It's not so inappropriate; in the middle east you can just buy a waterpipe (bong) anywhere. It's called a hookah or a shisha and it's the standard way they smoke tobacco.
And weed they also smoke weed with it because yes it is a bong.
The tobacco was introduced to the Old World only in 16th century, so the only thing the Biblical Magi could smoke with their shisha in year 4 B.C. was weed.
Oh yeah, I've seen multi-user ones that stand on the floor with multiple pipes coming out for instance. But like, functionally it still draws smoke through water to clean out the particulates and make it better to inhale. It is essentially the same device.
I always heard that you do not want to smoke pot with a hookah because you'll gunk up your nice glassware - get a proper bong instead, and just use shisha (the flavored tobacco) in the hookah.