Grace Glass Flower Thrower: the best known Banksy stencil on a bong
The image on this bong is the Flower Thrower, a stencil Banksy put on a wall in Beit Sahour in the West Bank in 2003. A masked protester stands mid-throw, but what leaves his hand is not a molotov cocktail: it is a bunch of flowers. The piece is also known as Love is in the Air and has become one of the most widely reproduced images Banksy ever made. Grace Glass printed it across the full height of the tube, so the colours light up whenever the sun hits the glass.
Behind the artwork sits a straightforward, solid bong. It measures 34 centimetres and is built from 3 millimetre glass, which feels distinctly heavier in the hand than the thin budget tubes. The base flares out wide, so it stays put even on a narrow table.
The hardware: 18.8 mm and a diffuser
The connection is an 18.8 millimetre ground joint, a common size, so spare bowls, precoolers and other accessories in the same size will fit. The bowl that comes with it lifts out, which makes filling and emptying a lot easier. Inside the tube sits a diffuser downstem: slits at the end push the smoke through the water in small bubbles rather than one large one. Fill the bong to just above those slits and the diffuser does its job without pulling water up the tube.
Cleaning and storage
Change the water often, which keeps both smell and residue down. For a deeper clean, take out the bowl and the downstem and soak them separately. Keep the bong away from the edge of a table and store it upright. Three millimetre glass copes with daily use, but no bong survives a drop onto a tiled floor.
Avalon Magic Plants carries more bongs, from small acrylic models to tall glass tubes, plus loose bowls in various sizes.
