Remember how nasty your bong used to get and how infrequently you changed the water?
Remember the awful cleanup after spilling highly unpleasant smelling bong water?
Well, guess what, if you don’t clean your bong today, it will still get just as gross and make just as big of a mess if you knock it over.
Now that we’re older (and hopefully wiser), older stoners should place a renewed emphasis on keeping their bong (and all other cannabis consuming equipment) as clean as possible.
Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) is an effective cleaning tool. It’s especially helpful at dissolving the sticky residues that any well-worn bong will accumulate. Isopropyl alcohol with a concentration of 70% or higher typically works well for cleaning. Here’s how you can clean your bong using isopropyl alcohol:
Empty the Bong: Pour out any old water and remove any loose particles or debris.
Disassemble the Bong if Possible: If the bong has any removable parts like bowls or slides, take them apart for more thorough cleaning. Be really careful when taking it apart. It’s easy to break a stem if there’s lots of residue and it’s stuck.
Rinse with warm water to get rid of any easily removable residue.
Pour rubbing alcohol into the bong. You could also add some sea salt or kosher salt to act as an abrasive. When tackling the smaller parts like a bowl or stem, one tactic is to place them in a ziplock type sandwich bag along with isopropyl alcohol and salt.
If you want to stay clean and avoid a mess during cleaning, try covering the openings: If you are cleaning the main body of the bong, use plastic wrap to cover them, so the liquid doesn’t spill out.
Next, shake, shake, shake, then allow the isopropyl alcohol and salt to break apart the residue. Similarly, if cleaning the smaller parts in a bag, shake the (well sealed) bag.
For the spots that shaking won’t clean, you can use a pipe cleaner, toothbrush, etc.
When your bong is nice and squeaky clean, rinse it really well to make sure all of the alcohol has passed through.
Lastly, read the cleaning instructions that come with your bong and if you’ve thrown them out, then look online. It’s possible that certain bong materials are not suited for cleaning with rubbing alcohol.