Vapman Pure

Nothing sits between the pan and the wood on a Pure. Where other Vapmans use a mica sheet, this one lets the flame char a thin carbon skin into the shell, and that skin is the insulation. So the Pure is a device where the dirtiest looking surface on it is the one surface you must never take a solvent to.

1. Empty it warm. Twist the middle section off anticlockwise, knock the spent herb out, then pass the stainless filter over a paper towel before everything cools. Residue comes away far more willingly at that point, and a tacky filter is what starts the two halves binding on each other.

2. Keep solvent off the shell. Isopropyl strips the carbon layer and the linseed oil finish under it in one go, which is why Vapman limits wood care to a dry cloth. Every few months a little natural wood oil worked into the outside keeps the 62mm body from drying out and cracking along the grain.

3. Cotton bud on the gold. Once the device is stone cold, work 90 percent isopropyl or acetone around the 0.1g gold plated pan on a cotton bud, then dry it. No part of the Pure is meant to be submerged. Severe overheating flakes the plating too, so hold the jet flame near 1 to 1.5cm and put its tip on the copper cone, clear of the wood.

4. Needle the nozzles. A draw that has gone tight usually means residue in the three brass nozzles or the vents above them. Both are far too fine for bristles, so open them with a needle or a pin.

5. Pull the filter out monthly. Its retaining screws are PH00 cross heads. Half an hour in isopropyl clears the filter and any 316L concentrate screens, and the blunt end of the natural bristle brush scrapes out the bore of the middle section. A cooling spiral, if you use one, soaks separately and then gets rinsed.

6. Pick the solvent from the mouthpiece material. Vapman fits the Pure with POM, borosilicate, Inox steel, titanium or olive wood. Metal and glass are happy in isopropyl. POM is rated only to 115C and does fine in boiling water. Wood wants acetone, and alcohol on a wooden mouthpiece counts as improper cleaning under the two year warranty.

A fresh Pure smells faintly of scorched wood and puts out a little smoke for its first few sessions while the carbon layer establishes itself. That is the char bedding in, not residue, and no amount of cleaning will hurry it along.