Everything About Cleaning Your Dab Rig

Dabbing is quickly becoming one of the most popular ways to smoke weed concentrates. Although it does require quite a bit of equipment to properly enjoy dab, the strong and quick-hitting high it offers makes it worth the effort for many experienced smokers.

Because dabbing requires the use of many different pieces of equipment, it’s important to keep every piece in good condition. Part of maintaining your dabbing equipment is regularly cleaning it and all your dabbing accessories. You’ll need to clean all pieces separately to prevent them from breaking.

What Is a Dab Rig?

If you are new to dabbing, the first piece of equipment you will need is a dab rig. This refers to a pipe designed for users to use to vaporize cannabis concentrates. Like a bong, your dab rig filters concentrate vapor through water that is held in the base.

Just like cleaning your bong regularly, keeping your dab rig clean is essential to a good dabbing experience.

What Do You Need to Clean Your Dab Rig?

Thankfully, cleaning your dab rig does not necessarily require the use of specialized cleaning equipment, but there are some tools you can purchase that can be helpful. For the most part, you can clean your rig using things you have around your house.

There are different ways to clean your dab rig, but for our method, you just need:

• Isopropyl alcohol
• Salt (Epsom sale or coarse salt recommended)
• A resealable plastic bag
• A cotton swab or Q-tip
• Towel
• Dab tool (optional)

How to Clean Your Dab Rig

Now that you have all your supplies for this method of cleaning dab rigs, it’s time to get started.

1. If you have a lot of buildup in your rig, grab your dab tool and gently scrape the inside of your dab rig. You can also soak your dab rig in alcohol for a while to loosen it up. If you don’t have a lot of buildup, you can skip this step and go to the next.
2. Remove the nail and put the dab rig in your resealable bag.
3. Fill the bag with enough isopropyl alcohol to submerge your dab rig completely.
4. Add a tablespoon of salt (or more if needed) into the bag. You want to make sure there is enough salt in there to make contact with the entire rig.
5. Zip up the bag. Make sure it is completely closed.
6. Shake the bag vigorously. Doing this will cause the salt to act as an abrasive and scrub the dab rig while the alcohol loosens the particles and cleans the glass.
7. Let it soak, frequently shaking the bag, until all the resin has been removed from the rig.
8. Rinse your dab rig thoroughly with warm water.
9. Either wipe dry using a soft cloth or set it on a towel to air dry.

Before you use your dab rig again, be sure it is completely dry.

Other Products to Clean Your Dab Rig

If you don’t want to use alcohol or salt to clean your dab rig, there are other options. You can use salt and vinegar or baking soda and vinegar, but vinegar can be quite smelly. Other people will use lemon water, but this is not as effective as the other methods.

When cleaning your dab rig, do not use boiling water (though you may see that as an option online). Boiling water can heat your rig, making it too hot to handle and even cause it to crack due to the extreme temperature. Warm water will suffice.

How Often Do I Need to Clean My Dab Rig?

Although cleaning your dab rig is relatively easy, it’s not something that needs to be done constantly. Experts recommend cleaning your dab rig every three to six months if you are an occasional user.

However, frequent users will need to clean their rig more often. Consider cleaning it once a week, or at the very least, when you start to see resin buildup.

Why Do I Need to Clean My Dab Rig?

Now that you know how to clean your rig, you may be wondering why cleaning your dab rig is so important.

There are many reasons to keep your dab rig clean, including:

• It prevents resin from building up.
• It keeps your dab rig performing well.
• It keeps your dab rig in good condition (it looks good in addition to performing well).
• It prevents cross-contamination of concentrates and flavors.

In addition to the benefits above, keeping your dab rig clean is also a health issue. Moisture and heat can cause bacteria and mold to develop over time. These are dangerous things for people to inhale and can lead to health problems.

Your dab equipment is also an investment; you want to make sure it lasts as long as possible. Regularly cleaning your dab rig and other dab tools help extend their life span, getting you the most out of your purchase.

In Summary

Dabbing is quickly becoming one of the most popular ways for cannabis enthusiasts to use cannabis concentrates. Although it requires many tools to do, the potency concentrates offer makes the effort worth it for many users.

Your dab rig is what vaporizes the concentrates for users to inhale. So, keeping it clean is essential to ensure a good dabbing experience. Not doing so can lead to resin buildup and even lead to a charred product, bad flavor, and harsh smoke.

Using alcohol, salt, a resealable bag, and your dab tool, you can keep your dab rig clean and in good working condition. While other options are out there, this cleaning equipment is one of the most effective ways to clean your rig.

It doesn’t take long to clean your dab rig, but doing so is of the highest importance. If you don’t have a cleaning routine down for your dab rigf, make sure you add it to your to-do list. Make it a habit to clean it regularly and keep it in good working order.