Vaporbrothers VB 1.5

The VB 1.5 keeps its 4mm glass beads inside an enclosed Natural Mineral ceramic element rather than in a removable basket, so the part doing the work is not something you take apart or wash. In our review the heater stayed clean through normal use, and everything that actually needs attention sits downstream of it: the 16mm ground glass whip tip that slips over the heater, the .625 inch screen, the silicone whip grip holding that screen, and the hose.

1. Let the glass cool, then bend it apart: the EZ Change whip supplied with the VB 1.5 comes apart by flexing the glass tip and the handle out of the silicone whip grip. Vaporbrothers is explicit that you wait until the glass has cooled before disassembly, and that you never draw through a chipped or cracked piece.

2. Clear the screen between deep cleans: with the unit warm and the whip empty, take a draw through it. Hot air shifts fresh residue on its own and keeps the full soak much further apart.

3. Soak the whip grip on its own: alcohol or boiling water, with nothing else in the container, so the silicone does not pick up contamination from the other parts. The longer it sits the cleaner it gets, and the solution can be saved for the glass afterwards.

4. Soak the glass and the screen next: tip, handle and mouthpiece all take alcohol or boiling water. Clear blocked holes in the ceramic screen with a paper clip or thin wire, never the stainless pick tool, which will break it, then blow back through the grip to dislodge loose material.

5. Replace the hose rather than cleaning it: Vaporbrothers says not to put alcohol on the tubing at all. The high temperature silicone hose runs about 3.5 feet and trims to length with scissors.

6. Read the residue: a honey coloured film rinses off easily, while a blackened tip and a clogged screen mean the dial has been running too hot.

7. Keep the box dry: wipe the birch housing and keep liquid away from the heater entirely. The translucent silicone internal mount on newer units doubles as a water and debris guard and cleans with a swab. The manual asks you to stop waste building up inside the wooden body and to inspect the cord and the element periodically.

Concentrate users have two extra parts. Clean the concentrate tip with 91 percent isopropyl between sessions, and treat the ceramic disc as a consumable that runs roughly four weeks of moderate use before it needs a soak. Keep spare .625 inch screens on hand in ceramic or stainless, and never fit a brass one.