What's The Difference Between Bongs and Bubblers?

Quick Answer

What Is The Difference Between Bongs And Bubblers?

Bongs and Bubblers have a lot of similarities as they both serve the exact same purpose. Both are designed to smoke weed or hash and to filter the smoke by running it through a water-filled chamber. Bongs and bubblers are usually made of glass, acrylic plastic, bamboo, ceramic, or metal. The basic anatomy of both consists of a bowl, a down stem, and a chamber. They can both also have percolators.

The main difference between bongs and bubblers is that bubblers are way smaller than bongs.  This makes them more portable, easier to hide, and more appealing to stoners that want to smoke smaller hits. If you are a beginner, don’t like big hits from a bong that is half as tall as you are, or simply like the visual appearance, then bubblers are probably just your thing.

If you want more options to look at, here’s an article we wrote about the Best Bubblers in 2021!

Do Bubblers Get You More High?

In recent years bubblers enjoyed a huge spike in popularity in the United States. This is because people feel like they get higher from smoking bubblers and thus save money as fewer hits are required to get to the desired level.

But is that true? You might be surprised about the answer!

It does! As bubblers have less water in the chamber and the smoke travels a shorter distance, less THC gets lost in the process of smoking it. However, this only plays out in the ratio. As a larger chamber allows you to smoke larger amounts in one hit you can get more high from a bong hit than from 1 bubbler hit. 

If you were to smoke the exact same amount of weed through a bubbler and through a bong the bubbler hit would get you higher.

Are Bubblers Dirty? Do They Smell Bad?

Some stoners label bubblers as a dirty, smelly way of getting high. But is that true?

The reason for those prejudiced statements is that bubblers need to have the water changed and be cleaned more often than a bong that holds more water.

Bubblers should be cleaned exactly like a bong with percolators.

How To Clean A Bubbler:

  1. Take The Parts Apart
    Remove the bowl and take the downstem out if it’s possible.
  2. Prewash
    Carefully wipe of all loose dirt. Focus on the bowl and the downstem as they are the dirtiest part.
  3. Soak in cleaning chemical
    Fill a bucket with hot water and add some bong cleaning chemical. Fully submerge the Bubbler in it. Check out our top picks for chemical cleaners here.
  4. Soak bowl and downstem
    Prepare a smaller vessel such as a cup or smaller bucket and fill it with hot water and chemical as well. Fully submerge the downstem and bowl in it.
  5. Soak overnight
  6. Scrub of all residue
    After soaking you should be able to easily scrub or wipe off all the dirt.
  7. Rinse with clean water
PRO TIP: Clean your Bubblers as often as possible. This will make it a lot easier for you compared to cleaning it after a long time. For a guide on how to clean Bongs, check out what we wrote about that here.