1/31/22 Another Glass Cleaning Hack (The Best Yet!)

 

Greetings and Happy New Year! 

Sorry that is has been so long since our last piece, but life, medical issues and Covid all worked against me. Nice to be back!

In my wanderings through our online cannabis community I have seen MANY videos that cover cleaning the tools of our consumption, as I am sure we all have. We all know the "Best Way To Clean A "Insert Pipe/Bong, etc, Here" and they usually call for  Formula 420, alcohol or alcohol and salt and even a denture cleaner tab by Dan, at Dan's Buddha Bodega at YouTube (it did work well!).

Well, now it is my turn!

I have used just about every technique listed above and they all have some varying levels of success, usually depending on what is being cleaned. This article isn't about those. It's about one that I think is far better, at least it is for glass implements. 

My wife, a Home brewing maven of some skill, has always had to keep her brewing gear clean as a whistle and one of her go-to's has always been Oxyclean, the cleaning booster that started out as a "Seen On TV" substance. I decided to give it a try the other day, as I had a few glass items that needed a bit of cleaning. Now, in all the following pictures and commentary, bear in mind that all I used was a bit of Oxyclean and hot tapwater. That's it. Needless to say, I was so surprised at the results that I doubt I will bother using anything else in the future for cleaning. This stuff worked in a relatively short time and required no scrubbing. I did have to use a Q-Tip on one just to remove a couple of specks that wouldn't rinse off in hot water. Otherwise it was a matter of soak and rinse. Let's take a look, shall we?

First up...the glass bong!

Now, this piece of glass wasn't very dirty, but it had been sitting idle for more than a month, so stuff was a bit caked on and I like nice clean tools for a nice clean smoke! As you can see the stem was the dirtiest part, but the stuff inside was kind of caked on. None of it stood a chance, though!

 

Next step, add the Oxyclean and hot tap water and get to soaking!

This picture is about 1 hour into the soak and you can see how clean it already is.

The stem, the dirtiest part, I just put in a seal-able bag with a Tablespoon or so of the Oxyclean powder, added the water, sealed it up, gave it a shake and set it aside for a couple of hours.

So, shall we look at the results? Of course!

This is after about 2 hours. No scrubbing, no shaking. Just sitting and soaking. The little parts that were left came off cleanly with a touch from a bent Q-Tip. The stem was clean as a whistle with just a rinse!

Nice, eh? Well, there's some more to come!

I had a couple of spoons that needed a refresh (only one got photographed, sadly. The other was much more photogenic). The spoon was a bit dirty, but after a nice soak (you can see the stuff in the baggy) and a rinse it was as clean as the day I bought it! I did run a Q-Tip through it, to see if anything was left inside, and it was spic and span. Not even a smudge!

Now, what would a spoon be without some of those nice little flower screens to keep your flower in the bowl, where it belongs? Yeah, I use them and they get terribly gunked up. This batch of them were from a tube I keep them in once they are used. These had been sitting in alcohol for a couple of weeks and, as you can see, they weren't very clean. I gave them a rinse and tossed them in the cleaner.

 

This batch I left overnight, as I just got busy. The results were worth it, though. They came out looking brand new! Again. No rubbing or anything!

Still not enough to convince ya? How about a glass piece that has some reasonably hard to clean bits, like a joint bubbler? I had my doubts about this one, frankly. After a 2 hour soak, my doubts were gone!

And the results? Voila! Just a soak and a rinse, same as all the rest!

This is the easiest method and Oxyclean is cheap, (you may already have some in your laundry). Now, for the Con's in this method. Oxyclean bubbles up a bit, so sealing it in a pop top container will result in some foaming up and a popped top. Ziplock baggies work perfectly, though. The Oxyclean method did not work well with my metal pipe to remove resin. It did wipe off OK, but didn't have the same great results as the glass implements. Going to have to keep trying that one!

So, if you want another great way to get your rigs, pipes, bongs, and other glassware clean, here ya go!

Have you tried it before? Or yet? Let us me know in the comments!

Till next time! Stay Well, Stay Lit!