yes but not cigs and I prefer the vaporizer
You put your combustible material in a machine that heats it up until it smolders, and collects the resulting vapors in an airtight plastic balloon. Then you remove the balloon from the machine, put it to your mouth, and inhale the contents.
With a pipe or bong, you burn the material with a fire, and suck the smoke directly into your lungs. The difference with a bong is that the smoke passes through water first, which cools it and removes some of the heavier debris.
vapor != smoke
There is some research that shows there is still tar in the vapor, albeit less.