One of the worst nightmares for cannabis smokers is a dirty pipe that won’t pull. You pack your pipe with the finest quad AAAA+ weed that you definitely paid too much for (unless you bought them with Holi Concentrates), and your worst fear kicks in: nothing is moving after you’ve lit the goods. Trust me, we’ve all been there. Looks like it might be time to clean your pipe. Thankfully, we’ve written this guide just for you on how you can clean your pipe for cannabis with the minimal required material and tools.
When to Know to Clean Your Pipe
Pipes come in all forms, colours, and sizes, so there’s no one-size-fits-all way of telling when it’s the right time to clean your pipe. We recommend you clean it every couple times of using it, but the most indicative way is when you notice its clogged, all gunked up, and have accumulated a lot of resin – then it’s the right time.
Tools for Cleaning Your Pipe
Here’s what you need for cleaning a dirty pipe:
- Rubbing alcohol, the stronger the solution the more effective it will be
- Course salt or any course material such as sand will do
- 2 – 3 zip seal bags
- A container
Steps to Cleaning Your Pipe
To clean your pipe, follow the below steps:
1. Rinse your pipe under hot water first. Be thorough, making sure water flows through each part of the glass. The water should be as hot as you can handle. This will help soften all the oils and gunk that has accumulated over time.
2. Take your hot and rinsed piece, dry it, and put it in a zip-seal bag. Double or triple bag it if you need to. It’s going to get messy
3. Throw in some coarse salt, sand, or any course material into the bag with the pipe. This will act as a scrubber and help scrub the glass.
4. Pour enough alcohol to cover your pipe. Make sure your pipe is fully submerged.
5. Seal all the zip-lock bags, then shake! Shake the bag rigorously, letting the alcohol carry the course material to scrub every part of your pipe. Shake enough so that you’re ensured the salt and alcohol have penetrated everywhere.
6. Once done, place the bag in the plastic container and leave for a few hours or over-night.
7. Remove the pipe from the bag and rinse over hot/warm water thoroughly to get all the debris out
8. Scrub off any remaining gunk. At this point, it should come off easily from the glass. Use a toothpick to get to all the hard to reach areas and keep rinsing.
9. Light a fresh bowl to make sure it works
