The Official Piece Cleaning Guide

[Floydian]

So you have a ton of resin clogging up your pipe, and you want it gone. Infact, you want it more than gone, you want a piece to look as clean or damn close to new? Well, this thread will tell you how.

You don't need much to do it, a faucet, preferably a toilet, and some sort of baggy that will contain a liquid (Zip lock are best, even fold top baggies will work.) If you don't have some, you will need to buy some Isopropyl alcohol. It's cheap ($1.50-$2.50) and effective. Alchohol absorbs THC. The higher the alcohol percentage, the better.



The last thing you will need, is salt. The purpose of the salt is that it will act as an abrasive, to help "scrape" the resin off the piece, when poured in to the liquid. You're going to want a shaker with a removable cap, or the container you fill your shakers with.

If your pipe is more than just dirty, it's straight up clogged, or has a large amount of resin buildup; You may need to find some sort of additional scraping tool. Pipe cleaners are an obvious choice, bent paper clips can work, and won't hurt your pipe.


How to clean pipes (metal, glass, ceramic) downstems, bowls, ash catchers, one hitters, bubblers, etc;

Fill your plastic baggy with your Iso alcohol enough to approximately cover your piece.

Add some salt (just enough so that you can see some salt which hasn't dissolved in the alcohol, AKA reached it's peak saturation. You may not need or want to use quite this much though, which is alright) in with the alcohol.

Place your piece in the mixture, and shake. As it works, the mixture will start turning to a brownish, rather bad smelling liquid. If progress is slow, let it sit for some time, then resume shaking.

Drain the liquid in to your toilet and flush, then rinse your pipe with warm water. If it's not clean enough, repeat the baggy procedure. Make sure to rinse thuroughly.

Optional; If you would like to take one more step, you can do the same baggy procedure, but with hot water (not boiling, as hot as your faucet can get or near abouts will do) instead of Iso alcohol. This is preferably done before the alcohol. Afterwords, do it with the alcochol.

How to clean bongs;

The premise is the same as with pipes and everything else.

In this case, you want to be over a toilet, sink, bathtub, something to catch any accidetnally spilled water. You'll regret it if it happens on a carpet, trust me.

Fill your bong with hot water (not boiling) because some if not most bongs will need this extra step to get a good cleaning, to a few inches below where your stem meets the bong. Add in salt. Cover your bowl/stem, and the bongs mouth opening, and shake. Rotate and flip the bong upside down while shaking. As most buildup will be near the stem, let sit for awhile if nescessary.

Drain the water in to a toilet, and then repeat using Iso alcohol. Again, make sure to thuroughly rinse the bong, inside and out. If you want to, you can finish it off with some scented dish soap or all purpose cleaner, to help cover any remaining bad taste in the bong.

Why you should never boil pipes;

Glass is brittle. Heating it up and allowing it to cool, in such an extreme manner, can form cracks, or help to mature any potential weak spots. Also, if the water is boiling at a high temperature, the bubbles can knock your piece around, and if it's glass, that's not a very good scenario.

Metal you'd probably get away with, but avoid it with essentially any other material.

[burnttwaffle]

lmao u beat me too it i guess, i saw the thread in the website feedback section and was about to make a post saying id make it but dam, lol

well great fucking guide once again helping make the city the best place it can be, helping both inexperienced and experienced tokers alike.

another great post for Floydian



btw i never realized how awsome ur sig is, do you really have that mushroom bong?can we c it in action?

[Floydian]

Only pic of it I have. Actually, that's the original, which is the one featured in my sig. It was broken last year. I have another one which is the same bong, just painted a bit differently. I have that one in another signature, but it's not as prominent of a feature.



And thanks too, btw.

[Rhythm of Life]

I'll still add mine just in case... although yours is very thorough. Its about time we had one of these, great idea Floydian.

This is the best video I could find. The video was not made by me. This is HashBean's video from TokeCity.

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_________________________________________________
My Guide:

Common Items Used For Cleaning Bongs:

1. Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol 71% or higher
2. Epsom Salt (More Coarse) or Kosher Salt (Finer)
3. Pipe Cleaners
4. Zip-Lock Baggy (Sandwich or Freezer Bag size)
_______________
Bongs (works for Bubblers as well)

Step 1
Empty the water from the bottom of the bong into the toilet bowl instead of the sink. The bong water is full of resin and has a bad smell.

Step 2
Refill the bong with hot water. Put your hand over the opening at the top of the bong to seal it. Hold the bong horizontally and shake it back and forth vigorously. Empty the water into the toilet again and flush.

Step 3
Pour a few inches of 91% rubbing alcohol into the bottom of the bong.

Step 4
Add several tablespoons of salt, sea salt or uncooked rice. The salt or the rice acts as an abrasive and scrapes the sides of the bong as the alcohol breaks down the resin.

Step 5
Place your hand over the top of the bong again. Holding the bong horizontally, give it another vigorous shaking. Turn the bong over and around while you shake. Make sure you reach all surfaces. Empty the contents in the toilet and flush.

Step 6
Put a few inches of clean, warm water in the bong and shake it again. Now you can dump the water out in the sink because the residue should be all gone.

Step 7
Spray the bong inside and out with an all-purpose cleaner. Use one that is scented with lemon or lime to remove the bad smell and taste from the bong. Rinse with clear water, and then set the bong upside down to allow all water to drain.
__________________________________________________ ______
Spoons (also works for Slides and Downstems)

Step 1
Put your spoon into your Zip-Lock baggy and add approximately 1/4 of a cup of Rubbing Alcohol and 1 Tablespoon of Epsom or Kosher salt.

Step 2
Try and get all of the air out of the Zip-Lock bag and seal it up

Step 3
Shake vigorously for 1-2 minutes or until resin begins to be visible in the Rubbing Alcohol (the brownish hue).

Step 4
Remove the spoon from the baggy and rinse with warm water. If there is any leftover resin in the spoon use the Pipe Cleaner now and clean it out (just rub the Pipe Cleaner through the spoon and rub inside of the bowl).

Step 5
Rinse one more time in warm water and your done.

[sawilso]

i have found that uncooked rice acts as a MUCH more efficient abrasive than salt.

[Miami420papi]

Greetings,

I was just browsing over the forums and just joined as I thought this was a great community to contribute to as well as learn from.

I have always heard of rice, salt, epsom salt etc to be used as an abrasive along with rubbing alcohol but have an alternative that I use and have always found much better for cleaning.

My #1 choice to use in cleaning any water pipe, glass pipe etc has been to mix a dry dishwashing iiquid, preferrably cascade, along with the rubbing alcohol. Not only is it very cheap but at the same time it functions as an abrasive it also ads a secondary soap for cleaning. Plus once rinsed, especially cascade, it can leave your glass smoking pieces spot and streak free.

The important thing to realize is to put enough Cascade into your alcohol mixture so that a good percentage stays completely undisolved. The smaller powder of the cascade, like salt, can get into small glass pipes even better.

I take pride in my glass smoking items and think many of them are works of art and I enjoy being able to show off a piece after cleaning that looks brand new.

I have used this mixture to even clean bongs that haven't been clean in over 2 years, imagine the resin build up, and have been able to get them perfectly clean.

When dealing with small pipes utilizing q-tips for stubborn spots works great. first dip the Q-tip into alcohol and then roll in the cascade. The cascade will adhere to the Q-tip giving you a scrubbing like action that is completely safe for your glass.

Well I hope my 2 cents at least helped someone out.. Take care

[wrestlir1139]

Great guide and awesome info!

[pistolgrip]

Originally Posted by Miami420papi

Greetings,

I was just browsing over the forums and just joined as I thought this was a great community to contribute to as well as learn from.

I have always heard of rice, salt, epsom salt etc to be used as an abrasive along with rubbing alcohol but have an alternative that I use and have always found much better for cleaning.

My #1 choice to use in cleaning any water pipe, glass pipe etc has been to mix a dry dishwashing iiquid, preferrably cascade, along with the rubbing alcohol. Not only is it very cheap but at the same time it functions as an abrasive it also ads a secondary soap for cleaning. Plus once rinsed, especially cascade, it can leave your glass smoking pieces spot and streak free.

The important thing to realize is to put enough Cascade into your alcohol mixture so that a good percentage stays completely undisolved. The smaller powder of the cascade, like salt, can get into small glass pipes even better.

I take pride in my glass smoking items and think many of them are works of art and I enjoy being able to show off a piece after cleaning that looks brand new.

I have used this mixture to even clean bongs that haven't been clean in over 2 years, imagine the resin build up, and have been able to get them perfectly clean.

When dealing with small pipes utilizing q-tips for stubborn spots works great. first dip the Q-tip into alcohol and then roll in the cascade. The cascade will adhere to the Q-tip giving you a scrubbing like action that is completely safe for your glass.

Well I hope my 2 cents at least helped someone out.. Take care

brilliant. im skeptical about the rice thing because i feel like the rice would get stuck in my bowl.

but a rinse with hot water will dissolve all traces of dishwashing soap

+rep

[bjs197]

I clean my pipes fairly frequently and have found that the easiest way to get them very clean is to follow these simple steps:

1. Make sure you have something else to smoke from for the next 24 hours or so.
2. Buy Hydrogen Peroxide from just about anywhere
3. Soak your bowl in the peroxide

Note: If your bowl is excessively dirty, change out the hydrogen peroxide 12 hours in and use a new batch, bottles are only $1 so its not gonna break your bank.

I have used this stategy many times and have found it to get the bowls as ckean if not cleaner than other cleaning procedures. Another plus to this method is that it literally takes no work. Plus, its cool to light up a bong and watch all of the resin get dissolved by the peroxide.

[NJ Haze]

Or you could just buy a bottle or 2 of grungeoff?

grungeoff.com
Nothing worksbetter i guarentee... its awesome

[Rhythm of Life]

Originally Posted by Miami420papi

Greetings,

I was just browsing over the forums and just joined as I thought this was a great community to contribute to as well as learn from.

I have always heard of rice, salt, epsom salt etc to be used as an abrasive along with rubbing alcohol but have an alternative that I use and have always found much better for cleaning.

My #1 choice to use in cleaning any water pipe, glass pipe etc has been to mix a dry dishwashing iiquid, preferrably cascade, along with the rubbing alcohol. Not only is it very cheap but at the same time it functions as an abrasive it also ads a secondary soap for cleaning. Plus once rinsed, especially cascade, it can leave your glass smoking pieces spot and streak free.

The important thing to realize is to put enough Cascade into your alcohol mixture so that a good percentage stays completely undisolved. The smaller powder of the cascade, like salt, can get into small glass pipes even better.

I take pride in my glass smoking items and think many of them are works of art and I enjoy being able to show off a piece after cleaning that looks brand new.

I have used this mixture to even clean bongs that haven't been clean in over 2 years, imagine the resin build up, and have been able to get them perfectly clean.

When dealing with small pipes utilizing q-tips for stubborn spots works great. first dip the Q-tip into alcohol and then roll in the cascade. The cascade will adhere to the Q-tip giving you a scrubbing like action that is completely safe for your glass.

Well I hope my 2 cents at least helped someone out.. Take care

This way works well but the Iso/Epsom mixture is cheaper and it will clean it faster/same speed. So overall I find it more efficient.

Originally Posted by bjs197

I clean my pipes fairly frequently and have found that the easiest way to get them very clean is to follow these simple steps:

1. Make sure you have something else to smoke from for the next 24 hours or so.
2. Buy Hydrogen Peroxide from just about anywhere
3. Soak your bowl in the peroxide

Note: If your bowl is excessively dirty, change out the hydrogen peroxide 12 hours in and use a new batch, bottles are only $1 so its not gonna break your bank.

I have used this stategy many times and have found it to get the bowls as ckean if not cleaner than other cleaning procedures. Another plus to this method is that it literally takes no work. Plus, its cool to light up a bong and watch all of the resin get dissolved by the peroxide.

Major downside is the cleaning time man. Iso/Epsom mixture your back blazing in under 5 minutes versus 24+ hours depending on how much resin has built up. Plus you need to buy enough peroxide to completely submerge the pipe.

Originally Posted by NJ Haze

Or you could just buy a bottle or 2 of grungeoff?

grungeoff.com
Nothing worksbetter i guarentee... its awesome

Maybe, I've never used the product, but for $10 a bottle the Iso/Epsom is still cheaper.

_____________________________________

I'm tellin you people the most efficient method is the Iso/Epsom. Its cheap and fast. Anything else your sacrificing speed or cost. I'd rather have an extra $5 for blunt wraps or another nick.

[Wonderboy88]

i dont know if anybody has said this yet but the best thing ever is laquer thinner soak your pipe in that overnight and rinse it out really really well. . . it will look just like new

[Fear420]

Originally Posted by Wonderboy88

i dont know if anybody has said this yet but the best thing ever is laquer thinner soak your pipe in that overnight and rinse it out really really well. . . it will look just like new

Thinner?!?! Are you crazy?!?!?! Do NOT ever use any kind of a paint or laquer thinner,its TOXIC.

[CaliCoast]

Originally Posted by NJ Haze

Or you could just buy a bottle or 2 of grungeoff?

grungeoff.com
Nothing worksbetter i guarentee... its awesome

Yep, grungeoff is great stuff.

[nerdboytoker]

Originally Posted by pistolgrip

brilliant. im skeptical about the rice thing because i feel like the rice would get stuck in my bowl.

but a rinse with hot water will dissolve all traces of dishwashing soap

+rep

its true, I used to use rise before I found out about the salt method, and always hated it. it gets stuck to the sides of the bong and is a bitch and a half to get unstuck. honestly it makes more sense to use salt, and its a waste of rice that you could be eating.

Great Thread though. I've used this method for years