Jordan Robinson of Kamloops has always kept his own bongs clean and decided it's a service that many tokers could benefit from.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Jordan Robinson

For those who don't want to deal with the hassle and mess of cleaning their stinky dank bong or gummed up pipe, your hero has arrived.

Jordan Robinson has worked at the Kamloops headshop Lemonade Stand for four years and has noticed how people continue to buy new bongs rather than clean their dirty ones. From that inspiration sprouted a unique business that he believes may be the first of its kind in Canada.

“I thought of it like washing windows. Nobody really enjoys going out there and washing their windows, and washing your pieces is stinky, dirty, you’ve got to scrub a little and a lot of people tend to have accidents in the sink, so some people get a little nervous to clean them, but I don't mind doing it and I’m pretty steady-handed with them.”

Robinson started the business in mid-October and says he knows only of similar businesses in the states. Although he only planned to be of service in the Kamloops area, he says Canadian tokers have already taken note of this unique service.

He received an email from someone in Vancouver who wanted to mail him his bong to wash and then mail it back.

“So I am now, as of today, in the process of setting up a mail-order washing process... even if you’re kind of far away, you can still get your favourite piece cleaned."

Robinson says he sticks to earth-friendly products and creates his own tools for the tricky to access crevices in bongs and pipes.

“I use strictly Orange Chronic, it’s a cleaning product for glass, mostly just smoking equipment. It's an earth-friendly cleaner, but it's quite aggressive and it works really well. For percolators, if they're really bad I’ll have to work out an overnight soaking or even a five-hour soak just to loosen it up."

Robinson says that he will look at each bong before cleaning and provide a quote, letting the owner know if a piece is too dirty for a complete, sparkling clean. If he can't clean it completely, he says he'll offer a discounted rate.

He charges anywhere from $15 to $30 depending on the size of the bong or pipe. For larger pieces, bongs with percolators, expensive glass and really dirty projects, his prices may increase. He says if it were to happen, he’ll replace any bong that may be damaged.

“There are some very, very expensive pieces out there, so I’ll have to be extra careful with those. Some of them are really big. There are people out there who own $10,000 ten-foot bong so that would be a pretty big piece to clean and I might need some help,” Robinson says. “They get really crazy, especially with some of the glass artists. They can get really complicated too depending on how many little glass pieces they put inside.”

Robinson currently works out of his apartment and says he can use a large laundry basin sink at his parent’s house when needed.

He hopes the Bongdromat will be a blazing success and plans to have a local brick and mortar space, and eventually a nation-wide business.

“I imagine having a small storefront, just enough that I can get a sink and enough space to store all the ones that need cleaning, a little counter and a drop off and pick up idea, a nice big sign all that fun stuff, maybe even self wash space and in the distant future I hope to expand this thing and get into a Canada wide, just have this service all over.”

For him, this is his own slice of the marijuana market. He knew he wanted to continue working in the field, and says he will continue selling paraphernalia until his Bongdromat fills up his time.

“I wanted to get sort of into the market, but not directly in the marijuana market… I didn't want to get into the mud field of marijuana, it's just too much,” Robinson says. “I figured there had to be something there in the little cervices for me to find that I can make some money in, and this stuck out to me.”

If you want to get your dirty pieces back to sparkling fresh check out the Bongdromat on Facebook to set up a cleaning.

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