i believe the word is technically spelled 'resin', which is the dried version of a sappy or sticky substance that some plants put off (like pine trees). i do not believe that the resin we are talking about smoking is what would technically be considered real cannabis resin. i believe that would be the actual trichomes of the plant, which SF alluded to, for making hash.
but semantics aside, black resin can be smoked, and one can get comparably high off of it.
things to note though:
black resin is going to contain carcinogens from the combustion of the plant (the smoke contains this too obviously), so smoking the plant is not really going to be "healthy".
black resin will get one to a similar degree of high, but i find it not quite as pure feeling, and i find the comedown to not be as pure either.
bong water will not get one high to nearly the same degree.
my favorite method hands down for any substance is to eat it.
fuckcombustion.com has excellent techniques for properly preparing cannabis edibles.