Bongs for Herbal Highs
A water pipe, or bong as it’s also known, is a device used for smoking substances such as tobacco or legal herbs. The design of a bong is based on the hookah, which is also commonly known as a water pipe.
The bong has been used for centuries in South East Asia, mainly by the Hmong in Laos and the natives in Thailand. The word itself stems from the Thai word ‘baung,’ which refers to a wooden tube or pipe that is made from bamboo and cut into a cylindrical shape. ‘Marijuana Review’ first used the word ‘bong’ in Western literature in 1971.
The water in a bong is used to cool the smoke and prevent it from burning the mouth and lungs of the smoker. It is also claimed that smoking this way is safer, as the water traps some of the heavier particles in the smoke as well as preventing the water-soluble molecules from being inhaled. This system of filtration is compared to a gas bottle-washer used in laboratories.
Bongs come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Often, they are sold as a device for smoking legal herbs. A variety of studies on the use of water pipes and normal rolled cigarettes have been undertaken. These studies were carried out to determine if the use of bongs has health benefits over normal smoking methods. According to the results of several of these studies, having the smoke filtered by water before inhalation is a healthier form of smoking and can be an effective way to remove certain dangerous chemicals and molecules from the smoke, these would otherwise remain in normal cigarette or pipe smoke.