When deciding on what material you want your bong to be made out of, you have only a few things that you need to consider. Are you a heavy smoker or a casual smoker? Do you smoke alone or with friends? Do you enjoy the taste of the smoke or is it all about the effects?
Below, we’ll list the pros and cons of both types of bongs. Let’s look at acrylic first.
Are Acrylic Bongs Durable?
Yes, acrylic bongs are very durable. They don’t often break when they’re dropped on the floor or knocked against other objects. If you like to travel, an acrylic bong might be the way for you to go if you get a small one. If you want to be even more certain that your bong isn’t going to break and you don’t need fancy features, a silicone bong is superior to an acrylic bong in almost every way.
Acrylic Bongs Aren’t High Quality
When it comes to the material it’s made of, acrylic bongs just feel like their price: cheap. The walls are thin, and no matter how often you clean it, eventually, it will develop stains that will make it always look dirty.
Acrylic Bongs Are Harder To Clean
When you go to clean your acrylic bong, be prepared to do some scrubbing because you’re not going to get everything off without it.
You may be able to use hot water and dish soap, but you won’t be able to use most cleaners that are specifically made for bongs because they will react with the material and possibly stick to it. I don’t think anyone would want to smoke bong cleaner!
Another downside on the cleaning end of things is that you can’t clean them with alcohol. If you try to clean an acrylic bong with alcohol, the bong will fall apart. The reason for this is that while the alcohol dissolves the resin stuck to the inside of the bong, it also dissolves any adhesive used to hold the bong together. It’s not a matter of if it will destroy your bong, it’s simply a matter of when.
Acrylic Bongs Don’t Smoke Smooth
An acrylic bong puts out some of the harshest smoke that you can get from any method of smoking. If you get a really cheap bong, some react poorly to the heat and may release chemicals into your smoke. Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about BPA being one of them unless you’re making a bong homemade from beverage containers that aren’t BPA-free.
Now that we’ve been through the pros and cons of acrylic bongs, let’s take a look at what makes glass bongs so special… and also a pain in the butt.
Glass Bongs Make Smoke Taste Better
When you’re smoking from a glass bong, it’s simply going to taste cleaner and more pleasant than if you had taken the same hit from an acrylic bong. Acrylic bongs are plastic, so it’s going to give a taste that just isn’t worthy of that expensive new strain you just bought a zip of.
Glass Bongs Are Easy To Clean
Glass bongs are often said to be difficult to clean, especially if they have high-end features like inline percolators, tree percolators, etc, but compared to the fact that an acrylic bong can literally become uncleanable over time, glass wins. If you get the right glass cleaner, you can take the oldest, nastiest dirty bong and restore it back to nearly brand new levels of shiny.
Glass Bongs Aren’t As Durable, But…
Even though acrylic and silicone bongs are more durable than glass bongs, if you buy a bong made of the right type of glass, it will be more durable than you think. Most glass bongs today are made of high quality, thick borosilicate glass. This glass is rated to withstand temperatures up to just over 900°F, so using your oven’s self-cleaning cycle to clean it is possible.
Glass Bongs Are More Customizable
It’s just a fact: there are more ways to customize your glass bong than there are acrylic bongs. There is a wide variety of different bowls, downstems, percolators, ash catchers, etc that you can acquire that will help you make the smoking experience right for you.
