Am I breathing poison? The Bongsmith's Guide to Safe Construction

All right fools, I'm getting sick of the lack of attention payed to home-made paraphanalia so its time for some handy bong building tips for all you bongsmiths and feel free to add any info. Remember you shouldnt have to breath in anything more toxic than your smoke. Harm reduction not discrimination!

Section .01: Materials

1. Choose wisely and dont be impatient. Building bongs is like building puzzles; not all pieces fit.

2. NO TOXIC SHIT! Do not use any thing that gives off a strong scent/odor even if it is more pleasant than the taste of the smoke and make sure all parts have been cleaned. Also NEVER EVER use: PVC, copper, brass, tin, lead, pewter, iron, unannodized aluminum (pop cans, etc), cheap plastics (drink containers, etc), metal with any type of coating (galvanized, painted, etc), and probably even wood. All these react poorly to pyrolisis (burning shit) and with have you inhaling more carcinogens than need be.

3. Adhesives: Most store-bought adhesives are highly toxic when it comes to pyrolisis so if you must use some use something with a high boiling point like silicon latex. Also, dont have ANY adhesive connecting/in/on/near the bowl, stem, or smoke chamber. Use this shit in moderation and make sure its dry before you start toking. No tapes or gums either.

4.Smoke Chambers: or the body of the bong should be made out of some unrusting material like glass, stainless steel, titanium, ceramics, stone/marble*, aluminum*, bamboo*, and acryllic plastics. There are probably other materials that can be used but have had a long track record and are the most likely to be safe.

5. Stem and bowl assembly: These pieces are the most important as they come in contact with the most heat. For bowls the best materials tend to be stainless steel, annodized aluminum, glass, and stone*. This also goes to the in-stems. You shouldnt use anything that can rust since iron oxide is poisnous as is soft aluminum. Unaltered sockets work well.

6. Out-Stem and mouth piece assembly: This is an area where heat reactions dont normally occure so using unannodized aluminum, some adhesives, some rubbers/plastics is probably (i'm not a scientist) acceptable. Yet its best just to be safe and avoid all possibly hazardous materials. As for flexible tubing vinyl is with a doubt the best.

7. Lids and Stoppers: These are key pieces for any home-made bong and should be made out of a safe material. In the past i have had great success with the black rubber stoppers found in labs and vinyl tubing. It would probably be a bad idea to use a lid/stopper that had any type of additional coating such as that found on most food container lids.

8. Miscallaneous Shit:

Clays - there are many different clays that can be used as adhesives, lids, decoration, etc. One in particular that i have had a lot of experience is Fimo and works fine as long as it is well cooked (try and scratch it with your nail, if it scratches put that shit in the oven for another round).

Vinyl Tubing - This stuff is great because you can use it for just about anything where heat isnt a problem. Use water when attaching so when it dries there is a vaccuum seal.

Resonators - If you must put a resonator on your bong then make sure it is connected to the out-stem and not to the in-stem or bowl since this will over heat the weed and vaporize all the thc. Be careful of splash.

In Stem Tips and Tricks - to better break up those bubbles and more efficiently cool the smoke consider cutting/drilling holes in the bottom of the stem. This can have a profound effect on the quality of your bong. Also, having something blocking off the main hole (something nontoxic and nonrusting) will keep all the smoke from exiting through one hole and will also collect unsmoked chunks of weed for later use.

Bowl Lids - have you ever taken a hit and cleared your piece only to see a massive musheroom cloud arising from your bowl? Cap that shit! Capping a bowl will save at least 5 - 10 hits per bowl and will keep anything from falling out. Use a magnet, prism, something pretty, be creative.

So thats my two cents on the subject. Remember bong building is an art so take your time and dont be impatient. Dont be stupid and use cheap/unsafe materials and think everything is fine just because you dont taste anything. I've read about a lot of stupid people doing this shit so WISE UP! The last thing a smoker needs to be doing is inhaling more toxins than normal. All comments/corrections welcome.

For Us Cocoa astros and the donKey flUx!

whoops, accidentally reposted.

This should be made a stickie, great post man.

Great post man! Now hopefully I won't have to tell anybody that they're smoking toxic shit.

The only correction I could point out is that you recommended aluminum for the bowl assembly. Since you already pointed out that you should never use aluminum, this is probably a typo.

great post, appreciate the effort but i feel i shoudl tell you this now to avoid disapointment/anger in the future..it won't help....look at all the dxm questoins...there is a guide..a stickied at that (and there are next to none on this board) and people still ask the same question over and over....so yea just thought i'd let you know....

Annodized aluminum- I'm assuming that this material is hardened in some way (annodizing?) that makes it safe to smoke out of since thats what you might see in some smoke shops, but they could just be bastards and not care for safety.

Yeah, I know. People are dumbasses which makes it so damn difficult to do anything pro-active. The best thing that could happen is for an addition to erowid or the lyceaum on the subject so if you feel inclined email them about it because this is definately something that needs to be addressed.