The best type of bong for you depends on what you actually care about - smoothness, portability, ease of cleaning, or getting the biggest rip possible. There are pros and cons for all the different types of bongs.
That’s what we’re here to do today - walk you through the tradeoffs of every bong shape, material, and design. But what if you didn’t have to worry about choosing the best kind of bong? You can get multiple styles in one easy purchase with VITAE’s one-of-a-kind modular bong system
It’s carefully crafted from 5mm lab-grade borosilicate glass, and transforms from a short beaker to a tall straight tube in seconds. Add a percolator if you want. Turn it into a dab rig if you’ve got some live resin in your stash. It’s quick, easy, and tons of fun. Learn more about our glass bongs for sale.
Start By Choosing the Best Bong Material
Finding the best type of bong starts with what it's made from. Material determines flavor, durability, and how much time you spend cleaning - so this decision shapes everything that comes after. Fortunately, it’s pretty simple. Glass is the gold standard. This isn’t even close.
Glass
Borosilicate glass doesn't absorb odors or residue, so every rip tastes clean regardless of how many came before it (as long as you keep the glass itself clean, of course).
It's transparent so you can watch the smoke filter through water and percolators, and it washes up faster than any other material you have at your disposal.
The tradeoff is obvious: glass can break. But thickness makes a massive difference. A 5mm borosilicate piece isn’t nearly as fragile as cheaper thin-walled glass that cracks from a minor bump.
Most serious smokers settle on glass eventually, even if they started somewhere else. There’s just no beating the combination of flavor purity, visual feedback, and easy maintenance. Glass is the clear winner if you're choosing the best type of bong strictly on performance and flavor.
Silicone
Silicone bongs are nearly indestructible. You acn fold them, drop them, and toss them in a bag without a second thought. They’re great for travel, camping, or any session where glass would be a liability.
The downside is flavor, of course. You’ll never get the clean, neutral taste that glass has to offer. Residue builds up in the material itself over time, and it’s pretty much impossible to scrub out all the way.
Heat distribution is also different. The smoke doesn't cool the same way passing through silicone as it does through glass. Silicone has its place when it comes to portability, but glass outperforms it as your daily driver at home.
Ceramic
Ceramic bongs look great on a shelf and hold heat well, but they're heavy, fragile, and opaque. You can't see the water level or watch filtration happening inside. Cleaning is harder than glass because you're working blind, too. Ceramic bongs are honestly becoming less and less common for these reasons. They’re just a worse version of glass, honestly.
Choosing the Best Type of Bong: What Kind of Bong Should I Get?
You've settled on glass - great. Now let’s get into the fun part of choosing the best type of bong: shape and style. This is where the conversation on the best kind of bong gets interesting, because each design filters and cools smoke in fundamentally different ways.
And unlike material choice, there’s not necessarily a right or wrong answer here. Totally personal preference. The best bong shape for your setup depends on how you like to smoke, so here's how they stack up.
Beaker Bongs
The wide bong base holds more water than other designs. Translation: more cooling surface area and smoother hits per pull. Beakers are also the most stable shape on a table. That low center of gravity keeps them planted when someone bumps the furniture.
They scale well with add-ons like ash catchers and percolators, and the large chamber delivers satisfying clouds without requiring a huge lung capacity to clear.
We think a beaker is the best kind of bong if you want a reliable everyday piece without overthinking the setup. If you're not sure what the best bong shape is for a first purchase, this is where most people start.
Straight Tube Bongs
Straight tubes clear faster than beakers because there's less chamber volume to push through. The hit is more direct and concentrated - less diffusion, more snap. They're also the simplest design to clean: one straight cylinder, no curves or hidden corners where residue builds up.
This comes at the cost of stability, though. A narrow base is easier to tip over, especially on uneven surfaces. That's less of a concern if you've got a dedicated flat spot for your piece. This can be the best bong type for experienced smokers who care more about speed and efficiency.
Gravity Bongs
Gravity bongs are one of the most unique types of bongs you’ll come across. They rely on water displacement to force smoke into your lungs, producing one of the densest hits you'll take from any piece.
They're known for being super efficient, helping you stretch your flower further. A little goes a long way because the vacuum pulls every bit of smoke from the bowl.
Maybe not the best type of bong for daily sessions, though. The hits are harsh compared to filtered water pipes, and most gravity bong designs aren't built for elegance. But nothing else touches them for raw efficiency!
Recycler Bongs
Recyclers loop water and smoke through multiple chambers in a continuous cycle before the hit reaches your mouth. That constant movement means the smoke passes through water more than once. So, you get a level of filtration and cooling that static-water designs can’t contend with.
Recyclers aren’t just the smoothest-hitting bongs on the market. You'll also notice less splash-back because the water moves in a controlled path rather than sitting in an open chamber.
They’re just a little more complex, which is kind of a trade-off in some cases. It means more fragile joints and connections, and they're harder to clean when you do get around to it. But the style and function is second to none, making this one of the best types of bongs if you don’t mind the upkeep.
Percolator Bongs
Percolators add extra filtration stages inside the bong, bringing out the smoothest hits possible. There are actually quite a few different types of bongs that fall under this umbrella:
- Tree perc: Multiple arms extending from a central tube, each with slits at the bottom. More arms means more diffusion, but they're more fragile than simpler designs.
- Honeycomb perc: A flat disc with dozens of tiny holes that force smoke through in a wide spread. Stacks easily so you can run 2-3 in a single piece for more filtration.
- UFO perc: A disc-style percolator with slits around the outer edge that pushes smoke outward through the water. Smooth hits with minimal drag on the draw.
- Matrix perc: A cylindrical chamber covered in gridded slits that diffuses smoke in every direction at once. One of the most thorough filtration designs you'll find.
- Inline perc: A horizontal tube with slits along the bottom, usually built into the base. Provides solid diffusion as the first stage before smoke reaches an upper percolator.
The common theme, though, is that each type breaks smoke into smaller bubbles, increasing the surface area contacting water for a cooler, smoother hit. The more percolation stages you stack, the smoother the smoke gets.
A quality percolator bong outperforms a basic beaker or straight tube every time. If someone asks you what the best type of bong is for the smoothest possible experience, the answer almost always involves at least one percolator.
Introducing the Modular Bong: Get Multiple Bongs in One!
We’ve covered all the different types of bongs on the market. You’re probably leaning towards one or the other already. But most bongs lock you into one design forever. What if you could have multiple styles in one, changing the configuration based on your vibe? You can when you build your own bong at VITAE!
Modular bongs use interchangeable bases, percolators, and mouthpieces that connect with secure connector rings. Want a beaker base with a UFO percolator today and a voyager base with a matrix setup tomorrow? Same system, different configuration.
Every piece connects with hand-finished wood connector rings that hold tight - and they look good doing it. Choose from bamboo, olive, walnut, or zebrawood.
Our modular bong line uses hand-blown 5mm borosilicate glass - the same lab-grade material in high-end single-piece bongs. Every component swaps freely, so you're not buying one bong. You're investing in a system with dozens of possible builds. Break a piece? Replace just that piece.
Cleaning is faster too, as each module separates completely. You get to scrub individual sections instead of fighting with a single sealed chamber.
So, what kind of bong should I get? Modular is the move when you don’t want to compromise or simply can’t decide between two styles. The best type of bong is the one that adapts to how you smoke, and nothing does that like a system where you swap pieces instead of replacing rigs.
Narrowing the Different Types of Bongs Down By Size
There’s just one more thing to think about as you choose the best type of bong - size. This affects hit volume, filtration potential, and portability in equal measure.
Smaller bongs (under 14 inches) are discreet and easy to store but deliver thinner hits with limited room for percolation.
A 16-inch bong is the sweet spot for most smokers - tall enough for a percolator stage and plenty of water volume without taking over your counter or creating storage hassles. An 18-inch bong gives you room for dual percolation. Step up to a 20-inch bong and you're stacking serious filtration, while a 22-inch bong pushes that even further for some of the smoothest hits you'll take.
A 30-inch bong is a massive rig that delivers enormous, heavily filtered rips. More of a statement piece than a daily driver, but the experience is unmatched if you have the space. Really fun to pull out for lung-busting rips when you have company over.
Pick the height that fits your space and go from there. Adding a percolator later changes your total height and filtration because the system is modular, without buying a whole new piece!
Final Words on the Best Kind of Bong to Buy
The best type of bong comes down to what matters most when you smoke - flavor, smoothness, durability, or flexibility. Glass beats every other material for home use, and the shape you pick should match how you actually smoke rather than what looks good in a photo.
A percolator setup is the move if smooth hits are the priority. If you care more about flavor purity than anything else, you’ll want to avoid percolation. But that’s the thing - you don’t have to lock into a single design.
VITAE’s modular system gives you interchangeable bases, percolators, and mouthpieces in 5mm hand-blown borosilicate. One purchase that builds into whatever you need. Every order ships same day when placed by 2pm. Start designing the bong of your dreams today!
