Piece of the Week | Bamboo Bongs

This week we consider a sustainable bong that can be homemade, or could be purchased as a decorative ornament from an excursion abroad: the bamboo bong.

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Origins of the Bamboo Bong?

In the United States, up until very recently, marijuana was a very taboo topic. The 2012 elections leading to recreational cannabis legalization in Washington and Colorado changed all of that. Now the US voters are moving toward accepting that cannabis is here to stay.

Many other cultures don’t have the history of taboo that we have developed in the US. The further away you get from United States politics and the closer you physically get to the tropics, the more likely you are to see and/or smell weed in public. Many southeast Asian cultures do not share the marijuana stigma that we’ve developed here. A great example of a country that has both the hot weather and historical non-US political relations is Vietnam. If you live in a place like Vietnam and want to smoke some weed, you might notice that you are surrounded by bamboo… which can make a great bong.

One other thing, cannabis grows really well in the same weather where bamboo grows really well. Perfect together!

How to Make a Bamboo Bong

If you happen to have access to some large bamboo nearby you can make your very own bamboo bong. I have bamboo growing in my backyard in San Francisco, but nothing that has a large enough diameter to make a bong out of… a pipe, maybe, but definitely not a bong. Pitty.

Once you procure a piece of large diameter bamboo, the bong-making process is fairly straight forward:

1. First, find a piece of bamboo that is has roughly a 2″ inside diameter.
2. Make a starter hole with a 1/8″ drill roughly 3 inches up from the bottom of the bamboo. This will be the stem hole.
3. Once you have drilled the starter hole, angle the drill towards the bottom of the bamboo and drill the rest of the hole all the way through.
4. Next, make the stem hole larger by using slightly larger-and-larger drill bits until you get to 1/2″ bit, and the hole is 1/2″ in diameter. This step-up process prevents your bamboo from splintering or breaking. If that happens, you’ll need to start over.
5. Drill a straight 1/2″ hole about 4 inches from the bottom of the bamboo on the opposite side of the stem hole for your carb.
6. At this point, I would get a stem & slide from a head shop and make a watertight seal around the slide. Some places advocate making your own stem & slide, if you have the tools, why not give it a try?
7. Lastly, sand down the rough edges.
8. Hit it!

Recent Piece of the Week Posts

• Glow in the Dark Paraphernalia | February 22
• Dr. Seuss Paraphernalia | February 15
• Donut Twist Pipes | February 8
• Swiss Perc Bong | February 1
• Bubbler Pipe | January 25
• Blinky the Three-eyed Fish (The Simpsons) | January 18

Check out other posts from Weedist’s Piece of the Week series!