I used it for the first time last night. Got absolutely fucked up, loved it. But I am concerned about cleaning/maintaing it. I heard a dirty waterpipe is unpleasant to smoke out of. Another sub question: How much grinding does it take to get a decent collection of kief?
It depends how frosty/crystally the buds you are grinding up are. you can grind an eighth of regs and get a small ass amount of kief, then grind an eighth loaded with trichs and get a good amount of kief. no one can give you approximates, it depends on the buds you are grinding and also how good of a grinder youre using ( i suggest a nice four piece )
I used to clean my first bong like every 2 or 3 days but it is a hella waste of resources then I slowly started cleaning it less and less. I think you should only clean it when you can actually start to tell a difference in taste or whatever from it being dirty. Maybe try like once every 1 or 2 weeks is probably good. If your grinder has a polen catcher and you use it kinda a lot for a few weeks you will hella get some but I would rather by a keif box, or make one (I did for hella cheap and it hella works great) and then buy hella trim and get the keif. I don't usually smoke keif I make finger hash with it.
I smoke about twice a day so my bong gets dirty within a week. I change the water everyday, and clean it with ISO and salt or orange chronic every week. I find if you dont clean it, it just tastes nasty. second part of the post, i put a dime in my grinder to help collect more. but depending on how much you want (bowl topper, whole bowl or saving it). Usually it takes about a zip for me to get enough to even start saving it. but for a bowl topper it take about an eighth to a quad
I cleaned my bong about...never. Smoked daily for over a year and didn't notice any taste difference. Whateva
I clean my bongs every 1-3 days. I am not a fan of smoking a dirty piece. I will pull air through my bong and if I taste resin then I certainly will not burn any bud in it until it is cleaned. Helps to have multiple pieces.