This study aims to explore the different morphologies associated to the interaction of the stellar winds of asymptotic giant brach stars and red supergiants with the interstellar medium (ISM) to follow the fate of the circumstellar matter injected into the interstellar medium. Four distinct classes of wind-ISM interaction are identified, and basic parameters affecting the morphology are discussed. The total dust and gas mass inferred from the observed infrared emission is similar to the stellar mass loss over a period of a few thousand years, while in most cases it is less than the total ISM mass potentially swept-up by the wind-ISM interaction. Both theoretical (analytical) models and hydrodynamical simulations give stand-off distances for adopted stellar properties that are in good agreement with the measured de-projected stand-off distance of wind-ISM bow shocks. The possible detection of a bow shock -- for the distance-limited sample -- appears to be governed by its physical size as set roughly by the stand-off distance.