A dirty bowl can seriously mess up your smoking experience.

As time goes by and buildup collects in your bong or pipe, it can affect the taste of your cannabis and even restrict airflow, making each hit a little less enjoyable than the last.

On the other hand, when you keep your bowl nice and clean, you’ll end up with a more consistent and rewarding cannabis routine. Plus, it’s not hard at all to clean and maintain a bowl — it just takes some basic supplies and a little extra time.

Read below for everything you need to know about cleaning a bowl.

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Cleaning Your Bowl: The Essentials

Cleaning the bowl on a glass pipe or bong can extend the smoking accessory’s lifespan, get you better, more consistent hits, and even make your cannabis taste better.

Keeping a bowl nice and clean also lowers the risk of bacteria and mold growth, which is the last thing you want.

Luckily, all you need to keep your bowl nice and clean are a few items that you already have around the house.

Learn how to clean your weed grinder from the Mood Blog.

The Supplies You Need

To clean your bowl, you’ll need all of the following household items:

• Isopropyl alcohol,

  a solvent that breaks down resin and other forms of buildup that can collect on the bowl of a glass bong or pipe

• Coarse salt,

  which has just the right amount of abrasiveness to scrub away bigger pieces of residue

• Cotton swabs and pipe cleaners,

  which you can use to scrub some of the harder-to-reach parts of the bowl and clean out the mouthpiece

• Ziploc bags

  to hold the cleaning solution that you’ll make for your bowl

• Hot water

  to use as the base for your cleaning solution

• Paper towels or a cloth

  to dry the bowl after cleaning

Once you have these supplies, you’re ready to remove resin buildup and get your bowl looking brand new again.

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Cleaning a Bowl Step-by-Step

Follow these steps to thoroughly clean your bowl with the supplies listed above:

• Start by disassembling your bong or pipe to separate the bowl from other glass pieces.

• Next, pre-rinse your bowl under hot water to loosen up any resin and slough off larger chunks of flower that might be left behind from your last smoking session.

  • Note:

    Let the water gradually warm up while rinsing your bowl rather than starting with extremely hot H20. You don’t want to accidentally crack the glass with a sudden temperature change.

• Now, prepare your cleaning solution in a plastic bag; use about 2-3 tablespoons of sea salt for each cup of rubbing alcohol. You can double or triple this recipe, depending on the size of your bowl. Shake the bag vigorously for a minute to combine the salt and alcohol.

• Place the bowl into the plastic baggie of cleaning solution and let it sit for 10-20 minutes. After a good soak, rinse off the bowl in warm water.

• Remove the bowl from the cleaning solution and switch to more precise cleaning methods moving forward. Use a Q-tip or pipe cleaner to remove any leftover resin, looking carefully at the nooks and crannies of the bowl.

• After scrubbing off any extra gunk, rinse off the bowl one more time and wipe it dry. Try not to let any moisture linger — this can lead to mold growth in a glass bowl over time.

Keeping Your Bowl Clean

Now you know how to get rid of residue on a bowl to stop clogging and mold growth. How do you keep your bowl clean, though?

We’ve got a few tips to keep your bowl — and your entire smoking pipe or bong — nice and clean in the long term:

• Store your bowl properly, ideally somewhere cool and dry, to keep it from getting dirty and dusty. Avoid humid storage spots, as these can be breeding grounds for mold and mildew.

• Clean your bowl again after every few uses. When you make cleaning a regular habit for your water pipe and other smoking tools, you’ll end up with better flavor and minimal residue.

• Consider adding a screen to your smoking setup to filter out debris before it reaches your bowl. This bong accessory is usually a cheap add-on that you can install on your own without any hassle.

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FAQs About Bowl Maintenance

Q: Should I buy a specialized bowl-cleaning solution?

A: Your local dispensary (and plenty of Amazon vendors) most likely sells pre-made cleaners for bowls and other cannabis accessories. However, these solutions usually have other household items — baking soda or white vinegar, for example — as their main ingredients. You can just as easily make a solution at home using items that you already have.

Q: Is cannabis flower legal?

A: The Farm Bill, enacted in 2018, made it possible to order high-quality cannabis online and at local dispensaries. Under this bill, any product under 0.3% Delta-9 THC by dry weight is classified as hemp, which you can get locally or online in many states.

Make sure you check your state’s specific regulations for hemp products before ordering. Always buy your flower from a trusted source.

Q: Can I clean my bowl with dish soap?

A: It might seem like a quick hack to scrub out your bowl with dish soap, but we prefer the rubbing alcohol and salt option. Dish soap can work well to clean other parts of a bong, but it’s not quite as powerful as alcohol for dissolving caked-on resin.

Q: Do I need a specific type of salt to clean a bowl?

A: You can use any salt to make a homemade bong cleaning solution. Even Epsom salt works, but we recommend sticking with regular table salt.

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Discover more high-quality cannabis products at Mood, an online dispensary.

Prices subject to change.