How Do I Clean My Bong?

 

 

Consumer worthy bongs and other glassware require a bit of maintenance, maintenance that can usually feel tedious and chore-like. Today we'll walk you through a few steps on how to maintain your bongs and other glassware in your collection as clean and as new as possible.

Bongs are attractive pieces that many like to keep around the house. Nobody wants the centerpiece of their collection to look dark, dingy, or in need of replacement. The more you use the bong the more accumulation of oils and material builds up. Getting in front of maintenance for these pieces is vital towards its longevity and will prevent you from having to spend countless hours cleaning up that build-up. 

 

Preparation Work:

Step 1: Remove your stem from the bong and run it under warm water to heat up the glass.

Step 2: You'll need to create a liquid solution consisting of rubbing alcohol and Epsom salt. The ratio here should be 2 to 1 rubbing alcohol to Epsom salt.

Step 3: You'll need a ziplock bag for your stem and for the solution to sit within and make sure you zip the bag before proceeding.

Step 4: Dump the water from your bong in a safe manner

 

Now that you've soaked your stem in a ziplock bag let it sit, you'll start seeing the change in color of the solution, the darker the solution gets the cleaner your stem is. Now let that sit for a little while and move onto to the base of the bong. Since you will not be able to physically reach every nook and cranny of the base of the bong you'll have to pour a solution directly in from the neck of the bong.

 

Preparation Work #2:

Step 1: Rinse the bong from the neck opening and let the water flush out where the stem would go. This will remove any loose gunk or floating oils.

Step 2: Pour some Epsom salts directly through the neck opening until you see it build up about a quarter inch thick.

Step 3: Pour some rubbing alcohol through the neck and continue to until it is half way of the height of the stem hole. 

Step 3: Let this sit for 3 to 5 minutes.

 

Now let the solution do its work, we can go back to the stem piece and pick up our ziplock bag. Swish it around vigorously while holding the sealing end of the bag. Make sure that it is not within proximity of anything it can bang into as if it dd bang you might damage the stem itself. You'll see that the darkness of the solution will increase drastically. That means almost all of the gunk has now come off the stem piece. Lower the ziplock back into your sink, open the seal and have warm water fill the bag and overflow. I recommend this strategy as dumping out the solution may lead to dropping the stem into your sink and potentially crack the glass stem. Once the water has cleaned out most of the solution you are free to reach in grab the stem and hold it under running water. The pressure from the water will clean up whatever gunk might still be stubbornly attached to the glass. Do this for 2 to 3 minutes and then set the stem down on a paper towel to dry.

 

Since the stem has now been fully cleaned it's time to move on over to the base. Pick up the base, place one finger over the stem hole, and your palm over the opening at the top of the base neck. Make sure that both are well sealed and will prevent any spillage of the solution. Now gently shake the solution around in a swishing and swirling motion. You'll star seeing chunks of gunk and material dirty up the solution. That means you are doing things correctly. Do this several times until all of the gunk falls from the inside of the bong. Once you are certain you've gotten the bong base to a desired point of cleanliness, grab a Q-Tip or a pipe cleaner and run that around the hole where the stem goes. Make sure you soak it in the solution.

 

Now take your bong vase and flush it with warm water, and have the water flush out all of the solution through the stem holes. Make sure you do this for as close to ten minutes as you can to clean out all of the solution as well as any remaining gunk. Lift up the base and pour out any remaining water and let everything sit and dry. You have no officially cleaned your bong out.