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A bong, also commonly known as a water pipe, is a smoking device, generally used to smoke cannabis, tobacco, or other substances. more...

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The construction of a bong and its principle of action is similar to that of the hookah, which is also called "water pipe". Smoking a bong contrasts with smoking a pipe or cigarette in two major ways: bongs cool the smoke before it enters the user’s lungs (making it easier to smoke), and a large amount of smoke is inhaled quickly as opposed to the smaller, more frequent, inhalations of pipe and cigarette smoking.

Etymology

The word bong is an adaptation of the Thai word baung (Thai: บ้อง /bɔ�ŋ/), a cylindrical wooden tube, pipe, or container cut from bamboo, and which also refers to the bong used for smoking. Bongs have been in use--primarily by the Hmong--in Laos and Thailand for centuries. One of the earliest recorded uses of the word in Western literature dates to a piece in the January 1971 issue of the Marijuana Review. An even earlier reference, the McFarland Thai-English Dictionary, published in 1944 describes one of the meanings of bong in the Thai language as, "a bamboo waterpipe for smoking kancha, tree, hashish, or the hemp-plant."

How a bong works

The user holds a flame over the substance to be smoked. As the user inhales, the flame is drawn towards the substance and the smoke travels through a hollow pipe that is attached to the bottom of the bowl containing the smokable material. The pipe enters into a vessel containing water. The hole through which this stem passes is airtight, and the bottom of the pipe is submerged in the water.

The smoke rises through the water, cools, and is trapped in the air chamber above the water. At the side (or back) of the container, above the water level, there is usually a small air hole (the "carb"), which is kept covered up with a finger until the point when sufficient smoke has been held in the air gap. Its purpose is to allow an easy passage of air into the container when the smoke is finally inhaled into the lungs. The fresh air from this hole helps to cool the smoke further. In the US, most glass bongs have a "pull up" or "pull out" bowl which has a rubber O-ring to form a seal with the bong stem. The glass bowl is pulled out of the stem after the chamber is full of smoke, allowing clean air to enter the chamber further cooling the smoke and allowing the user to "clear the bong". For this type of bong, the removable bowl functions as the carb and it is not necessary to hold your finger over a hole.

Read more at Wikipedia.org