This guide covers glass and hardware for use with legal products only, in line with your state's laws. TAG makes no health claims about any material you choose to use.
What Is a Recycler Bong?
Recyclers are a common style of concentrate water pipe made to move smoke into a second chamber and bring it in a loop back through the original 
chamber, which filters the smoke again. The diffusion here is remarkable.
Recyclers are made to filter your smoke more thoroughly and let you pull in more of it. Concentrate rigs on recyclers have one major difference: an extra chamber that funnels water and smoke from the second chamber back to the original one.
Recyclers keep smoke and water moving in a circle throughout your pipe, so the smoke is exceptionally filtered and you can take bigger draws than you might expect.
How Recycler Pipes Work
Recycler pipes work when the smoke pulled from the percolator through part of the piece is dumped into a larger section where the bubbles pop. The smoke then continues through the mouthpiece while the water falls back down into the base water section of the pipe. This process brings the smoke through a loop and filters it again. The smoke is essentially pulled through both sections of the pipe many times over.
Well, many may be more accurate than infinite, but the point is that the filtration is excellent. Check it out in action:
Main Points of Recyclers
- You get more contact of the vapor with water, which draws the heat from the vapor
- You get less air volume for the vapor to sit in, which gives it less time to go stale
- The bubbles pop closer to your mouth, which helps preserve the taste of the material you are vaporizing
Draws from a Recycler
If you have not used a recycler, most people who own one will tell you they love it. A recycler provides draws that are:
- Smoother
- Cooler
- More flavorful
Recyclers vs Other Concentrate Rigs
A recycler is an improvement over standard concentrate rigs because the draws are smoother and cooler. In a recycler, the smoke has longer contact with the water during recycling, which makes the cooling process easier. Recyclers also give more flavorful draws because the water continues to percolate and bubble near the bottom of the neck, which lets the natural flavors of the concentrate bubble closer to your mouth.
Recycler Maintenance
Keep your recycler clean so it lasts and functions the way it should. You can keep it clean with a salt and alcohol swish to remove any buildup on the glass.
Some styles of recyclers need a slender pipe cleaning brush or scrubber to keep clean. Often much of the grime clears as you use it, thanks to the motion and water flow in a recycler. Just make sure you change the water out.
One more thing to keep in mind is water level. Recyclers rely on the water moving in a controlled loop, so too much water can flood the upper chamber and stall the cycle, while too little breaks the loop and lets the draw run dry. Start with the level suggested for your specific piece and adjust in small amounts until the water cycles smoothly and returns to the base without sputtering. Because the design keeps water in near constant motion, recyclers also tend to stay cleaner between deep cleans than a single chamber piece.
If you have been wondering what a recycler bong is, check out our recycler collection at: