Sublimator

The Sublimator holds its stainless or titanium Atomizer at the same temperature as the Heating Core clamped on top, so residue bakes onto the screen and the inside wall of the Atomizer barrel instead of drifting downstream. Everything that does escape shows up as sublimate oil in the stem and in whatever glass or launch tube the Atomizer is seated in.

1. Separate the parts warm, never cold or scorching. Sublimator warns that a cold Heating Core must never go into a hot Atomizer, or the reverse, because the two can fuse and come apart only with damage. Let the assembly drop below working heat, then unthread the Heating Core and split the Atomizer into its bowl and stem sections.

2. Use the maker's own method on metal. Sublimator's instruction is vegetable oil first to lift the resin, then a mild detergent such as dish soap, with every trace of oil removed before the part goes back on heat. Light vegetable oil is also what they suggest for glass and plastic. Never use anything containing salt on the metal parts, since salt solutions void the 10 year metal warranty.

3. Keep isopropyl away from anything electrical. Soaking the bare Atomizer in 90 percent or stronger isopropyl and rinsing in hot water is standard practice among owners. Sublimator's warranty excludes electronic parts that have been washed, dipped or soaked in isopropyl, so the Heating Core, its handle, the cable and the Monkey Controller only ever get a wipe.

4. Clear the screen and the threads. The steel grill above the stem clogs first, especially after concentrates. Push it out from below, clear the holes, and if solvent will not shift the crust, grip the screen in pliers and pass a small flame over it. Spare screen sets are sold in pairs. Residue in the threads between bowl and stem stops the two seating fully, which leaves the handle loose and can drop a hot core.

5. Burn off what will not scrub. For baked residue on the Sub Unit, Sublimator says to leave the Heating Core plugged into the Monkey Controller and run it at full power until nothing more comes off. Full power is a cleaning setting, not a session setting.

6. Treat the launch tube as solvent sensitive. The plastic tube is not isopropyl safe and can craze or crack. Hot water with a brewing wash, or a cleaner sold as plastic pipe safe, does the job.

Sublimator's own schedule is a full clean weekly on heavy use, monthly with periodic Atomizer cleaning on moderate use, and as needed otherwise. Anything sent in for service must arrive free of herb, oil and residue.