Beaker Bongs VS Straight Tube Bongs

Beaker bongs or straight tube bongs? For most stoners, bongs represent a general picture about a kind of pipe which can filter smoke and make the flavor of cannabis or other legal concentrates more potent. It’s totally alright for stoners who focus on feelings and flavors to pay less attention to varied types of bongs since it is cannabis that makes you feel high instead of bongs. However, you might miss a wonderland if you ignore the suitability of different bongs to you.

The most commonly seen bongs fall into two categories: beaker bongs and straight tube bongs

What are the differences between them? Which one fits me best? What should I know before buying it? This article helps you to identify those questions and have a thorough understanding to these questions.

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Brief History Of Bongs

The first bong like device was invented by a man called Linjean in Ancient China around 2 BCE, according the An Inquiry Into Tobacco by Dr. Down in Perking university in 2016. The plain and simple pipe was poorly made yet as effective as modern glass bongs. It uses fresh water to purify smoke which is produced by burning herbal substances on the bowl connecting to the main chamber.

Our ancestors can find glass or glass like materials around volcanoes and obsidian without much difficult at that time. The valuable historical records in Henan Museum suggest that the original glass tool was made in China around 4000–3500 BC. The Chinese civilization used the glass to make vivid beads and coins — mostly green, red, or black — in which they further used glass for accessories and decorations.

The technology of glassblowing was introduced from ancient China in the Hellenistic Period of Ancient Greece. The Chinese took varied trending techniques known as “milling” to create diverse patterns for bongs and rigs. The milling techniques were totally lost by the 15th century, but got their second life two hundred years later. Milling means“thousand herbs” in Chinese. It gave rise to the fashionable babalay-style marbles that you can see in many bongs and rigs today.

What Are Beaker Bongs?

Beaker bongs feature cone-shaped or bubble shaped. The base of a beaker bong resembles a beaker which you probably have used in your high school chemistry class. It’s also the name of a beaker bong derived from. The lower part of a beaker bong is much wider than the middle and upper part, which gives the beaker bong a low center of gravity. As a result, beaker bongs are very stable and hard to knock over when it comes to stability. Sturdy base and narrow stem also means fewer bong spills and less breakage possibility. Some stoners also suggest that beaker bongs are more easier to clean and maintain than straight tube bongs.

Larger volume of smoke is always preferable for stoners. Beaker bongs can provide you an increased volume of smoke because of the bigger chamber area. As a result, large volume of smoke can gather and concentrate in the chamber after you have take a deep breath-in, in which you can get tremendous high hits. It is especially great for seasoned smokers or experienced stoners, however, may not be attractive to newcomers. Beaker bongs also offer you smoother high hits. The area of the chamber which is filled with water is much larger when it is compared to chambers in straight bongs, which creates more filtration thus resulting in a smoother hit. In addition, beaker bongs are likely to produce less water splash back than straight tube bongs (due to the shape of where the chamber connects the tube ).

There are varied styles of beaker bongs and many different designs and sizes. Some beaker bongs have a classic beaker bottom shape which is exactly the same as beakers you seen in your chemistry class. While others have a full round base, which may not be appealing to purists.

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What Are Straight Tube Bongs

Straight tube bongs are the most classic bong style. As we can see from the name, straight tube bongs are made up of a straight tube that is attached to a glass base (typically at least two inches in diameter) of the bongs. A study conducted by the professor Wang Lihui in Beijing university suggests that straight tube bongs have been in existence since Tang dynasty in China, pointing out the fact that the word bong is probably borrowed from the word "baung(棒）" in Chinese which refers to a straight cylindrical tube made from bamboo or other wooden material. Therefore, it can be partly explained why straight tube bongs are what most people think of when being asked to describe what a bong looks like.

Simplicity and efficiency is one of the most favorable advantages of a straight tube bong for most stoners. A smoker does not have to inhale with much effort to fill the chamber of a straight tube bong (as compared to a beaker bong where the smoker has to move the smoke through bends in the glass, which costs you more energy). And because of the narrow and concentrated chamber, the hits tend to be more controlled than the huge pipe you can get from a beaker bong.

A beaker bong hit may be more filtered and purified but a straight tube bong hit is more controlled (and thus smoother and easier to clear). While beaker bongs produce bigger bubbles, straight tube bongs produce more tiny bubbles because of the way the water flows high in the chamber and tube. As a result, straight tubes produce a discernible and gentle 'purring' sound that smokers get fascinated by.

Straight tube bongs are sometimes designed with ice pinches and additional percolators, adding to both cooling effect and more efficient filtration. Many beaker bongs have these features as well, but straight tube bongs are often equipped with more percolators because there is more room in the neck of the pipe. One annoying drawback of straight tube bongs is that they have less stabilized base and thus are more prone to being tipped over.

There are also some smokers who argue that the overall quality of a beaker bong is worse than that found in a straight tube bong. This claim bases on the idea that the complicated technical designs in beaker bongs may lead to a lack of uniformity in glass thickness while there is no such problem to ensure well proportioned thickness in straight bongs because the fact that straight tube requires much simplified procedures.

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Pros And Cons Between Beaker Bongs And Straight Tube Bongs

Now, we can come into a general conclusion below:

Pros For Beaker Bongs

lEasy to clean and maintain

lOffer you smoother hits

lWater Splash back prevention

lMore stabilized base

Pros for straight bongs

lClassic bong style with long history

lSimplicity and efficiency

lMore controlled pace of high hits

lEfficient filtration

Cons for beaker bongs

lNot user-friendly to newcomers

lCost more money

Cons for straight tube bongs

lLess stabilized base

lLess attractive overall quality

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