Bong Bowl & Joint Size Guide - How To Measure Your Bowl & Joint Size
One of the most important things to know when buying a new bong or bong bowl is the joint size and gender. While all of the bongs and dab rigs on our website come with their own bowl or dab nail, there may come a time when you want to upgrade your bong or rig and buy a new nail or bowl. This is when it's important to know the joint size and gender you need to make it fit. We put together a quick bong joint size guide for quick reference and will explain in further detail below. This quick guide will show you how to measure your joint size or bowl size using only a dime!
Standard Bong Bowl Size
The most standard bong bowl size is 14mm. If I had to guess I would say about 70% of all bongs on the market come with a 14mm. Its a good size for both air flow and durability. With that being said if you find your self with a less common 10mm or 18mm no worries, our guide below will show you how to measure your joint or bowl size.
Male Vs Female Joints
The first and most important thing to know when determining the right piece to buy is the joint gender. Bongs, bowls, nails, ash catchers, adapters, dropdowns, and all other bong parts have a gender, male or female. All you need to know is that male pieces go into female joints and female pieces go on top of male joints. So if your bong has a female joint you will need to buy a male jointed bowl or dab nail and vice versa.
What Gender Is My Bong Joint?
The image below shows you how to identify what gender your bowl or bong joint is. This is very simple if your joint is male it will use the same sized female accessories. If your joint is female, it will use the same sized male accessories.
Joint Sizes
Before you go buy a new bong bowl or nail you need to know the joint size of your bong or dab rig. Bong joint sizes come in three different sizes, 10mm, 14mm or 18mm. The most common joint size is 14mm, you will rarely see 10mm joints and 18mm joints are usually only found on the biggest sized bongs. If you see anyone mention 14.5mm or 18.8mm joints don't get confused these are the same as 14mm and 18mm joints.
10mm Joint
Most often referred to as micro or nano joints, 10mm joints are usually only found on pendant rigs or the smallest dab rigs designed for extreme portability. A 10mm joint is easy to identify because it is extremely small.
14mm Joint
The most common of all joint sizes is 14mm. Almost all small-medium sized bongs and dab rigs have 14mm joints. To find out if your joint is a 14mm all you need is a dime. If the dime is about the same size as your joint its a 14mm. If the dime falls into the joint its an 18mm, and if the joint is much smaller than a dime you have a 10mm joint.
18mm Joint
Another common joint size, 18mm joints are usually only found on the largest bongs. This is to increase airflow since the piece is much larger. If a dime falls into your joint then you have an 18mm joint.
How To Measure Your Bong Joint Size Using A Dime
This is the quickest and easiest way to measure your bong joint size. For almost all bongs and dab rigs you only need to worry about two sizes: 14mm and 18mm. The image below shows you what your joint or bowl will look like compared to a dime. As you can see below the dime falls into the 18mm joint and sits on top of the 14mm joint. Using a dime is the easiest way to measure your bong joint and determine what size your bong joint is.
The image above also helps you determine the bowl size using a dime. A 14mm male bowl piece is about 3/4 of the size of a dime whereas an 18mm male bowl piece is almost the entire size of a dime.
To summarize: whatever gender joint you have, it will use the opposite gender and same sizes for its parts, bowls and accessories. If you make a mistake when buying a bong part you can always buy an adapter to make it work. Adapters are small glass pieces that can change the joint size and gender of your bong or dab rigs. Although, we know after you finish reading this bong joint size guide you will never make that mistake!
How To Measure Your Bong Bowl Size Using A Dime
To figure out the bowl size for your bong, simple us a dime. If its about the same size as a dime its an 18mm and if its much smaller then a dime its a 14mm. Refer to the infographic above for more details. The graphic below is for male bowls but the same can be used to measure female bong bowl sizes.
What if I have the wrong size?
No problem! The easiest way to ensure your bong or bowl works seamlessly together is to use a glass adapter to connect them together. Bong glass adapters come in every different size and and joint type combination so no matter what size bong you have or what size bowl you have you can make it work.
Bong Bowl Size FAQs
What size is my bong bowl?
Take a look at our guide shown above to figure out quickly what size your bong bowl is. All you need is a dime to figure out your bong bowl size!
Is a dime 14mm?
No a dime is actually 17.91 mm which can be helpful to know when measuring your bong joint or bowl size. If its smaller than the dime than its a 14mm if its about the same size kthen its an 18mm bowl or joint.
Can you use a 14mm bowl in an 18mm joint?
No you can't. Well I guess yes technically you could if you were desperate but you will not get proper airflow or smoke production so we highly recommend against it. If you have a 14mm bowl and a 18mm bong just get a bong adapter to make them fit together perfectly.