with bongs, the smoke gows through some water, and you will here a destinctive dubble sound, pipes bring smoke into your body without it going through anthing besides the chamber, but do not get pipes or bongs confused with bublers, hammers, and sidecars, they are completely different things. Pipes can look way different,and I would recomend going to everyonedoesit.com and looking at different styles for reference.