Dab Rig Maintenance Tips for Top Cannabis Brands
Learn essential dab rig maintenance tips to keep your THC products experience smooth and enjoyable.
How to Clean a Dab Rig
Clean a dab rig with 91% isopropyl alcohol and coarse salt. Pour out the reclaim first. Add alcohol to the rig, add salt, shake for 30 seconds, and rinse with warm water. Quartz bangers and small parts soak for 30 minutes. Dry every part before the next dab.
Supplies
- Isopropyl alcohol at 91% or higher
- Coarse salt: kosher salt or Epsom salt
- Two zip bags, one for glass and one for small parts
- Cotton swabs, pipe cleaners, dab tool
- Warm tap water
- Nitrile gloves
Alcohol at 70% lifts light residue and leaves a film on heavy reclaim. Salt does not dissolve in alcohol, so it stays as grit that scrubs percolator arms and recycler chambers. Work in a ventilated room and keep alcohol away from flames.
Steps
- Run warm water on the outside of the glass for 20 seconds. Warm glass releases reclaim faster.
- Pour the reclaim into a silicone container. Reclaim is dark and sticky. Save it or discard it.
- Fill the rig one third with alcohol. Add one tablespoon of salt per chamber.
- Cover the joints with your palms and shake for 30 seconds. Turn the rig so alcohol reaches every arm.
- Let it sit for 10 minutes if residue remains. Shake again.
- Pour the alcohol out. Rinse with warm water for one minute.
- Soak the banger and bowl in a bag of alcohol for 30 minutes. Scrub with a pipe cleaner.
- Set parts on a paper towel. Air dry for 2 hours. Water and alcohol left inside change the taste of the next dab.
Quartz Banger Care
Swab the banger after each dab. Wait until the quartz cools to about 300 F, then wipe the inside with a dry cotton swab. A second swab dipped in alcohol removes the rest. Chaz, the gray haze on quartz, comes from dabs above 600 F and from oil that bakes on. Alcohol does not remove chaz. Heat the banger until it glows, let it cool, then swab.
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How Often
Clean after 10 to 20 dabs. Water goes stale in 2 days and leaves film on the glass. A rig used each day needs a full alcohol wash each week and fresh water each session. Reclaim builds in the neck and downstem first. Check those spots.
E-Rigs
Do not soak an e-rig base. Wipe the base with a swab dipped in alcohol. Soak the atomizer and glass top in alcohol for 30 minutes. Let parts dry for one hour before reassembly. Water in the base shorts the electronics.
Mistakes
- Boiling water in cold glass. Thermal shock cracks borosilicate.
- Acetone on silicone or painted labels. Acetone eats both.
- Alcohol on the outside of a rig with a decal. The print lifts.
- Shaking a rig by the neck. Hold the body.
- Storing alcohol in the rig. Rinse it out.