Hey everyone... I have been smoking about 1 or 2 times a day for about a year now, and I usually smoke out of a water bottle flow, with the socket on the top and the hole on the bottom. Is this way of smoking detrimental to my health? I have seen different answers such as, yes it is very unhealthy, and no it is not unhealthy because you aren't actually melting the metal socket or anything.... So is smoking from a water bottle flow really THAT bad for me?
This comes up every few days Keep in mind that even most of the plastic bongs and metal bowls/stems sold on the market are not healthy and do slowly release toxins, but at least many of them have been 'made for' long term use and hopefully with better plastics.. I still wouldn't touch them myself, personally. Even with some common plastic juice and soda bottles, even those which still qualify for specific numeric ratings, have often had carcinogenic stabilizers added to them. What's worse, there are dozens of conflicting reports and studies arguing, sometimes quite convincingly, why some plastics are 'safe' or safer than others... it's just hard to know even what you're getting, and then what the consequences really are, especially in the long-term where those such studies are minimal to non-existent, at best. It's why so many people empty all their groceries from their original packaging and bags, directly into glass jars, glass pitchers, and 'safer' plastics (which they retire and replace regularly) as soon as they get home. Right now, we don't even know the full extent of the damage all these products are doing to us.. many of them weren't very common-place, or did not exist at all, when our parents and grandparents were kids. We already have evidence piling up, and we haven't even really hit the 'golden years' of heavy plastic-use yet. We, and our children, are the unfortunate guinea pigs.. and while it could be for a number of reasons, plastics or not, it's not all that comforting to know that for the first time ever, as a species our lifespans are decreasing rather than increasing. With that in mind, when I'm fortunate enough to have the ability control my exposure to something that could potentially be toxic, or cause life-threatening conditions in the future, I tend to avoid that exposure. We don't always have control over what elements we're exposed to, I say we should take the chance to limit harm when it's offered. The below older post (plus a little help from your old pal Google) should help you understand the material you're inhaling; Terms to google.. 'hormone, hormonal, (1 Polyethylene terephthalate) PET or PETE, (2 High density polyethylene) HDPE, (3 Polyvinyl chloride) V or PVC, (4 Low-density polyethylene) LDPE, (5 Polypropylene) PP, (6 Polystyrene) PS, biphenyl-A, Butadiene, Benzene, DEHP'.... this should get you going. A few articles on one of the 'safer' and more common soda bottle plastics (PET/1)... PET (#1) Plastic May Leach Endocrine Disruptors | The Soft Landing Is PET Toxic or Not? - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com Long story short, plastic bottles of most if not all grades have been proven or found in many cases to be toxic, mutagenic/carcinogenic/hormone-tampering and unhealthy, and the risks increase the longer you re-use a plastic container. I know we all feel invincible when we're young, and we feel that if something does kill us instantly or right away, then it mustn't be deadly, or harmful... But when your quality of life begins to nose-dive into your 30's, 40's, 60's and so on, and you find yourself losing hair in some places and growing in others, you find your reproductive system doesn't work or the only sensation it provides you is pain, if your are lungs collapsing, or your joints are grinding down to a mush, you'll regret those earlier days of challenging your 'invincibility'. I've said it before, and I'll say it again... If you can afford your stash, then you can afford the 'one-time' cost for a healthier, safer (and to top it off, a more stylish) way to put it to use.