How to Clean a Vape Pen

Maintaining your vaporizer certainly isn’t as much fun as using it, but learning how to clean a vape pen is absolutely essential if you want your device to last as long as possible and to deliver top-quality flavor and vapor production every time you use it. Herbal concentrates are incredibly thick and sticky, and they tend to get everywhere. Oil will condense inside the airway and clog your cartridge. Oil can also leak out of a vape cartridge and contaminate your vape pen’s threading. Eventually, a dirty vape pen will either die an early death, or it’ll stop delivering the level of performance that you enjoyed when the device was new. Either way, it’s a situation that you definitely want to avoid – and in this article, we’ll explain what you need to do.

Here is your complete guide to cleaning a vape pen.

Dry herb user? Learn how to clean a dry herb vaporizer.

How to Clean a Vape Battery

Understanding how to clean a vape pen battery is crucial because it ensures that your device will continue to provide reliable performance over the long term. Leaked oil can get stuck inside the device’s threading, impeding power transfer. It can even potentially contaminate the device’s airflow system or internal components. Here’s how to keep your vape pen clean.

• Clean the threading. If the threading isn’t too dirty, you can do this by pushing a cotton swab into the threading and twisting it gently. Repeat until a swab comes out clean. If oil is inside the threading, wet the cotton swab with a little rubbing alcohol to dissolve it.
• Clean the charging port. If your vape pen uses a USB port for charging, you can use a toothpick to remove any lint or other contaminants stuck in the port.
• Clean the exterior of the device. You can do this by rubbing it gently with a soft cloth. Don’t use any solvents on the exterior of your vape pen unless you need to use a little alcohol to dissolve leaked oil. Never submerge a vape pen in liquid.

How to Clean a Vape Cartridge

In most cases, there’s no need to clean a vape cartridge. If it’s pre-filled, you’ll use it until it’s empty – and if it’s refillable, you’ll use it until the flavor quality changes. If oil leaks out of the cartridge, you can dissolve the residue using a cotton swab dampened with rubbing alcohol.

If you really want to get a bit more life out of a refillable vape cartridge and want to try cleaning it, follow these steps.

• Disassemble the cartridge and submerge it in a strong drinkable alcohol such as high-proof vodka. Do this when the cartridge is empty because you’ll lose any oil in the reservoir.
• Swish the cartridge periodically to provide agitation. The alcohol should change color as the residue is dissolved.
• Dump the alcohol after an hour or two and replace it with clean water. Swish the cartridge in the water to rinse away the alcohol and any remaining residue.
• Let the cartridge air dry for a day.
• Refill the cartridge and let it stand for a half hour to ensure that the wick is fully saturated.

How to Clean a Wax Tank or Coil

If you’re using a dab pen, your device is easy to clean because you can remove your heating element or wax tank for separate cleaning. Here’s what you need to do.

• Remove the coil, wax tank or heating element from your dab pen and disassemble it if it has a removable mouthpiece.
• Soak it in rubbing alcohol for about an hour. The alcohol will change color quickly as it dissolves the residue. Swish the liquid periodically to provide agitation.
• Remove the tank, element or coil from the alcohol and rinse it in clean water to remove the alcohol and any remaining residue.
• Dry the components completely before using them again.