How to Keep Your Dab Nail In Pristine Condition!

Please note that these instructions will work to clean and maintain titanium nails.

New/Clean Banger Instructions

[Q-Tip & Isopropyl Tech]

Isopropyl Alcohol, and its fumes are very flammable! Keep large amounts of isopropyl alcohol far away from your dab station and torch! Keep any open amounts of ISO under a lid to prevent fumes from floating freely. Also, torches and their flames get very hot! Proceed with caution and attention.

Clean Your Dab Nail After Every Dab!

Yes, you should clean your quartz nail after every dab! This seems like a big commitment, but it’s one of the best changes you can make in your dabbing game if you don’t already do this. Trust me on this. You deserve to make the most of your time, effort, and money with every dab! We've all dabbed from dirty nails before, but it's no way to live. So, here’s how to make this improvement, quickly, every time. Your banger, lungs, and terpy taste buds will thank you!

1. Q-Tip Tech [Method 1]: Use a combination of clean and isopropyl
   
   alcohol-soaked cotton swabs to clean out the interior surface of your banger after each dab. It may take several swabs to get the job done well. Begin with clean, dry swabs to remove any residual oil left over, work the bottom edges and the inner surface area well, and then follow up with multiple swabs that have been soaked in isopropyl alcohol. Let the banger cool down before you begin this process, but not too much. This works best when the quartz nail is still pretty warm. Method 1 alone is often enough to keep your quartz banger nice and clean. These instructions suit standard bucket-style quartz bangers, but if you have a quartz banger terp slurper, you may want to use Method 2, below.
2. A Quick Swabbing & Immediate ISO Dual-Stage Bath Technique [Method 2]: If you want to use fewer swabs, prevent waste, and don’t mind using more isopropyl alcohol, you’ll want to try this dual-stage soak technique after every dab. After your dab, use one swab to clean any residual wax left in the quartz nail. Have two previously prepared clean containers filled with enough isopropyl alcohol to soak your quartz banger. You can place something under the container to pool the ISO into one side to make it deeper, using less overall. Let the quartz banger cool before you quickly swab it and then dunk the quartz nail into the waiting pool of ISO. Make sure it is completely submerged. After being in that first bath for some time (longer for great results, less if you’re in a hurry), place the now precleaned quartz banger into the second waiting ISO bath. After the second soak, a good rinsing is necessary. Then, dry your quartz dab nail with swabs until it’s mostly dry. Ensure you haven’t missed large water droplets before torching the rest to finish drying.

Periodic Maintenance

1. Long Isopropyl Alcohol Soak: If you’ve kept up on your quartz banger’s maintenance by swabbing it out after every dab, you may still find a slight brown haze creeping up over time, but never fear, do a maintenance soak in Isopropyl alcohol and then dry your nail thoroughly. Use cotton swabs to dry out most of the water, then lightly torch it here and there to finish it up so it’s ready for use! If the desired effect was not achieved, proceed with step #2 below.
2. Controlled Burn-Off: If you've been keeping your banger clean after every dab, but you still notice that there is a light, creeping, brown color appearing on your quartz, it's time to burn it off gently. Torch those spots and keep the end of the flames on the spots you see. Let them get torched off and you'll see clear quartz again. Be light on the torch, move often, come and go, and do this in rounds to be gentler on the quartz, trying to not overheat it.

Emergency Cleaning—There's Patches of Black!

1. Carefully Scrape Out Crud: Use a metal dab tool to scrape off black accumulation carefully. We don’t want to heat this crud and inhale whatever is produced, so getting rid of it and maintaining a clean nail for every dab is desirable and highly recommended!
2. Controlled Burn-Off: If a cleaning, or many, are forgotten or go wrong, or if the residual residue is already chazzed (been heated up and adhered to the quartz—looks dark/black) into the interior surface, you need to heat your banger to around 600-800, gently, moving around and aiming to get the stained areas piping hot, but not too hot. You’ll see the crud get red as it reaches its burn-off temperature. Vary the angle of the flame and distribute the heat around the surface area, returning to areas that need more time under heat to be cleaned. It’s better to do multiple rounds of this step until the residue is completely burned off to protect your banger from overheating. Overheating your banger can cause it to be cloudy looking afterward. Our goal is to do this only once or occasionally as needed.

Read this article to learn how to properly clean and care for your dab rig, bong, or water pipe. Your dabs should be tastier, more enjoyable, and healthier!

“If you take care of your equipment, your equipment will take care of you!”

(--Quote Courtesy of The U.S. Army & My Dad.)

Follow Steps 1-3 Below if your dab rig, water pipe, or bong is new or is kept very clean already.

New or Already Clean Glass Instructions

[Hot Water Rinse, Isopropyl Alcohol Shake & Bath, & Final Rinse]

Change Your Water & ISO Soak Often!

If you just bought a new dab rig, bong, or water pipe, you want to keep it clean and well-maintained from the start. It’s much easier this way, and your glass can stay looking nice and provide tasty rips for years to come. Read on to learn the steps!

1. Flush Your Water & Rinse Multiple Times:
   1. Run your sink water until it is hot!
   2. Carefully hold your glass piece, dump out the water, and rinse it well several times with the hot water from your tap. You may see yellow boogers or dabbing slime exit the glass. This is good!
   3. You may want to use our Bubbler Brush Cleaning Kit to scrub your joint area, down stem, and mouthpiece. Your goal is a thorough hot rinse and scrub to get the cleaning off to a good start and to help your isopropyl alcohol bath not get instantly dirty.
2. Isopropyl Alcohol Shake & Soak:
   1. [Prep. Step] Have a totally clean isopropyl-filled bath prepared for your glass piece. The higher the % ISO, the better!
   2. Fill (leave a little room for movement inside) your dab rig, bong, or water pipe about 45-65% with isopropyl alcohol and plug the ends. Carefully invert, wiggle, and shake the glass piece around to get the isopropyl alcohol moving inside the glass piece to create scrubbing-like action from the motion of the liquid and captured air. Dump this out into a separate container for later use if desired. I recommend not putting this used alcohol into your clean ISO bath.
   3. Now, soak your glass piece in your prepared bath of high-percentage isopropyl alcohol! It would be best to have a large container for your piece to lay in. You’ll be able to determine the best soak time for your needs after some practice, but I recommend giving it 45-60 min and making sure periodically that all inner surfaces are getting soaked. Change the positioning every 10-15 minutes to soak the piece's inner and outer surfaces if needed. I often lean my container up using blocks to make it deeper in one end.
3. Final Rinse Multiple Times:
   1. Use cool tap water to rinse your rig out thoroughly. This will leave it pleasantly cool to the touch if used soon.
   2. If you want to keep your functional glass art piece clear of mineral deposits, fill your piece with distilled water to flush out the tap water used earlier to keep mineral deposits. This keeps the “creep”, or some 'heady' term like that, from occurring, making a noticeably white tint appear inside the piece. The goal is to flush out minerals in the tap water you rinsed with earlier. After I rinse with cool tap water, I’ll fill the whole piece with distilled water, pour it out, fill it again, and pour it out. This ensures that any minerals are flushed out, and my glass will stay clearer over time.

*If mineral deposits are present inside or outside of your glass piece, soak or clean it with a 1:1 solution of distilled water and vinegar to remove the mineral deposits. You can also spray on this solution and wipe the external surfaces of your piece to remove mineral deposits.

Follow steps 1-4 below if your dab rig, water pipe, or bong is disgrossting! (Misspelled word blend above intended! -- Disgusting X Gross!)

Nasty Dirty Glass Cleaning Instructions

[Hot Water Rinse, Salt & ISO Shake, Extended Isopropyl Alcohol Bath, & Final Rinse]

You’ve Been Slacking Hard; We’ve All Been There!

Your dab rig, water pipe, or bong is straight-up nasty! WTF man? It’s black, smells terrible, and is likely seeding some of the same bacteria that first inhabited the Earth. You can’t enjoy what we love most using equipment like that. Here’s how to cut through the nasty and reclaim good taste and enjoyment!

1. Flush Your Water and Gunk Out—Hot Pre-Rinse Multiple Times:
   1. Run your hot sink water until it is hot!
   2. Carefully hold your glass piece, dump out the water, and rinse it well several times with the hot water from your tap. You may see yellow boogers or dabbing slime exit the glass. This is good!
   3. Your goal is a thorough hot rinse to get the cleaning off to a good start and to help your isopropyl alcohol bath not get dirty instantly.
2. Salt & Isopropyl Alcohol Shake Jam:
   1. Fill your glass piece about 50% complete with isopropyl alcohol, and then add about 2-3 tablespoons of table salt inside, down through the mouthpiece or joint. Or, use our 710 Advanced Cleaner. It works amazingly well for this step too!
   2. Shake, and shake well from multiple angles and directions. Over…and over! Watch what is happening inside to gauge how much gunk is being scraped and worked off the inside walls. The ISO loosens the sticky icky, and the salt helps scrub it off!
   3. Once it looks clean, dump the ISO and salt mix and rinse the piece to inspect it closely. If you still see more gunk, repeat steps #2a, and #2b until it looks nice and clean, or as good as it can get! You can also move ahead to step #3 and then return to steps #2a and #2b to see if there is an improvement.
3. Extended Isopropyl Alcohol Soak:
   1. [Prep. Step] Have an isopropyl-filled bath prepared for your glass piece. The higher the % ISO, the better!
   2. Fill (leave a little room for movement inside) your rig, bong, or water pipe about 50-75% with isopropyl alcohol and plug the ends. Carefully invert, wiggle, and shake the glass piece around to get the isopropyl alcohol moving around the glass piece to create scrubbing-like action from the motion of the liquid and captured air. Dump this out into a separate container for later use if desired. I recommend not putting this used alcohol into your clean, waiting ISO bath.
   3. Soak your baby in your prepared bath of high-octane isopropyl alcohol! A large container like this one is recommended. Soak your piece for several hours or more (depending on the conditions) and ensure periodically that all inner surfaces are getting soaked. Change the positioning every couple of hours to soak the piece's inner and outer surfaces if needed. I often lean my container to make it deeper in one end.
4. Final Rinse Multiple Times:
   1. Use cool tap water to rinse your rig out thoroughly. This will leave it pleasantly cool to the touch if used soon.
   2. If you want to keep your functional glass art piece clear of mineral deposits, fill and flush out the tap water you used earlier with distilled water. This keeps “bloat” or “creep” from occurring, making a noticeably white tint appear inside the piece. The goal is to flush out minerals in the tap water you rinsed with earlier. After I rinse with cool tap water, I’ll fill the whole piece with distilled water, pour it out, fill it again, and pour it out. This ensures that any minerals are flushed out, and my glass will stay clearer over time.

If you followed these nasty dirty steps and your glass water pipe, bong, or dab rig still doesn't look as nice as you'd like, try repeating the steps again and increasing time durations and shaking intensity.

*If mineral deposits are already present after step #1, but before your ISO bath, soak your piece in a 1:1 solution of distilled water and vinegar to remove the mineral deposits. You can also spray on this solution and wipe the external surfaces of your piece to remove mineral deposits.