I always run hot water through it before any cleaning. Loosens stuff up and will actually do a half way decent job of cleaning as well. good head start when I would use alcohol and salt shake the shit out of it. Got this cleaner now tho. All natural which i like and you just coat everything with the stuff let sit 30 mins rinse with hot water. No more shaking plugging the ends with my hands getting nasty bong leakage if my hands dont seal well. Im stoked