Stache E-Nail

The E-Nail wraps a coil around the sides and bottom of a 14mm male quartz banger, so every dab leaves residue in the same small cup, and anything running over the rim lands on the coil, the one part that can never be washed.

1. Swab the quartz after every dab: Stache's instruction for their quartz is a cotton swab carrying a small amount of isopropyl, swirled around the inside of the banger, then the dry end of the same swab to soak up what the wet end loosened. Repeat until the cup runs clear. Doing it while the banger is still warm is what saves you from the deep cleans.

2. Soak a chazzed banger overnight: lift the banger out of the coil and leave it in 91 to 99 percent isopropyl overnight, with coarse kosher salt in a sealed bag for heavy buildup. Rinse with distilled water rather than tap, since dissolved minerals bake in yellow on the next heat cycle. Loosened chunks come off with the wooden end of a swab. Nothing abrasive: scratches trap residue and weaken the cup. No bleach and no acid based cleaners.

3. Dry before reheating: give the banger ten to fifteen minutes of air drying after a soak, then bring it up on a low setting so any alcohol still in the quartz evaporates before your first dab.

4. Keep liquid away from the coil and the box: Stache's E-Nail guidance says not to apply water to the coil either to cool it or to clean it, and not to wash the electronics at all. A hot coil cools on its own, and the controller and coil only ever get a dry wipe. The cord is called out separately: do not bend, twist or stress it.

5. Treat temperature as maintenance: the controller runs 700 to 1000F, but Stache sets a ceiling of 1100F and rates the coil for thousands of hours inside the suggested range. For quartz they put low around 550 to 625F, medium 625 to 680F and high 680 to 750F. Running hotter clouds the quartz and eats into coil life.

6. Do not park the banger in the rig: Stache asks that quartz goes back into the carrying case after a session instead of sitting in the glass, which keeps residue from setting in the joint. Wipe the carb cap while you are there. The nail is 14mm male, so whatever glass it sits in cleans separately with isopropyl and coarse salt, then a long rinse in hot water.

The banger and the heater coil are both sold as replacements, so a cracked cup or a failed coil does not retire the controller. Never leave the unit switched on unattended.