Just wondering what all types of tubing (high temp silicone is a MUST) everyone is using and how they clean/care for it. I've been a vap vet for many many years, and for the life of me, I cannot find a sure-fire way to keep my precious and costly silicone, clear and clean for longer than a few months... before it starts looking like Gnutella hazelnut-brown, and the smell; WHOOOOO it reeks! I've tried EVERYTHING from hot, highly concentrated acid/bases, citric acid, household cleaners, to even the mighty Grunge-off; nothing seems to work beyond the "browning point." A few things of importance; the current tubing I'm using is peroxide-cured, meaning that in a nutshell it's stronger, more durable/heat resistant vs platinum tubing. Platinum-cured tubing is much more inert and often used exclusively in the medical industry, esp where fluid transfer and inertness is of concern. I haven't ponied up for Plat-tubing yet, but I think I'll give it a try once this tube goes sour... I'm not sure the benefits justify the extra expense; this tubing is about $3 per foot and readily available on ebay. Platinum-tubing is much more expensive and isn't sold in smaller, vape friendly sized lines. Min tubing orders are ~25-50ft@+$5/ft for the Plat-bling tubing! __I'm not uber cheap, but I don't like wasting expensive tubing that still functions, albeit smelly and looking terrible... I've got spares, but I really would like some opinions. In the end, I'll just bag this tube up and grab a fresh replacement, only to watch/smell the cycle start again and money down the tubes (haha sorry)... Thanks
Damn... Nothing at all? Sometimes I don't understand this "community" at all; takes mere seconds to post any advice (aside from trash it lol)...
Im not sure what kind of vape you're using but I use the DBV and the part where the tube touches the wand is cool to the touch and I dont think the vapors travelling through are too warm. My guess is you can go to a hardware store and get any standard silicone tube. Probably costs cheap enough to replace every few months than it is worth the effort in washing/cleaning it.
Yeah I just made a dough-ball from some serious chestnut brown resin... rolled it around in some kief, vaped = OMGZ... Yeah cleaning is a hassle, BUT... the tubing I'm using is rather pricey (I guess $3-5/ft) and cleaning is as simple as soaking Grunge-off ~10min, rinse, microwave to dry and I'm good for another month or so. Still though... the smell comes back pretty fast Vs new, the smell doesn't build up/"stick" as fast as once broken-in. New tubing looks pretty cool though, all translucent/florescent hue; like a real medical device... Maybe I should paint the wood "medical cream" white and tell folks it's a medical inhalation device lol; it basically is. Thank you ALL for replying!
Eh I've done a lot of research on tubing and quality; do NOT just get any silicone tubing = it can make you sick over time. Peroxide-cured (highest temp/strongest) tubing is cheaper than Platinum-cured (most sterile, purest silicone, but weaker) and gets the job done. I've never seen any silicone tubing (as described, or at all) at h0me-dep0t/l0wes etc. I get mine from a guy on Ebay that actually makes custom tubing specifically for Vaping; cut to whatever size you want too (min 5ft). BTW- So how long can you go before your tubing starts to wreak/stink a little? If I blaze 1x/day/3-4d/wk = maybe 1-2wks and I've gotta considering cleaning it; leaving it out = smells up the room.
Im not sure what kind of vape you use but on the DBV website they sell replacement hoses pretty cheap.. different sizes too. Try this: Other things for Da Buddha herbal vaporizer
Also use the DBV, the hose gets very mildly warm at the hot end, it is super flexible, no kinking and food grade. I tried to find replacement locally and the silicone tube guy said the DBV stuff wasn't silicone which I see they pretty much confirm on the SSV site... 'The hose we offer is the best hose on the market. It is better than silicon tubing because it does not collect all the dirt and oils from you hands. The hose is made just for us to give to you.' I have used the same hose on my DBV everyday for 3-4 months, I clean it with white spirit and salt, it has gone an amber color but in no way stinks or is grotty, it is more pliable than new. It is probably about due to be replaced. To dry just run very hot water through then hold one end and swing vigorously in circles, switch ends and repeat, let centrifugal force work for you, microwaving to dry doesn't sound good. If this hose fits your vape you would be wise to try it, given the price point.
WOW!!!... $7.50/10ft, WTF?! That's the best pricing I've ever seen lol... Although I'm a bit concerned about "better than silicone," peroxide and esp plat-cured silicone is THE #1 type of medical grade tubing used... I used to work at a very prominent medical school a bit ago etc. etc... But if their claims are right (I'll have to do some R&D), I'm sold! Nagh the microwave is harmless for med-grade silicone; it's a faster/poorman's way of steaming it Vs using an autoclave (very $$$)... temps never exceed 200F, it just steams out the fine particles after swinging it around a bit... But yeah that's a very annoying gripe I have about silicone; it's very prone to dust and dirt, so I have to occasionally wipe it off etc. Again, thanks again for the replies fellas
I'm not even using silicone or that "better then silicone" stuff and I know it's probably bad/ unhealthy. Can anyone post some links on where to find medical/food grade silicone tubin? And does anyone know what that tubing is on the DBV site? I have a DBV and really need new tubing. Can that or the silicone be boiled to clean or at least to be cleaned prior to use?
Let me know what your findings are. I'm curious about the mysterious "Better than silicone" part as well.
EBAY Son! ---Yes it's EXTREMELY TOXIC to you; I'm not joking here... Minute particles of super heated air release small gas molecules from the tubing's surface. You cannot see it, nor detect it by smell, but it's there and it's CARCINOGENIC, meaning cancer related. Never ever use tubing that isn't medically/FDA rated for high-temp inertness. ---I don't know what the tubing is; if it's not silicone, I really want to know wtf new material they are using. Silicone IS the de-facto standard for medical inertness tubing. Unless it's some PTFE which is extremely expensive. ---High-temp silicone can be sterilized through boiling as standard. ---Dude did you ever thing about googling? haha
Yes I looked for food safe silicone tubing, shits expensive!!!!! I couldn't find a clear answer on cleaning it either. Do you know anything about Tygon?
I called customer service for DBV today and asked about the tubing. The guy I spoke with told me that its made of a "food grade" Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC?) and has a very high melting point (close to 1000 degrees) and will not leach any chemicals into the vapor. I cant verify if any of it is true, Im just passing on the info.
-Negative on tygon; it's more used for situations where tubing bend-strength (shore test) and relative chemical inertness is required (see not "inert" regarding humans lol) I use tygon in my liquid-cooling unit for my OC'd computer etc... Very good stuff for that. Oh I'm not disputing you, per se... It's just hard to believe they've developed or found a new (supposed) industrial standard for medical-grade tubing... If they have, I'm fscking getting a box of it... But then again what's $4-5/ft of 100% safe tubing vs saving a few dollars and risking CANCER... I'll pay up PVC- Afaik is extremely toxic when heated beyond it's initial temp of volatility BTW- That Ebay link translates into ~$1.50/ft!!! I bought some tubing from him previously and can swear by it... That and he's an honest shipper (on the package it said $.72 S/H vs $5 ebay rip standard) aside from (after 2mo's worth of blazing daily) smell/discoloration, I've detected ZERO chemicals/side effects from this tubing; it's the real deal. I'm no cheap-sake, but I do look to save where I can; the smell and discoloration are the "operational" costs associated with vaping; unavoidable...
put it all in a bag of high proof alcohol..vodka or something..double bag the vodka and the tubing in one bag and another bag so it doesn't leak and make a mess..just shake it every couple of hours during one day. take it out and let it dry.
Good idea, thought about doing that, but got mad lazy, haha... Yeah it'll work though. Update: Question: Do you think it would be worth occasionally ISO-91% washing my whip/tubing out and saving it to eventually build a nice vat of ISO-hash or will the length of time sitting around in between washes deteriorate the THC? Or should I just stop being that frugal and clean it the normal way?
is [ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FOWGGW]Amazon.com: White SiliconeTubing, 3/8"ID, 1/2"OD, 1/16" Wall, 10' Length: Industrial & Scientific[/ame] a safe silicon tubing to use for a vaporizer?
Bumping an old thread but one I'm really interested in. I've been using the stuff that came with the Extreme Q and recently replaced it with some tubing from the hardware store that the headshop guy recommended. I'm thinking about buying some replacement hose for it and I've seen silicone tubing you discuss, but also teflon (ptfe) hose. It's rated to 500F/260C which is conveniently the max temp of the extreme. I'm also curious if anybody's ever tried to get a direct measurement of the hose temp. I imagine it's proportional to, but much lower than the temperature of the heating element. I don't have an IR thermometer or something equally accurate, although it probably differs between vaporizers. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/White-Translucent-PTFE-Tubing-Length/dp/B0013HOYII/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1298229812&sr=8-4"]LINK to the stuff on Amazon[/ame]. I'm just not sure they have vape-friendly sizes there.