5 Best Percolator Bongs: Your Buyer’s Guide

1. 1. Best Percolator Bong for Sub-Zero Chilled Toking: Boo Glass Double Percolator Bong with Glycerin Coil

   Price: $299.99

   Shop now at DopeBoo
   Pros:

   • Glycerin coil for additional cooling without ice cubes
   • No mess normally associated with ice cubes melting
   • Easily disassembled and reassembled for easier cleaning
   • Borosilicate glass for added durability

   Cons:

   • 19 inch height may be unwieldy and intimidating for new users
   • Glycerin coils can be difficult to clean
   • Does not work for use with concentrates (dried flower only)
   • Requires plastic keck clip for parts to be securely held together
   • Expensive

   This Boo Glass Bong with Glycerin Coil stands out because it has a glycerin coil, which helps cool your hits more than just putting ice in your bong.

   Glycerin coils are a relatively recent innovation to hit the glass bong market. They provide for the coldest possible hit, with minimal mess.

   For decades, stoners have relied on ice cubes to help further cool their bong hits before they enter their lungs. But after your bong sesh, if you don’t immediately dump out the water and ice, your ice cubes will melt, raising the water in your bong to dangerous levels.

   If you forget about this and take another hit, you may end up with bong water in your mouth. Sometimes the bong water will even overflow, leading to stains and unfortunate smells.

   Glycerin coils solve these classic stoner problems. You put the glycerin coil in your freezer for a couple hours, and it provides up to two hours of cooling for your bong hits.

   In this bong, the smoke is well-filtered before it even reaches this additional cooling step, thanks to an inline diffuser and a sprinkler percolator. While you slowly inhale, the slits diffuse the smoke into small bubbles, maximizing the surface area that will be cooled by the water.

   Then the diffused smoke reaches the sprinkler percolator. This sprinkler percolator even has bent tubes, designed to send the smoke flowing outward towards the glass walls of the bong, theoretically cooling your smoke even further. And that’s all before it reaches the super-frozen glycerin coil.

   This double-perc bong consists of two detachable parts. The bong can be easily taken apart and reassembled with a keck clip. This may make the bong easier to clean, but glycerin coils themselves can be difficult to clean. The glycerin coil also means this bong isn’t intended for use with concentrates. (Dab vapor will condense in the extremely cold temperatures, making your glycerin coil get pretty gross.)

   Find more Double Percolator Bong with Glycerin Coil information and reviews here.

2. 2. Best Recycler Bong With Perc: Tsunami Showerhead Recycler Bong

   Price: $199.99

   Shop now at Grasscity
   Pros:

   • Showerhead percolator creates bubbles
   • Foot is reinforced glass for added durability
   • Good customer service (company headquarters in Michigan)
   • Recycler bong design for added filtration
   • Quality borosilicate glass
   • Bent neck designed for toking in comfy reclined position

   Cons:

   • Complex design could be difficult to clean
   • External sprinkler tubes in "recycler" design could make it more fragile
   • Made by a company that primarily makes e-cigarettes
   • More expensive than most simpler bongs

   This Tsunami Glass bong is perfect for anyone who wants maximum percolation power, but doesn’t want to have to sit up to hit their bong. 

   This bong is perfect for someone who’s super laid-back — literally. The bent-neck design allows you to take smooth hits while reclining on your couch. Or watching Netflix in bed. (We’re not judging.)

   If you enjoy lounging horizontally, this bent-neck shape can be an important feature. Otherwise, with a traditional straight-tube bong, you’ll be tilting it towards you, changing the water level in your bong. When you accidentally lower your water level, your smoke could bypass the water entirely.

   This would defeat the whole purpose of using a bong: Filtering your smoke through water. (That, and making a fun bubbling noise.)

   But with this percolator bong, you’ll always get plenty of bubbling filtration — and you don’t even have to sit up. If that sounds insignificant now, you might feel differently after five bong hits.

   The showerhead perc isn’t the only feature delivering smooth hits. This is a recycler bong, which means it forces the smoke to travel through water an extra time, further enhancing the filtration.

   This further cools the smoke, before it enters its second water-filtration process, leading to an incredibly smooth inhale. It also creates trippy visual effects.

   The bong costs a bit more than some other glass bongs, presumably because of the craftsmanship and complexity. This company is based in Michigan, but it’s unclear whether its glass products are actually made in America. (Some review sites say Tsunami’s glass pieces are made in the U.S., but this YouTube reviewer opened a Tsunami box and found a sticker on her bong that said “Made in China.”) So if you care about supporting domestic manufacturing, this is a tricky one.

   It’s also tricky if you’re opposed to e-cigarettes (perhaps because you believe e-cigs are getting more kids hooked on nicotine): This company primarily makes e-cigarettes.

   Find more Tsunami Glass Recycler Bong information and reviews here.

3. 3. Best for the Elegant Home: Marley Naturals Smoked Beaker Glass Water Pipe

   Price: $159.99

   Shop now at DopeBoo
   Pros:

   • Downstem includes an eight-slit percolator
   • Gorgeous smoked glass meant to be displayed
   • Made by Marley Natural, which has a focus on sustainability, including carbon offsets

   Cons:

   • With smoked or colored glass, sometimes you don't know how dirty/clogged your bong is (which can be positive or negative!)
   • Carbon offsets don't necessarily equal sustainability (they simply make up for the carbon that was emitted in production)
   • No additional percolator feature (aside from inline downstem perc, which splits smoke into 8 streams)

   The Marley Naturals Smoked Beaker Glass Water Pipe stands out because it’s gorgeous.

   Marley Naturals is the official brand of the Bob Marley family. Their glass collection isn’t just beautiful to look at; it’s also sustainably produced, in keeping with the respect for nature that Bob Marley promoted during his lifetime.

   Marley Naturals has partnered with climate action organization CO2Logic. They purchase carbon offsets to offset the emissions of their production facilities, helping to minimize their environmental footprint.

   The downstem includes an eight-slit percolator, helping to filter your hit through the water. The ice disk will help you cool down your hit even further. Plus, the extra-heavy base on this bong will help you avoid knocking it over. 

4. 4. Best for Dabbers: Cheech & Chong’s “Anthony” Bong/Dab Rig

   Price: $79.99

   Shop now at DopeBoo
   Pros:

   • Showerhead percolator for max filtration
   • Affordable
   • Includes vapor dome with handles
   • Stable circular foot
   • Decorative box (Makes a great gift!)

   Cons:

   • Unlike most bongs, this is not designed for smoking bud
   • It's a dab rig, for smoking concentrates
   • You may want to replace glass dab nail that's included (Look for 14.5mm replacement!)

   Cheech & Chong’s “Anthony” Bong stands out because it’s a dab rig (for dabbing concentrates), with a two-tiered showerhead percolation system.

   This bong measures a compact 8.25 inches in height, but it includes a showerhead percolator. Showerhead percs are often considered the best form of filtration for bubblers and bongs: they break up the smoke into tons of tiny bubbles, amplifying the filtration effect of the water. Your lungs will thank you.

   But you may want to replace the glass concentrate nail. (Like most rigs at this price point, it comes with a glass dab nail, which may break under the extreme heat of your dab torch.) That should be easy, because the joint is 14.5mm (one of the most common dab nail sizes).

   For more information, check out our guide to the best dab nails.

   This features a flared mouthpiece and bent neck, for a comfortable, laid-back toke. 

   The bubbler is equipped with a reinforced fixed downstem that connects to the powerful, double-tier showerhead percolator for maximum filtration.

   Find more Cheech & Chong’s "Anthony" Bong/Dab Rig information and reviews here.

5. 5. Best With Double Percs: Black Leaf Bong With Double Honeycomb Percolator

   Price: $124.99

   Shop now at Grasscity
   Pros:

   • Two honeycomb percolators for double percolation power
   • Honeycomb percolators create tons of tiny bubbles, filtering your hit
   • 10 inches tall
   • Blue glass handle on bowl keeps fingers safe from heat

   Cons:

   • Can be hard to clean
   • Not as tall as some bongs
   • The bee in the large HoneyComb logo decal looks angry

   This Black Leaf bong stands out because it has two HoneyComb percolators. Honeycomb percolators are considered the best kind of perc for maximum filtration: the smoke is diffused through several tiny holes, creating tons of bubbles, which maximizes the surface area of the smoke that touches the water.

   When your smoke passes through two of these honeycomb disc percs, you know you’re getting the smoothest hit possible.

   But this advanced design may make this bong more difficult to clean.

   Otherwise, the design is practically foolproof. It’s “stemless,” meaning there’s no flimsy downstem for you to break. The bowl piece has a blue glass handle, which not only makes it easy to lift without burning your fingers, but also prevents the bowl from rolling off the table if you put it down. It’s stoner-proof.

   Find more Black Leaf Glass Bong with HoneyComb Disc Perc information and reviews here.

What's the big deal about bongs?

Bongs are a staple of stoner culture. And they’re not just for dorm rooms: Glass bongs can be as sophisticated as a wine lover’s crystal decanter. Some cannabis consumers become so attached to their bong, they even give it a nickname, like a beloved pet. (Has any wine lover ever named their glassware?)

Whether you’re shopping for your first bong, or looking to diversify your glass collection, you probably know that bongs come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and materials.

Most connoisseurs prefer glass bongs to silicone or plastic pieces.

Glass bongs are translucent (so you can see how much smoke you’re preparing to inhale), and relatively easy to clean. They can also make for interesting home decor.

Water bongs are renowned for delivering monster hits, and sometimes — especially for first-time tokers — unpleasant coughing fits. This has spawned sayings, like “You have to cough to get off.” But this is untrue.

In fact, smoking is far more enjoyable when you don’t have a coughing fit.

(And you can still get stoned, without feeling like you need to swallow forty spoonfuls of honey to soothe your throat afterwards.)

That’s why you need a percolator bong.

The design of the percolator bong diffuses the smoke, so more surface area comes into contact with the water. The water cools down the smoke, making for a smoother inhale. It also filters the smoke, making it healthier for your lungs.

What do the experts say?

“Burning cannabis produces a smoke stream,” Leafly explains, “that contains all the things you want — activated THC, CBD, other cannabinoids and terpenes — and a lot of things you don’t, like hot smoke, tar, and fine particulate matter, a.k.a. ash.”

The water filters the ash and tar out of your toke. Experts disagree, according to Leafly, about how much helpful filtration bongs actually provide. But they agree that some filtration is definitely happening.

(That’s why your bong water turns brown, and needs to be replaced between bowl packs.)

If you're looking for healthier, non-cough-inducing bong hits, percolator bongs may be right for you.