The Making of the Session Bong.

It all started with a makeshift glass Snapple bottle we hid under our sink. It did the job, hits were smooth, and it got us high as kites. Was it functional? Yes. Was it beautiful...not in the foggiest. We hid it from the world. We used it on the daily, but it wasn’t a showpiece. Not that we were ashamed, it performed like a champ, but we definitely weren’t proud either ... save the ingenuity it took to make the thing.

Like many stoners who grew up to be relatively put-together modern citizens with good taste, we desired for objects that not only work well, but look beautiful. We wanted smokeware to match our modern sensibilities. We wanted a bong that not only functioned well by delivering us smooth, luxurious rips, but also you didn’t have to hide under a damp sink. Being designers ourselves, we decided to make what we couldn’t find. Sure, there were plenty of bongs out there — from cheap plastic tubes to multi-thousand dollar works of abstract art. Most pieces were mired by swirling tie-dye and Rastafarian decals or over-the-top complicated scientific gadgetry. There really wasn’t anything that fit what we were looking for. Something beautiful, something functional and something simple that was also affordable. We needed a modern bong for modern times.

After a smoke-filled meeting of the minds and some far out ideas, we formed Session and designed the Session Bong. We filled the walls of our kitchen and makeshift workspaces on weekends with sketches of glass shapes and clever smoking features, eventually landing on what you see today. We ran experiments with users both veteran and new smokers that included long smoking sessions, so many questions ... and lots of snacks. We learned about the little things; The perfect grip, the ideal height, the optimal angle of the mouthpiece to take a rip from bed. How do you know how much water you need for the perfect hit? We marked the waterline on the Bong so you never have to guess. How do you avoid that teeth-clenching clank when setting down your glass on a hard surface? We protected the Bong and silenced that heartstopping expectation of broken glass. What happens when you break your downstem or bowl and the session cannot go on? We provided a back-up and a way to easily replace them to keep the session going. Listening to the endless stories, we labored over the details; we made endless models and samples. We got really high... but we tried a lot, we failed a lot and ultimately, we learned a lot. We wanted to do more than just make a cool bong; we wanted to design a full experience. We wanted to give the same attention we gave to designing the countless lifestyle, technology and consumer goods we designed in our everyday life. We wanted every touchpoint to be thoughtfully considered — from opening the packaging to packing that very first bowl to how it looks perched on your coffee table.

The Session Bong was born in October of 2018. In our first run of just 200 units, we sold out in a week. Since then we’ve made some improvements from the feedback of our earliest supporters and have made the Bong even better. (And we continue to do so). We have achieved what we set out to do in the beginning — we have created something that was beautiful, functional and unapologetically simple that makes you smile and ultimately, something even your mom would proudly display in her home. (Well, depending on your mom of course).

That's the story of the Session Bong. We hope you enjoy smoking it as much as we did making it.