Spring Cleaning Your Smoking Paraphernalia

Culture

These instructions on how to clean your vape, bong, pipe, grinder and dab rig nail, which will ensure the best flavor for your smoke sessions.

Spring is a good time to declutter, organize and prioritize, so adding your cannabis paraphernalia to the list of things to freshen up is a good idea — especially if it’s been awhile since you’ve cleaned your pieces. If you use accessories to smoke your cannabis, they need to be sanitized on a regular basis. Just like washing your clothes or cleaning your makeup brushes, it’s important to keep things in tip-top shape to promote the equipment’s longevity. It not only helps you maintain the quality of your piece, but a clean smoking accessory ensures that you get a nice tasting hit with the best flavor each and every time.

Whether you are into bong rips, vaping, dabbing or taking it easy with a pipe, check out these tips on how to keep your smoking paraphernalia clean.

Vapes

The good news is that it only takes a few minutes to clean a vape, whether it’s for dry flowers, oil or concentrate. Start by unscrewing the chamber from the device and using a cotton swab remove any debris or residue by gently wiping inside of it. If the mouthpiece is clogged, run it under warm water. Finish the process by using a damp (not soaking wet) cloth or baby wipe to clean the outside of your vape before putting it back together.

Bongs

You can take care of a gunk-filled, funky bong with just a couple ingredients and some elbow grease. You’ll just need some salt, rubbing alcohol and a few minutes to shake your bong up like a maraca. First, take your bong apart, pour out the dirty water and rinse thoroughly rinse it out with fresh, warm water. Next, add a handful of salt to the empty bong, pour in some alcohol, plug the stem with a cotton ball and cover the tube with a washcloth or your hand and proceed to shake, shake, shake until your bong looks brand new. If your bong has a lot of sticky resin stuck to it, you will need to repeat the process until it’s as clean as you desire, or use a cleaning product intended for glass cleaning.

Pipes

Cleaning a pipe is just about the same process of cleaning a bong but you will need a sandwich bag with a ziplock closure to really get the job done. Give your pipe a good rinse with very warm to hot water, then place it in a sandwich bag. Add a handful of salt, pour in some alcohol, securely close the sandwich bag and shake it vigorously until your pipe looks nice and clear. If it doesn’t work the first round, you may need to do it again or you can use a paperclip to manually remove any stubborn resin. Afterwards, rinse the pipe again to let it dry before using.

Grinders

Grab a paper plate, a toothpick, rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab before starting this cleaning process. Open up your grinder and give it a good tap together to get out any big pieces of debris. Next, use the toothpick to remove any kief and collect it on the paper plate so that you can save it for later. You can use a cotton swab soaked in rubbing alcohol to wipe out the grinder, but if it is really gunked up, you may need to soak it in rubbing alcohol. Afterwards, rinse it well with warm water, place it on a towel and let it dry completely before using it again.

Dab Rig Nail

You can choose to scrape a rig nail or wash it, depending on the amount of time you have and how dirty it is. Scraping is a good choice if you have a small, minor job and can be easily and quickly done with a paper clip or any other sharp object. If you have lots of buildup, you can use rubbing alcohol to wash the nail with a cotton swab or soak it in the liquid for a few minutes and then clean with a cotton swab.