Most of us have smoked out of a pipe, bong, vaporizer, or some other kind of reusable smoking implement; the question is what do you do once the beautiful cannabis you’ve consumed starts to clog up your chosen method of consumption. We have a few tips and tools that will should help any endeavor towards this problem:
Tools
Isopropyl Alcohol:
This more than likely will be your bread and butter for cleaning cannabis, we recommend a 91% blend as it seems to have the best results for home cleaning (it is also substantially cheaper than 99% blends). You can purchase this at most local markets with a pharmacy section, we guarantee some store around you will carry a product like this! The residue you find from smoked/vaped cannabis product is oil based outside of the plant particulate that may remain after consumption, the reason isopropyl alcohol is one of our biggest helpers is that it works phenomenally to dissolve oils! This is part to due why we recommend a higher concentration of isopropyl alcohol as it will be far more effective to remove the built up resin on your glassware, it also is a safer medium to clean electronic 1vaping devices with as it will evaporate at room temperature reducing the likelihood of damaging any electronics.
Salt:
Coarse sea salt is best in our opinion, but you should be able to make do with Epsom/table salt as well. This is usually most helpful to remove build up on the interior of glass bongs and things of that nature, but it can have uses externally if used properly and with care. The principle behind using salt is that once the oil is being dissolved by the isopropyl, the added salt added acts as an abrasive and will aid in cleaning out the nooks and crannies and reduce the time spent overall dissolving the buildup.
Heat:
The final ingredient to quickly and efficiently cleaning your resin covered items, this will help both the isopropyl and the salt in doing their job properly. Even at a room temperature the oil build up in your method of consumption will balance between a solid or liquid consistency depending on the amount of plant matter remaining, as well as the temperature at which it was consumed. Adding heat to the equation will loosen the oil build up and allow it to flow into more of a fluid state that is more easily dissolved, again saving you time in the cleaning process. The safest way to apply heat in your own household is to use any tap water faucet and let it come to its high heat. It is important to remember that you’ll want to slowly heat up anything made of glass, putting cold glass into very hot water may cause the glass to crack or break apart completely. As long as your cautious though you should never encounter anything like this, and you’ll have one of the cleanest pieces around!
Tips
Stage the cleaning properly:
For best results you’ll want to clean your glass in a certain order, we recommend: heat, isopropyl alcohol, and then add the salt. Once you’ve applied everything in that order its just a matter of shaking or moving the salt around as to encourage the dissolving process, the time involved will vary depending on how much buildup is on/in the piece.
Rinse thoroughly:
Once you’ve gone through the cleaning process its best to rinse out the interior and exterior of the piece with distilled water, this will reduce the chances of ‘fogging’ on the glass. Fogging (making the glass appear cloudy) can occur through mineral buildup from tap water, this can sometimes be exasperated by the addition of heat and isopropyl mixing with cool tap water. For the best longevity of your piece we do recommend distilled water for cleaning purposes but with care tap water should serve you just fine!
We hope with these tips you’ll be enjoying your cannabis in the cleanest fashion possible! Let us know how these tips worked for you on our Instagram page @rmcdispensaries and stay elevated
