Believe it or not, there are established protocols involved in smoking marijuana through a bong. While there may not be any publications along the lines of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style to be had, there are universally accepted norms when it comes to the maintenance and use of bongs. It goes beyond the obvious rule of etiquette (or even basic decency) which is to keep a clean bong.
Maintaining Your Bong
One of the first things with which one must come to terms is the fact that bongs are quite nasty after just a little bit of use. Therefore, one must be extra careful not to spill (or worse, shatter) anyone’s bong. Never mind the expense of replacing such an item – the bong water can smell up a room for hours or days. That’s one of the fastest ways to ruin a good time, and it can happen due to a totally innocuous action such as exhaling through the bong, which should never be done.
Unwritten Rules
One must also be careful to keep the proper water level in the bong. Too little water will keep the smoke from being properly filtered and cooled, with the result being a hit that is too harsh. Too much water can result in an overflow out of the stem – bummer – or the horrific splashing of bong water onto the smoker’s lips and mouth. A smoker must also be sure to clear all the smoke from the chamber before passing the bong along, lest the next person in line pull in a half-stale double shot, which would be unpleasant to say the least.
It all adds up to an extension of the social fabric. These kinds of common sense rules, geared toward optimizing everyone’s pleasurable experience, are designed to bring people together when so much of the world spends so much time tearing itself apart.