Vapvana Screwball

The Screwball uses a diffuser head, so the titanium housing packed with roughly 750 gem cut rubies sits on top of the bowl instead of inside it and never touches your flower. That puts almost all of the mess downstream: in the titanium bowl, on its mesh screen, and in the glass below. The lid screws off if you ever want to get at the rubies, but they are not what needs washing.

1. Brush the bowl out while it is still warm. Vapvana asks for this after every session. Tip the spent material out with the included scoop and run the wooden brush across the screen as well. Residue that sets into the mesh restricts airflow, and a clogged screen is a common cause of harsh, hot tasting vapor on these heads.

2. Strip the bowl before it goes anywhere near solvent. The handle unscrews at its 10/24 thread, the modular top lifts off, the screen comes out, and the glass joint separates from the base on its o-ring. The full size top takes a 20mm screen and the micro top a 15mm, each seating in one of two cutouts to give a full or half capacity setting.

3. Soak metal, glass and screen only. Vapvana specifies 91 percent isopropyl or stronger for 30 to 60 minutes, covering the titanium bowl, the glass joints and the screen. The hand finished wooden handle stays out and gets wiped instead. Rinse everything under hot running water until no alcohol remains, then let it air dry fully before rebuilding.

4. Keep all liquid off the heater. No water and no isopropyl on the housing or the 25mm coil. Vapvana's method for the head is heat: leave it on its stand somewhere ventilated and run the PID at 750F or above for 20 to 30 minutes. The titanium may take on some colour afterwards, which is cosmetic only.

5. Buy screens and o-rings as consumables. Both sizes sell in packs of ten and the kit ships with spares. They carry no long term coverage, unlike the housing, coil and PID, which are under Vapvana's lifetime warranty.

6. Reset after a combustion. Scorch a bowl and Vapvana recommends cleaning the bowl and the water pipe together, since the burnt flavour carries into the next few sessions otherwise.

Change your water daily and give the glass a salt and alcohol shake when it clouds. A hot titanium bowl can grip a glass joint, so let it cool before pulling. If you ever run the Screwball heater on a third party PID, check the pinout first: matching plugs can still be wired differently and take out both the coil and the controller.