Can You Drink Bong Water?

As you ‘can’ drink bong water if you want, the real issue is whether you should drink it! There is a theory that drinking bong water gets you high because some of the THC from the weed in the water goes inside your system and gets you stoned.

Will Bong Water Get Me High?

The short answer is ‘no.’ The notion that you can get stoned from drinking dirty bong water is ridiculous, and the process of doing so is idiotic. The main thing to know is that THC is almost entirely insoluble in water. Its solubility is no more than two micrograms per milliliter of water.

For argument’s sake, let’s imagine that it takes 5mg of THC to achieve a psychoactive effect. There are 1,000 micrograms per mg. Therefore, you would need 5,000 micrograms of THC to get high. Using the two micrograms per ml calculation, it means you would need to drink 2,500ml, or 2.5 liters, of bong water to achieve the desired effect.

First and foremost, it is utterly irrelevant because you wouldn’t actually get high. However, can you guess what would happen if you attempted to drink 2.5 liters of bong water? You would be exceedingly ill and vomit to the point where you wished you had taken a beating rather than drank that damned water!

Also, the weed that falls into the water will be unburned, and as you should know, marijuana must be decarboxylated before it provides you with the cannabinoids required to get high. The process of combustion is enough to activate the THC cannabinoid in weed. However, the weed that gets into the bong water is not decarboxylated and will not provide you with the psychoactive effect you seek.

Some individuals recommend putting peppermint in the bong and leaving it there long enough to flavor the water. This action will make the water taste less disgusting but probably won’t prevent you from throwing up. You will also have a terrible stomach ache. Those who claim it made them high probably experienced a placebo effect.

Clean Your Bong!

Instead of going through the disgusting and futile action of consuming bong water, make sure you change your bong water regularly. There are several benefits to doing so, and if nothing else, it removes the temptation to drink it. Clean bong water also positively impacts the taste and potency of your weed.

First and foremost, bacteria become present in used bong water less than 24 hours after you smoke your weed. Since we breathe in any content that’s in the water when taking a hit from the bong, using dirty water ensures that bacteria have an opportunity to get into your lungs. As you can guess, this process increases the risk of catching an infection.

There are also chemicals in the water so as it gets dirtier, its color changes. After a while, the water will have a dark color and resemble sewage; still want to drink it? Bong users who are concerned about chemicals in the water tend to filter it before use.

Even if you are not worried about bacteria, you need to be wary of the effect dirty bong water has on the taste and potency of your stash. You simply don’t get the same taste from dirty water as you do when fresh water is used. Also, the longer you wait, the harder it is to remove the associated stains from your bong, and if you have spent a small fortune on a high-quality glass bong, why would you want to make it harder to clean it?

Finally, have you ever experienced a bong spill? If so, you know that it is a pain to try and clean everything up. It is a minor inconvenience when the water is clean. Imagine how hard it is to clean a carpet that has become soaked in sewage-like bong water!

How to Clean Your Bong

Hopefully, you have read enough to be dissuaded from ever trying to drink bong water. Clean your bong regularly, and you will reap the rewards. Aside from salt and hot water, you should get the following items ready:

• Cotton balls
• Rubbing alcohol
• Hand towels
• Q-Tips
• Ziploc bags
• Pipe cleaners or a bottle brush

Instead of drinking the dirty bong water, throw it away. Next, disassemble your bong by separating the stem and bowl from the bong. You should separate the stem and bowl as well if they happen to be separate pieces. Some bongs are sophisticated and consist of several parts; you have to take it all apart in that case.

If you like, you can soak the pieces in hot water for a while. Next, start rinsing with water as hot as you and your bong pieces can handle. It is best if you wear rubber gloves at this point. Scrub the pieces to dislodge a fair proportion of the surface resin that has built up.

Place each part (except for the main bong piece) into its own Ziploc bag; you can also use a Tupperware container as long as it has a lid. Pour in a quarter of a cup of the rubbing alcohol and a tablespoon of salt into each container. Salt is abrasive and works with the acidic alcohol to break down the sticky resin. Shake the containers to help the salt and alcohol mixture get to the really tough to reach places.

After shaking for up to five minutes, allow the solution to soak into the pieces for another 15 minutes. As for your bong, place it in a container, and add up to three tablespoons of salt into hot water with the bong. Add up to half a cup of rubbing alcohol and plug in the holes in your bongs with the hand towels. Cotton balls are a solid alternative if your bong has small holes. Once again, shake the bong container for several minutes.

Remove all pieces from their containers and throw away the solution. Rinse every piece with hot water and use Q-tips or pipe cleaners to deal with the stubborn stains that remain. After ensuring everything is clean, rinse all pieces one last time. If you haven’t cleaned your bong for a very long time, you will need to complete the entire process at least once more.

Once you have spent ages cleaning your bong in this fashion, you should feel more inclined to clean your bong after every single use quickly. If you spot hard water stains in your bong, pour a few spoons of vinegar into the bong’s bowl and swish for up to a minute. Allow the bong to sit with the vinegar for a couple of minutes. When you are satisfied that everything is clean, rinse with hot water and let the bong dry.

Final Thoughts on Drinking Bong Water

There is no room for ambivalence when answering the title question. You can drink bong water, but it is a terrible idea! It doesn’t get you high, and you are almost guaranteed to feel sick afterward. Instead, make sure you dump your bong water after every single use and clean your device regularly.

Otherwise, the bacteria from the dirty water and bong could slowly but surely damage your lungs. A dirty bong also reduces the potency of weed and negatively impacts the taste. It also decreases your overall enjoyment of a bong session.

We have heard of several cool ways to keep your bong cleaner for long. For example, you can replace water with cranberry juice and still enjoy nice bong hits. The acidity in the fruit juice keeps glass cleaner for longer.

Those in the know say that using ice water provides you with the gold standard of bong use. As well as cooling the smoke, distilled and chilled water enhances your flower’s crisp taste.