You’ve reached the end of a long day. You finally sit down to enjoy some much-needed cannabis when you remember your only smoking utensil was broken by your clumsy friend the night before!

Or, you find yourself on a camping trip and you've brought all of your smoking needs, like a lighter, flower, even a poker, but you forgot your pipe!

With no papers in sight, you're left with two options: an apple that you had or a soda can.

But how does one smoke out of an apple?

It’s about now when high school nostalgia kicks in. You know how to make the perfect can pipe. You think of all the fun times in which you started with a soda can pipe. How can you resist? But then something more practical waves over you. Is aluminum the best choice to smoke from? Anyone who has ever thrown a soda can into a campfire knows how nasty the fumes from aluminum are. Aluminum vapors are known to cause various health problems and are not environmentally friendly as they emit these awful vapors and sit on earth for entirely too long.

Now that all that high school nostalgia has worn off, it’s a no-brainer.

Apple pipe it is!

The Early Days of Smoking Out of An Apple

Back in the day, a few high schoolers got creative and used their lunches to make pipes. With their apples being the most sturdy opinion in their lunchboxes for this beautiful revolution. Another huge bonus – they could get rid of the evidence by either eating them after or throwing away. It’s a completely organic way to enjoy cannabis without the worry of aluminum residue.

 

Benefits of Smoking Out of An Apple

Taste

One of the main benefits is that it doesn't leave a terrible taste in your mouth. It (surprisingly) has an apple aftertaste! Not to mention it gives you the ability to taste the cannabis with all the terpenes involved, as the apple filters out a lot of the foul smoke taste. The apple doesn’t necessarily change the cannabis flavor but complements it. The best part – no metal taste! 

Healthy

Knowing you’re not inhaling the fumes, even better! Aluminum vapors are known to house carcinogens of all sorts. With the apple degrading gracefully in nature, you’re feeling healthy and environmentally friendly. By smoking out of an apple, you're not contributing to the ever-growing trash problem we're dealing with. The apple pipe is a stoner’s handbook must.

But isn’t it a huge pain to make?

Not even a little bit!

Plus, you’ll be able to rejoice in the product you made by hand – and feel good about it being all-natural. 

It’s about time to teach you how to smoke out of an apple.

How To Smoke Out of An Apple

Tools needed to make your own apple pipe: 

• Hollowed-out pen (pen outer lining)
• Toothpicks (or a poker of some sort)
• And, of course, the apple

If you don't have a pen and/or toothpicks handy, you can improvise by finding a strong stick, with about a half-inch diameter. To substitute the toothpicks, try and find smaller, thinner-yet-stronger sticks than the one you'll use in lieu of the pen.

 

7 steps to a fully functioning apple pipe:

1. Remove the stem for the top of the apple. Use fingers to twist or pull off.

2. Use toothpicks to deepen the hole left by the stem. Dig hole until it extends about halfway through the apple. This will form a downstem.

3. Use the pen to carve out a hollow shape on the top of the apple.

4. Poke 5-8 toothpick holes around the stem area (this will act as the bowl). No aluminum foil needed!

5. Insert the pen (or stick you found) and poke a hole that will meet with the downstem. If shoving the pen doesn’t work, twist the pen until it connects to the stem hole. Push the pen until the tunnel connects with the downstem.

6. After making the mouth hole, you may want to add a carb. Follow the previous step wherever you feel like placing the carb. Think ahead about how it will all connect.

7. Take your cannabis and fill the bowl. Light the wonderful herbals and enjoy your creation!

When you're left without a pipe, papers, or standard smoking utensils, you should now know how to smoke out of an apple. You will have a perfectly functional pipe in just 7 easy steps. Easily disposable and also edible, apple pipes are a healthy way to get by in a pinch. The pipe is really only recommended for a day tops before the apple will start falling apart or oxidizing, so it's just a great temporary option.

If you find yourself needing some good buds to put in your awesome, kick-butt pipe, check out our marijuana deals page for a breakdown of the best dispensary deals to get you properly lifted and feeling great!

There you have it - an apple pipe to smoke cannabis out of. Now, there's one way you can embrace the saying, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” 

 

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Bongs are just lovely, aren’t they? You know you love smoking from your bong, heck, I think most of us “cannaisseurs” do. Cypress Hill wouldn’t write about the glass beauty if it weren’t true.

The art piece that is your bong – the smooth, silky intake, delightful flower taste. The cool way the juicy marijuana smoke hits your throat and lungs. Seeing all the gross stuff remain in the water instead of your lungs – priceless.

Time does roll on, however, and that pristine glass becomes a darker shade of brown and after every sesh – becoming a slimy, sea monster of what it once was. After a while, you might even have a friend pass on the disgusting looking object. What was once a shining beauty of glass mixing seamlessly with your marijuana, now a horrible, passable monster – we’ve all seen that monster. We all remember that monster. In short, gross.

Your marijuana deserves better.

So, how do you clean a bong? 

You’ve seen a friend do it once or twice. It seems like a complicated, drawn-out process. Changing out the water is enough, right?

Well, changing out the water does help, most definitely. Short term. The longer you’ve gone without changing the water or rinsing it out, the less the water change alone will help. The process of a thorough cleaning of a bong isn’t as complicated as one may think. With some easily obtainable items, you can keep that sparkling bong gunk-free.

Dirty Bong? Clean It Up!

Items Needed: 

• Coarse salt

• 99% isopropyl alcohol

• Sealable plastic bags

• Long-handled cleaning brush (optional)

• Rubber bong plugs

• A pre-mixed solution to replace salt/alcohol mixture

 

1. Take everything off. This includes ash catchers, bowls, dab attachments, etc. Be careful removing because some accessories may be glued into your piece with accumulated resin. Trust me, it happens.

2. Put the accessories in a sealable bag. If putting multiple pieces in one bag, use caution when stacking glass together. We’ll look at these pieces a little later.

3. Empty the water out of your bong and rinse. Then repeat based on the amount of residue in your bong. 3-4 rinses will ensure a cleaner end product. The use of warm water helps in aiding stubborn resin out of the bong. The use of a long-handled cleaning brush helps in speeding up this process though not necessarily needed.

4. After rinsing, place everything on a clean towel. Pour about ¼ of your bong with coarse salt (table salt works in a pinch) into the bong. The grainer that salt, the slower you should pour. Large ice cream ice can hit the glass uncomfortably hard. Pour slow.

5. Continue by filling your bong with about ½ warm water. Caution: Do not mix warm and cold water when cleaning your bong. It can break it.

6. To finish the solution, fill your bong ½ with the 99% isopropyl alcohol. Make sure the mixture doesn’t overflow out of your bong. This can cause messes. No one likes messes. When in doubt, have more alcohol than water if needed.

Solution Sidenote: Companies make pre-mixed solutions to cleaning bongs. If you wish to skip the salt/alcohol mixture, due to time crunches or otherwise, here are a few amazing pre-mixed solutions that are a great option as well:

Formula 420 is a non-toxic, quick cleaner. The formula allows you to skip the scrubbing and soaking processes. The cleaner is also biodegradable and will leave your bong deodorized.

Orange Chronic is a cleaner made from natural substances such as oranges. This cleaner has a refreshing smell while kicking your resin’s butt. All this while you know your piece is getting cleaned.

Resinate has a cleaning mixture that is just right, taking the guesswork out of making solutions yourself. It sterilizes while leaving your bong squeaky clean. It also comes in various cleaning phase bottles and grinder cleaner.

1. Use bong plugs and shake salt or pre-mixed mixture around the bong. If you have no bong plugs, simply seal the top of the bong with your palm and plug downstem with whichever finger plugs it. Depending on your situation, this may need to have two people involved. Not everyone can swing a bong around.

2. Whichever cleaning solution you decided to use, fill the bong accessory bag about ½ way and then seal completely closed. Making sure it is 100% sealed, shake around a bit. Also, make sure the accessories are completely submerged. The more the solution can get into the accessories, the cleaner each piece will come out.

3. To get some of the finer cleaning details, use pipe cleaners and/or cotton swabs for the mouthpiece, bowls, downstems, etc. Any residue left behind you may want more off of.

4. Rinse each piece generously through some warm water. Allow each piece to cool a little bit so as not to crack the glass. Fill with crisp, clean new water and enjoy your renewed glass beauty.

Simple Steps to Maintaining a Clean Bong

Now that we’ve got our crisp newly cleaned bong, let’s try to keep it cleaner for longer.

By keeping residue out of our bong, we are also eliminating any contaminants thus keeping your bong healthier to smoke on. Dumping the water you use after each use and rinsing with warm water will clean freshly-accumulated ash. Simple as that. 

Some cleaners such as Resinate offer resin “shields” which are supposed to keep your clean bong cleaner for long. Another useful tip would be to have a cover or case for your bong. It will keep dust and other airborne particles from invading your bong, adding to the cleaning chore.

So will you ever again have a dirty bong? Absolutely freaking not! 

With these simple bong cleaning steps, hopefully cleaning will seem less intimidating. Never again will you have the disgusting monster of a bong. The bong in which everyone talks about not wanting to touch let alone take a hit out of. Instead, you can lay back and bask in everyone thinking you just bought a new piece.

Remember, a clean bong is a happy bong.

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Both the Smoke Trap and Smoke Buddy are designed and sold as a way to discreetly smoke weed. While they both can cut down on the smell from exhaling the smoke, you still get the smell from lighting up the marijuana itself.
 
That said, If you are looking for a way to keep your smoking herb a "shameful dirty little secret," these devices are not what you need.
 

Pros:

Helps reduce, not eliminate second-hand smoke.
Inexpensive: 

•    SmokeBuddy - $24.95- $26.95
•    SmokeTrap - Regular $29.95 but often on sale for $19.95

Cons:
Hard to seal
Doesn't stop the smell of weed coming from your bowl.
Doesn't always eliminate all smoke smell coming from your mouth either.
 
In A Nutshell:
What these devices do help prevent is a lot of second-hand smoke from bothering others. After all second-hand smoke--to non-smokers--bites biscuit! It smells bad to them and irritates their noses and even their lungs. If you want to be considerate to your non-smoking friends and family, this might be just the thing for you.
 
Well that is, if you don't have any facial hair. While I had no problem getting a good seal, the same cannot be said for those in my family who are "extra furry". Smoke leaked out no matter how much they slowed their exhale. Or how hard I jammed it into their face, as sure they just weren't getting a good seal.
 
These units are completely worthless if you go on a coughing fit. Yeah, you try keeping that seal while coughing! If you're an old Squirrel girl like me, coughing fits are bad enough. Now try keeping your legs tightly crossed and mouth sealed on one of these gadgets while coughing! That takes concentration and coordination; the first I possess but the latter I do not!
 
If you are trying to smoke like a Secret Squirrel you want to remove all evidence of smoke, not just second-hand smoke. This is probably more suited for machines like Molekule or EnviroKlenz. While I haven't tested either of these units, I do hope to in the near future.
 
I was really stoked about the Smoke Trap, which I will admit was better than the Smoke Buddy. But one thing that really annoyed the nut out of me was the hype about the reusable plastic.

 
On Twitter and Instagram postings raved about how there was more reusable plastic (less plastic waste) because of the smaller filter. Based on the design and hype I thought the filter was the end cap, which is just a cap, that serves what purpose? I haven't a clue. Maybe just to trick us?
 
In all reality the filter part of the Smoke Trap that has to be tossed is just slightly smaller than the Smoke Buddy. It's not like the filter snaps out of the body, which would've been cool. In reality the only parts that are reusable are the tiny end cap and rubber mouthpiece.
 
Honestly if I was Smoke Trap, I would drop all the boasting about less plastic waste. I would focus on how the mouthpiece is way better. It is more comfortable and does provide a better seal than its hard plastic competitors. Trying to act like this is a more environmentally-friendly filter, but clearly failing to demonstrate it, just rubs people the wrong way.
 
I give these products 3 out of 5.
 

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