The Art of the HEMPER XL Bong
Every month, HEMPER drops a new XL bong as the crown jewel of its subscription box, and over the last few years these oversized themed pieces have gone genuinely viral. The best HEMPER XL bongs aren’t just water pipes, they’re glass sculptures shaped like cowboy boots, takeout containers, Faberge eggs and retro arcade cabinets. They land somewhere between functional smoking gear and collectible art, and that’s exactly why people obsess over them.
We’ve pulled together ten of the standout XL releases from HEMPER’s recent run. These are the pieces that sold out fast, sparked the most conversation, and made us feel something just by looking at them. Each one carries its own personality, so rather than crown a single winner, we’ve laid them all out with honest pros and cons so you can find the one that speaks to you.
Collectible Glass Meets Functional Smokeware
Here’s the thing to understand about HEMPER’s XL line: every single one of these pieces retails at $149.99 and stands somewhere between 7.5 and 10 inches tall. They’re all built from thick borosilicate glass (mostly 5mm), and almost all of them run a 45-degree recessed 14mm joint feeding into some flavor of showerhead percolator. So on paper, the function is remarkably consistent across the board. What separates them is the theme, the detailing, and how the novelty shape affects real-world use and cleaning.
That consistency is good news. It means you’re rarely choosing one of these for performance alone, because most of them rip smoothly and pull comfortably thanks to that showerhead perc. Instead, you’re choosing based on which design makes you smile, which one fits your shelf, and which one you won’t be terrified to clean. The novelty shapes are the whole point, but they come with trade-offs: protruding chopsticks, intricate gold electroplating, and oddly-shaped chambers can all make maintenance a chore.
A quick word on buying. Because these are monthly drops, availability comes and goes, and several have already sold out at the source at least once. Buying individually through the comparison listings below often lets you grab one with an extra coupon stacked on top, so you’re getting the best possible price on a piece that might otherwise be gone. If you’re a collector, grab the ones that move you while they’re in stock, because HEMPER rarely re-runs the same theme twice.
