How to clean your clearomiser properly

Regularly cleaning your clearomiser is a vital part of your daily vaping routine. Firstly, it ensures a hygienic vaping experience and the best feeling possible. Secondly, it's the best way of preserving your coils and increasing their lifespan, as well as your electronic cigarette in general.

Regularly cleaning your whole device is important. Even if this article focuses on the clearomiser's maintenance, remember that your e-cigarette is with you all day long, and thus carried around everywhere you go, just like you do with your smartphone. Obviously, this means that your electronic cigarette can rapidly get dirty, whether it's because of dust, dirt, or any old gunk.

All this can seem harmless at first, but it can quickly become problematic if you don't check your device from time to time. Clearomisers are made up of many delicate parts that are all prone to clogging, such as drip tips, tanks, organic cotton, and even air intakes.

If your vape kit gets clogged up, you'll notice a rapid decrease in performance, less vapour, an altered flavour rendition, or even an unpleasant feeling when inhaling.

However, if you pick up a few basic habits you'll avoid these problems and carry on vaping in the best possible conditions. Everything there is to know about maintaining your clearomiser is right here!

Why clean your clearomiser?

Regularly cleaning your e-cigarette, especially your clearomiser or rebuildable atomiser, is very important indeed!

First of all, keeping your device clean is just good hygienic practice, which is a significant reason in itself. Indeed, when you quit smoking for vaping, you quickly realise that your electronic cigarette doesn't leave your side and has become your daily companion in the fight against tobacco. That's why you often hold your vape during the day, like you do with your phone for example.

Adding to this, you regularly put the clearomiser's drip tip in your mouth. Thus, it makes sense to keep your atomiser's components in an impeccable condition, if you wish to avoid any unpleasant surprises.

Secondly, if you like to regularly change your e-liquid's flavour, you have to clean your tank. If you've been vaping a mint-flavoured blend and decide to switch to a caramel recipe without cleaning your tank beforehand, it's very likely that you won't enjoy the mixture of leftover mint and caramel. So, you need to clean your clearomiser's glass tank, often made from Pyrex, as often as you change e-liquid flavour, in order to guarantee an optimal rendition and the best vapour upon inhaling.

How do I clean my clearomiser?

Over the years, vapers have come up with various ways of cleaning their electronic cigarette, especially their atomisers.

The technique you choose will depend on how much time you have, how keen you are, and what sort of equipment you have. Indeed, whether you use a clearomiser made by Aspire, Eleaf, Joyetech or Innokin, they're all cleaned in more or less the same way. Most manufacturers offer similar models that are easily dismantled, for a quick and efficient cleaning.

From the simplest to the most sophisticated, this guide details all the possible techniques for cleaning your device. Remember that a properly maintained kit will last for longer, whether it's an electronic cigarette or a clearomiser. The coils don't wear out as fast, saving you some money in the process!

When do I clean my clearomiser?

Whether it's an atomiser, a dripper, or a clearomiser, try to clean it as often as possible. Regular maintenance is the best way of keeping your equipment clean and in good condition.

The best time to clean your gear is when you set up new coils. As you have to entirely dismantle your clearomiser when doing so, why not use this opportunity to give it a good clean?

Cleaning with water

This technique is probably the most commonly used among vapers. It's a simple method that doesn't require any particular tools or time to obtain a good result. How to clean your clearomiser with water:

Step 1: Unscrew the clearomiser from the battery
Step 2: Completely dismantle your clearomiser
Step 3: Remove all the protective seals, being careful not to lose them
Step 5: Thoroughly rinse each component with clean water, except for the coil
Step 5: Dry every part of the clearomiser with a paper towel
Step 6: Reassemble the clearomiser

Take care to remove all of your clearomiser's O-rings and clean them as well, as they also trap your old e-liquid flavours. Don't lose them though, you'll need them when you put the clearo back together!

If you use a clearomiser with a removable coil, make sure you remove the wick before cleaning. If it's in good condition, you can reuse it. But if it's worn out, blackened, or you want to switch flavour, you'll have to replace it with a new one.

Once your clearomiser is fully dismantled, thoroughly rinse its parts with clean water, including the seals. Then, dry the whole lot with a paper towel or a clean cloth. Wait until all the parts are dry before reassembling your clearomiser.

Finally, if you still can't remove the last traces or smells, you can use a small brush to clean the tank and the hard-to-reach areas.

The old-fashioned way

Just like the elders used to do, some vapers use a combination of white vinegar, water, and baking soda to clean their atomisers.

For this technique, you'll need a large bowl, some white vinegar and baking soda of course, which are both widely available, and some hot water.

Cleaning process:

Step 1: Pour 5cL of white vinegar, 2 tablespoons of baking soda, and a little hot water into a bowl.
Step 2: Unscrew the clearomiser from the mod
Step 3: Fully dismantle your clearomiser and remove the O-rings
Step 4: Let the clearomiser parts soak in the mixture for about 10 minutes, except the O-rings.
Step 5: Thoroughly rinse everything with clean water to remove the white vinegar smell.
Step 6: Let the parts dry.
Step 7: Put your clean clearomiser back together!

This technique is very effective, but takes a little more time than the previous one. However, the result will be flawless every time, as it gets rid of even the most stubborn e-liquid traces and smells.

Another option is to replace the water with a few drops of ethanol, which allows you to clean the seals at the same time without damaging them. Indeed, hot water can soften the seals, which means they'll no longer fit correctly when you put your atomiser back together.

The propylene glycol soak

For a deep clean without using any water, you can opt for the propylene glycol soak. PG is incredibly effective at getting rid of your e-liquid's residual odours.

The different steps of PG soaking:

Step 1: Dismantle your clearomiser
Step 2: Fill up a container with propylene glycol (PG)
Step 3: Dip your clearomiser parts in it for about 15 minutes
Step 4: Dry each piece with a paper towel
Step 5: Put your clearomiser back together when all the parts are perfectly dry

Economical and effective, this technique has proven itself time and time again. However, we don't recommend using vegetable glycerin (VG). It's just as effective but quite difficult to clean, since VG is a particularly greasy liquid.

The high-tech solution, ultrasonic tanks

If you want to completely and effortlessly clean your clearomiser, the high-end method to use is the ultrasonic tank. Generally used to clean jewellery and precious metals, ultrasonic tanks have been adopted by many vapers who also use it to clean their devices. It's both efficient and time-saving.

How to use an ultrasonic tank:

Step 1: Fully dismantle your clearomiser, making sure that the tank is empty.
Step 2: Put your clearomiser parts inside the dedicated container.
Step 3: Fill the container with clean water up to the recommended level.
Step 4: Begin the cleaning cycle, which can take between 3 and 6 minutes.
Step 5: Remove the parts when the cleaning cycle is finished, and dry each one of them.
Step 6: Put your clearomiser back together.

This method is particularly liked by vapers, as it requires very little effort to achieve an immaculate result. If you're obsessed with cleanliness, the ultrasonic tank is made for you!

Note that if one cycle isn't enough to fully clean your clearomiser, you can of course start another cycle to clean your kit further.

Why clean a drip tip?

The mouthpiece, commonly referred to as a drip-tip, is an important piece of your clearomiser. It's the most used part of your vape kit, seeing as the vapour has to pass through it before you can inhale it. Because it's regularly in contact with your mouth, it must be impeccable all the time.

How to properly clean your drip tip:

Step 1: Remove the drip tip from your clearomiser.
Step 2: Pour a drop of dish soap into the drip tip.
Step 3: Rinse it thoroughly with clean water.
Step 4: Dry it with a dry cloth.
Step 5: Blow through it to remove the last deposits that could still be there.
Step 6: Put the drip tip back onto your clearomiser.

Ideally, you should clean your drip tip every day. So be sure to do so as often as possible.

Know that simply wiping your drip tip with a paper towel is insufficient. A poor quality towel will leave dust on your mouthpiece, which may get inhaled, or settle on your coil and burn.

Cleaning the coil

Can you clean a clearomiser's coil? You've probably been asking yourself this question since the beginning of this article, and rightly so.

However, we regret to inform you that coils aren't designed to be cleaned. Long ago, the Stardust or Ego C wicks could be cleaned, even if it was with great difficulty. Today, though, it's no longer the case. You actually risk permanently damaging your coil if you do so.

Indeed, if you rinse your coil with water, you'll just flood the cotton fibre. The latter will then shrink until it's no longer in contact with the resistive wire. Without any capillary action, you're sure of getting a dry hit. To a lesser extent, your e-liquid won't have any taste, and if your coil did still work, you wouldn't get much vapour out of it.

Simply put, it's often better to replace your coil with a new one, rather than trying to desperately bring it back to life.

How do you prevent your clearomiser from leaking?

Despite regularly cleaning your kit, you may experience a few leakages when using your clearomiser. The reasons behind these leaks can be diverse, but there's a solution for each one of them. We'll see together how to fix the most common issues, depending on your device.