whats the best quality glass on glass bong?

Ive been lookin for a high quality glass bong something with an ashcatcher, diffusers, percs, the whole deal. ive been trying to find out info on some bong manufacturers and its difficult. could anybody tell me any more info on obtaining a peice from Illadelph, blue dot, Jp toro, kind creations, roor, phx, ehle ??? or any other suggestion of who to buy a connoiseur quality bong from?

 

hey man whats up

your question is very broad but i'll try to answer the best i can

luckily now gong has become far more popular and there are a huge number of high quality gong bongs on the market. the main issue is availability. there are a lot of small operations, or single blowers that make high quality pieces that most people would not be able to locate for purchase

so that leaves some of the major brands

i dont think anyone knowledgeable in gong bongs would doubt roors are the go-to-bong when looking for something high quality. they offer an extreme level of quality that is matched by few other manufacturers. you cant go wrong with a roor. roor germany offers both regular and bistable joints which are thicker. all new roor usa tubes come standard with the bistable, thicker joint

lux is made by the same people as roor usa and is also top quality, most anything said for roor can also be said for lux

toro also makes excellent bongs. their designs are more innovative than roors, and offer a lot of options/features that roor does not. they also tend to be a tad bit less expensive depending where you buy them. their joints are good quality and tend to be thicker

ehle is also very high quality, but they dont offer many of the features that other brands do, and have less availability in the us compared to other brands. their designs are also somewhat less popular among many gong enthusiasts, but the quality is still top notch. their joints are also thicker than cheapy gong tubes

kind creations makes excellent tubes as well, and offer some crazy designs and options. their availability is also very low as they are a very small operation. joint quality is also good on these

phx in my opinion is slightly lower quality than the rest. their perc design is very outdated and gives a lot of drag. the joints they use are also not up to the standards of other manufacturers, being thinner and shorter. considering they are usually priced close to roor i do not believe they are a good deal

blue dots are decent tubes but not up to the quality standards of other brands. their welds are a bit sloppy, joints aren't great, and their perc design, while better than a dome in my opinion, is still sub-par. the tree perc is the standard now and offers a lot over domes and single stems. their design of the ice catch is also bad, its a constriction ring that, when used with ice, restrics the flow quite a bit. blue dots are usually a lot cheaper than other brands, so they are a good bargain choice

illadelph is improving their quality but in my opinion still not up to the top quality brands. their joints aren't as good, a little sloppy. their bases are thin and sometimes not even. another brand, that if they were sold cheaper, would be a good bargain choice, but since their prices are high id suggest not getting one myself

sovereignty glass is a newer company that makes extremely high quality tubes. they also offer quite a few innovative designgs. they are also a single man small operation and a little hard to get ahold of.

us tubes/honalee tubes are a top quality brand, their joints are unmatched in thickness. they are usually around 4-7mm thick on the joints, which is just unheard of in the gong market. these are hard to obtain though, as well

there are quite a few lower end tube companies such as phire/hydro glass/ ads/ weed star/g spot/ faded/ pure the list goes on. these are pretty sloppy tubes with low quality joints and outdated technology. they can usually be had pretty cheap, but personally id suggest going with something higher quality

there are also a ton of independent blowers that make tubes. i wont go into these as unless you contact the blower directly odds are they wont even be an option for you

id break them down into these groups

1- roor,lux,toro,sovereignty glass, kind creations, ehle

2- illadelph, phx, blue dots

3- phire/hydro glass/ ads//g spot/ faded/ pure

4-noname import horrible quality gong bongs- molino, weedstar, they really aren't worth mentioning

you have to decide what your requirements are for a bong. do you care about an extremely clean piece with perfect welds and high quality joints? if so stick with group #1

do you want a good tube but dont want to pay such a high price, and are willing to sacrifice a little bit? go with group 2

do you want something to your specs that works great but isnt really that awesome of quality and dont want to spend a lot of money? go with group 3

do you want a shitty bong and dont have much money at all? go with group 4

you say you want a perc. have you tried all the different perc designs before and have a favorite? domes and trees are the most common. trees offer far better filtration and have very very little drag.

ashcatchers are varied, you can get a basic one or a crazy one. depending on what you want from an ac you could go with most any good brand

diffusers are kind of a personal thing. some like holes, some like slits. although still debatable the tight cluster hole type (like ehle and roor germany) are considered the best and offer the most filtration, least drag, and smoothest hit.

the big problem with everything is where and how to obtain them

because of operation pipe dreams and head hunter most brands do not want to distribute online. look around online for all the headshops within a driving distance to you that your comfortable with. then call all of them up, and ask what brands of bongs they carry. go from there

toro and kind creations can be contacted online, but im not sure if they are willing to ship

all the shitty china glass bongs are available at places like weedcity grasscity edit and so on

www.showmeglass.com has some sport inline tubes. they are of decent quality but a little sloppy compared to the big companies, but definitely not bad tubes. i bet if you contact bob at showmeglass or sport himself you could get a tube made to your specs. he also carries or can obtain ehle

www.shivadas.com carries some gong bongs of somewhat decent quality. it is unclear whether the whole bong is an import from china/india, but for sure the tree percs used on their tubes are. jonts are also lower quality on these.

craigslist sometimes has some glass, check that often incase something comes up

ebay from time to time had some listed, but as ebay doesnt allow the sale of bongs its really hard to find something on a regular basis

hope this helps man and if you have any more questions feel free to ask

 

TL DR^


Personally I don't think brands matter. Roors, and bluedots and\all those other branded bongs are nice, but I picked up a perc of equal quality for $125 that was made by a blower in my area.

 

yea.. local is definitely the way to go if you can.. but if you want over priced quality.. then go for RooR... aka the Mercedes of bongs. thats a good way to describe them.. meaning sure you can pay out the ass for it.. but you can also buy something that costs half as much and get just as good quality.. dont let them RooR snobs tell you any other

 

joker i dont think you understand the finer points of quality bongs, thats not a dig, but an observation seeing as Ive been in the glass game a LONG time and ive NEVER seen, heard, or been told by someone I trust in the field about any gong tubes of equal quality for half the price. let alone equal quality for the same price, as roors quality is almost second to none.

its very true you can get a piece thats just as thick or tall as a certain roor for less, but there are differences that go beyond simple specifications. specifications do not equal quality. just because something is made of glass, is 2 feet tall, and has a gong joint doesnt mean its of equal quality. it just means its of equal specifications.

the joints are a big issue, at least to me. joints are a weak spot on gong bong, so beefy joints are a must. very very very few local no-name blowers use high quality joints, most use china joints that are short, thin, and wobble. ive been in a huge number of headshops around the country and this has been the case in the vast majority of them

how clean the piece is another issue. this doesn't really effect the quality of the hit you can get, but does effect durability and is an obvious sign of quality. let me explain

by clean I mean how clean the piece is assembled, and how straight or "right" various parts of the bong are. where the joint attaches to the bong the glass on the base of the joint is flared out, a hole is popped on the bong, both sides are heated and joined together.

now this can be done in a very clean, strong manner, or done very sloppy with little skill/care. many many times lower end companies and single blowers will blow the joint out so thin its less than one mm thick. and the glass is extremely wavy and uneven. this joint is weaker than a properly welded joint.

and if talking about percs, the percs are separate chambers that are welded inline with the rest of the tube. this process can also be done in a sloppy manner. parts of the glass can be protruding from the straight profile of the tube, parts can be thinner in some areas than others. again this looks sloppy and is weaker is many cases.

a good example to use would be a coffee cup. say coffe cup a is perfect. it has a perfect cylindrical shape, the handle is a perfect uniform curve that is attached to the cup strongly and cleanly.

now coffee cup b is another story. its sort of an odd out of shape oval. the top of the cup is not level, it kind of tilks to one side. the base also had a weird dent in it that causes the cup to lean and be a bit unstable. the handle attaches in a messy weak manner with a couple parts not even touching the cup, and the handle is self is very out of shape

now both coffee cups do a perfect job of holding your coffee dont they? but they are definitely not equal quality, buy any strech of the imagination. this is what im talking about when i refer to quality, the actual craftsmanship involved in the piece.

here is an example with an actual bong, look at this picture:



that is a no-name gong tube from shivadas. its $230. look at the joint, its welded to the tube in a very sloppy manner. you can see where the glass starts to fold in on itself on the top. look at the perc tree. those are made in CHINA and assembled onto the tube. this tree is weaker, thinner, and its trees are not straight. look at the joints. they are chineese joints. they are shorter and thinner, and id bet money they wobble a little bit. a roor of the same specs, when sold at its proper price, is only $70 more. for that 70 additional dollars you get higher quality joints, better craftsmanship, a better designed and a better built perc tree (built in the usa)

pipe makers and scientific glassblowers are not the same thing. go to your local scientific glassblowing place (if you have one) with a roor and a no-name gong tube. these people are experts. they will praise the roors quality and no doubt shit talk the no name piece.

do you have pics? and what exactly do you mean by equal quality? in all my experience any decent blower would charge way more than 125 for a double perc of any quality at all. what kind of perc design is this?

the fact that you list blue dot and roor in the same sentence, and say you got something of equal quality really makes me wonder. roor and blue dot are miles apart in quality, so if your getting something of equal quality to roor and bluedot that doesnt really make sense. again it looks like you dont understand what quality actually means when discussing bongs.

if you guys dont want to spend the money on higher end gong tubes i have nothing against that. lower end tubes hit very well, and if thats all your looking for by all means go with them. but please do not say there are equal quality tubes for half the price, its just not true at all. i know what im talking about here. i could ask a number of skilled and respected glassblowers to come in this thread, and you know what they would say? exactly what I did. for those educated in glass (and i dont mean educated as in "this is a sherlock, this is a spoon, etc") quality is NOT subjective.

heres another issue. a lot of cheap tubes made locally are hand spun. while there is nothing wrong with this is leads to a tube that is out of shape and not as clean.

roor, toro, phx, ehle, all these big brands use lathes. if give you a tube of far more consistentcy. another thing, roor has quality control, meaning when they make a batch of tubes, they look over them, and those that do not meed their standards are NOT sold. odds are these roor rejects are higher quality than most of the unlabeled tubes being sold in your local headshop. the fact that roor throws out a certain number of tubes alone shows one reason why their prices are high, when you dont sell a percentage of your product those that you do sell need to be higher priced.

now dont get me wrong, i am NOT a RooR fanboy. i think a lot of their stuff is ridiculous. for example, they sell simple glass beads for putting in your bong that diffuse the smoke. this idea is VERY sound and actually works very well, but roor sells them for 4x the cost that you can purchase these beads from a bead supplier from. just because of the name. that is not about quality its about simple money making. also, they sell gong jars that are simply purchased from a scientific glass company and have a label thrown on, these too you can get equal quality for cheaper. they do have products that are more expensive because of the name, but ask any SKILLED blower that actually knows his shit to pick up a roor, and he will tell you the quality is top notch and hard to match

another point to think about is this. when everyone whines about roors prices they are getting taxed by headshops around the US. just because your local shop wants to fuck you over doesnt mean roors are overpriced, it means your shop is. if you buy roors straight from the headshops that make them their prices are way lower.

i know this post is long winded but i suggest you read it carefully and actually think about what is being said. im not bullshitting you guys, i have no interest in spreading lies about the quality of gong tubes. i speak fact from years of experience in the biz and with glass. if anything i say comes off as offensive i apologize as its not meant that way, but im just trying to illustrate my point in the most precise way possible.

 

another thing go look around the web for scientific glassware. the stuff looks machine made, its NOT its made BY HAND by skilled glass workers. this is the level of quality roor represents.

if you had the same people making labware that make these low-end tubes it would be use, for it is not up to quality standards

 

damn glassmasta your name really describes you

 

trust me.. i've heard these arguments far too many times.. and it has yet to change my views on wasting $4-500 on a bong just because its a RooR... im not some geek off the street here...

 

lol how does gear rank among these competitors? :leaving:

 

gear is just like Molino and Weedstar and all them basically

 

WHat's wrong with molino. a friend at school got this exact bong and I think it's pretty sweet. http://www.grasscity.com/is-bin/INT...yID=kkjAqAHAXTcAAAESreEbgPtI&JumpTo=OfferList

i realize that i dont really know much about quality of bongs and shit but this bong imo was very nice.

 

i wasnt sayin there was anything wrong with molino, gear, or weedstar

 

well glass masta was saying that they were basically shit and using a molino bong i didnt notice anything poor about its quality

 

"cuz you just dont understand d00d"

 

http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=323289&f=227

A few pics there. I guess you would call it a removable joint/diffuser since there is a rubber stopper rather than actual glass. I personally prefer this since it makes cleaning it less of a hassle. In any case, it hit's like a champ and with the money I saved I was able to buy boatloads more weed and support a local in my community. I was also able to afford one of the best vapes on the market.

And my listing of bluedot and roor in the same sentence shows you that I don't really give a shit about brand name bongs and don't spend all day reading about them, because in the end all bongs have the same purpose and spending an extra $400 isn't going to get my any higher. But believe me, I know the difference between quality glass and bad glass, despite not knowing the difference between said brands.

 

apparently not...

 

molino are eastern import glass, same with gear weedstar etc

theres nothing inherently "wrong" with the low end gong pieces, im not trying to talk down to anyone that owns or likes them, most all bongs function well and get the job done. i dont know why people get so defensive just because some people like high end glass

im just trying to get people to understand there IS a quality difference, whether or not that quality difference is important to you or worth the price is just a matter of opinion, but what is NOT a matter of opinion is quality. Roors, Toros, SGs, etc are higher quality than molino, weedstar, gears, blue dots, etc. this is fact

if your opinion is that as long as you like the way it looks and it hits nice its a good bong, then more power too you

but i have a problem when people say they are all the same, they are not. that's like saying a geo is the same quality as a benz, obviously a benz has a much higher quality mark compared to a geo. most people will say they dont want to spend the money on a benz, which is fine, but i seriously doubt anyone in their right mind would say a benz and a geo are the same quality, its just not true

heh, your missing the point. its not about the NAME its about the QUALITY. so what your really saying is you dont give a shit about quality. which there is nothing wrong with, but just because you dont care about it doesnt mean quality differences aren't there

i dont spend all day reading about them either, i spend time talking with glassblowers, examining all the various brands, that sort of thing. i speak from experience not just what i read on internet forums.

and your right that a $1,000 bong wont get you any higher than a $25 bong, but that argument would also show that there is no reason to have ANY bong because you just just roll a joint and get high. aside from just getting high the pleasure of the experience is a big issue to me. i want the largest, smoothest, most tasty hit possible. if this could be done with a 25 dollar bong id use that, but it cant, so i stick with good glass.

please understand when reading my posts that you have to take it in context.

its all relative to what you are comparing it to. if you compare a molino to plastic bongs, and converted vase bongs, and a lot of cheaper bongs, a molino is a very high end piece.

when you compare a molino to a roor, toro, sg, etc its a very low end piece. dont get me wrong, you guys with your cheaper gong tubes are still WAY ahead of the vast majority of smokers as far as the quality of your pieces go

i'll go back to a car comparison. like i said before a benz is high quality compared to a geo. but if you throw in a maserati or a bently, that previously high quality benz is now a low quality car in comparison. its all relative. the benz is still a really nice car, but its no maserati or bently.

never said you were some geek off the street man, i dont know if maybe im coming off wrong in my posts but my intention is not to be degrading or insulting in any way, if it comes off that way i apologize

and when talking about wasing 4-500 on a roor you only illustrate one of my points. many headshops tax their customers for brand name products because they know people will pay it. its not right, and it says nothing about roor, just the shop you are in.

roor usa 3.5mm forest green line are available in 14" and 18" heights, in a straight, bubble, and beaker base. the 14s are around $120, the 18s around $135. thats nowhere near 4-500 dollars. they are roors lowest end pieces but still very high quality

their 5mm standard tubes are available in a huge number of configurations. their 18" 5mms are usually around $230, again nowhere near 4-500 dollars

these are the real roor prices, not the prices that shady headshops charge out the ass because they are greedy.

and if you have heard these arguments many times before what is your reply? are you saying that there is no quality difference in joints? are you saying there is no difference in the craftsmanship of these pieces? i hear tons of people bash the name brands and say they are no different than the cheapy tubes, but not one single person has addressed any specifics. overall quality is a culmination of various aspects of the bong. if you want to tell me they are the same quality, then at least tell me specifically how.


talk with some skilled glassblowers, maybe you trust them more than me, but the glass itself used is of varying qualities. different vendors sell different raw glass stock, skilled blowers usually have a trusted source because the raw glass itself is not all the same. the world of glass is far far more complicated and involved than just what a piece looks like overall.

 

I never said I didn't care about quality....anyhow I don't feel like arguing with you. My perc will give me the same smooth tasty hit that a roor will, the difference still being I will have a few ounces while you have a few grams. And my perc is quality glass, I have used shitty glass before and there is a noticeable difference. I will get some better pics up tomorrow..

 

hahahaah so presumptuous yeah i do only have a few grams.... of oil lol and I got more than a few ounces of bud bro

your perc will not hit the same as roor, sorry. roors use tree percs, this is a far superior design. it filters better and and waaay less drag. im not saying your piece doesnt hit well, im sure it hits great, but tree percs hit different

and you say you have used shitty glass and there is a noticeable difference, what difference did you notice?

and i never said your piece is made with shitty glass, but the design is a bad one in my opinion. like the dome perc already mentioned, the ice ring is bad news. once the ice starts to melt it will clog up the hole and add a ton of drag. and it doesnt even have a gong joint on the tube. how are you saying its on the same level as roor with so many shortcomings?

i had no intention of knocking your tube dude but if your going to claim it hits exactly the same as a roor your setting yourself up for a correction

 

*pulls out the proverbial dick measuring stick*