A packed bowl with bad airflow will burn the weed but the smoke won’t hit your lungs. You’ll have to use a toothpick or your finger to unpack the bowl and replace the partially charred pot back into the pipe in a looser fashion. This situation is not ideal.

There are several ways to pack a bowl with good or great airflow. I’ve seen many techniques over the years through various stoners.

I knew a guy who would take a big, dank, stemless nug and just shove it into the bowl head without breaking it up or anything. Afterwards he would use a metal poker to stick a hole through the middle of the bud. His bowls always burned beautifully.

This got me thinking one day. I wondered what would happen if I were to take a toothpick and stick it in the bowl before I packed it. Then afterwards I’d remove the toothpick to create a chasm that would allow for air to flow freely from the pipe to my lungs.

It worked. Eventually this technique became known as “using a flagpole” or “putting a flag in it”. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to pack a bowl with perfect airflow.

Put a toothpick inside of your pipe’s bowl head. Ideally this will be a bamboo toothpick to prevent splinters and sawdust from mixing in with your weed.

Issues with splintering and wood dust are usually only seen with cheap toothpicks. Most any toothpicks will do, including plastic or paper, but I try to avoid using titanium toothpicks to prevent scratching the pipe’s glass.

Break up your marijuana by hand or grinder. Fill the bowl with as little or as much cannabis as you’d like. Just make sure the flagpole stays in place.

I think this bowl is about full. Sometimes I’ll really pack the pot down in there with plentiful pressure if I want a heapin’ helpin’. Using a flagpole will allow you to do this in order to pack slow-burning, long-lasting bowls that burn properly.

Now you can take the flagpole out of the bowl head. During removal you may need to apply pressure to the pot with a finger or your thumb to avoid spillage.

In the photo above, take note of the bowl head’s four-o’clock area where I removed the flagpole. There is a noticeable hole or chasm where the toothpick once stood.

As seen above, take a small amount of marijuana and lightly patch the hole created when the pole was removed.

Congratulations! You have packed a bowl with premium airflow. Now you can learn how to save that bowl for later or melt extract upon it.