What Should I Be Looking for in a Bong Brand?
Well, we can't answer the question "what are the best bong brands" directly for you as there are many different personal factors that come into play. Do you want hand blown glass? Do you want a dab rig or do you want a flower bong? Do you want a bong that can hit both concentrates and dry herb? Do you prefer bigger or smaller bongs? These are all questions and many more that you'll have to figure out the answer to before looking into which pieces to buy. However, with all that said, we can still make some recommendations.
While most pieces are not American made, or at least not produced in America, you can still get fantastic customer service and quality glass from all of the bong brands listed here. ( Note- there are some smaller, less known brands developing in the United States and beginning to make inroads into the marketplace that we're keeping an eye on)
As far as which company has the best bongs, well - we only included the best companies so there isn't an actual ranking to this list. Everything found here is to help you decide where you want to start looking for your next or first water pipe or dab rig.
Well, What Type of Bong Do I Want?
Good question, the simple answer would be to click on this LINK and read through our breakdown of different types of pipes. But hey I get it, you're just here to get some quick answers on what bong brands you should go look at, so let me break it down for you:
Hand Held Pipes
They do their job, and they'll deliver a hit. But, if you don't want to acquire a throat tolerance, these may not be ideal as they do hit very harshly. We've got a variety of hand held pipes to see HERE!
Bubblers
Moving up a weight class, bubblers are going to have a minimal amount of water filtration. Now, minimal or not, ANY amount of water filtration is going to take your smoking experience to a whole no dimension. So, if you're in the market for something either small or easy to handle this might be your best bet. A DopeBoo favorite! Find top rated Bubblers HERE!
Glass Bongs or Water Pipe
Now bongs are more expensive and come in a few subcategories and have several factors to consider that we really get into in this article HERE, but these are some of the main points to consider:
Beaker Bongs
Your classic down stem right into the base of the beaker straight tube pipe. Most of these days, especially if they are using glass that's thicker than 2-3mm will be made with borosilicate glass.
Not much to be said for these guys, they'll hit you like an eighteen wheeler hits the guy on acid wandering out in traffic: Hard. The only comment we would make is that with these bongs you will have a much harsher smoking experience than with a bong with percolators.
This is best for the experienced stoner who is looking for a high quality piece like these Higher Standards options HERE or this 17"+ beaker bong.
Water Pipes
While these constitute the majority of the pieces we have listed below, in general the difference between a "water pipe," or bong, and a beaker bong is the percolator. While beakers don't have many if any percolators, water pipes will have significantly more filtration for your water and weed providing and exceptionally comfortable smoking experience.
Many of the water pipes are made with high quality, thick borosilicate glass. Check out our entire range of water pipes HERE!
Favorite Bongs and Brands to Consider:
ZOB Glass
Perhaps one of the best known bong brands, ZOB glass has been making some of the best scientific glass pieces since 2004 and has become widely known for high quality and durable bongs.
One defining feature of ZOB products is the thick glass and high quality glass they use on their pieces. ZOB uses borosilicate glass with an average thickness of 5.00mm making them absolute tanks. The majority of their pieces are beaker bong and scientific glass "milkers." By milkers we mean they are smaller pieces that have reduced airflow allowing you to pull in more smoke before you hit it, or "milk" your hit. From our selection we highly recommend these Zob Glass bong products for some smoke shesh's you'll never forget:
Snoop Dogg POUNDS
One of the newer manufacturers on the block, Snoop Dogg bongs are one of our personal favorites here for best bong brands. The manufacturer of this line, Famous Brandz, is no stranger to collaborations from Cheech and Chong to the Trailer Park Boys and now with Snoop Dogg. They have been producing high quality collaborations and products with a wide range of glass and dab rigs for YEARS.
But, why is the Snoop Dogg line the one we want to talk about? Simple. From the Starship to the Mothership and the San Francisco (SFO) to the Chicago (CHI), the POUNDS line of bongs has an amazingly diverse selection from dab rigs and water pipes to straight tube pipes with a mix of percolators and down stems to fit ANY smoking preference. The straight tube bongs all come with 5mm thick borosilicate glass as well as extra thick "launch pad" bases to make sure they never break.These glass bongs are sure to have at least one that meets your favorite bong brands requirements.
As a personal user of the Mothership I would add in that, having smoked off of a LOT of different types of glass and vaporizers, these are quality products which provide a smoking experience like no other. Check out our Snoop Dogg glass bongs collection HERE!
GRAV Labs
When it comes to notoriety, GRAV Labs is one of the best known brands in the current bong brands now on the market. Founded close to two decades ago in Austin, Texas they have been making scientific high quality glass, water pipes and bongs since the beginning.
With over 30 glass blowing experts and their unique Helix design allowing for more volume inside of the pipe to cool your smoke, GRAV Labs is for sure a top of the line bong brand. If you're looking for clean, complex, and high performing glass, GRAV has you covered. You can see our GRAV Labs Collection HERE!
AFM
Alien Flower Monkey, or AFM, is one of the newer players in the bong brand game being established in 2014. AFM produces "unworldly" bongs designed to, and I'll quote this directly, "bring out the alien in you." As a personal user of one of their smaller glass dab rigs, they do exactly that.
Similarly to GRAV, AFM produces scientific glass bongs, however AFM differs from the competition in the design of their glass. They use many colors and logos to decorate their pieces making for very unique pieces. If you want some color and funky pieces, this is your one stop shop.
Marley Natural
For my chill down to earth people, this ones for you. Marley Natural takes it's name from the legend, Bob Marley himself. Their mission is to provide the down to earth a natural connection between their bongs and the herb.
Their pieces consist of amazing quality bongs, hand pipes and smaller glass bubblers, and and come with a unique combination of wood and smoked glass. While the majority of their products are smaller pieces, they also have straight tubes as well as beaker bongs.
Marley also features many smoking accessories such as dug outs, storage cases, rolling trays, and much more made out of their distinctive walnut wood or smoked glass styles.
These pipes and accessories are perfect for the on the go stoner looking for something manageable and unique. Check out our collection of Marley Natural glass pieces HERE!
Empire Glassworks
Empire Glassworks has been around since 2013 and is a glass company that has a team with over 40 years experience making hand blown glass. They've taken glass blowing to a whole new level!
Perhaps one of the most unique companies on the list, as well as one that offers American Made products, Empire Glassworks produces bongs, dab rigs, and hand pipes that resemble everything from avocados and sushi, to their long line of water bottle glass bongs.
With unparalleled customer service and remaining humble to their customer loyalty there is good reason for why Empire Glassworks has been a household and head shop name since the beginning.
If you are looking for quality and one of a kind glass bong, this is the place for you. Check out our collection of Empire Glassworks quality bongs HERE!
Diamond Glass
Diamond Glass sits right on the cusp between sleek and efficient and artistic for our list of bong brands. While they do not use actual diamonds, they're unique diamond shaped bowls and scientific pieces are made with extremely thick glass making them sturdy options for the clumsy stoner. Diamond Glass is also not afraid to throw some color into their pieces, including well places color accents on their straight tubes, percs, downstems, and mouthpieces. Diamond Glass promises a unique and high quality piece every time, and provides the a good bang for your buck at the end of the day.
Cheech and Chong
Now we had to put Cheech n Chong down here, because if we didn't I know all you OG's would've already been going through their site looking at the same pieces you've been drooling over for years. Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong have been faces of the smoking game almost as long as Snoop Dogg, beginning their careers in comedy and now transferring into their official glass bong and accessory brand.
Cheech and Chong glass bongs are not only unique with amazing Cheech and Chong logos and designs all over their pieces, but also provides some of the highest quality smoking experiences possible. Of the bong brands listed here, Cheech and Chong bongs are some of the favorite bongs that we can recommend and clients love them!
They have a variety of styles including straight bongs as well as beaker bongs, depending on what you're looking for. They use borosilicate glass which we have hopefully shown by now is exactly what you should be looking for, and their designs are built to give you the most smoke for your herb or concentrate.
If you're looking to go far out, look no further than here. Check out the Cheech & Chong collection HERE!
High Quality Best Bong Brands- Have You Decided?
Deciding on the right water pipes or glass bong options is really dependent upon you and what and how you plan on using your piece. The bong brand might matter, but it also might not based on your style as well as what you are looking for. The important thing is to make sure that you look for a quality bong from a solid head shop that offers you thick glass, quality pieces.
Let us know what new bong you choose (leave a comment) and what are your favorite glass company in this list of best bongs and why!