Wand/Whip Maintenance

Maintaining an SSV type Wand/whip

(What’s Wand Hash)

  SSV- Silver Surfer. The heavy hitter in my home. I laughingly (and lovingly) tell people when they ask what room I use the SSV in, I say ” He has his own room”. Like anything, you must maintain the wand. Here we will touch upon the topic of saving the oils from the vapor, and a situation unique to wand/whip style vapes, “wand hash”.

 Here’s my story… and I am stickin’ to it!—>

With my Silver Surfer, I do carefully go around the edge of the screen after each session(with the pick), and before the next filling, I stick a stiff tiny brush inside, and give it a once around. I then suck hard on the wand end( I never blow from the mouthpiece… this adds moisture into your tube and wand that will disrupt the ease of oil removal later). The dust in your mouth is soluble and inoffensive to swallow.
After a day or maybe two of much use, I seperate the wand, mouthiece and hose.
The Wand with wand facing down always.. I use a chopstick to poke the screen out (downard to avoid crumbs sticking to oils in wand)
The screen has a clay like substance caked onto it’s edges. Use a small knife to carefully scrape that off onto a receptacle. (it is very like hashish- put it into a cigarette or “J”).
take the screen in a tweezer, and ignite it. It is very flammable. let it burn and blow it out now and then and sniff the vapors. Eventually it will stop lighting. When it is cool.. hold it and brush it off with a toothbrush on both sides… It is like new.
Keeping wand upside down for now, get a q-tip and dip it in everclear… swab upward around where screen met the glass until it is clean.
You are now ready to clean. You can just clean as described or you can collect the oils as well.

I use Iso (91%) only to throw stems and debris from raw unvaped weed. I collect forever and use as a liniment. I have recently been converted to Everclear for actual cleaning of “parts” in that there is never remaining bitterness or toxins even if not rinsed like crazy. This also renders anything that you are working with consumable. ( I use it in my “vaped weed” reductions.).
–start with borasilicate glass mouthpiece. Pour a shot of everclear into it carefuly, using thumb and finger to keep either end closed. Shake it well.  Set down mouthpiece. Then always manipulating things so you dont spill, you will carefully release the shot of everclear into the tubing, and carefully slowly raise one end and then the other so everclear has touched all inner walls a few times.
Finally, put thumb on the bottom end of wand and pour from tubing into wand. set down tubing and then use fingers to seal ends of wand and shake hard.  If you pour that everclear shot onto a dish and leave it out away from flame, it will evaporate in a short time, and you can wipe a paper in it and roll with it or collect and use the oil other ways( it is clear and clean!)

Finishing the job
Using hot water- I put a few drops of dawn into the mouthpiece, and fill with hot water. I shake vigorously, and then with the soapy water, I repeat the steps above… but after wards, I rinse VERY well with hot water… each of the 3 parts.
Reassembly
I take hose outside, and holding one end, I spin it around forcefully a few times to get the water out.
I use my hand and seal the hose end against a vacuum cleaner if I have no clean hose or am in a hurry, and let the vaccuum suck through the tubing for 60 seconds. NOTE* The hose will smell fowl, and replacing it is the only way to eliminate this, but when you start reusing the hose and new oils coat the clean hose, it will not smell anymore- personally I replace my hose but save the old ones.
The glass is easy… I use my computer air sprayer for both pieces- takes a second.
dont forget after you put your screen back into the wand to pop the rounded side up so your herbs sit on a screen mound rather than in a screen depression. This is important for proper hot air circulation.

About “wand hash”–  As you vaporize, the weed closest to the screen is temporarily acting as a filter for the vapors passing through from the heat source. The weed therefore  ( you notice when you stir) is moister than the weed at top. I personally try never to put well ground herb in.. I try to meticulously hand break up well dried buds into small chips and pieces the size of a chili seed.When you stir , the moistish vapor touched weed at the bottom would like to stick to the screen a bit. My best tip is to try to not blindly stir, and scrape the screen with the poker, as you round the edges. This done repeatedly between hits forces bits of dust through the screen where it gets locked around the edges… even a brushhing can just pack that moist dust down farther. This “wand hash”, then actually sits and absorbs small amounts of passing vapor, which gives it that clay like texture.
When I use herb  that is not too powdery, in hand broken fragments, and stir very carefully and do not “bust up” the “stirrings”… and then make as little actual “scrape” contact with the pick point I find only a fraction of the buildup.

About the screen placement:
I was first curious when I got my SSV as the screen was placed as described. I popped it down.
I then got extra wands, and they all had screen mounded as I described.
I read the manual, which said… “after inserting screen, be sure to flip it over before popping it into place.”
I left the screens and tried, and got much better hits. I called 7th Floor to ask , and was told that yes.. the screens should be mounded , and now I see why.
When you use the screen as a “u” shape… downward, the screen is already in contact with the glass at the edges(wand hash zone). This allows air flow through only the dead center of the wands orifice. When the screen is mounded upwards, there is only the screens very edge that faces downward that sits on the glass ( but is not nestled against it.
This allows hot air to flow through more area of the herb sitting in the wand.

Avoiding Wand Hash Buildup
Everyone has been talking about whether wand hash is worth smoking, and ways to collect it… ways to get rid of it and clean screens. I have a simple way to put off screen cleaning and wand hash buildup.
Sometimes I am going to put in a long day, with my SSV going for 10 hours. I want constant and consistant hits. I do NOT want to disturb my THC oil buildup in the glass wand at all, therefore I do not want to poke my screen out to stop during my “workout”, and reinstall it.
Always keeping the wand facing down as in the image below, I aim a clean dry paintbrush upwards, angled to where screen meets glass. holding the paintbrush steady, I twist the wand in either direction. I angle brush the other way, and twist in opposite direction. I then lift the upside down wand to my lips and suck forecfully. Don’t use air blower, it will disrupt the nice clean oil buildup- remember we are not trying to avoid oil buldup, just wand hash! Do NOT blow through toward from the tube end down… you will only add moisture to the screen from your breath, defeating the purpose of a dry brush cleaning!

The wand I use now started clean and is now on about hour 7 of constant nonstop use. This is the 5th time I have repeated the dry, upside down “brush and suck” cleaning. (also- I am using carefully broken up tiny chips and pieces of herb and unbroken red hairs- no dust) You can see the clean oil buildup in the glass wand. In the shot below, you can see a screen, that is almost as good as new, with no residues built up in edges where glass touches screen.
I am not collecting wand hash on a day like this, I do not have the time to stop and clean and work on my screen. I want clear free flowing hits, and after hour 7 it looks like the next 3 will be a breeze (a breeze of thick rich vapor!)
I will still need to remove and clean or replace my screen… but not today!

IF I WAS COLLECTING WAND HASH

I would take the plate of “wand washings”, now evaporated, and scrape the golden oils together with the reddish brown wand hash renderings, and make it into a ball of hash. Use pollen from a grinder sifter to add substance if it is too gooey. It will be tacky. I carefully use my fingertip and thumb tip of one hand, and just the very tip of 1 finger from the other hand and a single edged blade (carefully!), to manipulate the ball of hash I am making, to avoid spreading or wasting any oils.

How I set my wand down between hits, and not spill weed

I use the soft padded case that my Silver Surfer came in. I am in the habit of leaving the wand there not only with herb, in between pulls, but when empty and waiting for me to return. This bag sits within arms reach of my SSV.
If you dont have your SSV bag, use any similar bag, or a basket lined with a towel.
(even when sitting and holding whip between draws, I naturally roll the tube as you see it here, and hold wand facing up, but ready to sit in that bag)

I found that when I order wands I have a preference too. Although all the wands semm to be the same total length, the placement of the ridge ( ripple- where the screen sits) differs ever so slightly.
I prefer the one on the left. I can put a bit more in the bigger one if I want, plus I can use my breath control to “conduct” air flow… and when I slow down, I have that extra tiny fraction of an inch that helps me never toast the top.  I also get more room to stir my “portion” upward after 1st hit, while it is still “clingy” without any close spills!

I found a very handy brush to clean screens. It is the same brush that comes with the MFLB.
I usually order this brush from Vapeworld, because they are so fast and the shipping is always free, but I needed a bunch of them to share with members of a local Medical M.J. group, and I found them here for 18.95 for 10 brushes.
Be aware that if you order these bulk ones, they may not all be perfect. If you want perfect brushes, VapeWorld carefully inspects all of theirs!

I like the paint brushes too. For a real “pro” brush, you can Google “angled eye shadow brush” and find these for from 2 – 6 dollars
(soft)

For another great tool, that I got to clean my wands, and adjust other screens, check outhttp://www.halfbakedgoods.net/vaporizer … -pick.html

if you go to Half Baked Goods, they have a 10% discount code DEC31 that is good until New Years eve.
I got it for screens etc, but I find it very helpful in maintaining my grinders. (keep it away from the grinders pollen screen though, if you use that type of grinder!)

Touch this link to view the  3 Types of SSV Wand/Heater Cover Connections

Vapor Play; Flights of Fancy

My SSV, a Fine Bud , and a……DoggyBag?

A Tale of This Morning’s Buzz
Some bud vapes better than others.
Once in a while you get some really rich vaping bud that seems to go on hitting  forever.
I can finish off a wandful of most herb in about 10-15 “deep ones”.
Today’s stuff, even at just a pinch takes me 25+ “pulls’ on the mouthpiece.
As it vapes, the herb does not tan, or brown, but rather “reddens’ a rust tint.
By the 5th pull, my eyes are slits, and I am debating whether to set it down for a breather (big advantage of the SSV Hand Held Whip). But I hate to set down an unfinished wand. I will return to a half done wand when I have to, but I prefer to take it all the way.
5th pull left me debating. So thick were the clouds of vapor I could not resist.
10th pull and the clouds were not slowing down (mind you it was only a pinch). Early morning, and I was baked.
The reddish “stirrings” were not crisp at all.. still thick and clingy on the pokers tip.
I could stop and save this glorious serving but…..
I looked over to the right and noticed a box of trash bags. I got this idea. I would save my vapor as an experiment. No special vapor bag, just a trash bag full of exhaled vapor. I peeled one off it’s roll, and  I gathered a mouth hole at the open end… seemed OK.
I took a long slow draw… carefully angling the wand this way and that, to get optimal airflow at every juncture. I felt the perfumed essence permeate my entire body and brain, as my own thoughts echoed back at me. A tiny sample exhale told me this was another whopper. I blew into the bag as one would a balloon. I repeated this until the bag was full, and by then so was my mind. I put the almost, but not quite totally vaped wand in its safe upright spot to come back to later. Floating, I tied a twist tie around the bags opening, set the bag down and got in the shower. I am an Med M.J. patient, in severe pain, so always shower immediately following a morning session. I dressed to start the day.
I went into the “Vapor Room” for my next vape and saw this strange filled up trash bag on the floor.
I remembered. But it had been just over an hour. I opened the bag a slit, and sucked deeply.  Tasted great! I exhaled, waiting to see if there was visible vapor to support the nice taste. Woosh. A cloud! I sucked it all out of the bag over the next 3 minutes. Got to feeling great too!
The inside of the trash bag was tacky, my mind was loose, My next wandful was put off for an hour or so for having reused my vapor. Not something I would do every day, butI will likely do it again with some particularly “misty” bud!

A Realization

I have not used a cigarette lighter or match in a year. Pure Vape.. that’s it.
Of course I am arms reach from a unit, 24/7!
I realized today I am spoiled ~ my taste buds can no longer stand chemicals.
I smoked about a “J” a week… mostly to test out new strains flavor. I decided to stop for a time.
I have made tinctures, and oils and edibles with my vaped weed, but not in a while.
(By the way please note, I am totally baked now from the effects of yesterdays work)
I realized that my weed poo jar was filled to the top. I had a half gallon jar full of ABV from Medical Grade herb. Time to tidy up.
– made 3 Firecrackers to eat for the project.
– used Alchol to wash tubes, wands etc.. allowing wand hash to disolve as well, poured on dish.
– used 1/3 of the AVW to make green dragon with Everclear
– used the rest to make Cannabis Olive Oil
Project done in 4 hours
I taste tested everything edible and was already zoned.
I took the plate of “wand washings”, now evaporated, and scraped the golden oils together with the reddish brown wand hash renderings, and made it into a ball of hash for the morning (today).

It was glorious, and a great buzz.
Two things stood out and both amazed me.
1- the nugget of hash tasted just like some Lebanese hash as I inhaled the smoking vapors (Great high too)
2- As I exhaled the thick plume of Hash smoke… I tasted butane!
Vaping and not smoking at all has made me more sensitive to the chemicals. I used a hemp wick to smoke the rest of my nugget, and I owe Vaporizing a debt for making my body and senses more aware of Chemical presence!

Watch Wand/Whip Cleanup