cleaning a heavily tar-stained glass bong

[corpus callosum]

Good evening to one and all!

Im sure many here have had this issue to deal with and I guess there will be a number of methods employed to do the job.

The quickest and most effective way I have come across simply involves sticking the mucky glass bubbler in some hot water to get the glass to warm up, then filling it with IPA (clearly how full you make the bong with IPA would depend on the size of the bong;for a tool about 6-8 inches tall I would fill it to almost the half-way mark).

Next I add some ROCK salt (a tablespoon or so for the bong size mentioned above), ensure any holes in the glass bong (ie carb, or end of mouthpiece) are closed and simply shake vigorously.The bong will be fully rejuvenated surprisingly fast, in less than 1 minute.The IPA acts as the solvent for the tarry residue with the rocks of salt acting as an abrasive scrubber.

There is really no reason to have to use a heavily contaminated bong at all.Any Nexians have other methods to achieve this?

 

[Eden]

I use the same method.

For bowls, I have a tupperware container filled with with IPA and salt. Just plop it in and shake.
I haven't cleaned the thing out in months and it positively reeks of DMT, though I'm not exactly tempted to collect any leftovers.

 

[SnozzleBerry]

Assuming your tubes/bubblers/bowls and other smoking accoutrement are borosilicate glass and not the cheaper, soft-glass types, the easiest method I've found is to use oxy-clean and boiling-water.

I boil a bunch of water in the microwave or tea kettle,
I place a partial scoop of oxy-clean in each tube and use tin-foil to seal off the slide-hole (the slides are removed and placed in the same tupperware as the pipes),
place all of my pipes in a wide square tupperware container and add oxy-clean to each bowl as well as into the container, for my bubblers I do the same thing.

Then, I place all of my pieces/containers in the sink and add small amounts of boiling water to each of them, the oxy-clean foams up significantly, so you don't want to use too much water or you waste a lot of oxy-clean and it becomes pretty inefficient.

At this point I just allow them to sit and cool, once they're cool I rinse them out thoroughly, leaving them looking sparkly and new...

I'm actually going to clean my pieces tonight and would be more than happy to do a before/after picture...and although none of mine are too dirty, this method will clean the filthiest, nastiest pieces with practically no effort

 

[Red Eclipse]

I use the same method.

For bowls, I have a tupperware container filled with with IPA and salt. Just plop it in and shake.
I haven't cleaned the thing out in months and it positively reeks of DMT, though I'm not exactly tempted to collect any leftovers.

I second this. All I have ever used for cleaning glass is salt and rubbing alcohol (IPA).

For cleaning smaller bowls, downstems, etc... try boiling water, removing from heat, soak glass, then continue to salt/IPA shakefest.

 

[Touche Guevara]

IPA and salt (coarse grain if available) is all you need. I'd never boil water to clean a pipe; once saw a friend's $300 bubbler sitting on a shelf suddenly crack in half as it cooled to room temperature.

 

[Metanoia]

IPA and salt (coarse grain if available) is all you need. I'd never boil water to clean a pipe; once saw a friend's $300 bubbler sitting on a shelf suddenly crack in half as it cooled to room temperature.

I've witnessed such atrocities as well. Not from cleaning, but after a session my friend put his $400 bubbler on his desk beside the stereo system. The vibration from the stereo must have made it crack because it was just sitting there and it split in half. We both just sat there staring, in awe.

IPA + rock salt is all I've ever used. Too afraid of cracking glass from temp. changes

 

[hummus]

If it's only dmt residue on it, I find at least with pipes squirting lemon juice in it makes it disappear surprisingly quickly.

 

[DiMiTriX]

alcool and than wash it imo

 

[rumplestiltskin]

Acetone owns IPA + salt, IMO. IF you're like SWIM there's gonna be chunks of resin at the bottom that only acetone can handle. Remove grommet if it's not glass on glass and rinse very well after of course. Nothin' like clean glass though.

 

[SnozzleBerry]

If your pieces are borosillicate (i.e. labglass, such as roors, toros, or other name brands and some local blown stuff as well) you have no need to fear boiling water anymore than if you were pouring it into a pyrex erlenmeyer flask.

 

[CosmicFool]

I bought some of this:
Schmand Weg, Bong Cleaner

Works like magic! just mix a tablespoon of that stuff in a liter of hot water, pour it in the bong and shake a little and your bong will be clean as a whistle in no time.

Im not sure what that stuff contains but it really feels a lot like your regular washing detergent.

 

[SHroomtroll]

I just put my glassware in the dishwasher, works fine and gives my dishes a nice dmt smell

 

[RobMarley]

Acetone owns IPA + salt, IMO.

I agree. Acetone rips right through that resin with no problem.

You don't even need to use salt with acetone because its such a strong solvent.

 

[ohayoco]

Second dishwasher!

 

[Phlux-]

Acetone + salt ftw
bong smokers - do u still smoke spliffs ?

 

[RobMarley]

bong smokers - do u still smoke spliffs ?

Only at concerts or music festivals. Or if I'm on the go.

Never at the house.

 

[Observant]

So what do you do with all these solvents after cleaning ?
How do you get rid of it, just toss it into the sink?


I think schmand weg is just a more expensive form of oxy clean

 

[camakazi]

I use MEK for these jobs. All the bongs and stuff I use for green have a vaporisor attached so dont get too tarred up.. its mosty just cooled THC that builds up over time, so I want to collect this and rework it. A tiny puddle of mek will dissolve the resedue instantly, even the fumes will melt any build up round the sides without the actual liquid touching it. The glass is left looking brand new and once evaporated the mek leaves behind some nice honey oil as clean as any done with butane.

For all my DMT and Changa devices I used to just spend some time at the sink with hot soapy wated then rinse until clean, now I'll just do the same thing with the mek (not so much with changa pipes) and collect and recrystalise leaving DMT as good as the day I first made it. "waste not want not"

 

[welsh trip head]

nice one for the advise

 

[heavenlypursuit]

Acetone owns IPA + salt, IMO. IF you're like SWIM there's gonna be chunks of resin at the bottom that only acetone can handle. Remove grommet if it's not glass on glass and rinse very well after of course. Nothin' like clean glass though.

^^^^ Two thumbs up to that one. Acetone makes the dirtiest glass bong look brand spanking new in miutes. Then rinse through with hot water for a minute or two and you're good to go. I laugh at people that spend 10 bucks on that Agent Orange crap or other resin cleaning products. What a waste of money.