What's the difference between a male and a female banger?

The shape of the joint. A male banger's joint is a tube ground on the outside that slides into the rig. A female banger's joint is a socket ground on the inside that fits over the rig's joint.

Does male or female describe the banger or the rig?

Either one, so check which a listing means. On this site a banger's joint is always the banger's own, and every banger says which rig joint it fits, for example "Fits a rig with a 14 mm female joint".

Male or female banger: which one your rig takes

The rig decides it. A rig with a female joint, a socket, takes a male banger; a rig with a male joint, a tube, takes a female banger of the same size.

	Male banger	Female banger
Its joint is	a tube, ground on the outside	a socket, ground on the inside
It goes	into the rig's joint	over the rig's joint
Fits a rig joint that is	female	male
Here in stock	most bangers, in 10, 14 and 18 mm	the standard 2 mm and 4 mm bangers, in some sizes

The ground part is the frosted band. On a male joint it's on the outside; on a female joint it's inside the socket.

When a male banger is the right pick

When your rig's joint is a socket: an opening the banger slides into, with the frosted ground glass on the inside. Nearly every rig here has a 14 mm female joint, so it takes a 14 mm male banger. The joint page for 14 mm female 90° lists every banger that fits that rig.

When a female banger is the right pick

When your rig's joint is a tube sticking out, ground on the outside. The 9" Encore Color Lip/Foot Matrix Rig ($44.99) is one: its listing gives a 14 mm male joint, which needs a female banger or accessory. Two bangers here come in female joints:

2mm Quartz Banger

$7.42

10 F 45°
10 M 90°
10 M 45°
14 F 90°
14 F 45°
14 M 90°
14 M 45°
18 F 90°
18 M 90°
18 M 45°

4mm Quartz Banger

$7.99

10 M 90°
10 M 45°
14 F 45°
14 M 45°
18 M 90°
18 M 45°

Each card lists the joints in stock, female ones included. The 2 mm banger has the most female choices.

Whose joint a listing means

Some filters and listings don't say whether male or female means the banger or the rig. Smoke Cartel's quartz collection, for one, has a "Bong Joint Gender" filter that doesn't say whether it's the bong's joint or the banger's. Every banger here gives its own joint first, then the rig joint it fits, in plain words.

Size and angle still have to match

Gender is one of three things. The banger's joint also has to be the same size as the rig's (see the joint size guide) and at the angle the rig's joint points (see the 45 or 90 guide). The Fit Index puts all three together.