While vape pens, in general, are designed and engineered to require little maintenance, they can still use a little bit of cleaning allowing you to prolong the lifespan of your dab pens. Today, we’ll talk about everything there is to know about vape pen and wax pen vaporizers. We’ll look at some of the basic steps as well as some tips and tricks to help you keep your wax pen vaporizers in pristine condition. So, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced vape pen user, keep it here because we’ve got some bits and pieces of information that you can use no matter your experience level. First, let’s look at why you should be cleaning your vaporizer.
Why Do I Need to Clean My Vape Pen?
As we’ve briefly covered above, one of the main reasons why you should be cleaning your wax pen is to maintain and possibly prolong its lifespan. Even high-rollers would want to make the most out of every investment they make – vaporizers included. Without proper cleaning and maintenance, your wax pen will develop resinous buildup, especially if you’re fond of loading big dabs. Putting large amounts of wax concentrates can cause the liquefied material to spill. The melted wax can then make its way into the cavities and crevices of your wax pen seeping into the small cracks until it makes its way into the internal circuitry of the battery potentially causing further damage. When it hardens, it can make the moving components stick together, from the 510-threaded connections down to the power button. Knowing any better, you mash the buttons and crank up the threaded connections breaking them in the process. And you’ll end up having to buy a new unit without having maximized your time and experience with your vape pen.
Another reason why you should keep your vaporizer clean is hygiene. The resinous buildup will not only make the moving components of your vaporizer stick to each other but it can also harbor a slew of microorganisms that can affect the quality of your sessions and cause a wide range of medical conditions. You don’t want bacteria and other pathogens growing in your wax atomizer and mouthpiece. Instead of making your wax pen a healthier option, it can be the cause of your health’s decline and can give you lung-related problems. It can also attract pocket lint as well as other dirt and debris sitting in your pockets and in your bag, basically wherever you keep your wax pen when you’re on-the-go. Keeping your vaporizer clean will ensure that you always get clean and smooth vapors befitting of its title as the new healthy alternative. Now that you know why cleaning your wax vaporizers are important, it’s time we talk about when you should be cleaning them.
When Should I Clean My Wax Pen?
Contrary to the common belief, your wax pen should be cleaned the first time you pull it out of the box. This is usually called sterilization in the vaporizer industry as it eliminates all the possible residual materials like oils and similar manufacturing byproducts that might be left in the device when it was made and assembled. The first thing you’d want to do is to give your wax pen a proper burn-off. Activate the heating element just long enough to sterilize it and flash the manufacturing byproducts. After that, your wax pen will hit really smooth giving you a clean and crisp taste. While other consumers like to wipe down their wax pens with a cotton swab after every session, a good indication that you need to clean your wax pen is when you begin to see a change in the vapor quality. This means that there could be an obvious change in taste, viscosity, density, as well as airflow. These changes are often caused by a clogged mouthpiece or a dirty atomizer.
A good practice would be to clean your wax pen once every two weeks. If you’re a heavy consumer and your wax pen is your daily driver, cleaning it once a week would be a better idea. Cleaning your vaporizer is not as time-consuming as you would think. Because most wax pens are made up only of three or four parts, cleaning them is quite easy. That’s why there’s no excuse for not cleaning your vaporizer.
How to Clean a Vape Pen
With a general idea of why and when should you be cleaning your vaporizer, let’s look into the steps on how you should go about giving it a thorough sprucing. We’ll go through each part of the vaporizer so you don’t miss anything. Here are a few things you would need.
- Isopropyl alcohol
- Cotton swabs
- Alcohol wipes
- Paper towels
- Dab tool
Let’s start with the battery.
1. How to Clean a Wax Pen Battery
First, when we say battery, we mean to say the actual body of the wax pen that contains the rechargeable battery pack. When cleaning the battery, it’s best to treat it the same way you would any other electronic appliances in your home. Avoid letting water into the battery as it can cause potential liquid damage that could void any warranty. That said, use an alcohol wipe or a moistened paper towel to wipe the body of the battery. Make sure to wipe out any sticky residue and lightly scrape off hardened wax concentrates using your dab tool. While you’re at it, moisten the cotton swabs with isopropyl alcohol and clean the contacts that connect the battery and the atomizer. Dry the battery with a paper towel and set it aside.
2. How to Clean a Wax Vaporizer Coil
Your wax atomizer or your wax coil is one of the most important components of your wax vaporizer. It's responsible for heating your wax concentrates and extract the active ingredients into the vapor. It’s also one of the dirtiest parts of a vaporizer because it’s directly exposed to the physical and chemical change that your wax concentrate goes through. The constant cycles of cooling and heating as well as the perpetual physical change of wax from highly viscous to a liquefied state cause the wax coils to develop resinous buildup. This resinous buildup is not like reclaim that you can smoke, it can cause hazardous effects and should be discarded from the actual heating element. Here’s how you go about cleaning your wax coil.
Take a small container, enough to hold isopropyl alcohol and submerge your atomizer, coil. Fill it up with isopropyl alcohol and soak the coil in it. Let it sit in the container for several minutes or until the hardened wax concentrate has dissolved. If you encounter stubborn buildups, use your dab tool to lightly scrape off the hardened material. Just make sure not to knock off the coils as it can damage the atomizer. You can also use your cotton swabs to wipe any gooey wax concentrates to make sure you give your atomizer a thorough clean.
3. How to Clean a Wax Pen Mouthpiece
Lastly, you should be paying as much attention to the mouthpiece as you would the battery and the atomizer. The mouthpiece sits directly above the atomizer and therefore accumulates relatively the same amount of resinous buildup as the actual heating element. That said, if the mouthpiece can hold up well against isopropyl alcohol, soak it in the same solution as the wax atomizer and follow it up with a good wiping either with the use of an alcohol cleaning pad or an alcohol-soaked cotton swab.
Final Thoughts
Once you’ve cleaned all the components of your wax pen, make sure to let it dry completely so you don’t inhale vaporized isopropyl alcohol. Cleaning your vape pen and wax pen has its own benefits allowing you to enjoy your sessions more and get more out of your dan pen.
