How to Clean your Hookah

In this How-To, I will tell you step by step the best way I have found to clean a hookah, and hookah hoses!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A Hookah
• Lemon Juice
• Long cleaning brushes
• Hot Water
• Pressurized air

1. Take apart your hookah as much as you can. On some hookahs, the stem comes apart, on others it doesn't. Some pop apart, some twist apart, it really all depends on the type of hookah you have. Take out your hoses, take off the bowl, etc.

2. Once your hookah is all taken apart, proceed to rinse it all out. Using hot water, run water through all the parts.

3. 
    
   Any type of lemon juice will work.

   Put about an ounce of lemon juice into the base of your hookah. Swish and swirl it around so that it touches all parts of the base. Put hot water in with the lemon juice and continue to swirl it around. After a couple of seconds, rinse it all out well and place the base upside down to dry out. Lemony fresh!

4. 
    

   Using your long brushes, clean out the stem of your hookah. It's okay to put a little bit of lemon juice in there, or even just use the hot water. Make sure to pay special attention to the ends, so they don't get any buildup on them. Lay these parts out to dry.

5. Clean out the bowl. Gently remove built up shisha out of the bowl using hot water, toothpick, or generally anything that will get it out of there. Set it out to dry.

6. Grab your hoses. Using the pressurized air, blow through either end with the bottle. This will push out any stale air instead of letting it sit in your hookah hoses. This method really helps to keep your hoses fresher for longer!

Tips & Warnings

• It is best to clean your hookah after every smoke session. This will almost completely eliminate your base getting stained by a smell
• After you are done with your hoses, hang them up
• Do not take the hookah bowl off with your hands right after smoking! It Will Be Hot and burn your hands! It's advised to use your tongs to remove the bowl and set it aside until you have cleaned the other parts, giving it time to cool down.
• It's best to not put your hookah back together until after it has dried. Putting it together before this point will not let it air dry well enough
• Do not suck through the hoses immediately after blowing the pressurized air through them. This is a safe method of cleaning if you give it time to work. Failing to wait will have almost the same effect as huffing the pressurized air, which could potentially be fatal.

Resources

• Hookah Domain - A great forum site to connect to others about everything hookah!
• Hookah Central - The best place to buy a hookah and shisha. Almsot all hookahs come with extra goodies!

[Miragi]

on 10/5/2008 I had to take pause when I first read the title :D Don't know a thing about the Hookah, but if it's made of glass, people should be advised that if the bowl is hot, or warm even, running cold water on it will cause it to crack and destroy it. Hookay away! :)