What is the difference between a bong and a hookah?

Not really sure. But I believe a bong usually only has one tube in which to draw smoke from. Whereas a hookah will have several tubes for you and your buddies to all toke at once.

Not all bongs are hookahs, but all hookahs are bongs?

Sure, I guess you could say that.

A hookah doesn’t have to have more than one hose… I don’t know much about smoking (never have, probably never will!) but I do know that. I also know that both bongs and hookahs are kinds of “water pipes” so they’re mechanistically similar, although they both have a distinctive look, making them quite easy to tell apart.

A bong is for single use. It doesn’t usually have a tube and can sometimes be filled with water. There is a slide and usually a hole in the top to suck out of. A Hookah usually has at least six hoses for up to six people to pull from whatever is being smoked at the same time.

Originally, bongs were made from large hollow bamboo stalks. The intent is place enough pot for a full hit in the bowl, , smoke it until it burns out and the ashes go down the bowl into the water. That way there is a minimum of smoke going into the atmosphere, and more efficient delivery into the lungs

A hookah is a type of water pipe from the middle east or north Africa. It was not originally intended for smoking cannabis. It usually has several hoses connected through the water to the bowl, so several smokers can share whatever is being smoked. Sometimes a hookah is called a hubbly-bubbly

All bongs are water pipes, not all water pipes are bongs.
All hookahs are water pipes, not all water pipes are hookahs.

Hookahs are not bongs, nor are bongs hookahs.

(I experienced my first bong in 1968, my first hookah in 1971)

Like @jamielynn2328 I believe a bong can only be used by one person at once, where as a hookah can have quite a few hoses to use at the same time.

And as @Yetanotheruser said, hookahs aren’t usually used to smoke weed, even though you of course can.

Bongs > Hookahs :)

To add what yetanotheruser said, hookahs generally employ the use of a hot coal to vaporize the substance being smoked instead of a straight flame with a bong.

Pictures help tooo.
hookah
bong

I’m getting to this question a bit late, but am pleased to see our resident experts have chimed in quite nicely. So I’ve nothing more to add except: enjoy your smoke and please pass whatever the hell you are smoking it out of, and please do refill it first! See ya….Gary/wtf

@deni “Bongs > Hookahs :)”
hookahs are great for that sense of “community!”

Hookahs have a hose or hoses.

@Yetanotheruser They are, you a right! But I personally just don’t prefer them. Anytime I’ve ever used one it just seems like it was always tipping over or it took 5 hours to get ready. lol

@deni you guys just fail at hookah use :P

And on a legal level, you are allowed to purchase and smoke hookahs anywhere where tobacco is allowed. A bong is not allowed anywhere if its referred to as a bong. Although if you hold the bong and refer to it as a waterpipe and use it for tobacco, then that is legal.

Although in California, some headshops are now getting brave and calling what they sell “bongs” again for the first time in 20 years, ostensibly for medical uses.

Bong – single user experience
Hookah – group experience

@uberbatman That is because of the level of technology when each became popular. The bong came into general use in late 1960’s early 1970’s, when such things as butane powered lighters could provide a long strong flame.

3500 years ago, when the hookah is reputed to have been born, the most accessible form of sufficient heat to burn the smoking mixture was a hot coal.

i dont get why everyone keeps saying a bong is a single user experience… Do you guys not blaze with all your friends or something? I’ve also smoked many a hookahs at hookah bars with only 1 hose and you just passed that around. I think theyre both group activities.

@uberbatman….I think what they mean is the bong is a one-hit-and-your-done-and-ready-for-a-reload type deal and not a one user experience. Typical bongs are a one hit at a time process (stale smoke from incomplete hits is nasty, but proper clearing of the chamber mitigates this problem). See ya….Gary/wtf

@uberbatman What I meant was only one person can smoke out of a bong at any given moment, but multiple people can smoke out of a hookah at the same time.

@whatthefluther Gary, I would agree with you in classifying the bong as a one-hit-wonder.

sings to the tune of “Don’t Bogart That Joint”)
“Looooooooooooooooooad another one…
Just like the other one,
That small bowl is where you put it,
And it only holds one hit!

Don’t bogart that bong, my friend,
Pass it over to me!

@essieness ive made bongs fit for 5 :P

@uberbatman Can I come over?

@essieness if you bring the ganja, anytime :P

@essieness….Pick me up on your way. I’ve got a couple of local specimens that will add some nice variety to @uberbatman ‘s east coast delights. See ya soon….Gary/wtf

The real technical difference is what @El_Cadejo mentions, the hookah is a vape machine while the bong is a smoke machine.
The biggest benefit of vaping vs smoking is elimination of the products of combustion.. i.e. smoke while efficiently producing the good stuff that you do want to inhale.