How To Clean Your Dab Rig, Water Pipe, or Bong!

Read this article to learn how to properly clean and care for your dab rig, bong, or water pipe. Your dabs should be tastier, more enjoyable, and healthier!

“If you take care of your equipment, your equipment will take care of you!”

(--Quote Courtesy of The U.S. Army & My Dad.)

 

Follow Steps 1-3 Below if your dab rig, water pipe, or bong is new or is kept very clean already.

New or Already Clean Glass Instructions

[Hot Water Rinse, Isopropyl Alcohol Bath, & Final Rinse]

Change Your Water & ISO Soak Often!

If you just bought a new dab rig, bong, or water pipe, you want to keep it clean and well-maintained from the start. It’s much easier this way, and your glass can stay looking nice and provide tasty rips for years to come. Read on to learn the steps!

1. Flush Your Water & Rinse Multiple Times:
   1. Run your sink water until it is hot!
   2. Carefully hold your glass piece, dump out the water, and rinse it well several times with the hot water from your tap. You may see yellow boogers or dabbing slime exit the glass. This is good!
   3. You may want to use our Bubbler Brush Cleaning Kit to scrub your joint area, down stem, and mouthpiece. Your goal is a thorough hot rinse and scrub to get the cleaning off to a good start and to help your isopropyl alcohol bath not get instantly dirty.
2. Isopropyl Alcohol Shake & Soak:
   1. [Prep. Step] Have an isopropyl-filled bath prepared for your glass piece. The higher the % ISO, the better!
   2. Fill (leave a little room for movement inside) your dab rig, bong, or water pipe about 45-65% with isopropyl alcohol and plug the ends. Carefully invert, wiggle, and shake the glass piece around to get the isopropyl alcohol moving inside the glass piece to create scrubbing-like action from the motion of the liquid and captured air. Dump this out into a separate container for later use if desired. I recommend not putting this used alcohol into your clean ISO bath.
   3. Soak your baby in your prepared bath of high-octane isopropyl alcohol! It would be best to have a large container for your piece to lay in. You’ll be able to determine the best soak time for your needs after some practice, but I recommend giving it 45-60 min and making sure periodically that all inner surfaces are getting soaked. Change the positioning every 10-15 minutes to soak the piece's inner and outer surfaces if needed. I often lean my container up using blocks to make it deeper in one end.
3. Final Rinse Multiple Times:
   1. Use cool tap water to rinse your rig out thoroughly. This will leave it pleasantly cool to the touch if used soon.
   2. If you want to keep your functional glass art piece clear of mineral deposits, fill your piece with distilled water to flush out the tap water used earlier to keep mineral deposits. This keeps the “creep”, or some 'heady' term like that, from occurring, making a noticeably white tint appear inside the piece. The goal is to flush out minerals in the tap water you rinsed with earlier. After I rinse with cool tap water, I’ll fill the whole piece with distilled water, pour it out, fill it again, and pour it out. This ensures that any minerals are flushed out, and my glass will stay clearer over time

*If mineral deposits are present inside or outside of your glass piece, soak or clean it with a 1:1 solution of distilled water and vinegar to remove the mineral deposits. You can also spray on this solution and wipe the external surfaces of your piece to remove mineral deposits.

 

Follow steps 1-4 below if your dab rig, water pipe, or bong is disgrossting! (Misspelled word blend above intended! -- Disgusting X Gross!)

Nasty Dirty Glass Cleaning Instructions

[Hot Water Rinse, Salt & ISO Shake, Extended Isopropyl Alcohol Bath, & Final Rinse]

You’ve Been Slacking Hard; We’ve All Been There!

Your dab rig, water pipe, or bong is straight-up nasty! WTH man? It’s black, smells terrible, and is likely seeding some of the same bacteria that first inhabited the Earth. You can’t enjoy what we love most using equipment like that. Here’s how to cut through the nasty and reclaim good taste and enjoyment!

1. Flush Your Water and Gunk Out—Hot Pre-Rinse Multiple Times:
   1. Run your hot sink water until it is hot!
   2. Carefully hold your glass piece, dump out the water, and rinse it well several times with the hot water from your tap. You may see yellow boogers or dabbing slime exit the glass. This is good!
   3. Your goal is a thorough hot rinse to get the cleaning off to a good start and to help your isopropyl alcohol bath not get dirty instantly.
2. Salt & Isopropyl Alcohol Shake Jam:
   1. Fill your glass piece about 50% complete with isopropyl alcohol, and then add about 2-3 tablespoons of table salt inside, down through the mouthpiece or joint. Or, use our 710 Advanced Cleaner. It works amazingly well for this step too!
   2. Shake, and shake well from multiple angles and directions. Over…and over! Watch what is happening inside to gauge how much gunk is being scraped and worked off the inside walls. The ISO loosens the sticky icky, and the salt helps scrub it off!
   3. Once it looks clean, dump the ISO and salt mix and rinse the piece to inspect it closely. If you still see more gunk, repeat steps #2a, and #2b until it looks nice and clean, or as good as it can get! You can also move ahead to step #3 and then return to steps #2a and #2b to see if there is an improvement.
3. Extended Isopropyl Alcohol Soak:
   1. [Prep. Step] Have an isopropyl-filled bath prepared for your glass piece. The higher the % ISO, the better!
   2. Fill (leave a little room for movement inside) your rig, bong, or water pipe about 50-75% with isopropyl alcohol and plug the ends. Carefully invert, wiggle, and shake the glass piece around to get the isopropyl alcohol moving around the glass piece to create scrubbing-like action from the motion of the liquid and captured air. Dump this out into a separate container for later use if desired. I recommend not putting this used alcohol into your clean, waiting ISO bath.
   3. Soak your baby in your prepared bath of high-octane isopropyl alcohol! A large container like this one is recommended. Soak your piece for several hours or more (depending on the conditions) and ensure periodically that all inner surfaces are getting soaked. Change the positioning every couple of hours to soak the piece's inner and outer surfaces if needed. I often lean my container to make it deeper in one end.
4. Final Rinse Multiple Times:
   1. Use cool tap water to rinse your rig out thoroughly. This will leave it pleasantly cool to the touch if used soon.
   2. If you want to keep your functional glass art piece clear of mineral deposits, fill and flush out the tap water you used earlier with distilled water. This keeps “creep” from occurring, making a noticeably white tint appear inside the piece. The goal is to flush out minerals in the tap water you rinsed with earlier. After I rinse with cool tap water, I’ll fill the whole piece with distilled water, pour it out, fill it again, and pour it out. This ensures that any minerals are flushed out, and my glass will stay clearer over time.

If you followed these nasty dirty steps and your glass water pipe, bong, or dab rig still doesn't look as nice as you'd like, try repeating the steps again and increasing time durations and shaking intensity.

*If mineral deposits are already present after step #1, but before your ISO bath, soak your piece in a 1:1 solution of distilled water and vinegar to remove the mineral deposits. You can also spray on this solution and wipe the external surfaces of your piece to remove mineral deposits.

Also in How To Dab | Dabbing 101 Blog