Just like everything else in your home, your bong needs to be cleaned. Every time you smoke a bowl, residue gets left in your bong, which is why ripping your bong starts to taste off after a while, even if you just changed the water. We recommend cleaning your bong (and downstem and bowl piece) every other week.
What You’ll Need
Rubbing alcohol
Sea salt
Plastic bags, plastic wrap, or rubber stoppers
Rubber bands
Paper towels (or a towel)
2 containers or 2 plastic bags (one for your bowl piece, one for your downstem)
Cotton swabs or pipe cleaner
Step by Step
Step 1: Remove your downstem and bowl piece and place them into their own containers. You can also place them in plastic bags if you’d like just make sure they’re separated so they don’t break.
Step 2: Add rubbing alcohol and sea salt (about 5 tsp) to each container. Make sure they’re fully covered in the liquid.
Step 3: Pour your bong out and rinse through it a few times with water, trying to make sure all of the loose residue is poured out.
Step 4: Pour a good amount of salt (enough to cover the bottom) into the bong, and follow with running alcohol. We suggest filling it almost as high as you usually fill your bong with water. If your bong has a perc, make sure to repeat this step for the perc.
Step 5: Cover the holes with plastic bags or wrap and tie rubber bands around them. If you have rubber stoppers, those will work as well. If your bong is extra dirty, soaking it overnight can help loosen the residue.
Step 6: Shake! Shake your bong, your downstem, and your bowl piece so the salt can do it’s work. If the alcohol starts turning brown, you know it’s working.You can also use cotton swabs to clean the bowl piece and downstem.
Step 7: Pour your bong, downstem, and bowl piece out and rinse them with warm water, shaking to get the excess residue off.
Step 8: Make sure you rinse through your bong a few times so you get the rubbing alcohol and salt out, you definitely don’t want to smoke that.
Once it’s clean, grab some PV flowers and smoke a bowl! The first bowl after a cleaning is always the best.
Keeping it Clean
Now that your bong is sparkling clean, you want to keep it that way. We recommend changing the water in your bong at least every day, and doing a quick rinse or two when you do change the water. Remember, keeping your bong clean is much easier than doing a heavy clean!
This same method can work for pipes, bubblers, and the rest of your glass pieces, so you can keep them sparkling.
