It turns out that putting random fluids in a bong is a stoner curiosity as old as weed-smoking itself. So much so that we even did it ourselves several years ago. After smoking out of a bong long enough, questions inevitably arise: Will something other than water taste good? Will it kill me? Will it get me insanely higher?

The internet is awash with articles and forums weighing the validity of different liquids in bongs. One guy tried bong rips (separately) with mouthwash, hot sauce, Mountain Dew, and ranch dressing—I mean, how bored does one have to get? Ranch rips aside, other stoners tout the use of iced tea, gatorade, and LaCroix in bongs, which all sound delicious. But will they actually affect the flavor or the high?

The issue of alcohol in a bong is quite contentious: some love it, some hate it, and there’s a whole lot of trash talk on both sides. So what actually happens when you add booze to your bong instead of water: Do you get crossfaded? Will the weed infuse into the alcohol? Is it dangerous?

What happens when you inhale alcohol fumes?

Ultimately, we don’t recommend that people put alcohol in a bong when smoking weed because inhaling alcohol vapor is dangerous. The effects of inhaling alcohol vapor are hard to determine and even measure. Unfortunately, this is somewhat of a fad, but we strongly recommend against it.

From a health and safety standpoint, huffing alcohol, in general, is considered a very bad idea. That’s one of the reasons why we drink alcohol instead of inhale its fumes via some device like a nebulizer,” said AJ Fabrizio, Cannabis Scientist and co-founder of the American Cannabinoid Association. “You’ll probably get very, very sick, and never want to do it again.

The body processes substances differently depending on how you consume them, which will also play into how that substance affects you. For example, when eating an edible, THC is processed in your stomach and then liver, which takes a while for the THC to kick in. When smoking or vaping weed, you’ll feel effects a lot faster because THC is absorbed directly into the bloodstream via your lungs.

When you drink alcohol, the stomach and liver have to process the liquid before its intoxicating effects set in. If you were to inhale alcohol fumes, the effects would hit you a lot faster than if you were to drink it, since it would get absorbed through your lungs.

You’d be displacing what would normally be water vapor, or normal ambient atmosphere, in the bubble or on the smoke, with fumes of the alcohol, which then will cause their own intoxication,” he said. “Every time you pull a hit and start to draw it in, you will not just be getting the smoke of the cannabis, but you will also be getting the fumes of the alcohol.”

Is THC lost in alcohol?

Scientific studies haven’t really been done on the effects of how THC behaves when it comes in contact with ethanol alcohol, but Fabrizio explained that alcohols are polar, meaning they will generally weaken cannabis by dissolving THC, terpenes, and other cannabis compounds, more so than water.

“Ultimately, you’re ruining what the cannabis is. The terpene profile will get completely overshadowed because all you’re going to have is the flavor of the alcohol,” he said. “[If] you have rum in there, the majority of what you’re going to taste is the rum.”

He went on to explain that terpenes add to the experience of a high and destroying them would likely diminish your high. THC potency would also be reduce