The product photo must have been taken by someone who 1) doesn't understand simple physics and 2) doesn't use bongs. The way it's set up in that photo, when you pull (suck) through the mouthpiece, all you're going to get is a nice drink of the water in there. Here's how you do a SIMPLE setup for a bong: On the viewer's lefthand side of the photo above, you have a tube going down into the water. That tube (on the left) is the downstem. The opening at the bottom end of the downstem should be submerged only 5-10mm under the surface of the water. In this case, you want to pour out most of the water so the water level is much lower. Keep the downstem approximately where it is. On the viewer's righthand side is another tube which is the mouthpiece. This is what you suck through, kind of like a straw. The bottom open end of the mouthpiece tube MUST be ABOVE the surface of the water. Otherwise you are just gonna be drinking water through that tube. And it should just be just a little bit above the surface, because water splashes as you are using it and the water splashes can get sucked up if the water level is too close to the opening. The solution here is to change the position of the mouthpiece tube by pulling it up higher so that it just barely passes through the black stopper lid. Most of the mouthpiece tube should be above the black stopper, then it should pass through the hole in the stopper, and stick out underneath the bottom of the stopper by only a few mm. This way there will be a decent difference in height between the water level (lower) and the mouthpiece opening (higher).