Sponge Diffuser?

[Nahbus]

Just wondering about this for a while, then I saw a thread about it on another forum. Say you take a natural sponge (or one without dyes n shit) and shove it in the shaft of your bong and fill the sponge up with water (maybe even have another waterline above the sponge if it allows).
Now, this would produce a ton of tiny little bubbles as the smoke passes through the sponge, exposing more of the smoke to water (ultra diffused).
I was wondering if the smoke going through a water soaked sponge would pick up any toxins or other junk from the sponge? It's a real good idea, especially if you put in a sponge with ice and water on top.
What about steel wool? That probably wouldnt hold the water, though.
Anyway, what are your thoughts?

[old hippie 56]

As long as the sponge is natural, probally get nasty quick. Wouldn't hurt to have a spare or two on hand. The steel wool would rust.

[Nahbus]

Hmmm. Can you (or anyone) think of a sponge-like material that would act the same? How fast do you think the sponge would get resinated and clogged? I mean, sponges are pretty cheap so if you had a bunch of them, changing them after every few bong sessions doesn't seem too bad.

[antigenesis]

Sounds like a pretty bitchin idea to me, though I think I'll wait for a few more responses about it before I bother going out to get some sponges and try it myself.

[Nahbus]

SWIM may try this today. Only problem: no car, so I'd have to find a natural sponge in my area that's in walking distance. If not I'll try it with a regular dish sponge (what other crap are in these?)
One more problem it may have is the shaft of SWIMs bong being too short. Perhaps he'll edit a bit and make it longer, put in the wet sponge with maybe an inch and 1/2 of water above it, add some ice and bong it up.
If this happens today, SWIM will post pictures (hopefully) and a complete report on taste, harshness and efficiency. Maybe do one bong load without the sponge and one with.
Well, we'll see.

[Nahbus]

Ok, new Idea. SWIM took a peice of fine silk screen mesh and rolled it up and stuffed it into his diffuser (9 hole diffuser. silkscreen covers all the holes. everything is under water.)
Pulling through it shows many many tiny little bubbles. Very good diffusion, kind of hard to pull through, though, but it is definately manageable. Just wondering if smoke passing through silkscreen underwater... I'm assuming this is pretty safe. If any toxins or other crap get burned (doubtful... it's all underwater) I figure the rest of the water will filter some of it out.
What do you guys think?
SWIM may just go with his 9 hole diffuser, a wet sponge (or other material) in the shaft with crushed ice on top (I'd need an extension for this, though). This seems like a better route.
But for the time being, how do you think this super diffuser will work?
(another idea I had was to fill the bong with glass beads and water. Smaller beads: more bubbles of smoke to be filtered.)
Thoughts? Suggestions? Info? Thanks.
P.S. I'm only asking how this will all work because SWIM is waiting for his bud to arrive and is, yet again, going on an exciting bong making frenzy (don't knock homemade bongs. Mine are all glass and are fully functional. Most of them hit better than about 75% of the other glass bongs I've used.)

p.s. why isn't this post showing up in "New Posts"?

[old hippie 56]

Been thinking, what about them things women use in the bath. Plastic scrubs or whatever they called. Might be the same thing you got.

[Nahbus]

SWIM tested his bong equiped with a 9 hole diffuser (all glass and homemade. I'll take pictures sometime soon) with a rolled up peice of fine silkscreen mesh stuffed inside, covering all 9 holes. The test was a success!
The diffuser produced, very obviously, many more smaller bubbles than the bong without the silkscreen. The hits were smoother, so says SWIM and his girlfriend.
It was a bit harder to clear it fast, but the hits were much smoother. The bong water remained clear through a few sessions, where as SWIM would have noticed a yellow tint to the water with resin junk on the sides of the waterline. With the silkscreen this was all eliminated (well, after a few sessions).
Next up: wet sponge. wet sponge WITH the silkscreen (prolly way too hard to pull). and then again with ice on top.
SWIM predicts the sponge and ice will be the way to go. Possibly wrapping the very fine mesh around the 9 holes in the diffuser (instead of jamming it in the tube). This will most likely produce a relatively similar effect to the silkscreen being inside, but will be much easier to pull through.
Anyway, more tests to come!

[antigenesis]

Apparently, the more filtered the smoke the less potent (fewer tars & fewer cannabinoids) it is, so I think for smooth strong hits an ice filled chamber exclusively for cooling would be the best... Then again, if you love those mellow hits and don't mind wasting some weed, that would be the way to go.