New to bongs and find some of the terminology or descriptions confusing?
There are lots of words commonly used in the glass bong industry that may not be common knowledge to someone new. There are also terms for various things that differ around the world.
Here are some explanations that may be helpful.
Agung:
Agung is an Australian brand, but it can also be used as a generic term to describe an Aussie style bong, a bong which has a rubber grommet, metal stem and brass cone piece.
Bonza:
Decades ago Agung introduced a metal stem for their bongs and called it the "Bonza" stem. This became the standard size metal stems for Aussie style bongs. A bong that takes this stem might be called a "Bonza Bong". Other brands also use Agung's bonza style stem.
Bubble:
A bubble bong or bubble base bong is as described, a bong with a bubble base. This is the most common type for Agung and other Aussie style bongs but less common in glass on glass bongs where the beaker is more common.
Beaker:
A bong with a conical tapered base, usually made from all glass. Beaker bongs are very popular in Australia, in Europe beakers and straight tubes share popularity more evenly.
Glass On Glass:
A glass on glass bong, sometimes called "GONG" for short, is a bong made from all glass, with glass tapered joint, glass down stem and glass cone piece.
Slide, Cone Piece, Bowl:
Usually called a "Cone Piece" in Australia, often called "Bowl" in Europe and usually called "Slide" in the Americas. Other Aussie slang can be brassy, CP, piece.
Borosilicate:
Borosilicate is Pyrex glass, "Pyrex" is actually a brand name though, so borosilicate or "boro" for short is used in the bong world. This is the only really suitable glass to make bongs with.
14mm or 18mm:
Glass on glass bongs have a tapered joint, borrowed from the laboratory glass world. These tapered joints are a standard size and are what connect the bong to the down stem and then to the cone piece.
There are two commonly used sizes, 14mm and 18mm (sometimes called 19mm). Most bongs with a down stem will have a 18mm joint on the bong, then a down stem which is 18-14mm and a 14mm cone piece.
Scientific Glass:
A clear bong designed for function, not artistic or novelty purpose is called a scientific glass bong.
Heady Glass:
A bong or accessories created by an artist with artistic as well as functional purpose is called heady glass.
Bong:
"Bong" is a Thai word with historical origins, it's a smoking pipe with water used to diffuse the smoke. Many nicknames are used for bongs, ie billy, piece, didg, beug, bewg, water pipe, glassy, tube etc
Gator Bong:
A bong made from a plastic water bottle, often with a piece of garden hose and some high level creativity. Not the most pleasant smoking experience but does the job in an emergency. Gatorbeug is another term that means the same thing, but is now more commonly used in reference to the company "Gatorbeug" which is an Australian company that make glass and ceramic replicas of gator bongs.
Percolator:
Part of the bong that increases diffusion of the bubbles and therefore increased filtering and cooler smoke. A percolator is usually some sort of chamber that the smoke travels through and is broken up into smaller bubbles.
Diffuser:
A part that usually contains slits or holes to increase diffusion of the smoke. A down stem with slits or holes at the end is called a diffused down stem. A diffuser is essentially the same thing as a perc.
Can:
The part of the bong that holds the water. It is used as a way to discern between different parts of the bong, ie: can, neck, foot, mouthpiece etc.
50x5:
Common term that describes a glass bong made from 50mm diameter tube with a 5mm wall thickness. A 44x4 would therefore be 44mm diameter made from 4mm wall thickness.
Stemless:
A stemless bong is simply one that does not require a separate down stem or bong stem. The stem is built in so the bong only requires two pieces, the bong itself and the cone piece.
Quartz Banger:
A banger is used for oils or "dabs". The banger is heated to a high temperature and then the oil "dabbed" into it. Bangers or nails are made from quartz because it has an extremely high tolerance for heat.
Can also be made out of titanium or even ceramics, but these have lost popularity to quartz.
Dab Rig, Banger Hanger:
Is a slang term for a small bong that is suitable to use with a quartz banger (or nail etc) for oils. Small rigs are preferred over large bongs for this.
Aussie Bong:
Typically just means a bong with a rubber base, grommet, metal stem and brass cone piece. Aussie style bongs are common and the most popular type of bong sold to your average Australian stoner.
Shotty:
Shot hole in Australia, called a “carb” in Europe and is rarely ever seen on a bong in the Americas. It’s a hole placed on the bong which you place your finger or thumb over while you draw and then release to inject air and clear the chamber.
On a bong without a shotty, you would pull the cone piece out to achieve the same thing.
Pretty much all Aussie style bongs have a shotty.
Bewg, Beug:
Bewg, bewgz, beug etc is a slang term for bong in Australia. There a hundreds of slang terms for bongs in different parts of the world and in Australia, but bewg or some variation of this is very common throughout Australia.
Soft Glass:
Soft glass is another type of glass that is sometimes used to make bongs. Soft glass can be very pretty and colourful but unfortunately it has very low tolerance to temperature change, therefore pouring hot water into a soft glass bong to clean it can shatter it.
For this reason, soft glass is not very commonly used, we don't sell soft glass bongs and generally we suggest you avoid them.