Same. The best for me was always smoking out of a bong/bubbler. Always hated pipes.
Yeah, whenever I smoke meth, it's out of a bubbler. Smoking meth directly from a pipe feels way more harsh on the lungs. If I smoke meth directly like that for more than a few hits my lungs get irritated and I sometimes end up coughing for a day or two. I think part of it is that the smoke coming out of meth pipe is just too hot, especially after you've been taking a bunch of hits
Smoked out of a bubbler, it feels much less harsh on the lungs, and allows you take much larger hits.
I have bought glass bubblers designed for smoking meth, but I usually make my own, sort of like this one (this is not mine, found this picture on reddit to illustrate my point):
But the ones I make are similar in concept. I'm not a big meth guy, so all my bubblers are meant to be disposable.
I smoke all other stimulants (like cathinones etc) the same way, through water. Some people say it's a wasteful way to smoke, but I'd rather waste some than scortch my lungs. Maybe in somewhere where meth is very expensive (like Australia) smoking directly out of the pipe makes more sense, but in the US, crystal meth had become dirt cheap. Crystal meth is actually now cheaper per gram than high-end dispensary weed. Of course, the meth these days isn't as smooth and euphoric of the meth from a decade ago, but it still definitely quite strong.
The one thing I
don't smoke through water is crack or freebase cocaine. I have tried it but it does seem wasteful, and well-made crack or freebase is so strong that you don't really need to take monster sized hits to get fucked up. I remember smoking some strong crack out of a bubbler and trying to take some giant hits. The effect was so strong that I almost passed out, could barely stand. Felt dangerous.
But again, with respect to smoking this new dirt cheap cartel crystal meth, I honestly think it's better just to eat it. That said, I know people like the process of smoking it, and it brings back memories for me, but this stuff just doesn't have that clean smooth high that old school crystal meth had.