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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. The construction of a bong and its principle of action is similar to that of the hookah, which is also called "water pipe." A bong may be constructed from any air- and water-tight vessel by adding a bowl and stem apparatus (a slide). The word bong is an adaptation of the Thai word baung (Template:Lang-th /bɔːŋ/), 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 the West is 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.

Operation

bong-used to smoke weed!!!

Legality

Bongs are classified as drug paraphernalia by the American Federal Drug Enforcement Administration, because they allege that bongs are designed to use marijuana products. Bongs are often sold in head shops and on Internet, drug paraphernalia stores. 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 such as bongs. There is no Federal law regarding simple possession of drug paraphernalia, but such possession is usually illegal under State laws.

In countries where marijuana and hashish is 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 marijuana, drug-related connotations have been formed with the word itself. Due to these connotations, some head shops will not serve customers who use the word "bong".

See also

• Water pipe percolator
• Operation Pipe Dreams
• Drug paraphernalia

References

1. "Office of National Drug Control Policy".
2. "Contraband: The Sale of Regulated Goods on the Internet".
3. Can a human skull be used as a bong?, retrieved 12 May 2008
4. "Thai dictionary entry for baawng".
5. The text read: Many thanks to Scott Bennett for the beautiful special bong he made for my pipe collection. Text cited in bong, n.3 The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 20 April 2006 http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50024920
6. "Pheonix New Times: Head Games".

External links

• US Patent number:, Water pipe or bong William V. Erickson et al

• Drug paraphernalia
• Cannabis smoking