{{Short description|Device used for smoking tobacco, cannabis, or other herbs}} {{About|a pipe that is used for smoking cannabis and other substances|the preparation of cannabis leaves and flowers|Bhang|other uses|Bong (disambiguation)}} {{pp|reason=Persistent vandalism|small=yes}}
thumb|125px|right|A bong with a circular carburetion port in the front of the bowl A '''bong''' (also known as a '''water pipe''') is a filtration device generally used for smoking cannabis, tobacco, or other herbal substances.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ul451.gsu.edu/lawand/papers/fa05/albright_shawkat_susor/|title=Contraband: The Sale of Regulated Goods on the Internet|access-date=2010-03-24|archive-date=2016-04-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412074521/http://ul451.gsu.edu/lawand/papers/fa05/albright_shawkat_susor/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the bong shown in the photo, the smoke flows from the lower port on the left to the upper port on the right.
In construction and function, a bong is similar to a hookah, except smaller and especially more portable. A bong may be constructed from any air- and water-tight vessel by adding a bowl and stem apparatus (or slide)<ref>{{Cite news|last=Delaney|first=Arthur|date=2008-05-09|title=How To Make a Skull Bong|language=en-US|work=Slate|url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2008/05/can-a-human-skull-be-used-as-a-bong.html|access-date=2023-02-14|issn=1091-2339|archive-date=2023-02-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214093818/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2008/05/can-a-human-skull-be-used-as-a-bong.html|url-status=live}}</ref> which guides air downward to below water level whence it bubbles upward ("bubbler") during use. To get fresh air into the bong and harvest the last remaining smoke, a hole known as the "carburetor", "carb", "choke", "bink", "rush", "shotty", "kick hole", or simply "hole", somewhere on the lower part of the bong above water level, is first kept covered during the smoking process, then opened to allow the smoke to be inhaled. On bongs without such a hole, the bowl and/or the stem are removed to allow air from the hole that holds the stem.
Bongs have been in use by the Hmong in Laos and Thailand, as well all over Africa, for centuries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.420magazine.com/community/threads/the-real-history-of-the-bong.73197/|title=The real history of the bong|website=420 Magazine|date=5 February 2008 |access-date=2023-02-16|archive-date=2023-02-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216051309/https://www.420magazine.com/community/threads/the-real-history-of-the-bong.73197/|url-status=live}}</ref> One of the earliest recorded uses of the word in the West is in the McFarland Thai-English Dictionary, published in 1944, which describes one of the meanings of ''bong'' in the Thai language as, "a bamboo waterpipe for smoking kancha, tree, hashish, or the hemp-plant". A January 1971 issue of the ''Marijuana Review'' also used the term.
==Etymology== The word ''bong'' is an adaptation of the Thai word ''bong'' or ''baung'' ({{langx|th|บ้อง}}, {{IPA|th|bɔ̂ŋ|}}), which refers to a cylindrical wooden tube, pipe, or container cut from bamboo, and which also refers to the bong used for smoking.{{citation needed|date=May 2026}}
==History== Excavations of a kurgan in Russia in 2013 revealed that Scythian tribal chiefs used gold vessels 2400 years ago to smoke cannabis and opium. The kurgan was discovered when construction workers were clearing land for the construction of a power line.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/150522-scythians-marijuana-bastard-wars-kurgan-archaeology|title=Gold Artifacts Tell Tale of Drug-Fueled Rituals and "Bastard Wars"|last=National Geographic|website=National Geographic Society|date=22 May 2015|access-date=2022-05-10|language=en-US|archive-date=2022-05-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510210649/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/150522-scythians-marijuana-bastard-wars-kurgan-archaeology|url-status=dead}}</ref> During the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar, physician Hakim Abul Fath invented the waterpipe in India, and discovered tobacco. Abul suggested that tobacco "smoke should be first passed through a small receptacle of water so that it would be rendered harmless".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Waterpipe Overview – WHO FCTC Secretariat's Knowledge Hub on waterpipes|url=https://untobaccocontrol.org/kh/waterpipes/waterpipe-overview/|access-date=2022-01-15|language=en-US|archive-date=2022-01-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220115112743/https://untobaccocontrol.org/kh/waterpipes/waterpipe-overview/|url-status=usurped}}</ref> Other sources also show evidence of the invention of the waterpipe in China during the late Ming dynasty (16th century), along with tobacco, through Persia and the Silk Road.{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}} By the Qing dynasty, it became the most popular method to smoke tobacco, but became less popular since the Republic era. While typically employed by commoners, the water pipe is known to have been preferred by Empress Dowager Cixi over snuff bottles or other methods of intake. According to the Imperial Household Department, she was buried with at least three water pipes; some of her collections can be seen in the Palace Museum.
The water pipe employed since the Qing dynasty can be divided into two types: the homemade bamboo bong commonly made and used by country people, and a more elegant metal version employed by Chinese merchants, urbanites, and nobility. Metal utensils are typically made out of bronze or brass, the nobility version of silver and decorated with jewels.{{Citation needed|date=February 2026}}
==Use== right|thumb|250px|Diagram of a bong in operation {{Listen|filename=Hitting the bong.ogg|title=Sound of a bong in operation}} The water can trap some heavier particles and water-soluble molecules, preventing them from entering the smoker's airways.<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150323104554/http://premiumbongs.com/bong-information.html |archive-date=March 23, 2015|url=http://www.premiumbongs.com/bong-information.html|title=Marijuana Consumption: Smoking, Eating, And Drinking Marijuana|access-date=March 10, 2016}}</ref> The mechanics of a bong are compared to those of a laboratory gas washing bottle. The user puts their mouth at the top and places the cannabis in the tube, as shown in the picture.
Bongs are often either glass or plastic that use a bowl, stem, and water to produce smoke. Most glass bongs are made from heat resistant borosilicate glass, allowing the bong to withstand repeated use and heat exposure without breaking. After the bowl has been packed and water has been inserted into the bong, the substance is lit and the smoke is drawn through water to produce a smoother smoke than other methods of smoking do.<ref>{{cite book|last=Keliher|first=Evan| title=Grandpa's Marijuana Handbook|year=2003|publisher=Aventine Press|location=Chula Vista, California|isbn=978-1-59330-135-4|edition=2nd|page=37}}</ref> To smoke a bong, the smoker must inhale in the bong so bubbles containing smoke begin to come from the stem. Once the bong has a fair amount of smoke built up, either the carb is uncovered or the stem is separated from the bong, allowing the remaining smoke to be inhaled.
{{multiple image | align = right | direction = vertical | width = 200 | image1 = Sticker art in Sydney - 2025 - b1013.jpg | class1 = | alt1 = | image2 = Sticker art in Sydney - - Care Bears bong - 2025 01.jpg | class2 = | alt2 = | footer = Sticker art in Sydney, 2025 }} [[File:Plastic sports drink bottle bong - image 1 of 2.jpg|thumb|upright|A bong made from a plastic bottle of Gatorade. Sydney, 2022]]
However, a 2000 NORML-MAPS cannabis study found that "water pipes filter out more psychoactive THC than they do other tars, thereby requiring users to smoke more to reach their desired effect".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://maps.org/news-letters/v06n3/06359mj1.html|title=MAPS - Volume 6 Number 3 Summer 1996 -|website=maps.org|access-date=2023-01-27|archive-date=2023-01-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127022847/https://maps.org/news-letters/v06n3/06359mj1.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In the study, smoke from cannabis supplied by the NIDA was drawn through a number of smoking devices and analyzed. This study looked at the tar to cannabinoid ratio in the gas in output by various bongs, as well as unfiltered and filtered joints, and vaporizers. The results showed that only vaporizers produced a better tar to cannabinoid ratio than unfiltered joints, but that within the cannabinoids produced, even vaporizers warped the ratio of THC (the psychoactive component of the smoke) to CBN (capable of producing medical benefits but is not psychoactive) in favor of CBN. This showed an unfiltered joint had the best tar to THC ratio of all, and bongs were actually seriously detrimental in this respect.
MAPS<ref name="ukcia.org">{{cite web |last1=Cozzi |first1=Nicholas V. |title=Effects of water filtration on marijuana smoke: a literature review |url=https://www.ukcia.org/research/EffectsOfWaterFiltrationOnMarijuanaSmoke.php |website=UKCIA |access-date=2020-08-16 |archive-date=2020-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109030714/http://www.ukcia.org/research/EffectsOfWaterFiltrationOnMarijuanaSmoke.php |url-status=live }}</ref> also reviewed a study that examined the effects and composition of water-filtered and non-filtered cannabis and tobacco smoke. It found that when alveolar macrophages were exposed to unfiltered smoke, their ability to fight bacteria was reduced, unlike exposure to water-filtered smoke. It also found substantial epidemiological evidence of a lower incidence of carcinoma among tobacco smokers who used water-pipes, as opposed to cigarettes, cigars, and regular pipes. "It appears that water filtration can be effective in removing components from cannabis smoke that are known toxicants... The effectiveness of toxicant removal is related to the smoke's water contact area."
Specially designed water pipes, incorporating particulate filters and gas-dispersion frits, would likely be most effective in this regard; the gas-dispersion frit serves to break up the smoke into very fine bubbles, thereby increasing its water-contact area.<ref name="ukcia.org"/> These frits are commonly referred to as diffuser for the way that they diffuse (or disperse) the smoke as it exits the downstem, and usually consist of small holes or slats at the end of the downstem. This study suggests that a bong's smoke is less harmful than unfiltered smoke.
===Adverse health effects=== {{see also|Vaping-associated pulmonary injury#Possible causes}}
Bongs that are cleaned regularly eliminates yeast, fungi, bacteria and pathogens that can cause several symptoms that vary from allergy to lung infection.<ref>{{Citation |date=16 July 2018 |title=The Dangers of a Dirty Bong |url=https://www.leafscience.com/2018/07/16/dangers-dirty-bong/ |website=leafscience.com |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-date=21 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521084225/https://www.leafscience.com/2018/07/16/dangers-dirty-bong/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
====Plastic bongs==== A 2011 article in High Times suggested that it is possible to imagine that a process of chemicals leaching into water may occur with a plastic"... homemade water bottle bong where the bottle is routinely heated up."<ref name="plastic April 2022 High Times" >{{Cite news|url=https://hightimes.com/health/dangers-smoking-plastic/|title=The Dangers of Smoking Out of Plastic|date=2014|last=Powell|first=Burgess|work=High Times|access-date=15 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029215323/https://hightimes.com/health/dangers-smoking-plastic/|archive-date=29 October 2021}}</ref> It also reported that "According to Cancer Research UK, plastic bottles heated up to 60°C contain unhealthy levels of toxic chemicals."<ref name="plastic April 2022 High Times" />
==Legal issues== thumb|right|300 px| A variety of bongs for sale, among other merchandise in Manhattan. For legal reasons, the products are labeled as "Tobacco Use Only".
In the United States, under the Federal Drug Paraphernalia Statute, which is part of the Controlled Substances Act, it is illegal to sell, transport through the mail, transport across state lines, import, or export drug paraphernalia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://headshops.us/dea-definition-of-Paraphemalia.html|title=DEA Definition of Paraphernalia - gas mask bong, Squeeze bottle filled with GHB...|website=headshops.us|access-date=2015-11-30|archive-date=2015-12-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208143746/http://headshops.us/dea-definition-of-Paraphemalia.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
In countries where marijuana and hashish are illegal, some retailers specify that bongs are intended for use with tobacco in an attempt to circumvent laws against selling drug paraphernalia. While technically "bong" does not mean a device used for smoking mainly cannabis, drug-related connotations have been formed with the word itself (partly due to punning with Sanskrit ''bhangah'' "hemp"). Thus for fear of the law many head shops will not serve customers who use the word "bong" or "bongs", or any other word typically associated with illegal drug use.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2006-02-16/news/head-games/|title=Phoenix New Times: Head Games|access-date=2010-12-09|archive-date=2011-06-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617080727/http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2006-02-16/news/head-games/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Some brand name bong manufacturers (notably RooR) have sought to curb the counterfeit market for their products by suing stores accused of selling fake merchandise.<ref>{{cite web |last=Spencer |first=Terry |url=http://www.thecannabist.co/2017/01/23/bongs-bogus-lawsuit-counterfeits/71915/ |title=Pipe maker sues: Fake bongs hit world of high-end glass pipes |work=The Cannabist |date=23 January 2017 |publisher=Thecannabist.co |access-date=2017-01-28 |archive-date=2017-01-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170128012449/http://www.thecannabist.co/2017/01/23/bongs-bogus-lawsuit-counterfeits/71915/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
==See also== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *Drug paraphernalia *Hookah *One-hitter (smoking) *Gravity bong *Operation Pipe Dreams *Thuoc lao *Vaporizer (inhalation device) {{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==Further reading== *Erika Dugas, Michèle Tremblay, Nancy C.P. Low, Daniel Cournoyer, Jennifer O'Loughlin: ''Water-Pipe Smoking Among North American Youths'', Pediatrics, Published online May 10, 2010, {{doi|10.1542/peds.2009-2335}} (Full Text free)
==External links== {{Commons category|Bongs}} {{wiktionary|bong}} * [https://patents.google.com/patent/US4216785 Erickson, William V. ''et al.'' Water pipe or bong. US Patent 4,216,785.] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20151130213459/http://amazinguniverse.net/archaeologists-discover-2400-year-old-solid-gold-bongs-used-aryan-kings-smoke-cannabis-ceremonies/ 2400-year-old Scythian bongs excavated]
{{Authority control}}
Category:Cannabis smoking Category:Russian inventions Category:Chinese inventions Category:Australian inventions Category:Drug paraphernalia Category:Drug delivery devices