How to Clean a Honeycomb Glass Bong

Elaborate glass bongs with lots of filters and ice catchers, and fancy glass art are wonderful...except when it comes to cleaning them. Here's how to get them sparkling as good as new, as demonstrated on this Monster Triple Honeycomb Glass Bong from the folks at King's Pipes.

One tip before we begin. Don't do what I did for the video and allow your glassware to get really dirty. The dirtier the glassware, the harder it will be to clean. So clean your glass bongs often and you won't have to work as hard.

But for this demo I did let the glassware get dirty, just to show that with a little work and some 90% or higher alcohol, even the dirtiest of glass bongs and dab rigs can be cleaned as good as new.

Ok ready? Let's show you how to clean a Monster sized triple honeycomb filter glass bong (the one in the middle above).

Step One Gather Supplies

The first thing to do is to gather your supplies. Depending on how dirty your glassware is, you may or may not need everything here. For instance, if you take my advice and clean your bongs and dab rigs often, you can use Dawn Dishwashing liquid and forego the alcohol. The stuff is amazing (they even use it to clean wild sea birds after oil spills). Just pour some liquid into your bong or rig, add hot water, let it soak a few hours and proceed the same way as if you were using alcohol.

Of course, if your glassware is very dirty, nothing beats 90% or higher alcohol. Find it at the drug store. If you live in or near a Latin neighborhood check the botanica stores as they often sell high percent alcohol as well.

Other supplies include paper towels, coarse salt or Epsom salts to use as scrubbing agitators (I have used uncooked rice for this purpose in the past as well), and some pipe cleaners or cotton swabs, and sometimes a pipe poker is handy. And of course, gloves are a must. Cleaning glass bongs is dirty, stinky work, plus the alcohol is drying and can sting any cuts you may have. You are going to want to wear gloves!

In addition to what is pictured, you will also need some plastic wrap and a rubber band. A bottle brush, like the kind that cleans baby bottles, is also handy.

How to Clean a Honeycomb Glass Bong Step 2: Rinse Well

Remove the stem piece, rinse in hot water, and place in a small container of alcohol to soak. Next, take some hot water and pour into your bong. Cover the holes, shake and spill it out to rinse out a whole bunch of dirt and gunk before even beginning.

If Using Dish Liquid to Clean Your Honeycomb Glass Bong...

If your bong is not too dirty, unlike this one, Dawn dishwashing liquid might be all you need to clean it. I let this one get really dirty, so it won't do the entire job this time, but it will get us a lot of the way there and I wanted to demo using this technique. In this case, I will finish cleaning with alcohol. You could forego the Dawn and just use alcohol as well.

Begin by plugging the stem hole with wadded up plastic wrap. Sometimes, it is helpful to cover and secure with rubber bands. This will keep the soapy water and/or alcohol in our bong.

To use the dishwashing liquid, pour a generous amount into your bong, and fill with hot water. Alternately, pour some alcohol into the body of the bong and walk away for a few hours to it to soak.

Add an Agitator (like salt)

After soaking , add an agitator like salt or Epsom salts, which will act as little scrubbers, and shake, shake, shake! Dump things out and rinse with hot water. Rinse and repeat as needed to get most everything clean.

Honeycomb Bong Not Clean Yet? Use Alcohol

Since the bong was super dirty to begin with, the dishwashing liquid did not do the whole job. No problem, 90% or higher alcohol to the rescue! Pour some into the bong.

Add More Salt

Add more salt along with the alcohol.

Allow to the Alcohol to Work

Get a towel to help prop it up and carefully lay the giant bong on its side so the alcohol can go to work. Turn slowly so the alcohol reaches all sides of the tube.