What Are Ice Notches on a Bong and How Do You Use an Ice Catcher?

Just like the question of whether a bong really needs a kick hole, whether ice notches make sense comes down first of all to personal taste. But beyond taste, there are also objective reasons for and against bongs with ice notches. Let's take a closer look at them below.

Ice bongs in the shop

Advantages of ice notches

• Ice cools impressively well. If you've ever smoked a normal bong and then a similar one with ice notches, you know exactly what a difference ice makes to how cool the smoke feels. Ice-cooled smoke is far more pleasant, and there's hardly a stronger argument for ice notches than that.
• Ice notches are a stable, reliable way to enjoy ice-cold smoke with every pull. Unlike drop-in screens and other add-ons, the ice always stays in the perfect position, which noticeably boosts your smoking experience.

Disadvantages of ice notches

• Ice notches make cleaning the bong considerably harder. Even with well-placed notches, a certain amount of residue at the lower end usually stays out of reach, which affects the flavour in the long run.
• There are now alternatives to the built-in version that get around the cleaning problem. Unfortunately, these solutions are usually less stable and hard to match perfectly to your bong.
• As the evening goes on, the motivation to keep topping up ice and pouring off the excess meltwater often drops enormously. So whether you should get an ice bong also depends on how willing you are to keep using it properly over time. If you only use the ice option now and then, the downsides, especially around cleaning, clearly outweigh the benefits.