd make a little informative thread about GonG (Glass on Glass) bongs as they don't seem too common around here.

http://www.overgrow.com/edge/gallery/702950/glass-joints1-009.jpg

First and formost, GonG bongs unitlize a ground glass seal that's been used scientifically for a great deal of time. Not only does this seal better than your tradtional o-ring/grommet setup, but it has many other advantages:


Cleaning!- As hard as you try, it's impossible to get rubber o-rings and grommets 100% clean.

Longervity!- Grommets and o-rings wear out. Loose their elasticicty, crack, get brittle. GonG joints don't.

Glass!- You have a nice new glass bong, but it still has rubber grommets and orings. Yuck! A GonG bong is 100% glass, no rubber to taint the taste of the wonderful herb.

Seal!- As I previously mentioned, gong bongs provide a seal unmatched by grommet/oring setups. How does rubber not make a good seal you may ask, and how does a better seal make a better bong?

Orings and grommets get old and wear out. Bam, bad seal! Even when new an o-ring doesn't make a perfect seal with the bong.

The grommet between the downstem and bong is really not a big deal in the whole scheme of things. A partially gong bong, or gong converted bong (regulr bong with gong downstem used instead of regular downstem) will be nearly as good as a full gong bong assuming it's a tight fit. The oring between the bowl and downstem is where most of the leakage comes from.

So you get back to the question as to why an o-ring doesn't make a perfect seal with the downstem. Assuming you have a brand new o-ring, a few things must be true for there to be a perfect seal.

- The conical shape of the downstem flare has to be 100% perfect. A handblown piece of glass is not that precise.

- The position of the o-ring on the stem of the slide/bowl has to be perfect. Again this is never the case, you are never going to get all these things perfect. If one tiny little part of the oring is higher/lower than the rest of the o-ring your seal is gone.

So in a perfect world a grommet bong will seal just as good as a gong, we dont' live in a perfect world. Because of all these little imperfetions rubber grommet bongs leak.

"So why can't I draw in any air if I push my hand over the bowl and suck?"

Because when you are pushing that bowl down to seal your hand to the bowl, you are also pushing the bowl down against the oring and stem and making it seal. The weight of the bowl alone is not enough to squish the oring enough to seal properly.

"so what" you may say. I don't care if a little bit of air gets into my bong along with the smoke. Well, that little bit of air is what separates the hit of a generic grommet bong and that of a nice gong bong.

A gong bong gives a smooth, milky hit that is unmatched by any other.

But, not all GonG is created equal!

RooR were the ones to innovate the use of a ground glass joint on a bong. They were the first and arguably the best. Their joints are better than any other bong on the market, period. They use a joint that is exclusive to roor.

Many other gong bongs are around Blue Dot, ADS, Pure, Nameless, Faded, Spectrum 69, HVY, Hurricane, Magic Glass, and many more. Most name brand gong bongs are of qood quality. There are also many gong bongs made locally by artists. For obvious reasons it's impossible to talk about quality here, all artists make different quality glass and source their joints from different locations.

A few more basics. Joint sizes are the size of the ground glass joint. The most common are 14 and 18, although there are a few larger joints used such as 24 and 29. These are usually only on RooR Zumos (huge tubes with a huge inner diameter) and a few oversized Blue Dot variants.

Different sizes: http://www.overgrow.com/edge/gallery/702950/GonGbowlszes1.jpg

There are two main styles of joints. There are those that are purchased separatly from a lab supply store, and blown into the bong. These are generally superior to the other type. Ground out joints. Intead of using an actual joint, they simply build up glass around the joint area and grind it out so a downstem fits. Obviously this type is not as good as the actual joint, they often wobble/dont seal well. The one advantage to this is that it's more low-profile. You don't have a half inch joint sticking up from the bong.


Base style. The most common base style is straight tube, bubble, and beaker. The beaker is a triagular shape usually. I think you get the idea. Bubble base is simply a bubble like most bongs. These beakers and bubbles can come in all shapes and sizes.

Ice pinches. Many gong bongs have ice pinches/rings. This is a device to use ice in your bong. It will usually be right above the base.

RooR USA and RooR germany:

RooR USA are USA made RooRs. They have features German roors don't. Bent necks, percs, etc. They come in 3.5, 5, 7, and 9mm glass. They are of no lower quality in most cases, they are not "knockoffs" as some say. The signature is always on the right side of the tube.

RooR USA Perc:

http://www.overgrow.com/edge/gallery/702950/new-roor-006.jpg

German roors are ones most people are used to seeing. They are not sold in the US. They offer different features on their bongs, and a few different thicknesses.

Accessories!

GonG bongs can take a host of accessories, some available to grommet bong users others not.

First, the diffuser. Diffuser downstems come in may shapes and sizes, the main idea is to break the smoke up into smaller bubbles for better filtration cooling. They work very well. RooR usa makes diamond cut diffusers, which have a series of horizontal slits in the bottom. RooR USA also makes diffusers with rows of holes. RooR Germany makes diffusers with a cluster of holes at the very bottom. Other companies offer smiliar and different designs. Simpy put, a diffuser makes the hit smoother and cleaner.

RooR USA Diffuser:
http://www.overgrow.com/edge/gallery/702950/glassbowls2-014.jpg

Ash catchers. They also come in many shapes and sizes. The general idea is a separate chamber to catch the ash so your main chamber stays cleaner. Not only does it do this, it also adds chamber volume and filtration/cooling.

http://www.overgrow.com/edge/gallery/702950/RooRnewbowl1.JPG

Carbon Adaptor. RooR germany offers a carbon adaptor that allows you to pass the smoke through active carbon to give a smoother, much cleaner tasting hit. It's run in-line with the bowl and downstem.

Vape Attachments. They made adaptors that allow you to hook up your vape to a bong to take nice cool vape bong rips! Very nice.

Conversion downstems. These are downstems that have an 18mm joint for the bong, and a 14mm joint for the bowl. This allows you to use a 14mm bowl on a bong with a 18mm joint.

Bushing downstem/diffuser converters. These combine the features of a conversion downstem, while making everything more compact. Instead of having the 14mm join on top of the 18mm joint, it is sunken into the 18mm joint. This takes off a good inch from the total length of the downstem.

Well those are just some basics of glass on glass bongs. Feel free to ask any questions. I personally feel glass on glass bongs are not only the standard that all bongs should aim for, but the future. I'd be willing to bet ten years down the line gong will be the norm.

Now go get high everyone!

 

wtf people are talking about o rings.... wtf i never had an o ring wear out,what does this have to do with anything

 

all the pics are dead links

 

they aint dead links, hipforums just cuts out realy long links for some reason.

 

just when it says forbiddin hit "go" again

 

What does an o-ring have to do with anything? A lot, actually. The O-ring is the main thing that helps keep a seal on your bong. A bad seal means a bad bong.

How long have you used the bong with the same oring? I usually get orings cracking after a good 2 months or so, grommets take a bit longer.


Huh, odd about the pics. Never had problems with linking pics from OG before, must be something else. Although if you just copy and paste the url into a new window they come up. Damn hipforums.



One more advantage I forgot, dry carbing. Dry carbing is pulling the whole downstem instead of just the bowl. why would this be adventageous? Well, for one thing the fresh air is routed straight into the bong, instead of through dirty water. You get a cleaner tasting hit, a faster clear, and less drag while clearing. Only bad thing is you put your stem and joints in more danger, it's very easy to chip a joint or snap a stem if you are stoned out of your mind dry carbing.

 

well the links work after i hit go, but none of the pictures showed up.

 

I just changed all the pics to links, I don't know why Hipforums screws everything up so badly.

Once you open the link just copy and paste the url into a new window.

 

i dont even use o rings i use peaces of paper,it works awesome just as good as an o ring and i got a unlited supply

 

Joint? We call them stems around here.

 

the "Error 403" is from over-grow. It does that so people dont host the pictures off site and take their bandwith, such as what you were trying to do. Its just a pain in the ass cus simply clikcing the links doesn't work, gotta copy and paste them into a new browser window, or this browser window then hit back, whichever...

I never really understood what was so great about the RooR bongs until I saw one in person. Its like scientificly precise lab glassware that you can get ripped from. Great write up, but now I want one...

 

"Joint" refers to the ground glass part itself, not the whole thing.

Ply,

Same here. I was never much into the whole gong scene until getting my first roor. They are just so amazing, I've hit tons of bongs from $20-$600 (expensive JBDs) and not one hit as smooth or clean as the roor. Not only that, but I love the way they look compared to "art" bongs with sloppy work and simple color raking. You can get some really nice worked gong bowls, better than any regular slide, and that adds to the look of them for those that do like art.

 

The bowl on this one had an unfortuntate fall so it now has a worked bowl.

 

Nice white label! What kinda worked bowl did you get? Any pics?

It's hard to tell by the pics, but did you get a diffuser with that? White labels are supposed to come stock with diffusors.

 

Nice thread Tea

I love glass on glass, I converted my kaos to that setup. I had no idea they made ROORs in the states? All the shops here say they don't carry them bc they have to imported..

 

Looks like a diffuser to me.

 

They probably just don't know about RooR USA, it's based in Cali and obviously they don't advertise or anything of the sort. They send some bongs out to other states, but not many.

Or he thinks RooR usa are knockoffs, which some people seem to. Rest assured they are still a genuine roor and are made with the approval of Martin (roor germany)

 

Thats very good to know.. What states do they send to? Do they only do wholesale?

 

Not really sure exactly what states. I know New York, Minnesoda, Texas and a few other states do for sure, but past that you'd just have to ask around.

Dementia is a chain of headshops in CA, they own the rights to roor usa and produce the bongs. They do wholesale, but I wouldn't even know how to get into contact with them.

 

Holy hell, what were they thinking naming the place Dementia?