Linx Gaia

The Gaia routes incoming air around its electronics and straight up through a 10mm quartz cup into the glass mouthpiece, so very little ends up inside the body. Residue collects in two places instead: the quartz chamber walls, and the stainless steel filter section screwed to the base of the mouthpiece. Linx says that weak vapor on a Gaia is almost always that filter clogging rather than a fault with the device.

1. Take the mouthpiece off: Lift the magnetic cap, then unscrew the glass mouthpiece from the body. That opens the quartz chamber so you can tip out the spent bud. Put the cap back on the glass whenever the mouthpiece is off the vape, because the tube is the easiest part of the Gaia to break.

2. Brush the quartz: Work the included brush around the chamber walls and over the air holes in the floor while the oven is still warm. The magnetic steel tool stored in the base doubles as a scraper for anything baked on.

3. Split the mouthpiece: It is two pieces, a quartz glass tube and a stainless steel filter section. Linx says to unscrew the filter from the tube with a screwdriver rather than pulling at it.

4. Soak the filter: Linx gives two hours in isopropyl for the filter section, though a shorter soak clears light residue. Both pieces can be fully submerged, since the mouthpiece has no plastic or silicone in it for alcohol to cloud. Rinse in hot water, then dry completely before reassembling.

5. Swab the glass: Run a cotton bud wet with isopropyl over the inside and outside of the glass tube and around the metal base until it is clear.

6. Wipe the chamber: Use a damp, not dripping, cotton bud on the quartz, and hold the Gaia upside down while you do it so any excess alcohol runs out rather than down into the electronics.

7. Burn it off: Five clicks to wake, set the top of the range, then hold the button and let it heat empty until it shuts off. That clears alcohol residue. Run it twice on a brand new Gaia to shed the factory taste.

Clean the mouthpiece filter every two or three bowls, and do the full strip roughly every ten days if you vape daily. Replacement filter sections ship with a screen fitted plus two spare screens, so swap rather than scrub one that has clogged solid. Keep the three vertical air holes on the metal casing clear, charge the internal 2200mAh cell with the micro USB end of the 2-in-1 connector, and leave the casing shut: Linx voids the one year warranty on tampered parts.