Water shouldn't be seen as a turn off, just as a way to enhance your pleasure. First buy a piece with very little diffusion and just cover up the part the contains your diffusion piece. My bubbler's are shower heads and you only need very little water right at the bottom. The less water you use, the more flavor you get. Ideally you are able to pull out a lot of the taste and hit your dry herb, hash, oil, etc. harder to extract it's chemicals very efficiently.
Having a few weeks more experience now I would like to explain what have become my session rituals a bit more.
I still mix it up each session for the Haze. The Nu Song
@Ratchett makes isn't hard to use at all, and the wong from Ed's TnT that I have on order is a stem and connector so I think it will be super easy to use. I often start and end dry, I can get a good long session every time I use it for anything, so water simply allows me to enjoy the whole thing without a lot of coughing and irritation. I start on one and gradually go to four (make that start on two with hash or oil). As soon as I start coughing (about 5 min) I put it in water and then go until I get nothing out of it. By then it is at four and I take it out and can extract a few more dry hits. By then it is pretty spent so these are nice mellow hits. For dry herb I always recommend not using the can if you want it real strong flavor wise for water, or on lower settings. If you do use the can for dry herb you can pretty easily go dry the whole time and the taste is admittedly very nice and mellow. I use the Haze about twice a day once for dry herb, once for concentrates.
With my Underdog it's a lot more simple a choice, because I feel the water is what really brings out it's full potential. The direct draw is very intense and I only sip at it. I do like the full flavor you get, but I feel the Dog is really made for water. I usually do 3 stems a day mixing it between the nylon and glass. I probably do a full direct draw stem 2-3 times a week, but I do take at least one or two direct draw hits a day of whatever I use.
Also if the clean up seems scary it shouldn't. Even with oil, when vaping it isn't anything next to combusting in a bong. I find the glass easy to clean and even the water stays fresh a few days if you use RezBlock. I am getting a EVO so I am sure my water adventures are just starting!