It's 2023, recreational cannabis is legal in 21 states, medical marijuana is legal in 37 and there are more ways to consume either than ever before — ranging from increasingly-popular vaporizers to THC-spiked drinks and everything in between. While the options for consumption are legion, there's nothing wrong with old classics, either — like bongs, which apparently date back as far as 400 BCE. There are a number of reasons one might want to opt for a bong as their go-to smoking apparatus, including their ability to cool and filter harsh cannabis smoke, their generally larger capacity (meaning bigger hits) and even the ritual around utilizing one.
It's worth pointing out, however, that not all bongs are created equal. If you're a long-time marijuana user, you probably remember a time when seemingly all bongs resembled laboratory equipment fed through some kind of Alice in Wonderland-esque filter, their dyed glass fitting in swimmingly with blacklights and velvet posters of technicolor mushrooms. Well, we've got some good news: while those kinds still exist, they're hardly the only option these days. Now, you can find bongs that are a bit more stylish, well-designed and grown-up.
Up-and-comers in the weed industry, the folks at Honest have designed one such bong. Called the Capsule Water Pipe, this device is more industrial than psychedelic — which, in this case, is a very good thing. And while it looks fairly minimalist (especially compared to some of the more outrageous water pipe designs out there), it's also secretly very innovative. We got hands-on with this water pipe to see what all the fuss is about... and if it does, in fact, live up to the hype.
Honest Capsule Water Pipe: What We Think
Honest's Capsule Water Pipe is everything a bong should be and more. Its modularity allows for easy storage, cleaning transport and customization, while its materials and additional features help elevate its durability and functionality beyond what we'd normally expect. And while it isn't perfect — the bowl has a tendency to get stuck and you can really feel the heat of the lighter when sparking up — it stands head-and-shoulders above the competition.
- Size (Assembled): 3.25 x 10 inches
- Size (Collapsed): 3.25 x 6.0 inches
- Materials: Borosilicate glass, stainless steel, aluminum, silicon
Honest Capsule Water Pipe: Testing Notes
It's well-balanced between size, shape and style
Bongs run the gamut of sizes and shapes, with some as big as six feet tall and others that are practically pocket-sized, as well as ones that look like little more than a laboratory beaker and others that zig-zag like they glitched in the 3D printer. The Honest Capsule, by contrast, sits firmly in the middle — it's small enough that stashing it between uses is a simple venture but large enough that you're still getting substantial hits out of it.
It also manages to have a relatively minimalist appearance without feeling like it's actually missing anything. While I might not go so far as to call it a showpiece (it was designed with function over fashion in mind, after all), it looks good enough that I like leaving it out on display rather than hiding it away. It probably helps that I, for one, am a fan of understated design, but there's certainly something more adult (read: grown-up) about having an almost industrial-styled bong over, say, something tie-dyed and/or overly gaudy.
The modularity and materials make it extremely user-friendly
This is where I first started to notice how great the Honest Capsule Water Pipe actually is. For starters, the borosilicate glass is especially tough and has a bit of heft and thickness to it, lending credence to its durability. Pair that with its steel and aluminum parts, however, and you've got yourself a bong that is dishwasher-friendly — yes, you can actually wash it in your dishwasher (which I have, multiple times), so long as you use natural dish soap (you shouldn't be using harsh chemicals on the stuff you eat off/drink out of, anyhow). That kind of convenience alone is worth its weight in gold, as cleaning a bong by hand can be a frustrating, disgusting task — especially if you do it regularly.
But how do you get the inside of the bong sparkling clean in your dishwasher? That's where one of this bong's other handy features comes into play. The Honest Capsule is actually modular, meaning the chamber, neck, downstem (which is attached to the anodized aluminum chamber cap) and silicon caps all come apart. And while that's super handy for cleaning, it has another purpose: the whole bong can pack down into the main chamber — making it much easier to store and transport, as it cuts the height down to just six inches. If you're fortunate enough to travel legally with your weed and/or you want to be able to stash it away when you aren't using it, this is an indispensable convenience.
It has an array of innovative, clever hidden features
Take a quick glance at the Honest Capsule and you might think it looks like a pretty straightforward, normal bong. But take some time with it and you might start thinking differently. You might even refer to it as the Swiss Army Knife of bongs. Apart from the modularity, it also has a pretty powerful magnet hidden away inside the main chamber cap (right next to where the neck attaches) that makes the perfect rest for your favorite lighter (as you can see in some of my photos). That means, if you can find your bong, you can find your lighter, and you'll no longer be digging through junk drawers to find a means to spark up — it's all in one convenient location.
Right next to that magnet, there's another handy, somewhat hidden accessory: a little metal rod you can pull out to clear your bowl piece when it gets clogged or gunked up. And once you're done with it, it just slides right back into its housing. It's an extremely handy addition that I wish more weed brands were smart enough to start including in their products and just another seemingly small thing that makes Honest's products shine so much more brightly than the competition (it's also included with the brand's equally exceptional Path Pipe).
There are accessories and replacement parts galore
With most bongs, once they break, that's it — you gotta go out and buy a new one. Thanks to the clever modularity of the Honest Capsule, you can actually replace all its constituent parts. Better still, the brand has them all for sale in one convenient place. That means, should you bust the neck, the main chamber, the bowl or whatever else, you can pick up new ones to replace the busted ones. Of course, you can also buy them just to swap color styles.
I would also be remiss in my duties if I didn't recommend the Stainless Steel Bowl as a supplement to the bong. There's nothing wrong with the glass bowl that the bong comes with; it's actually a really solid if fairly pedestrian piece. But the stainless steel one is a bit wider and more shallow, making it easier to get a more even, consistent burn on your flower. And the shallowness makes it easier to clear when clogged. Plus, it just looks spectacular, as you can see in my photos, and it's practically indestructible, relatively speaking.
The neck is a little short
As a result of the way the Honest Capsule is designed, the relatively short neck and bowl piece, when assembled, are fairly close to one another. As a result, I discovered pretty quickly that you might feel like you're singeing your eyebrows the first couple of times you spark up. While it's easy to make an adjustment to how you use it — you just tilt it to one side to avoid feeling the heat on your face — it was a bit jarring the first few uses.
It's definitely worth noting that this is a necessary inconvenience, as extending the neck or changing its position relative to the bowl piece would mean that it couldn't pack down inside of itself, thus eliminating the modularity of the whole device. And if I'm going to pick between the two, I'm going to keep the modularity every single time. I've made my adjustments and no longer feel the heat, so to speak.
The bowl piece can sometimes get stuck
Before I even get into this, it needs to be said that a properly-sized bowl piece can get stuck (and likely will) in every single bong you might use. However, it does still need to be noted that it happens from time to time with the Honest Capsule, especially if you don't gently set the bowl back into the joint between hits. And I have experienced this troublesome issue with both the glass bowl the bong comes with, as well as the upgraded stainless steel one.
It never gets so stuck that I can't extract it (a simple twist and pull usually does the trick), and I have yet to use the old hot tap water trick to loosen it up, but it has happened a number of times since I started using this bong about half a year ago. As far as issues go, however, it's not one I would call significant by any means and doesn't even change my overall opinion of this particular bong. I would just make one suggestion to users: don't drop the bowl piece back into the joint — set it back in gently.
- Size (Assembled): 3.25 x 10 inches
- Size (Collapsed): 3.25 x 6.0 inches
- Materials: Borosilicate glass, stainless steel, aluminum, silicon
