We’ve got some bad news for you: Your vape mod is dirty – really dirty. The tank is harboring the residue of 25 different e-liquid flavors. The mouthpiece has a thick layer of crud from your lip balm. Every crack and crevice of your vaping device has become a home for dust and pocket lint. For something the typical vaper puts into his or her mouth 100 or more times a day, the average vape mod gets pretty darn dirty – so let’s clean it up. Cleaning a vape mod takes only a few minutes, but the effort is very worthwhile. It’ll feel better when it touches your lips. It’ll also look nicer and have a better feel in the hand. Lastly, regular cleaning helps to ensure that your vaping device isn’t harboring fungus or bacteria. Let’s begin!
Cleaning Your Vape Mod: What You’ll Need
- Toothpicks
- Cotton swabs
- Paper towels
- Soft cloth
- Rubbing alcohol
- Water
- Bowl
Cleaning Your Vape Mod
NOTE: Never immerse a vaping device in liquid – even if it has removable batteries. The liquid will get inside the device’s internals and will likely cause permanent damage. If you need to use liquid to remove stubborn grime, use the minimum amount of liquid possible and dry the excess with a paper towel.
- If you can remove the batteries from your device, do so and set the batteries aside. If your device has a permanent battery, turn it off. You can usually turn off a mod through the menu system or by pressing the fire button five times quickly.
- Scrape away deep dust and grime by running a toothpick along the mod’s crevices and seams. If you have trouble getting an area of your device completely clean, moisten a cotton swab with a little alcohol and rub it over the grime.
- If your mod has removable batteries, remove grime from the battery contacts with an alcohol-dipped contact swab. Remove all residual moisture with a paper towel.
- The top threading of your mod likely collects a great deal of dust and grime – especially if you use a dripping atomizer. If you over-drip, e-liquid can leak from the atomizer and collect in the threading. Clean it with an alcohol-dipped cotton swab. Twist the cotton swab inside the threading to remove grime and tarnish.
- Clean the exterior of your mod by rubbing it with a soft cloth.
Cleaning Your Vape Tank
NOTE: If you don’t want to waste e-liquid, wait until your vape tank is empty before disassembling it for cleaning.
- Spread a few paper towels on a counter to create a work surface. The paper towels will help to soak up water and e-liquid. They’ll also provide friction that helps to prevent your tank’s components from rolling around.
- Dissemble the tank and arrange the components on the paper towels. Set the coil aside; if you want to resume using the coil immediately after cleaning the tank, you’ll need to avoid getting the coil wet. If you have another coil that you can use, read the next section for coil cleaning instructions.
- Rinse your tank’s outer glass and metal hardware in the sink. You’ll find that running water removes the majority of the grime easily, but you may need to rub with your finger to remove contaminants from the mouthpiece.
- If your tank has a narrow center chimney, run an alcohol-dipped cotton swab down the chimney to clean it. Rinse away the alcohol in the sink.
- The intake vents in the base of your tank might collect stubborn grime that doesn’t rinse away easily with plain water. Depending on the size of your tank’s vents, you can remove the grime with a toothpick or cotton swab.
- Dry the tank thoroughly with paper towels before reassembling and filling it.
Cleaning Your Vaping Coils
Did you know that you can also clean your vaping coils? Cleaning a coil dislodges some of the gunk that robs the coil of its flavor and performance. You may find this especially useful if you like your e-liquids on the sweet side and only get a day or two of use out of each coil. Suppose you go through a coil every two days, and cleaning a coil allows you to use it for another day. That means you can reduce your coil expenses by 50 percent with nothing but a few minutes of effort. That sounds like a worthwhile use of time to us!
- Fill a bowl with hot water. You can also use vodka or another alcohol that’s safe to drink. The alcohol will be more effective in dislodging coil gunk, but it’s also more expensive than plain water and will reduce the money you save by cleaning your vaping coils.
- Drop your coil in the water or alcohol and swish it around to begin dislodging the gunk. Continue swishing the coil periodically over the next 24 hours. After some time, you’ll probably begin to see black bits in the bowl – that’s the gunk that’s been ruining the flavor of your e-liquid.
- Remove the coil from the bowl. If you used alcohol for cleaning, rinse the coil under running water to remove any remaining alcohol.
- Leave the coil out to dry for at least 24 hours before using it again. You should avoid using the coil until all of the water has evaporated.
- Before using the coil again, prime the wick by placing a drop of e-liquid on each exposed wick opening. After you reassemble and fill the tank, wait a few minutes before vaping to allow the wick to become completely wet. Otherwise, you’ll risk burning the wick – and cleaning a coil won’t remove the horrible taste of burned cotton.
NOTE: If you find it useful to clean your vaping coils, you might want to invest in an ultrasonic cleaner. Ultrasonic cleaners – usually intended for jewelry – provide constant gentle agitation that can dislodge coil gunk much faster and more completely than manual swishing in hot water. Many people find that ultrasonic cleaners leave their coils gleaming and white – almost as good as new.
~ Jason Artman
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