
[Imitative.]

[Thai baung.]
As if they did not have satisfaction enough from home-grown hallucinogenics like jimsonweed (named for Jamestown, Virginia) and cannabis, speakers of English have turned for inspiration to Asia. In the nineteenth century the English fought wars to keep China open to opium. In the twentieth, marijuana users enhanced their experience with a device from Thailand known as the bong.
For those who missed the psychedelic trips of the 1960s and 1970s and who just say No nowadays, bong may need explanation. It is a water pipe designed to cool the smoke from a substance (like marijuana) burned in a bowl by routing the stem through a vertical tube or bottle partly filled with water or other liquid. The word is a recent import to English, noted in dictionaries only as far back as 1971.
Bong comes from Thai, the most widely spoken of the languages in the Tai-Kadai language family. It has about twenty-five million speakers in Thailand, where it is the national language. One other word from the Thai or Siamese language is the word Siamese itself. It designates a blue-eyed breed of cat from Thailand, mentioned in English as early as 1871, and a bright-colored tropical fish known as a Siamese fighter, mentioned as early as 1929. But the most famous phrase using this name is Siamese twins (1829). The first Siamese twins were really twins from Siam (now Thailand): Chang and Eng, who lived from 1811 to 1872 and traveled for many years as prime exhibits in P. T. Barnum's circus. Now that term is used for any twins who are born with their bodies joined.

A bong (also water pipe,"popper bottle", bubbler, moof, bewg) is a filtration device/apparatus generally used for smoking cannabis, tobacco, or other herbal substances.[1][2]
In construction and function a bong is similar to a hookah, except smaller and more portable. A bong may be constructed from any air- and water-tight vessel by adding a bowl and stem apparatus (or slide)[3] 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 "carburator", "carb", "choke", "bink", "rush" "shotty" 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 drawn into the respiratory system.
The word bong is an adaptation of the Thai word baung (Thai: บ้อง [bɔːŋ]), which refers to[need tone][4] 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 by the Hmong, in Laos and Thailand, and all over Africa for centuries.[5] 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.
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The use of a water pipe for smoking was introduced in China during the late Ming Dynasty (16th century), along with tobacco,[6] through Persia and the Silk Road. 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. Typically, the metal version is made out of the following components:
During a smoking session, the user may keep all equipment inside the rack and just hold the entire assembly (rack, pipe, and container) in one hand, lighting the bowl with a slow-burning paper wick (纸煤) lit over a coal stove. Unlike in North America, the water pipe is typically employed by older generations. [7]
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The water can trap some heavier particles and water-soluble molecules, preventing them from entering the smoker's airways.[8] The mechanics of a bong are compared to those of a laboratory gas washing bottle. People put their mouths at the top and out the drug 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. 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.[9] 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, the stem is separated from the bong and the remaining smoke will go into the smoker's lungs.
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".[10] 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 outputted 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[11] 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."[11] These frits are commonly referred to as "diffusers" 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.
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.[12]
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 marijuana, 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".[13]
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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Dansk (Danish)
1.
n. - rungende klokkeslag
v. tr. - ringe med rungende klokkeslag
v. intr. - runge, afgive rungende klokkeslag
2.
n. - hashpibe
3.
n. - vandpibe, huka
Nederlands (Dutch)
dong, hasjpijp, (op gong) slaan, luiden
Français (French)
1.
n. - carillon (d'une cloche), tintement
v. tr. - tinter
v. intr. - tinter
2.
n. - calumet (pour fumer le cannabis, etc)
3.
n. - gros piton (pour l'escalade)
Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Glockenton
v. - (Glocke) tönen
2.
n. - Huka, Wasserpfeife zum Rauchen von Drogen
3.
n. - Felshacken
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ντινγκ-ντονγκ της καμπάνας, καρφί ορειβασίας, πίπα καπνίσματος μαριχουάνας
v. - χτυπώ, κάνω ντινγκ-ντονγκ
Italiano (Italian)
pipa ad acqua
Português (Portuguese)
n. - som (m) profundo (como o do sino)
v. - soar
Русский (Russian)
трубка для курения наркотиков, звук колокола
Español (Spanish)
1.
n. - tañido
v. tr. - tañer, repicar
v. intr. - tañer
2.
n. - pipa para fumar drogas
3.
n. - tan, talán, (alpinismo) pitón, (alpinismo) pico
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - klockton
v. - ringa
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
1. 发当当声宣布, 发当当声
2. 当当声
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
1.
n. - 噹噹聲
2.
n. - 噹噹聲;洪亮的鐘聲;大麻葉煙槍, 噹噹聲
v. tr. - 發當當聲宣佈
v. intr. - 發當當聲
한국어 (Korean)
1.
n. - 둥하는 소리
v. tr. - 둥하는 소리가 울리다
v. intr. - 둥하는 소리가 울리다
2.
n. - 물 파이프
3.
n. - (등산용의) 큰 쐐기 못
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ゴーンという音, ボーン, マリファナ用水パイプ, 水パイプ
v. - ゴーンと鳴る
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) صوت مدوي كصوت الناقوس, (فعل) يحدث صوتا مدويا
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - צליל של פעמון גדול
v. tr. - צלצל (בפעמון)
v. intr. - פעם (פעמון)
n. - סוג של נרגילה לעישון סמים
n. - יתד גדולה הננעצת בסלע או בנקיק כדי לתמוך במטפס בחבל
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