# Is a bong\\water pipe "safer" ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 31, 1999, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736 "1999-12-31T08:10:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bakka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@bakka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bakka)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 1999, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736/1 "1999-12-31T08:10:00Z")
Does smoking pot through a bong\water pipe significantly reduce the tar and other nasty stuff in the smoke ? ---
**Author:** ![PitBullDawg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@PitBullDawg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PitBullDawg)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 1999, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736/2 "1999-12-31T10:22:00Z")
The purpose of water in a bong isn’t a filter but to cool the smoke down. Although it does obviously filter out some of the resin as can be seen by the fact that the water gets dark over a period of time. Marijuana however does not contain tar. That would be cigarettes. As a matter of fact the limited studies that have been done show that smoking pot does not cause things that cigarettes do (i.e. lung cancer etc.) Marijauna doesn’t contain nicotine or tars or the other nasty things that cigarettes contain. However I suppose smoking joints could contain other thingfs simply because of the paper. * * * The ever insensitive, politically incorrect PitBullDawg. Political correctness is a disease. Cure it with the truth. ---
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2000, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736/3 "2000-01-01T06:02:00Z")
THe cooling effect makes it possible to inhale a much larger amount of whatever one is smoking (yes, in some countries, mainly the middle east, tobacco is used). Followed by one coughing his or her brains out. I feel the net effect is that a waterpipe becomes much worse. ---
**Author:** ![aenea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@aenea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aenea)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 1999, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736/4 "1999-12-31T20:03:00Z")
May I ask…what about the resin that is collected in the water, on the paper, in the pipe? It looks and feels oily and tar-ish. People I know have told me that that stuff is equal to tar, and causes lung problems. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 1999, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736/5 "1999-12-31T22:59:00Z")
A small caution from an old toker; Clean your bong often, esp. if sharing. Some pretty nasty stuff can grow in that warm, moist environment. Besides, a fresh pipe is much more pleasant to use. Umph, umph, 'eere. Peace, mangeorge * * * Work like you don’t need the money… Love like you’ve never been hurt… Dance like nobody’s watching! …(Paraphrased) ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2000, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736/6 "2000-01-01T03:18:00Z")
The resin IS tar. Tar is any dark, viscid byproduct from the destructive distillation of certain organic materials. This also applies to the sticky stuff left from burning tobacco or marijuana. Marijuana resin is no better for your lungs than tar from ciggarettes (Granted, most people who smoke marijuana dont smoke as much as those who smoke cigarettes). ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2000, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736/7 "2000-01-01T03:26:00Z")
Just read in the paper this week that pot smokers have a HIGHER incidence of lung and other cancers than even tobacco smokers. Who knew? your humble TubaDiva don’t be drinking that bong water, now! ---
**Author:** ![zuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9c0ed/32.png) [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2000, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736/8 "2000-01-01T10:55:00Z")
where did you hear that, tubadiva? I don’t buy it. I’d grant that perhaps marijuana could contain just and much, if not more, nasty stuff than cigarettes, I think the big variable is quantity. Nobody smokes a daily equivalent of a pack of cigarettes. Even the most hardcore potheads i’ve known might smoke 2-3 cigarettes worth of marijuana per day. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2000, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736/9 "2000-01-01T19:10:00Z")
It’s the people that smoke pot \* and \* cigarettes that have the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecccb3/32.png) [@Lord\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2000, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736/10 "2000-01-02T02:53:00Z")
My guess, not being a pot smoker, is that you inhale much deeper and hold it much longer, allowing whatever is in it to reach deeper in your lung. Since, normally, our breath is rather shallow (as most of us are, … no, wait, that’s something else) and cigarette smoke, also, is not taken very deeply, it’s possibly not “how much” but instead “where”. Since the deeper parts of the lungs don’t get much of a chance to rid itself of whatever is hanging around in there, it seems like it could have a lot more effect. I really don’t know much, just seemed like a good possiblity. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2000, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736/11 "2000-01-02T03:15:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Umph, umph, 'eere. --Mangeorge \< snork! \> Ah yes, the mating call of the _cannibis inhalerus_! * * * **StoryTyler** “Not everybody does it, but everybody should.” [I Spy Ty.](http://sites.netscape.net/storytyler/homepage) ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2000, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736/12 "2000-01-03T06:01:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Even the most hardcore potheads i’ve known might smoke 2-3 cigarettes worth of marijuana per day. Obviously, you don’t know any real hardcore potheads. Hardcore potheads would have smoked that much before lunch. And the tar from smoking a joint IS worse then the tar from a cigarette, mainly because most cigarettes are filtered and most joints are not. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2000, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736/13 "2000-01-03T06:27:00Z")
And, as pointed out earlier, pot smokers inhale it deeper and hold it. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2000, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736/14 "2000-01-03T06:52:00Z")
## “\< snork! \> Ah yes, the mating call of the cannibis inhalerus!” —StoryTyler And a pretty effective call it is. 🙂 * * * ## “Hardcore potheads would have smoked that much before lunch.” —voltaire 2-3 joints before _lunch_? Let’s not get carried away here, voltaire. Remember, lunch is often a potheads 1st meal of the day. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2000, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736/15 "2000-01-02T21:11:00Z")
While I don’t disagree that the primary reason for the use of waterpipes and bongs is to cool the smoke, there is a small benefit to passing smoke through water. THC is an oil-based molecule, and therefore less likely to get caught in the water. The greater part of pot smoke is, however, other byproducts of combustion. Some of them are water solubule, and some of those do get trapped in the water. So overall, a potsmoker is inhaling slightly less unwanted particulate matter. However, since the potsmoker is inhaling less energetic smoke, _all_ of the particles in the smoke are more likely to condense in the lungs, not just the THC. Some of those will be bad chemicals that failed to be trapped by the water. But it is a lower percentage of bad shit by volume. And since people are mostly water themselves, that might be a slightly better thing. ---
**Author:** ![Uliginous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ed655f/32.png) [@Uliginous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uliginous)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2000, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bong-water-pipe-safer/5736/16 "2000-01-03T00:39:00Z")
> [@](#): > > 2-3 joints before lunch? Let’s not get carried away here, voltaire. Remember, lunch is often a potheads 1st meal of the day Yeah, and don’t ya have to go to work sometime, too? How else do you support a ‘hardcore’ pot habit with prices as high as $100 per 1/4oz for quality smoke? If you smoked that much before lunch on any kind of regular basis you’d be running a $1000.00 per month (or more) Mari-juan-i-ckah habit. Feh.