Everything you need to know about cleaning your cannabis extract pen in four easy steps.
When using a vape for your marijuana extracts, it is inevitable that residue will buildup in certain spots in your vape, potentially altering the vape’s airflow or affecting your vapor’s flavor.
This process doesn’t need to be complicated or time-consuming, but the effort put in to keep your vape pen clean will ultimately improve your vaping experience.
You may only need to clean your vape once a month or as often as once or more a week, depending on how often you use it.
Regularly cleaning of your cannabis extracts vape pen will ensure it continues to work as it should and will help the components last longer before needing to be replaced.
What You Will Need
You only need a small list of supplies to clean your vape pen. These include household items that you may already have around your home.
- Isopropyl alcohol in 91% ISO or higher
- Dab tool
- Paper towels
- Cotton swabs
Step 1: Take vape pen apart
The first step in cleaning your vape is to break it down to its base components. This will usually entail separating the mouthpiece, chamber, atomizer, and battery. Most of these pieces will either slide or screw apart. Set these pieces aside so that they can each be cleaned.
You should find specific instructions for disassembling your vape in its owners manual.
Step 2: Remove thick buildup
You may have a buildup of residual marijuana extract in your vape pen, especially near the mouthpiece and atomizer. If this residue has collected as a thick buildup, you can use your dab tool to scrape this residue out of the pen.
Most likely, this leftover marijuana wax residue has been heated but not fully vaporized. It may be darker in color and lack the fresh terpene flavors of your favorite marijuana extracts
Some consumers choose to save this residue, and for good reason. When collected, this residue is called “reclaim”, and it is high in a specific cannabinoid – CBN – which is prized for its ability to help users sleep, among other benefits.
To store your reclaim, place it in a high-quality, non-stick silicone container. You can learn more about storing cannabis extracts here.
Step 3: Using alcohol to remove remaining wax
Next, you will want to use cotton swabs soaked in ISO alcohol to remove any remaining residue on your vape from your marijuana extracts. High concentration ISO alcohol naturally breaks down cannabis extracts, allowing them to be cleaned from your vape much more easily.
Most of the components of your wax vape pen will be ok to clean with ISO alcohol, including those made of glass, stainless steel, titanium, quartz, and ceramic.
To clean, simply scrub any parts of your vape pen that are safe for alcohol. This will remove any leftover residue. Depending on how often you clean your wax vape, you might need to use several cotton swabs to complete the process. Be sure to avoid any electronic components of your vape while cleaning.
Places to focus on cleaning are the vape’s mouthpiece, around the chamber where you load your marijuana extract, and around the atomizer. You will also want to clean the threads that connect the parts of your vape pen together, like those on the battery, to ensure they don’t become stuck with residue.
If your vape has exposed coils, you can clean those as well, but be very careful, as vape coils can be extremely fragile and may break during cleaning. Regardless of how often you clean your vape and how careful you are not to damage your coils, most vape pens will need the atomizer replaced over time.
Some users will soak their atomizers or coils in ISO alcohol for a half hour or more before wiping with cotton swabs for a deeper clean and to get more life out of their heating elements before replacing. Before you do this, check your vape’s owners manual if your atomizer or coil can be submerged without doing damage to any delicate circuitry. Coil-less atomizers are the easiest to clean this way.
After soaking in ISO alcohol, ensure the atomizer or coil is fully dried before reattaching to your vape. It is also suggested that you dry heat your vape a few times in short bursts so that all the alcohol is off the coils.
Finally, you can use a paper towel or cloth bandana lightly soaked in ISO alcohol to wipe down the body and exterior of your vape to remove any sticky spots.
Step 4: Reassemble vape
Once you have finished cleaning your vape, it is a good idea to lay your vape’s components on a paper towel to dry before reassembling.
Once they are dry, you can slide or screw these components back together. Your vape’s owners manual can help you to put your vape back together properly.
Learn More:
You can find everything you need to know about vapes, including how to pick the perfect vape for you, on our Cannabis 101 page.
The vape products and vaping advice featured in Medical Marijuana, Inc. posts are specifically for people looking to support their health with legal natural botanicals and are not created with nicotine or tobacco users in mind.
