A packed pipe
In Vietnam, the dieu cay (traditional pipe) is a popular habit for many people mostly men in the country and city. The whistling pipe is a classic sound heard around the streets of Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City as labourers or xe om drivers take a quick smoke-break.
The pipe was invented amongst the paddy fields by farmers, who used tre cai (empty bamboo shoots) to form the main piece of the pipe.
The bottom end is sealed and about five centimetres from the base of the pipe there a small bowl (no dieu) where a pinch of tobacco is jammed in.
The smoker lights the tobacco while inhaling and exhaling to generate a body of smoke inside the pipe, which is cooled by the water inside. Once the smoker thinks he has generated enough smoke, he blows hard, the tobacco pops out and then he inhales.
Be warned though, one foreign journalist once described it as the water pipe that could be very well be your Waterloo. The pipe produces a large amount of smoke and if you inhale it all in one go it could send your head spinning.
Not everyone knows how to the pipe in the right way, though the smoothness of the smoke and the clarity of the whistling sound is a much to do with the design of the pipe.
You can pick up a pipe, even if it just for show, from VND8,000 to 15,000 ($0.5-$0.9). At every bia hoi restaurant and at every green tea stall throughout the country you can ask for a pipe.
It certainly isnt good for your health, but the dieu cay is a cultural trait of the Vietnamese people and the sound of its gurgling-whistle is as sure a sign as any that youre on the streetside of Vietnam keeping it real.
Source Vietnamnet