TEK Quick and Easy Method to Cleaning a Glass Pipe (w/Pics)

[Phungushead]

A Quick and Easy Method to Cleaning a Glass Pipe
"For informational purposes"

Introduction:

Have a glass pipe that is all gunked up with resin? Try this method to make
it look brand new in only about 10-15 minutes.

Only requires common household items that you probably already have in your
house.

You will need:

• A dirty glass pipe
• Some plastic ziploc bags
• Salt (bigger grains, like epsom, is preferable, although table salt works too).
• Rubbing Alcohol (Isopropyl, 70 or 91 [better]%)
• Hot (preferably brought to boiling) water
• Pipe cleaners or cotton swabs
• Paper towels

Notes and warnings:

• You will not be able to recover the resin if you use this method.
• Be careful of burns when dealing with boiling water.
• Glass pipes break - be careful (not only of breaking your pipe, but of cuts and shit if you do).
• This method does smell. Rather strongly might Labrat add, so keep this in mind if you need to be stealthy for one reason or another.

The Procedure:
(Click images for a larger size)

• Here we have Labrat's favorite piece. Note how dirty it is, as well as the colors (in other words, this method will not "hurt" a color changing pipe). It looks cool, but it's starting to get really clogged up. Also, Labrat just wants to see what it looked like when it was first bought

cgui01.jpg cgui02.jpg cgui03.jpg cgui04.jpg

• Put the pipe into one of the ziploc bags. Add water that has been brought to boiling, enough to cover the pipe. Now add about 1/4 cup or so of isopropyl alcohol. Seal up the bag. Double bag, if you want to.

cgui06.jpg

• Being careful, since the liquid is going to be really hot most of the procedure, give the bag a few good shakes. Almost immediately, the resin will start to dissolve and the water will begin to turn brown.

cgui07.jpg cgui08.jpg cgui09.jpg

• Continue agitating the bag. The pics below were taken maybe 5 minutes after the procedure started. One reason why this method is so convenient is that it is relatively mess free. Just gotta throw away the bag, shit and all! Cleaning all that resin out of a pot is NOT fun, believe Labrat.

cgui10.jpg cgui11.jpg

Close up from the last picture: Note the difference already:
cgui11a.jpg

• At this point, remove the pipe from the bag and use a pipe cleaner or cotton swab to clean all the little nooks and crannies. If you want, the salt can be used as an abrasive.

cgui12.jpg

• You may want to throw it back into the hot water/alcohol solution some more... it can go back into the same bag, but Labrat made up a new bag for this guide: to show just how much more shit emerged:

cgui13.jpg The first bag
cgui14.jpg Pipe in a new bag
cgui15.jpg Both bags... hard to imagine that all that crap came out of one little pipe.

• When satisfied, remove from the bag, rinse in warm water and let dry. Ready to get dirty all over again!

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For information's sake, this pipe had had around a couple of ounces smoked through it without any cleaning, other than a little scraping here and there. This method removed all that resin buildup in approximately 10 minutes with very little effort!

Enjoy,
-SWIPhungushead

[Venusia]

Nice! Swiv used to use a version of this method back in her tokin' days. Another thing that works WONDERS is Palmolive Antibacterial (the orange kind--it's the ONLY kind that works as well) dish soap. OMG, that shit came clean in warm water and was super quick.

Sigh, if only Swiv lived in a med MJ state....