How to Pack a Perfect Bowl Every Single Time (3 Step Checklist)

Knowing how to pack a bowl properly is one of the simplest things in the cannauniverse. But that doesn’t mean there’s not a trick to it.

Let’s face it, bongs and pipes are probably the most popular way of consuming weed in North America and the majority of smokers try these methods sooner or later.

Even though there are literally countless methods of smoking weed with a bong, they all follow the same principles:

Put your weed in the bowl (the area that holds the weed)
Light it up, wait for the smoke to fill up the chamber (also known as a stem)
Inhale the smoke and get high

And, believe it or not, you could never go wrong with getting high off a bong by just applying this exact principle to every device. However, there are levels to everything and this is no different — small subtleties can go a long way.

As we’ve discussed in our “How Does a Bong Work” article, every bong is made up of 3-5 parts and one of the main parts is the bowl, a part where you place your weed.

Bowls are usually made of glass and metal and some can even have accessories, like screens (filters).

Other weed smoking apparatuses work in a somewhat similar fashion.

Pipes, for example, consist of a bowl, stem and a mouthpiece — it’s just like the bong minus the water. They are, thus, a bit unhealthier than water bongs, but they do provide a more potent flavor, for people who are into that kind of stuff.

But the ancient bowl-packing wisdom goes like this:

If you know how to properly pack a bowl, then you’ll be good with whatever smoking device you decide to use.

Here is how to pack the perfect bowl in 3 steps (use this as a checklist):

Break away two small buds with your hands and put them on the bottom of the bowl (just to cover it)
Place roughly ground weed on top (if you don’t have a grinder, read on)
Press the weed with your thumb to make it compact (this makes it burn better)
Use hemp rope to light your bong for the most organic experience

As you can see, packing a perfect bowl cannot be any simpler…

How to pack a bowl without a grinder

Some people (especially beginners) do not have a grinder on hand. Which is perfectly fine, you can pack a perfect bowl without using a grinder whatsoever.

There is just one downside to that — a lot of those precious trichomes tend to stick to your fingers and then you end up smoking something that is eventually less potent.

Do not fear, as there is a trick to using every single bit of crystals from your flowers. You paid for it, why waste it away?

To pack a bowl without a grinder (and save trichomes), follow this quick tutorial:

Use nitrile gloves to break away the buds
Scrape off the crystals from the gloves with a butter knife (be careful not to cut yourself)
The crystals will stick to your knife. Put it aside for the time being.
Follow the bowl-packing steps from above and fill up your bowl with weed
Using your finger, sweep the crystals from the knife and into your bowl
Press it once again with your thumb to compress it
Light it up

If you don’t have powder-free gloves on hand, you can always use scissors to trim your buds, but just remember to leave out sticks and stems.