Hey all, I've always cleaned my bongs with methylated spirits and rock salt and it works wonders, but I've noticed over several months of use a darkened tinge starts to slowly build up. If i touch it with a brush etc it comes straight off but there's areas around the percs in my g-spot its getting quite built up and I can't get into with a brush as they're sealed up. Everything else I've tried; methylated spirits and salt / bong cleaner / hot water and soap etc doesn't have any effect on this stuff and I have no idea what it is. Any one had any success getting it off with some solution??
Just get 90-95% ISO and let it sit in your piece for a few days. That's what I did, let it sit in the nasty parts for a day or two then washed it out. Bam, brand new looking!
White vinegar is good for water stains and mineral deposits. It's an acidic cleaner, so not as good for oils, organic residue as something basic. If you can get grunge off, go get that stuff. Or maybe try vegetable oil, but grunge off smells way better. The residue on our glass pieces is resin and tar which are non polar. Water is a polar solvent due to the unequal sharing of electrons between the oxygen and the 2 hydrogen atoms, water has a positive "end" (dipole) and a negative "end". Alcohols are also polar but less polar than water, the oxygen is bound to only 1 hydrogen, and alcohols contain nonpolar hydrocarbon groups. So it works better than water on nonpolar gunk. Grunge off is lipid based, as is vegetable oil. So it should work better than alcohol as it is nonpolar. I buy grunge off cause it smells way better than pouring vegetable oil in your bong.
Buy some simple green concentrate and soak overnight. If it's still stuck in there get a coat hanger and tape Q-tips to the end of it and use that to stick down the top and wipe it away if you can.