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A warning for older bong smokers

bit_pattern

bit_pattern

Ex-Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 17, 2008
Messages
8,127
Just got off the phone to a mate of mine, he's thirty, been smoking bongs for 15 years or so and was admitted into hospital a few days ago with a collapsed lung. Apparently, smoking cig's put little lesions all over his lungs then when he was pulling a bong one popped, so then instead of air filling his lungs it all leaked out into his chest cavity. Now he has to have surgery that if complicated and doesn't work will leave him in excruciating pain for the rest of his life. The doctors and nurses said it was a common thing with 30+ year old bong smokers. So just keep that in mind next time you ponder giving up bongs and/or investing in a vaporiser :\
 
Sorry to hear that about your friend!

This sort of thing is likely to happen to me in 10-20 years but you can't live your life in cotton wool can ya, I mean it sucks what happened to your friend but I don't think anyone can act surprised when they get lung complications from long term regular inhalation of smoke.

A friend of a friend had the exact same thing happen about two years ago, he was only 22 though!! Smoking really is unhealthy shit, too bad it is so enjoyable.
 
Sorry to hear that B_P

I know many older bong smokers who have experienced such complications

Smoking anything is extremely bad for your lungs

I have a 26 year old mate who has early stage emphysema due to crack, meth and bongs

I have taken better care of my lungs in recent years but I would still hate to know what condition they are in :\

If only smoking didn't feel so darn good!
 
Yeah I'd hate to know what mine are like too. Still, a timely reminder in the interests of harm minimisation ;)
 
It's called a pneumothorax, the analogy I was offered was your hand is your lung and you put a glove over it and air gets trapped in the space (pleural cavity) between your hand and the glove.

I've had two of them and one was due to smoking a bong one night, three days later my lung collapsed 70% and 80% four months later, the doctor later noted numerous blebs (blisters) on my lungs which I assume are like lesions. Without treatment a severe pneumothorax will literally have you thinking there is a butcher's knife in your back, I went to the doctor and he advised me to get some Nurofen Plus instead I asked for a chest X-ray which was a great idea =D.

The first operation you generally receive is a chest drain whereby a tube is inserted directly into your lung (with local anesthetic, quite daunting while your awake being opened up from your side) which drains fluid from your lung. The lung then inflates itself.

The second operation is usually performed if your lung collapses again and will continue to collapse in the future. It's called a pleurodesis, their are two options: mechanical and chemical. Chemical involves a talcum powder slurry which glues your lung to your back, or mechanical which involves stapling your lung. Coming out of that I was in pain for days, I couldn't walk or anything or breathe without feeling like I was being stabbed.

The moral of the story use a vaporiser :)
 
But vaporisers just ain't the same are they? I am yet to try one because I don't have the money but I gotta say, I enjoy my current ROA (bongs) immensely and don't see a vape swaying me too much.

Sorry to hear about your lungs Jordan! That would of been fucking nasty! Probably going to happen to me one day, my lungs are in BAD shape, chronic cigarette and bong smoking combined with a sedentary lifestyle and a cunt of a cough that wont piss off all add together to make me very unfit cardiovascularly.
 
Yeh sorry to hear that B_P ... hope it all goes well for him.

To me it's the ciggies that are doing the real damage , I can really notice it these days I reckion my lung capacity is a 10th of what it used to be. :|
I'm similar age to your mate and been smoking bongs daily for over 15 years also , I don't smoke as many bongs as I used to but I'm damn sure to make sure nothing Clogs up and well gone are the days of smoking massive tightly packed romper cones (for me). I always just thought it logic that pressuring your lungs like that tryin to suck thru a stomper , with tiny conepeice hole , and so much smoke in one breath was going to be detrimental , I still know 50 years olds who smoke like that tho lol. I found a bit of moderation was the key to truly enjoying these things. :)

Always has been a massive bong smoking culture In Oz in my experience and especially around the place I grew up ... I have known 3 young mates who wrecked their lungs at young ages , ciggies yes , but supposedly from pulling fat cones for these 3 (1 wasn't a bacco smoker actually , good mate of mine) ...
Anyhoo ... ages were 15 (same ages as me at the time , he suffered collapsed lung and had tubes for months etc)
13 (he'd been choofing since about 10 ... collapsed lung , long hospital stay and hadto stop bongs for many years)
and 17 (didn't smoke cigs , he also had a ruptured lung right after pulling a billy , he's ok now and still smokes bongs as with the other 2 , smaller cones.)
So yeh , very young ages , and attributed to bongs yes ... but ludicrously oversized amounts and 50 cones a day type mentality ;) some won't be as lucky as others I suppose ... yet there are 1000's more who do the same and never suffer a problem even into later life.

On the other side of the spectrum ... I have two good old mates in their early sixties who smoke bongs every day for decades and although one suffers from a broken back and re-occuring cancer , he's pretty good 8) the other seems in very good health (both smoke ciggies but not many if there is pot).
And I know personally countless others in their 50's and 40's who smoke bongs every day and sometimes all day ... most of which seem healthier than me at my age. So although it's certainly something to pay attention too ... I think It's a relatively rare occurence ... and I bet noone really expects it will happen to them until it does.

I think Bongs are an excellent method for smoking Cannabis ... but safe practises like clean water , using glass not "Orchy" or choco milk bottles heheh , packing the cones lightly and slightly smaller and making sure the conepeice is always well unclogged are the basics I reckon. A small bit of maintanence can go a long way to provide better , cleaner and more efficient highs ... along with preserving the precious lungs in order to smoke the Good herb for many years to come. =D ... and on that note ...

Cheers.
 
Yer it was pretty bad, prevented me from traveling for a year or two, other than that I can never work in a mine, or go scuba diving. Considering I'm an engineer then it was life changing but what can you do.

I had a little glass tube vaporiser which is alright for little hits but not for sessions unfortunately, a big one does set you back unfortunately and a lot smoother, but some people do like the smoke including me =D
 
drug_mentor said:
But vaporisers just ain't the same are they?
Click to expand...

No, you're right... They're better! :D Admittedly, it took quitting tobacco to realise it, I owned a volcano for over a year and only used it as a novelty because I just preferred punching a cone to either smoking a cig or having a vap, but as soon as I gave up tobacco I realsied how good they are, once you're not chasing the tobacco buzz. I found that 1/4 that would normally last 2-3 days was now lasting a week. They are amazingly efficient and get you so toasted it isn't funny. The only time I'd smoke over vaporising is if the weed isn't very good quality because it and you need o really break down the cells in the plant material to get the THC out of them. Otherwise I vap then the left over plant material I eat.

But, each to his own, maybe you'll change your ROA when it is your lung collapsing :\
 
Maybe I will haha, unlikely though! I would probably just quit weed if I couldn't smoke it. I should probably try some other ROA's before writing them off, I am definately open to trying them but when you don't buy huge quantities of bud and they have to last you never really have the motivation to take a gamble on such things, I don't anyway.

For whatever reason I have always loved smoking bud, part of the enjoyment of the drug for me is consumption of it and for this reason I don't believe I ever would/could fully convert from smoking.

A friend of mine often encourages me to purchase a vaporiser because of lung/health issues I have but honestly, I just don't have the cash. If they were as cost effective as a small billy I probably would fork out just so I had the healthier option, no way am I forking out like 100 bucks for a thing I will be surprised if I used for anything other than the novelty.
 
well i'm glad it was garbage night last night and the bong went in the bin then. I'm sure i've had a few close calls with excessive bong use over the years. These days it brings on asthmatic conditions which causes me to expectorate excessively, which causes me heartburn. Sadly, it's only when these symptoms appear that I can engage my brain to disengage the bong.

back to the vaporiser. and no - it's not the same. i'm also convinced it is better tho - but like a felafel kebab: hard to get enthused about, there being no meat, but extremely enjoyable nonetheless.
 
I know the friend of a friend this happened to smoked cigarettes and spun his weed. Really, I would guess the majority spin or atleast smoke cigarettes. It is a given the more smoke you inhale the more likely this kind of shit is to happen to you. I would wage smoking of other substances like meth and crack could probably contribute to this sort of thing too.
 
Sorry to hear about your mate bro =(

Jordan` said:
It's called a pneumothorax
Click to expand...

Jordan is correct but I should elaborate.
Pneumothorax is a collapsed lung, not neccesarily one caused by Smoking bongs.
It can also cause from

scuba diving, sky diving, smoking marijuana or cigarettes, high altitude hiking, and flying... So pretty much anything that puts on a strain to the lungs.

Personally I think there would be little difference of which is more likely to cause this out of Tobacco and Marijuana or Spinning. Because whilst tobacco is more likely to cause cancer, maijuana still puts a similar strain on the lungs.

Also, Tall and thin people are more likely to get a collapsed lung (rocks to be me, short and tough) =D

Lung diseases such as COPD, asthma, cystic fibrosis, tuberculosis, and whooping cough also increase your risk for a collapsed lung.

I'm just wondering did your friend have any of these other contributing factors. But I have no doubt that the smoking definately did that extra bit.

If you have a collapsed lung, you are more likely to have another one in the future if you:

* Are tall and thin
* Continue to smoke
* Have had two collapsed lungs in the past


For this reason I encourage you to make sure your friend tries to quit smoking afterwards, what happens during the surgery is they try to fix the whole up and make it scar over, as a result the scar tissue is weaker then normal lung tissue and therefore more likely to re-open if under stress.

It may suck for him to have to go without smoking, but I guarentee you it would suck more to be doing the same surgery to the same patient who didn't follow some simple instructions.
 
Holy shit ...

I have never been a smoker ..as in ciggys

except smoking weed and tobacco thru a bong ...

I am 34 and not had problems but have seeen friends who smoke 10-15 cigs a day and also smoke ice on the weekends with breathing problems ...

smoking anything is bad for you but smoking something . and to have collapsed lung ... that is crazy ... 8o

I have been interested in vaps and I think this might be for me ...because you said it was a common thing with 30+ year old bong smokers.

so the pressure from inhaling in bong use puts alot of strain on the lungs ... I never knew it could be this bad ...
 
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^ I dunno man, like smoking meth is definately bad for you but at the same time meth is relatively pure compared to tobacco or weed, as in a higher % of the smoke or vapour you inhale has the stuff you want. Also, as you are vaporising a (hopefully but not likely unless you pay our your arse) quite pure product and heating it carefully there would probably be much less carcinogens created as by-products.

That is pure speculation by me, I am probably not the best example since smoking has been a favoured ROA for me with many drugs but I have a close friend who smokes meth regularly. Her lungs are in WAY better shape than mine as a cigarette and bong smoker, I don't doubt the ice isn't doing her lungs any good but I imagine that more refined drugs like that do less damage than smoking dried plant matter.
 
holy shit! way to scare the crap outta me, bluelight :\
probably for the best in the long run though, might have to invest in a vape some time soon :)
 
Maybe scare campaigning does work after all hahaha

At least this scare tactic has solid truths behind it, not made up bullshit

Vapo's all the way

No bong has got me nearly as high as a single decent breath from a vaporizer
 
Psilo that last statment is a very bold one indeed! I certainly hope it is accurate when I eventualyl get around to using one, but I would be a liar if I claimed I wasn't a skeptic at this stage.
 
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