DaVinci IQ2

Residue lands at two ends of the IQ2. The polished alumina oven bowl behind the magnetic bottom lid is fixed to the device and cannot be lifted out, while the zirconia flavor chamber and mouthpiece above it catch whatever survives the trip up the vapor path.

1. Strip the top end. Flip the upper lid open and lever the zirconia flavor chamber out with the pick tool stowed inside the body, the fiddliest part in our review. Its silicone lid comes off separately, and the flat zirconia mouthpiece releases when pushed inward from above, bringing its gasket.

2. Soak only what DaVinci clears. The manual approves an isopropyl soak for the mouthpiece and flavor chamber, finished with a water rinse, and DaVinci's support pages call for 91 percent alcohol elsewhere. Zirconia tolerates a long soak. Wipe the silicone lid and mouthpiece gasket instead, then refit them dry.

3. Swab the oven in place. The bowl is glass lined and does not detach, and the manual forbids submerging the unit, so a cotton bud or one of the nine included 70 percent alcohol wipes folded over the pick tool is your only route in. Nothing abrasive, which the manual says damages the oven and vapor path.

4. Back the pearl out. The zirconia pearl turns on a threaded silicone stem to vary oven capacity by up to half, and our review found it will not seat cleanly when it sits proud, so clear resin off that thread. DaVinci sells screens in sets of three large for the oven and six small for the upper chamber, both washable in isopropyl.

5. Work the air dial. DaVinci's own remedy for a stiff dial is to put alcohol straight onto it from underneath the bottom lid and rotate it both ways, so the solvent reaches the surfaces that rub.

6. Battery door and contacts. Unlatch the door under the top lid and take the 18650 out. Wipe the negative end, the door and its underside, then swab the hinge and swing it for half a minute so alcohol works into the pin. Retire any cell with a torn wrapper or corrosion.

7. Clean pods after every use. Let the ceramic dosage pod cool a minute and hook it out with the pick tool rather than prying against the oven wall. Concentrates on the extract disc leave far heavier residue than flower, so DaVinci suggests running spare pods and cleaning more often, replacing the cotton pad each time.

DaVinci treats this as daily upkeep, since clogging and thin vapor on the IQ2 usually trace back to a neglected airpath. A patchy LED grid is separate: debris in the display pinholes, which brush out.