Buzzby

I've always been a big fan of using fire to clean metal pipe screens. The stuck-on material is all organic and burns off leaving a tiny bit of ash. That can be rinsed off and the screen dried by a few more seconds in the flame.

I started out using a gas stove, which worked pretty well. Then I went to a propane torch, which worked even better. The higher temperature did the job more thoroughly in less time. Operating on the theory that "More is Better", I decided yesterday to clean the stainless steel screen from my vape whip with my MAPP gas torch. MAPP is a newer technology that provides a hotter flame, which makes torch tasks go by much faster.

I fired up the MAPP torch and put it on the table. I grabbed the screen with my needle nose pliers and put it in the flame. Wow! It went from cold to incandescent white in only a few seconds. Yellow was the best I could get with the propane torch. All trace of the residue was gone. I rinsed the screen, stuck it in the flame to dry it, and thought that I had, once again, challenged the frontiers of science.

Wrong! When I went to put the screen back into the whip, the center crumbled and fell out. MAPP torches are too hot; hot enough to burn/melt stainless steel screens. A propane torch is still the best way to go.

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