What are Bong Joints?

Bongs, bowl pieces, ash catchers, adapters, nails - these all have a gender, making it crucial to be able to distinguish between male and female smoking supplies.  

Male Joints

If the joint that you fit the bowl onto tapers at the end and you have to put accessories over it, then it’s a male. This means bowl pieces, domes, nails or other adapters must be female. Smoking devices like rigs that are designated for legal concentrates or oils work best with male joints.

Female Joints

If your smoking device has a joint that has a slightly wider mouth and accessories have to be inserted into it, rather than over it, it’s female and all add-on accessories should be male. Most conventional water pipes designed primarily for dry legal herbs or tobacco are going to be female.

Does joint size matter?

There are three common joint sizes; 10 mm, 14 mm, and 18 mm.

10 mm joints are typically found on pendant rigs and other small pipes designed for concentrates and are noticeably small.

14 mm joint sizes are very common among standard water pipes, especially small to medium-sized ones. One way to measure this joint size is to grab a dime and hold it over the end of the pipe or bowl piece, whichever one is female. 14 mm joints are slightly smaller than a dime, so if the dime doesn’t fit into it, the joint is most likely 14mm.

18 mm joints are generally used on larger devices and offer optimal air flow. These can be identified using the dime method; if a dime fits through the female joint, it’s 18 mm.