You have to fill your bong with some water in the base to cool and filter the smoke. All types of bongs have a water chamber, irrespective of the other features, including percolators, sizes, and other special fixtures. So, you may wonder about how much water you should put in your bong or water pipe.

Filling a bong with an optimum quantity of water isn’t complicated. But you should factor in the specific features of your bong so that the water chamber can function effectively and efficiently without causing or facilitating any untoward experiences, such as hot smoke, splashes, etc.

Here is a comprehensive guide to help you decide the right level, quantity, or volume of water in a bong, including all the variants available nowadays.

How Much Water Should You Put in Your Bong?

The fundamental approach to filling the water chamber in a bong or water pipe is submerging the down stem to the extent that the smoke flows out of the tip into the universal solvent. Only then will a bong or its base filled with water cool and filter the smoke properly, regardless of other features.

That said, you can’t just use the down stem as the only criterion because most modern bongs have other features, such as percolators. Let me distinguish the different types of popular bongs to explain how much water you need, and what you should do to manage its level or volume.

Beaker Bongs (Standard)

The most common bong is the standard beaker style. You get a cylindrical beaker with a down stem that is inserted into a hole at the side. The down stem goes into the base or chamber that will contain or hold water to cool and filter the smoke when you burn or ignite dry herbs.

The thumb rule is submerging the down stem by around half an inch so that the smoke passes through water. You don’t have to measure half an inch when you put water in your bong. You will need to observe the down stem and, more importantly, its bottom tip.

If the bottom tip and a bit more of the down stem is submerged in water, your bong is ready. But this approach will not work if you have a quaint down stem or special features in your bong.

Bongs With Diffusers

Bongs with diffusers have slits above and around the bottom tip. These openings or slits may or may not be within half an inch from the end of the down stem. You can’t use the half an inch rule if you have bongs with diffusers that extend upward beyond that mark.

The thumb rule for bongs with diffusers is submerging all the openings or slits at the bottom tip in water. Therefore, you must visually observe if the entire diffuser component in your bong is in water to know whether or not the level or quantity is sufficient for a session.

If any smoke transits through one of the slits of a diffuser that is not submerged in water, you will have some uncooled and unfiltered puffs, which is probably not what you want to draw from any bong. In most cases, diffusers don’t pose any issues because they are a part of the down stem.

Insert a bong’s downstem that has a diffuser into the base and fill the chamber with water until the slits are submerged. A simple visual observation will suffice. You can still rely on the half an inch rule. The diffuser in the down stem may be half an inch into water for excellent filtration.

Bongs With Percolators

Bongs with percolators may or may not have diffusers. Nonetheless, you should ensure that any percolator that is supposed to be filled with water has enough of the universal solvent to cool or filter the smoke. Not all percolators need to have water in them, though.

The standard approach to submerging the down stem, including the diffusing slits, if any, applies to bongs with percolators. One issue you might encounter while filling the base or chamber is a bit of water stagnating inside the percolators, especially if they are in tubular forms.

Most people fill their bongs with water through the mouthpiece. The opening has the percolators below, so water won’t reach the base without flowing through these fixtures. You might have to shake and tilt the bong so that water doesn’t stagnate inside the percolators.

Bongs With Special Features

If you have a bong with special features, such as splash guards, you will have to ensure that no water piles up in such components. The approach is similar to pouring water into a bong that has one or more percolators.

Likewise, if you use ice in a bong, you must pour the same volume of water to submerge the down stem by half an inch, while factoring any diffuser. You may not need to refill the bong if you have ice in it because the water level will be replenished. Otherwise, you must replace the water or replenish if you go for multiple rounds because some of the solvent will evaporate in time.