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Cannabis was smoked in water pipes in eastern and southern Africa before the introduction of tobacco
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 There is still much disagreement about whether the custom [of smoking] evolved only once or whether it has been independently invented more than once. 
- John Edward Phillips

Part I. Which Came First, Tobacco or the Bong?

Archaeologists dig up prehistoric hunting tools, vessels, and other remnants of our past. They put them in protective cases for museum exhibitions and devote whole careers to understanding their contributions to our evolution. Similarly, discoveries of ancient marijuana tools showcase a rich history of our ancestral relationship with the plant. The water pipe, for example, is one of the oldest devices in human cannabis use. Its unique--and often debated--origin story tells us about past civilizations and early innovation.

While eating cannabis, hemp fiber use, and incense inhalation can be traced back to dozens of ancient cultures throughout Asia and the Middle East, historians first linked the smoking of marijuana to the discovery of the New World. They assumed explorers adopted the tobacco smoking habit from First Nation’s people and traders brought it back from the Americas where it spread to include smoking cannabis and other herbs.

However, whether marijuana smoking is a byproduct of tobacco is a point of contention.  

“There is still much disagreement about whether the custom [of smoking] evolved only once or whether it has been independently invented more than once. In either case, time and routes of its spread are also in dispute,” wrote John Edward Philips.

Misconception is also common among people of the modern trade. Russell, an Assistant Manager at a Vancouver headship, says he’s read a lot about early cultivation practices and has found several conflicting accounts of water pipe history. “At first, I thought First Nations people showed settlers how to smoke tobacco or other herbs and then they spread the knowledge,” he says. “Or, the bong came from the Narghile in Arabic culture. Really, I don’t know. The story intersects in a lot of places!”

Pipes, specifically water pipes, unearthed in Africa have helped historians predate cannabis smoking to tobacco. Through the study of pipe styles, which vary through the ages, and radiocarbon dating, the pipes believe to have been used as far back as the 13th century. This is significantly earlier than the journey to the New World.

“The most likely hypothesis is that cannabis was smoked in water pipes in eastern and southern Africa before the introduction of tobacco,” asserts Philips.

He goes on to say that there were two main styles of pipes discovered throughout African excavation sites. One for tobacco use and the other for cannabis. The cannabis pipes were almost always water pipes or earth pipes, which were temporarily dug or molded from the ground.

Nikolaas van der Merwe discusses the appearance of some of these antique bongs, "…bowls formed the part of water pipes; an aperture at the bottom of the bowl allows for the attachment of a vertical stem, which presumably descended into a water container…there is great variety of form, and much ingenuity is shown in adapting local materials such as horns, earthenware, gourds, and bamboo for the construction."

Further, J.E. Philips believes that it became popular through “…the same [Arabic] trade routes as those that carried coffee, which originated in the highlands of Ethiopia.”

Thus, smoking cannabis out of water pipes would not have come from the Narghile, which is (and was) an instrument used only for tobacco because cannabis smoking predates Columbus landing in the Americas.

Coming Soon:

Part II. From Gourd to Glass

Part III. Glass Artistry

Part IV. Gravity Bongs, Dosage, and Whatever Else