Theres nothing to enlighten you about. You're aware of the comment you made, you said it yourself. "stripped down of all its components" Yes, when you disregard all of the labor intesive processes that go into making a bong, you can say "its a piece of glass with a whole in it" Now, when you DONT disregard everything else that goes into making a bong, you can see how silly that comment is. Would you describe the image below as a vase with a hole in it? No you wouldn't, that would be silly wouldn't it? But your piece that you have, yes, you can describe that as a vase with a hole in it.
well, i knew there were some pretty extravagant peices. I would never say that about a piece like that. I never meant to question the workmanship that goes into one either. I was just simply making a connection between the similarities of a bong and a vase. and again, i'm not referring to anything complex. just a simple everyday run-of-the-mill bong. and besides there are some pretty crazy vases out there too. you seem as if calling it a vase would be an insult. i'm sure there's just as much effort into making an expensive vase just as making a bong. seems like the method would just about be the same except for the hole and the glass thickness.
yep...OP, it's a vase from Wallymart that someone, lets say, YOUR BUDDY, drilled a hole in...it was never a bong until he drilled the hole and conned you into buying it. solutions for this sad event... buy a bottle of wine or Wild Turkey (something that uses REAL cork stoppers) and drill a hole in it, buy a GoG stem/bowl set on line. btw: don't drink the bottles contents until after you finish the rest of the task below...hard to do drunk... with care, and food grade glycerine as lube, insert the stem to fit as desired in the VASE. Wash and soak the new stem part multiple times to get rid of the glycerine. use bong, be happy, learn lesson, never buy drilled glass vases as bongs.