Guy smoking from a glass hand pipe

How and Why To Corner A Bowl: A Smokers Guide

Puff, puff, pass. It’s a time-honored tradition of smokers everywhere, especially those who enjoy from the company of other smokers. But, smoking with your entourage can also cause herbs to naturally deplete at a faster rate. There are, however, ways to get the most of your herb. Cornering is the ideal strategy for smokers who are looking to conserve the herb in their glass pipes. Read on to find out what cornering is, and why it’s the best strategy for you.

What is Cornering A Bowl?

For some experienced smokers, cornering may simply be second nature, rather than a mysterious technique. Cornering helps smokers to parcel out the herbs within the glass pipe for several hits. And, as you might’ve guessed, the method itself is quite simple. Rather than lighting all of the herbs within the bowl, smokers instead light only a portion of the herb, or a corner. This improves the longevity of the herbs, giving you (and your friends) more time to enjoy a quality smoking session.

how to corner a bowl

How To Corner A Bowl

1. Tilting the Bowl

This is the most common method of cornering a glass pipe. When lighting your herbs, tilt the bowl slightly to the side, giving the flame access to only one section of herbs.

2. Lighting the Rim of the Bowl

Instead of holding the lighter extremely close to the bowl, keep it a safe distance away from the bowl. This will ensure that only the tip of the flame will reach the herbs. Thus, the herbs that you are not smoking will remain green, giving you and your friends more time to enjoy smoking.

3. Hemp Wick

By eliminating the lighter from the equation almost entirely, you can get the purest cornering experience. After lighting the hemp wick, direct it toward the section of herb that you will be smoking. This method ensures more accurate-- and more enjoyable-- results.


Preparing a Bowl

Why Use the Cornering Technique?

1. Conserving Herbs

As everyone at our premium online headshop knows, when herbs are at stake, every piece counts. Cornering aids in distributing the herbs in your glass pipe throughout the smoking session, ensuring everyone gets a fair share.

2. Create a More Social Atmosphere

Hurriedly passing your glass pipe around as the herbs burn out isn’t conducive to creating a friendly atmosphere. In fact, it’s a smoker’s worst nightmare. Cornering eliminates this stress entirely, and allows each person to savor their hits. There’s just something strangely rewarding about passing off the bowl to the next smoker.

3. The Cherry Effect

In some cases, cornering may present another added advantage. If the ember at the bottom of the bowl remains lit, then each subsequent smoker will be able to ignite their portion of the herbs by simply taking a drag. Why is it called a cherry? Because embers are red, of course.

4. No Added Chemicals

In addition to the lack of delicious chemicals on the herbs, not cornering your bowl can detract from the taste in other ways. Placing the flame of a butane lighter over the herbs in your glass pipe will taint the flavor. Cornering minimizes the risk of this tainted flavor.

5. The Last Person Doesn’t Suffer

Everyone dreads being at the end of the smoking circle. The delectable taste is gone, everyone else has had their fun, and you are now relegated to the scraps. By implementing the cornering technique, you can ensure that each person gets his or her fair share.

Alternatives To Cornering

What do people do instead of cornering? There won’t be catastrophic consequences if you don’t corner your glass pipe, but it will be a less enjoyable experience.

1. Evenly Lighting the Bowl Several Times

When you light all of the herbs within the bowl, you are consuming much of the taste within the herbs. This means that each subsequent hit will still produce smoke, but without the same delicious taste.

2. Lighting the Whole Bowl, Then Passing

While this technique is great for beginner smokers, it is less than ideal in most other situations. Hastening the smoking process for everyone else will detract from the atmosphere, and keep herbs burning even when people aren’t using it.

Need a Glass Pipe?

We have tons. Our online headshop has numerous designs, colors, and styles of glass pipes suited for all smokers with all different tastes. For an improved smoking experience, check out our cleaning supplies, grinders, and other accessories.

Previous article How To Use A Bong: A Step By Step Guide
Next article 420 Friendly: What Is it? & What Does It Mean?