Ash Catchers: Your Secret To Cleaner Tokes

What is an Ash Catcher?

If you’ve ever smoked out of a bong you’ve probably had a few encounters with a truly grimy and vile tasting piece of glass. Though there is no substitute for proper bong care and cleanliness, ash catchers help reduce the build-up of resin and (of course) ash debris from being sucked into your piece. This ultimately reduces the amount of time spent cleaning in between sessions. 

With your smoke diffusing through a few extra chambers in the ash catcher before inhalation, smoother hits are an added benefit. You can find ash catchers featuring specific types of diffusion options (such as showerhead, honeycomb, and tree-style percolators). 

How Does An Ash Catcher Work?

Ash catchers fit into the downstem of your bong and have a hole on top in for you to secure your bowl piece. Because of this, it is important to know a few details about your bong to make sure you get a compatible ash catcher. 

The three main details you need to know are joint diameter, joint angle, and joint gender.

How To Pair An Ash Catcher With Your Bong

• Joint Diameter: This is the size of the opening in your downstem, in which the ash catcher joint must fit. 14mm is the most common size, though they could be within the following range;  (10mm, 14mm, 18mm)
  
  
• Joint Angle: The angle at which your downstem comes out of your bong must match the angle of the ash catcher joint piece. Typically these will be at a 45 or 90-degree angle.
  
  
• Joint Gender: If your downstem has a female joint, you will need a male jointed ash catcher. If you have a male downstem joint, you will need a female jointed ash catcher. 

Should You Add Water To An Ash Catcher?

If you want to take advantage of your ash catchers’ diffusion benefits then absolutely yes! All you will need is a small amount of water, just enough to cover all of the percolator slits/ holes. 

Too much water in your ash catcher will result in “splash back” into your bong, essentially canceling out most of the benefit. It’s worth experimenting with your water level by adding a small amount of water at a time until you achieve perc diffusion without sucking any water into the actual bong. 

How To Clean An Ash Catcher?

To keep your ash catcher clean, you can use the same bong cleaning solutions you would use on your bong. Simply place it in a ziploc bag with your selected cleaner, shake it up and rinse well! If you have some stubborn build-up, you can let it soak for a few hours in the solution, as you would with bong.