How to Clean a Bong or Waterpipe

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Dre October 16, 2007 at 11:59 am

Tar build-up on your bong can be very unhealthy. It can also be next to impossible to clean completely, and cleaning agents often leave you with a residue that can be just as hard to remove as the tar itself. This means you will be breathing the harsh vapour of potentially deadly chemicals (depending what product you used) instead of the fine flavour of your choice in tobacco.

There is one product that is in my opinion stand out above all others for effectiveness and non-lethality. Citro Clean! You will probably know of other “Citrus Cleaners” and may have used one before, but having used many (and in a wide variety of applications) I can safely say that none come close to the results provided by Citro Clean. Citro contains no petroleum based solvents, no bleaches, ammonia, salt or phosphates- leaving you with a spotless, sqeaky clean surface every time.

Simply dissasemble your waterpipe and spray Citro Clean directly onto the dirty areas. The pressure of the spray bottle is enough alone to remove the tar buildup- you watch it spray clean. After a quick swish with a brush and a rinse, you have a squeaky clean bong. For extreme cases, one reapplication after rinsing will do the trick without a doubt. It’s easy to tell if you’ve rinsed properly too, as the strong orange smell can’t go unnoticed.

Some people recommend soaking their bong for hours, using steel wool and all sorts of things that are just not necessary. Literally spray Citro on, agitate the area to dislodge any heavier parts then rinse and you have an item you could return as brand new. It should be noted that Citro will essentially remove 100% of oils from a surface in the process. For this reason it is awesome for glass and glazed ceramics, but should not be used on plastic as it will eat the shine right off it almost immediately! If in doubt, just email the good people at Citro Clean and they can advise you.

I hope you do yourself a favour and buy a bottle. There is nothing it can’t clean, given it can bring a filthy bong to shop-returnable status in moments!

Citro Clean.
Available in 500ml, 5L and 25L.
http://www.citroclean.com.au/ – No, am in no way affiliated. ;)

Ginnie December 12, 2007 at 6:31 am

Use kosher salt and alcohol, pour into waterpipe and shake the **** out of it , then rinse with hot water until you cant smell the alcohol anymore.

jesse May 12, 2008 at 12:02 pm

run the hottest water in your house throgh your bong until all resin stanges come out

cleanpipe May 29, 2008 at 4:32 pm

Cleaning your piece is very easy. Trust a longtime toker:

Rinse out the piece with hot water to loosen up the resin. Then pour in some regular table salt and isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol. Shake the piece, closing up any openings with your hands. Rinse out a couple times with water.

The alcohol dissolves the resin and the salt acts as an abraisive to help take off the stubborn stuff.

MYTHS:

-It is not necessary to buy special cleaners, they’re just isopropyl alcohol and salt with scent and coloring added.

-There is no need for water to be especially hot. Super hot water can crack your glass or cause you to burn yourself and drop your piece.

-There is no need to use 90% isopropyl alcohol, the 70% works just as well and costs half as much.

HELPFUL HINTS:

-For a small piece you can shake it up in a ziploc bag.

-For really dirty pieces you may have to repeat the process a couple of times because the alcohol dissolves all of the resin it can contain.

-You will probably have some resin stick to the sink or tub. Just use some rubbing alcohol on a paper towel or tissue to clean it off.

Frank May 29, 2008 at 4:34 pm

Empty the waterpipe, pour in a little epsom salts and rubbing alcohol and just swirl it around, up and over all the resin. The epsom salts don’t dissolve in the alcohol very quickly, but help break apart the resin while the alcohol dissolves it. Epsom salts is wicked cheap and can be found at CVS or Walgreens in the foot care section (it’s used to soak your feet). Quickest and cheapest way EVAR

EVAR!1

Catherine August 14, 2008 at 3:21 pm

I’ve heard that lemon juice is a good cleanser, and also you can shake around some dry rice in there to act as a scour.

gill bates October 18, 2008 at 3:24 pm

Fill the bong with as much water as possible. Plug the bowl hole if you want to clean to the top. Drop a tab of Polident ™, let it sit then rinse. Voila, clean pipe.

SpyderCanopus October 23, 2008 at 9:52 pm

I just tried citrus based de-solve-it (for getting sticker residue off) and it’s as clean as the day I bought it. It did take about 10 fills, shakes, empty cycles.

Ian November 8, 2008 at 2:41 pm

just tried the salt and alcohol method…. PERFECT!!!! thanks guys :)

shapechanger November 17, 2008 at 11:13 pm

I have not cleaned my bong in 6 years. It is so dirty/nasty that I can’t even see how much water is in it. I’m going to clean it tonight. Thank you all for the inspiration.

leoguy January 28, 2009 at 10:48 pm

Try using some acetone (it’s in most nail polish removers, if you don’t have any) … It works wonders … but obviously make sure to rinse it well afterwards

"smellslikesomebodysittheircereal........bong" February 5, 2009 at 3:50 pm

alcohol and eprsom salt cheaaaap and easyyyy took me seconds to restore almost as new.

question tho…. how do u completely remove the resin from under the slide????? i can always restore the glass piece brand new, however the area under the slide in the middle is tuff any ideas???

"smellslikesomebodysittheircereal...bong" February 6, 2009 at 2:16 am

alcohol and epsom salt cheaaaap and easyyyy took me seconds to restore almost as new.

question tho…. how do u completely remove the resin from under the slide????? i can always restore the glass piece brand new, however the area under the slide in the middle is tuff any ideas???

iliedaboutmyemail February 12, 2009 at 4:46 am

take a paper towel and dampen it with some jack daniel’s and clean the mouth piece with that, you can use other alcohols too, the first and only one i tried was JD and it worked made some dudes mids interesting for a minute

KingstonB March 2, 2009 at 4:40 pm

Alcohol + Salt = Death of acrilyc pieces. If your unit is plastic, do this and you will be sorry. It’ll work just fine, you’ll love it for a while, but eventually the plastic will be weakened by the alcohol, and your piece will be a busted POS. Trust me, I’ve done it a few times myself. In Canada there’s a product called Orange TKO, might be in the states too, works just as well as the alcohol and salt method, without compromising the intergrity of the plastic. It’s expensive, but bloody worth it, cheaper than buying a new bong. You literally only need about a cap for most jobs, maybe even less if you dilute it like they recommend. But since it’s made from 100% natural orange junk, I don’t bother and it doesn’t hurt any of my units, and I’ve been using it for years. If your unit is glass or ceramic however, I think the cheaper alcohol and salt solution is just fine (I think – not sure on that really). A lot of the commercial cleaners ARE just alcohol with scent and color added, so don’t bother wasting your money on those. To clean the stem piece use the same cleaner as you use on the unit, just get bamboo skewers from the dollar store and scrape it off, cotton swaps are a good tool as well. If you don’t keep nasty water in your unit, as in, dump it and get clean water every session, it’ll be a billion times easier to clean too. Those are my tips – Good luck.

tokerdan March 17, 2009 at 11:04 pm

The absolute best way to clean a dirty glass bong or waterpipe requires 2 simple ingredients:

91% Isopropyl Alcohol
Epsom Salt

Both are available at your local pharmacy. If 91% is not available, 70% will work too. These are the two primary ingredients in almost all packaged bong cleaners. Simply pour some alcohol and epsom salt into your pipe and shake vigeriously (with all the holes covered up) for a couple minutes. The result should be clean-as-new glass. Q-tips are recommended for reaching tight spots that are extra dirty.

CmanTokerdaze April 22, 2009 at 4:33 pm

Clean Glass bong

Ive tried the salt and alchol and it isnt working that well and a just got this bong the day before I just dont want to waste my money on all the rest of the junk knowing that it probably wont work. And does it make a difference that mine is an ice catcher Bong

attest April 27, 2009 at 2:12 pm

Yep, the alcohol and salt works like a dream. My bong was disgusting, so I googled “how to clean a glass bong” and found this site. The method took a while and there was lots of shaking to be done, but all resin is cleared out and I now I fire up in a nice clean bong. Cheers!

Victor Oporto May 2, 2009 at 8:15 am

Bong cleaning

The best method I found is to boil some water and squeeze about 2 and a half lemons into it. Leave it in your bong for about an hour and voilà! Good as new! It’s cheap and easy

Thizztastic May 14, 2009 at 5:01 pm

Cleaning Bongs/ Water Pipes

!!!!CATION!!!!! When you clean a bong with nail polish remover and rubbing alcohol mixed together (in my case i was running out of rubbing alcohol so i mixed them to add to the level) plus epson salt and you cap the whole thing off once you start shaking it to get it clean purser starts to build up inside so when i took off the cap BOOM big old bong volcano =) so watch out.

P.S Dont clean under the influence, disasters await those try, only some times that is.

corcerned citizen =oP June 27, 2009 at 7:02 pm

bong cleaning

I prefer acetone & dry rice. The acetone cuts through the resin better than rubbing alcohol and the rice serves as a much better abrasive than salt as it does not dissolve and can be reused throughout the cleaning.

Tommy July 12, 2009 at 12:11 pm

Bong Cleaning

I used Acitone and salt. And of course hot water as well, let it sit for 10 min.
CLEAN BONG
happy smoking.

Kat July 19, 2009 at 4:30 pm

Cleaning your glass pipe

Well, i don’t know about other ppl’s methods but i’ve learned that a little water (hot or cold) and some nail polish romover works great to clean your glass pipe. Let soak for about ten minutes and use something like a q-tip to get to the hard to reach spots. Rinse well and you’re ready to go.

Ben July 20, 2009 at 1:43 pm

What about just the conepiece??

i have no problem cleaning the glass bong itself but the glass cone piece never looks new..

how do i get into the long narrow stem and get out that resin?

or can i just soak it in alcohol and salt in a small dish/bowl??? the q tips can only do so much.. i appreciate the taste of a totally clean bong..

Donavon July 26, 2009 at 12:45 pm

Acetone

Acetone is best for glass or metal, but not safe for acrylic.

lynn September 22, 2009 at 12:41 pm

shake it in a bag.

if you’re trying the clean the stem, i recommend putting it in a bag filled with alcohol and kosher salt then shaking the bag to get the salt moving against the resin.

just as with anything, make sure to rinse really well.

TINY TIM October 19, 2009 at 9:40 pm

CLEAN

JUST PUT YOUR FLAME TO IT AND BURN IT OFF–NEVER WASTE ANY RESIDUE !!!!

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