How to Clean a Vape Pen or Dab Pen [The Easy Way!]

If you want your vape pen or dab pen to give you quality flavor and great performance every time you use it, you need to maintain it properly – and that means keeping it clean. 

Cleaning a vape pen isn’t just a matter of exercising proper maintenance. Accidents can happen when you vape. You need to clean a spill or leak promptly in order to prevent it from becoming a bigger problem. Leaked oil or wax can harden when it cools, making it much more difficult to remove. With some types of vaporizers, it’s even possible for leaked oil to foul your device’s internal components if you let it go too long without cleaning it.

So, cleaning a vape pen or dab pen isn’t just an important part of your regular maintenance schedule – it’s also about knowing what to do in order to ensure that your device won’t break when something unexpected happens. In this straightforward guide, we’ll explain exactly how to do it.

How to Clean Your Vape Pen or Dab Pen

We’ll begin with instructions for cleaning the main body of your vape pen or dab pen – and here, it’s important to start with a key safety tip. You should never immerse your vape pen, dab pen or any electronic component thereof in liquid. In addition, you shouldn’t resume using your vaping device until you’re certain that it and all of its components are completely dry. 

Here’s what you should do.

  • Disassemble your vape pen or dab pen and set the removable components aside. You’ll clean those separately.
  • To clean leaked oil or wax from the threading of your vape pen or dab pen, moisten a cotton swab in rubbing alcohol and use it to dissolve the material. If your vape is very dirty, the first cotton swab may turn dark; repeat the process with fresh swabs until a swab comes out clean. Use a dry swab to remove as much of the residual alcohol as possible. 
  • Clean any stains or fingerprints from the exterior of the device by buffing them away with a soft cloth.
  • Use a toothpick to clean tight spaces such as the charging port and around the fire button.

How to Clean a Vape Pen or Dab Pen Charger

If your vape pen or dab pen charges through its threading, it’s possible for oil or wax to transfer to the charger if a leak has occurred. In this case, your vape battery may not charge until you’ve cleaned the charger. Just as you did with your device’s threading, you can clean the charger using a cotton swab moistened with rubbing alcohol. Use a toothpick to remove bits of oil or wax from tight spaces. As with your vaping device, don’t use the charger again until it’s completely dry.

How to Clean a Vape Pen or Dab Pen Mouthpiece

Your vape pen or dab pen may have a removable mouthpiece, and you can clean it in two different ways.

  • You can clean it using a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol. Run the swab through the interior of the mouthpiece and around the exterior. You can also use an alcohol cleaning wipe. In fact, it’s handy to have an alcohol wipe in your vaping arsenal for quick disinfection if you enjoy sharing your vape with others.
  • You can immerse the mouthpiece in a bowl of rubbing alcohol along with your vape pen’s other removable non-electronic components. Soak it for an hour or two before rinsing away any remaining residue in running water and drying the mouthpiece thoroughly.

How to Clean a Dab Coil

One of the great things about using a dab pen is that a dab coil is easy to clean and can provide top-quality flavor for a very long time. The easiest way to clean a dab coil is by immersing it in rubbing alcohol.

  • Put the coil in a bowl of alcohol along with your vape pen’s other removable non-electronic components as described in the previous section of this guide. Rinse the coil and dry it completely before using it again.

How to Clean a Vape Cartridge

If a vape cartridge is refillable, it’ll have a removable mouthpiece that you can clean according to the directions given earlier in this guide. We don’t suggest submerging the cartridge itself in alcohol, however, because the alcohol will absorb into the cartridge’s ceramic core, and there’s no easy way to remove it. It’s important to clean the exterior if a cartridge leaks, though, because the spilled oil could cause a mess and might also hamper the functionality of your vape pen.

  • Dip a cotton swab in rubbing alcohol and rub it around the cartridge’s threading and other exterior components to remove the oil. Repeat the process until a swab comes out clean. Use a dry swab to remove the excess alcohol. Don’t use the cartridge again until it’s completely dry.

How to Clean a Bubbler

Some vape devices such as the Hamilton Devices KR1 and PS1 have built-in bubblers, and others – such as the Nomad – have separate bubblers that you can attach to provide water filtration. The bubbler is likely to collect a good deal of residue as you use it, and the best way to clean it depends on its size.

  • You can immerse the bubbler in rubbing alcohol for an hour or two and then rinse it as we described above. That’s only practical, however, if the bubbler is small.
  • If you have a bubbler that’s too large to immerse in a bowl, you can pour some alcohol into the bubbler along with a little coarse salt. Cover the bubbler’s openings with your hands and give it a good shake. The salt will provide additional agitation to help the alcohol dissolve the residue. Pour the salt and alcohol out of the bubbler and repeat the process if the residue isn’t fully removed. Once the bubbler is clean, rinse it in fresh water and don’t resume using it until it’s completely dry.