Product review: The DynaVap Bonger

Every cannabinthusiast has their collection of accessories – the stuff you need to make the weed go puff. Over thirtysomething years of use, I’ve amassed quite the collection of pipes, grinders, jars, lighters, screens, vape batteries, one-hitters and so forth and so on. One little indispensable gadget I own may have been designed for cocaine use (because I acquired it years ago, back when I did coke). It’s like a Swiss Army Knife for druggies (kidding….not really). It’s a metal tool with three attachments/functions: a tiny spoon (this alleviates sticky fingers), a flat head at a 90-degree angle (perfect for packing a loose bowl), and a simple straight thin cylindrical piece of metal (ideal for scraping, loosening and cleaning). If you ever had a coke habit, you can imagine how useful this tool might be, but I use this thing all the time with cannabis and would be utterly lost without it.

My initial approach to the DynaVap Bonger was one of skepticism. It was too basic and not complicated enough. Surely this little piece of rubber and metal couldn’t up the game? I tried it out – not as thoroughly as I should’ve – on a little bubbler I’d been using for a number of months. I didn’t immediately see the benefit of it and put it away and didn’t think about again until…the day I got tired of using the bubbler. This was the same day I pulled out my rather sizable glass waterpipe which had been collecting dust for some months over in the corner. As I cleaned out the bong and brought it back to life, I remembered the Bonger.

So, what is the Bonger? It’s a simple little attachment that turns any bong into a vehicle for your DynaVap. You simply remove the cap and the bowl of your DynaVap, and slip it atop the Bonger and then put the Bonger in place of the bowl in the stem of your bong. You could heat the loaded DynaVap with an induction heater, or simply pull the Bonger out and heat it with a butane lighter as you would your DynVap, and then quickly slip it back in place. I feel I have made this all sound much more complicated than it is. Indeed, a big part of the beauty of the Bonger is its simplicity (much like my little Swiss Army tool.)

The above picture (sorry for the mildly dirty bong; it’s much cleaner than it appears!) illustrates this simplicity much better than I can put into words. I would also like to draw your attention to the DynaVap cap. That thing has been heated with a butane lighter hundreds and hundreds of times over the past year and a half and it’s still kicking. That is quality.

I’ve not had a whole lot of experience vaping through bongs, as it didn’t occur to me there’d be much benefit to it, but after using the Bonger for about a week now, I’ve come around to what this combo brings to the table. When you use a DynaVap at its most basic function, it doesn’t require much inhaling, as the gadget is tiny and straightforward. But DynaVap through a bong, and suddenly you must use your lungs as you would with any bong, drawing in much more air, resulting in a better high. And I have had some wonderful, deep, long-lasting highs using the Bonger this past week.

I’ve also had some pretty intense coughing jags, but then I’m an asthmatic, so my lungs are always getting hit in ways that normal people don’t experience. I have also noticed that the cannabis inside the DynaVap is hit much harder (it’s damn near disintegrated when I empty it out) via the Bonger, which probably helps explain the intensity of the highs.

Again, we all have our little smoking and vaping accessories. The Bonger is yet another on the very long list. If you’re a DynaVaper who owns a nice-sized bong, you probably owe it to yourself to try out the modestly-priced Bonger and see if it works for you as nicely as it’s worked for me.