The ongoing bane of any hookah smoker’s experience is returning a well used hookah bowl to its freshest, cleanest state. After a few weeks or months of smoking, it is inevitable that your bowl will get caked with a solid black gunk that most people find nearly impossible to remove.

A quick search on the internet will tell you to use baking soda, lemon juice, vinegar, oven cleaner, Bar Tender’s Friend, or even boiling the bowl for a long period of time, to remove the gunk. But if you’re anything like me, you’ve never had much success with these methods. Which makes sense. The stuff that’s stuck on there is a residue that’s been baking at around 400 – 600 degrees for 20 or 30 hours—or more, if you’re not in the habit of cleaning the bowl regularly. The popular cleaning methods simply aren’t powerful enough to make too much of a difference. With this cleaning method, you bowl will be about as clean as it will get, and it will only take about 10 minutes.