Clean Your Bong, Congresswoman
This week, nude photos of Congresswoman Katie Hill (D-CA) smoking a bong with her girlfriend were published in The Daily Mail and it caused quite a bit of uproar. While we certainly don’t condone this violation of her privacy by her estranged husband, we were outraged by Rep. Hill’s actions. Not by her being in a “throuple” or having a girlfriend - that’s entirely her business. Not by her smoking a bong - it would be great if more Congresspeople smoked pot, plus she was a co-sponsor of the SAFE Banking Act. What provoked our outrage was her bong itself. The Daily Mail described Hill as “holding a giant bong filled with a murky brown liquid.” Gross. As we will discuss below, cleaning your glass is easy to do and should be done regularly.
Why clean my glass?
Taste, performance, appearance and hygiene. Nothing ruins the taste of pot like a dirty bong. Even if you are not going to regularly clean your glass, at least change the water. It takes 15 seconds. When there is less ash and residue in your glass the smoke will flow more freely and it will perform better. It looks nicer when it is clean. And since odds are multiple people are smoking from it, regularly cleaning your glass is a good way to combat the spread of colds and germs and prevent respiratory issues.
How to clean your glass?
There are many brands out there selling bong and pipe cleaner, but for all intents and purposes they have the same ingredients - salt and alcohol - So instead of spending lots of money on cleaning products, you can just make your own cleaner at home. First, dump out the water. Second, add salt and rubbing alcohol. 90+% purity should do it. Make sure there is about a 2:1 ratio of alcohol to salt. The salt is abrasive and will the alcohol removes stuck on resin and tar. Cover the mouth hole and down-stem and then shake vigorously until The Daily Mail would describe it as “a murky brown liquid.” After shaking, dump out the liquid and rinse the bong with hot water a couple times until you don’t see any salt or smell any rubbing alcohol. After you dry it you should be good to go.
So come on, Congresswoman, clean your bong. It’s easy and cheap to do.