Known as a type of water pipe, the bong is one of the most commonly used tools and the oldest ways to smoke your favorite tobacco, or other herbal substances through water filtration. The bong's basic concept is to cool the smoke before being inhaled by passing it through one or several chambers filled with water or ice. The more contact the smoke has with the water, the cooler and smoother the smoke. Although these devices vary in size, shape, and complexity, the one thing they all have in common is delivering a pleasantly refreshing and healthy smoking experience.
Cute bongs are an excellent way to get high. But if you want consistently good highs with your water bottle bong, you'd better keep it clean. Before you know how to clean your small bong, you also need to know how to use a bong as well. Below you'll find a specific guide to cleaning and maintaining a bong, along with a quick explanation of why it's so important to clean your bong in the first place.
Why Is It Important to Clean Your Bong Regularly?
Most of the bad stuff will get into your lungs if they end up in the water or all around the interior of the bong when you're hitting. So, frequently taking hits from a dirty bong is unhealthy, as you're breathing in the crap that should've been filtered out. Let’s specify from 4 aspects to explain the importance of cleaning your cool bongs regularly.
1. Smell
It’s going to smell bad whether the smell comes from the stagnant water in the bottom or buildup on the walls of your mini bong; this kind of smell is one of the first signs you’ll detect that it’s time to clean your bong.
If you don’t clean your bong, you will feel that this bad smell is full of the walls, the carpet, the furniture, and even your clothes or hair. So, avoid these bad smells by rinsing your bong regularly.
2. Flavor
You might not think smoking has a taste, but indeed it does. Imagine everything else you put in your mouth; your tongue will produce and taste different flavors. Therefore, if you don’t clean your bong (erigs or cute pipes), the resin, slime, filthy bong water, and every other source of uncleanness begin to give off their own flavors. And that flavor is terrible, which will make you want to wash your mouth out with soap.
3. Bacteria
Bacteria are the big offender when it comes to why you should clean your bong more often. Bacteria begin growing inside a dirty bong after only 20 hours, and it only worsens over time.
It will cause health issues if you neglect it. So don’t risk severe medical problems, and just clean your bong.
4. Difficulty
The difficult thing about washing a bong is that you can’t get your hand down in there to wash and scrub it, and you won’t be able to reach it with common tools.
The longer you wait, the harder you’ll have to scrub your bong. So, it is better to clean your bong more often before it becomes more difficult. Otherwise, you’ll have to take longer time to clean your bong than usual.
How Often to Clean Your Bong
1. Resin Build Up
Dealing with resin is a fact of life for the regular bong user. It builds up in all sorts of hard-to-reach places and can seriously affect the taste, smell, and overall experience.
If you neglect the resin buildup for too long, it could permanently adhere to your bong's surface. You won't be able to remove all the resin no matter what you do after that. Your only recourse will be to discard the bong and get a new one. Hence, it’s better to clean your bong regularly.
2. Heavy Smokers
It would be best to clean your bongs at least every 48 hours for heavy smokers. The smoke and heat of regular use will slow the growth of harmful bacteria slightly, but the rest bacteria from your bong will get into your lungs if you don't clean it usually.
3. Casual Smokers
These casual smokers use their bongs sparingly. When you don't subject the bacteria to heat and smoke every few hours, it has plenty of time to grow and get stronger. Therefore, it is better to clean your bong after every use. You'll avoid the issue of bacteria growth entirely and enjoy good flavors and aromas every time.
4. White / Black Specks
If you notice white or black specks inside the bong, it means ash has been built up, and you need to remove them, or you may inhale them and cause harm to your lungs.
How To Clean a Bong in 5 Steps:
So, what’s the perfect way to clean your bong? This part will tell you everything you need to know to get your bong as clean as possible, just like the day when you bought it.
Supplies you’ll need:
Hot water
Rubbing alcohol (90% alcohol or more)
coarse salt or Epsom salts
Cotton balls
Q-tips
Paper towels
Small Ziploc bags or Tupperware containers with lids
Bottlebrush or pipe cleaners (optional)
Now that you’ve gathered all your cleaning materials, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to clean your bong and make it shine just like brand new.
Step 1: Dump Out the Dirty Bong Water & Take Apart Your Bong
Pour out the dirty bong water from your last weed smoke session. Carefully disassemble your bong. Remove the mouthpiece, bowl, and other accessories. If your bong has any other movable or removable parts, guess what? It would help if you took those apart too.
Step 2: Rinse All Parts with Hot Water
Hot running water is an effective way to cleanse. It can get rid of some of the surface resin built up with repeated use and gradually dissolve the bonds that bind the gunk in place.
You can wear dish-washing gloves, get the water as hot as you can tolerate, and then start the cleaning process.
If you think about it while you’re rinsing, fill from the top and empty from the slide opening. This will minimize the chances of the loose residue getting caught anywhere else.
Step 3: Place the Bong Pieces in Its Separate Container
Ensure each piece has its container, so there is less chance of anything breaking. After you’ve got each loose piece in its container, pour in at least ¼ cup of your rubbing alcohol along with at least one tablespoon of salt.
For larger pieces, go with ½ cup rubbing alcohol and two tablespoons salt. Leave plenty of room to shake the bong, and the alcohol won’t come toppling out the top. A good ratio is to fill the alcohol a bit above the salt.
As an alternative to rubbing alcohol, you can use vinegar or mild acid. Also, you can use rice to help scrub the bong clean as an alternative to salt. However, if you decide to use rice, don’t let it stay too long in the alcohol (or vinegar) because it will start to absorb the liquid and soften, which will decrease its abrasive power.
Step 4: Shake Each Container and the Bong Separately
Please ensure that the cleaning solution does not escape and that all plastic bags or containers are sealed tightly, then please shake them a bit vigorously.
When you think you’ve shaken enough, shake more. You may have to do this for at least five minutes to dislodge the sticky mess.
Step 5: Pour Salt and Alcohol into the Bong
You can first add two tablespoons of salt to your bongs. However, you may need to add more depending on the size of the bongs you’re using. And then, you can pour at least ½ cup of rubbing alcohol into your bong. Don’t worry about the ratio of salt to alcohol. It really doesn’t make any difference as long as there’s enough of both to get a good swishing going.
Step 6: Plug the Holes
You can use hand towels, plastic wrap or rubber bands to plug all the holes in your bong. Cotton balls are also ok if the holes are small enough.
Step 7: Shake Again and Rinse Everything with Warm Water
Please shake the bong vigorously so that the alcohol and salt solution get moved around on all surfaces of the bong. Continue to do this for at least five minutes. And then, remove the small pieces from their baggies and dump the alcohol/salt solution from the bong. Finally, rinse everything with warm water. At this point, cleaning may be enough to remove the water stains and any resin buildup on the bong.
Step 8: Air Dry or Towel Dry the Bong
If you plan on lighting up your bong slowly, let it air dry to ensure all the water dries. If you want to hit the bong immediately after cleaning, ensure that you properly towel dry all the pieces before using.
Some Tips for Maintenance
The above process can take some time, especially if you’ve gone without cleaning. To avoid a complicated mess, clean your bong regularly (after every use) rather than once a month or longer.
Here are some other tips for maintenance to make keeping your bong an easy job.
Tip 1: Use Vinegar or Lemon Juice for Hard Water Stains
It can be difficult for the hard water stains (especially from the inside of a bong) to be removed. Hence you can pour some vinegar into the bowl of your bong, or add some lemon juice and hot water. Let the bong sit with them at the bottom for five-eight minutes. Last, rinse with hot water and let the whole thing air dry.
Tip 2: Keep Your Bong away from Sunshine
The bacteria will grow if there is dirty water in your bong. You'd better keep the bong away from the sunlight if you forget to clean the bong, which will slow down that nastiness.
Tip 3: Store Your Bong Empty
Please empty your bong and rinse it out as outlined above, which will keep everything clean, tidy, and ready for your next smoke.
A Note on Cleaning Plastic or Acrylic Bongs
Please don't use the usual isopropyl alcohol method if your bong is acrylic or plastic because this can damage the surface of your bong. You can clean it with a bottle brush, warm water and dish soap. You can fill it, clean it and empty the water, and repeat the process until the water you rinse through it comes out clean.
the Lifespan of a Bong
You could use your bong for a long time if you take good care of the bong, and there is no need for you to buy new ones. A bong may last for 4 years or more with good care and cleaning. In other words, if you don’t look after it well, it’s more likely to need replacement after a year or so.
Look After Your Bong Carefully
It is recommended to clean your bong more often so that you can spend less time on deep cleaning. It is lucky that the cleaning process is super easy with very affordable equipment. Even though there are many specific products intended to clean bongs, most of the time, it's completely unnecessary, and you can achieve at least as good a result for much less money. Once you've been through the process once or twice, it'll be easy to remember the steps, and if you clean your bong regularly enough, it will be much less work each time. So light up and enjoy – but don't let your bong water sit in there and ruin all your hard work.
Now that your bong is clean, enjoy a relaxing high and taste all the delicious terpenes masked by your dirty bong.
