for those of you who use glass tobacco pipes, which way of cleaning them has proven to be best? Currently I spray scrubbing bubbles on mine and then place it in the boiling water for about 5 minutes. Unfortunately this doesn’t clean the inside as thorough as I would like (a lot of black stuff) left on the inside. I’ve heard to use apple juice; anybody with experience doing that? Thanks.
Well, in the halcyon days of yore when I had one or two glass pipes lying about, I had good luck with rubbing alcohol, pipe cleaners, and Q-tips, over old newspapers so I wouldn’t stain anything. I tried boiling 'em a couple times with mixed results, including one shattered pipe, so this is probably a non-optimal method. I’ve never heard of apple juice as a cleansing agent.
I used my glass pipes strictly for pot, though, so I couldn’t begin to guess about tobacco buildup. That’s gotta be some serious tobacco if it’s clogging your pipe with black goo, I gotta say. I never had that problem smoking tobacco out of a meerschaum.
I have no glass pipes, and I don’t smoke pot. But my briar tobacco pipes always benefit from a cleaning with a pipe cleaner and a Q-tip right after smoking. There is a black goo that builds up if I don’t clean them right away; this can generally be dug out with a small metal pick or a wooden toothpick.
I must admit, I’ve never heard of boiling a pipe to clean it, nor of the apple juice method. I have dropped a small chunk of apple in my pipe tobacco to keep it fresh and flavourful, though.
A tobacco pipe made of glass–I’ve smoked pipes and cigars for years, and I’ve never seen such a thing in any of the specialty tobacconists I’ve done business with. Briar and meerschaum, yes, but not glass. What does it look like?
Well, I use mine for pot too, I just didn’t want to be so blunt about it 
vinegar
Go over to a head shop and get some “purple power” I believe is what it was called. (Smells exactly like windex, yet I don’t think windex worked as well). Other then that, when I had glass pipes, we just tossed them in boiling water to get the majority of the gunk out and used a bent paper clip to get the rest of it out (BTW this tends to ruin the pan). Now that I’m out of college and smoke CONSIDERABLY less then I did then I gave up on cleaning it and just run a toothpick through it (it’s just a hitter) enough times that I can draw through it. (Of course using it three or four times clogs it right back up)
Wire clothes hangers.
Sinner. 
Ah. Okay. [Picks up favourite Stanwell briar and tin of Gawith’s 1792 Flake, and backs away slowly.]
Add rubbing alcohol mixed with salt in a bowl, and set the pipe in the solution for about 20 minutes. The salt really helps. Then clean with q-tips, and other fine brushes. Like the kind used for cleaning guns, but smaller.
Back in the day, when I used to ahem smoke. I would clean my glass pipe with dry gas. I just plopped the pipe into a glass bowl fill enough to completely immerse the pipe and let sit for a couple of hours. A q-tip or pipe cleaner scrubbed out the stubborn residue. Then rinse the pipe very very very well.
It was like new.
Obviously this route could be dangerous so I’m not endorsing it, just saying that’s what I did…yada yada disclaimer yada.
If you really need to know how I disposed of the “tainted” dry gas I can tell you that also. But only if you ask.
Carbeurator cleaner cuts right through anything on it. I soak the whole thing in it, use a flex pipe to work it into the stem area. Once completely clean I rinse it out and sit it in a mixture of boiling water and vinegar for a few minutes. This kills any resemblance of the carbeurator cleaner taste or smell. After that I simply fill it with Sprite or Ginger Ale…basically anything that will fizz up . Shake it up real good, sealing the air with my hand to farm pressure. Let it air dry, and then start getting it grungy again.
Back during the Reagan Administration, I used to use a glass pipe for pot. One of my housemates at the time taught pre-school and always had crap lying around the house that she used for their art projects.
One fine day I was sitting on the couch with my roommate thoroughly baked when I was contemplating the best way to clean my pipe. I tried q-tips and paper clips but they didn’t work very well. Finally, I had a brilliant revelation. “You know what would work great? These things,” I said as I held up one of her art supplies. I was so damn proud of my self…until it dawned on me that those fuzzy bendy things were called “pipe cleaners.” Duh.
Haj
Oh, you mean a bong!!
:eek: :eek:
What do they use in chemistry labs to get all the grunge out of their glassware?
Sheesh! I posted this thread and it got locked right away, and you guys can have this confab… what’s your secret?
Good question Crandolph. The OP has already admitted to using it for an illegal substance. However your more intricate setup is more likely to cause trouble on these boards using flavored tobacco. :rolleyes:
I use Orange Clean liquid cleaner - I fill a jar or glass to an appropriate level and then let the piece set in there for a couple of days.
I then pull it out and rinse it well under lukewarm running water. Once rinsed, I used compressed air to blow out any last little bits. Works like a charm.
Note: I use the compressed air in a can that’s for cleaning electronics and such, not off a compressor. I think that would be problematic at best.
P
mks57: It depends what the gunk is. Usually we know what it is, since glassware is used once and cleaned. The usual way of cleaning glassware is with acetone, a solvent that dissolves practically anything. Truly huge quantities of acetone are used in cleaning glassware (if you stand near a big lab, you’re likely to smell it in the air). There really isn’t a more environmentally friendly way for now, though, because the used solvent contains toxic chemicals and must be disposed of properly. Some facilities recycle and recover solvents used for cleaning.
If acetone doesn’t work (and it usually does) we try other solvents; water might work, or an alcohol, a hydrocarbon, or (if absolutely necessary) something chlorinated. Soap and water is not acceptable for the first wash because the waste cannot be disposed of properly, but it’s good at removing the residue acetone leaves behind, and it makes glassware sparkling-clean. Cleaned glassware is often dried in an incubator to remove all traces of moisture since some reactions need absolutely dry conditions, and a common spectroscopic technique will fail if ordinary (non-heavy) water is present in the sample.
There are some very hardcore methods of cleaning glassware when ordinary solvents fail. For these, you try to cause some reaction that will make the waste more soluble. Concentrated nitric acid is one way of doing this, but you have to be very careful with the waste because it can form explosive compounds with organic materials. In the past glassware was sometimes treated with a strong oxidizing agent like potassium dichromate to make the gunk more soluble; all of these are dangerously toxic. The most hardcore method I’ve seen is a bath of concentrated potassium hydroxide, a very strong base. Glassware can be soaked in this for hours to remove difficult gunk; a KOH bath is very dangerous to work with, but it’s sometimes necessary.
Some labs have professional glass-cleaners. I was in a hospital research lab once where you put used glassware in a cart and they would clean it and put it back in a stock room. In less exotically-funded labs there might be cleaners for difficult tasks but most things would be done by individual researchers.
Sodium hydroxide dissolved in ethanol or methanol is good at removing laboratory tars. For home use, you can probably skip the NaOH, and just soak your pipe in a glass of vodka.
Oven cleaner (Fume free Easy-Off particularly). The longer it soaks, the easier it will wipe off. I also use an old toothbrush on the end of a staightened clothes hanger. If you soak it long enough, it will pretty much fall off.