How To Clean Hookah
by Lucas on Dec.30, 2009, under Hookah Tips
Simple Hookah Cleaning Tips
Hookahs that aren’t cleaned regularly taste bad and look grimy, neither of which is conducive to the relaxed calm environment you are seeking when smoking your favorite shisha. Take care of your hookah with regular hookah cleaning and you’ll enjoy many more great smokes.
How To Clean Hookah
Hookah cleaning isn’t difficult, just a little time-consuming. Fortunately it gets a lot quicker as you become more practiced at it. The following guidelines will prove invaluable to experienced smokers, and those new to hookahs alike.
The first thing you need to do is dismantle your hookah. Everything! Take off the bowl, the water chamber, the hose, the grommets and so on. This may seem like a bit of a hassle but it really doesn’t take long and will definitely be worth it. Give everything (except for the hose) a quick rinse with warm water to start things off.
Now you can start hookah cleaning proper with the tobacco bowl. Take a toothpick and clear away any debris and old burnt tobacco paying special attention to the holes in the bottom of the bowl. You can use some more warm water also if the bowl is particularly dirty or clogged.
Next move on to the shaft of your pipe. A long thin brush is especially useful here. Some of the commercial hookah cleaning brushes are very good at getting this inside part of the pipe clean, and are reasonably priced. Again you can use warm water here but if you haven’t cleaned your pipe for a while or you notice that it is getting especially dirty you might choose to use some hookah cleaning liquid designed for precisely this job. You can find both hookah cleaning liquid and brushes, here.
The water vase is the next major component that needs to be cleaned. And again you can purchase a special brush for precisely this task. With a bit of elbow grease you should be able to get it looking as good as new. Be careful though, glass bowls can be quite delicate and hard to handle. In short, don’t drop it!
Now on to the hose. Hoses are problematic as most aren’t designed to be cleaned with water. All you can really do is blow down it to remove ash and other debris. If possible you should have a couple of hoses. One for stronger tasting tobaccos and one for milder. This will avoid the problem of tasting apple when you’re smoking mint and so on.
In addition I like to clean the mouthpiece regularly with a little warm water and alcohol. Especially if it has been shared.
Give all other parts a wipe down to ensure they are clean (using hookah cleaning liquid if you choose or hot water), and then dry everything thoroughly to avoid any corrosion.
Now reassemble your hookah. It should look as good as new.
Final Thoughts On Hookah Cleaning
Smoking your hookah is obviously the fun part, while cleaning it is a chore. But it has to be done if you want your pipe to last and to taste great.
Keep up this routine after every few sessions, or when you change tobacco flavor and your hookah will give you a great smoke every time, in addition to looking great.
The specialized hookah cleaning equipment detailed above and available here, while not essential, can be very useful and make your job a lot easier. Happy smoking!
