How does a water pipe work? A water pipe is essentially a bong. Water pipes are any smoking device that uses water as a filtration system by drawing smoke through the water to cool it. If you\’ve ever heard of any of these terms, bongs, bubblers, gravity bongs, pipes bong, water pipes for weed or tobacco, clay bong, water tobacco pipe, liquid filled glass pipes, or water hand pipe, then you\’ve heard of a water pipe! So now you can go let all your friends know that you got the facts and can clarify.