Smoking hash in a tobacco joint is not particularly wasteful, it is less efficient than a pipe though. Tobacco joints are also harmful to your health, of course, and not to everyone's taste. Chillums are also nice but they have the same drawbacks as joints.
Vapourising, either with a vape or hot knives, is efficient, tasty and healthy. Bongs also work well, although very pure hash might melt and flow through the screen.
However, if you're getting real decent piece, my favourite method other than a joint is captured side-stream smoking: poke a drawing pin (thumb tack) through a beer mat or some other card or paper base, roll a sausage of hash out, and stick it on the pin. Then, light one end of the sausage until it holds an ember. Cover the whole thing with an inverted glass, wait for it to fill, then lift the glass slightly and suck the smoke from it. Replace the glass and repeat until the sausage is burned. You can't leave it too long or the smoke will go stale. This method is efficient, and also very good if you want to examine the quality of your hash; the flavour is pure, and the ash is preserved to be observed for colour and consistency.
If your hash is so pure that it melts and runs down the pin, the best method is to place some ash on top of the gauze in a bowl and smoke the hash off that. The ash acts as an inert substrate.
