Written by Brandon Topp

Have you ever reached for your vape pen only to discover a complete stoppage of airflow? You’re not alone, which is why we created this guide on how to unclog a cart.

For many of us, the vape pen is a reliable and handy delivery system for our much-loved cannabinoids. Because the pen has become such a regular part of many of our routines, dealing with blockage can be super frustrating.

Throughout this guide, we’ll explain why your cart or disposable vape clogs, how to prevent buildup, and what to do when it’s not hitting.

Check out Mood’s selection of Vape Pens at our online dispensary. Subscribe for recurring shipments and save 15%.

Table of Contents

• How To Buy a Vape Pen

• Why Your Vape Pen is Clogged

• 5 Tips For Unclogging Your Vape Pen

• 5 Tips To Prevent Vape Cart Clogs

• Try These Disposable Vape Pens From Mood

How To Buy a Vape Pen

Buying a disposable pen or vape cartridge these days can be tricky.

The world of cannabis is rife with distillate posing as live resin, live resin posing as live rosin, and so on.

When you’re buying a vape pen or cart, there are a few things to keep in mind:

• Does the vape come with a certificate of analysis (COA)? Reports like these can be the only reliable way to make sure what you’re buying is high quality and consistent with its packaging. Mood provides a detailed COA with every one of our products.

• Find vapes featuring strains that you like. Whether you’re a sativa person or an indica fanatic, vaping consistent with your flower usage is a good way to find products that make for your ideal vaping experience.

• Seek out THC levels and cannabinoids that you like. While Delta-8 THC might deliver a more calm and focused effect, a pen featuring THCp and similar cannabinoids might be better for someone looking for a more powerful experience.

Why Your Vape Pen is Clogged

Like any clog, the one blocking the airway in your vape is caused by a backup of the concentrate within it.

There are several reasons why your vape pen might be clogged. Here are a few prime examples:

• Your vape pen rests upside down in your pocket. After a rip, it’s easy to drop your vape in your pocket without thinking too much about its vertical orientation. If you think about it, though, the more time it spends upside down, the more opportunity sticky distillate or live resin has to make its way down to the mouthpiece to cause a blockage.

• You left your vape pen in a hot place. Whether you keep it in the middle console of your car or leave it on the porch on a summer’s day, failing to keep your vape cool probably contributed to a clog. Direct sunlight, high humidity, and heat degrade the oil in your pen and make it easier to block its airway.

• You overfilled your cartridge. For those with pack-your-own pens, not overloading the chamber is key to maintaining solid airflow. To avoid this problem altogether, you can always opt for disposable vapes.

If you still prefer a vape cartridge you can pack yourself, consider loading it up with some of these THCa Diamonds. 1g is only $55 at our online dispensary. Subscribe and save 15%.

How To Unclog a Cart: 5 Tips

Troubleshooting has led to a wide range of proven strategies for dealing with a clogged vape cart. Most of these methods are applicable to both refillable and disposable vapes.

While figuring out your vape clog, consider trying any of the following steps, and always remember to keep your vape upright in a cool place as often as possible.

1. Poke Your Vape Pen With a Paperclip or Toothpick

The easiest way to unclog your vape pen is by simply poking through the mouthpiece and breaking up the blockage with a paperclip or toothpick.

Depending on the viscosity of the concentrate, it should take just a couple of seconds to break the buildup and create new, tiny airflow holes.

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2. Inhale Extra Hard

Sometimes, you can break through e-liquid buildup simply by pulling extra hard for a rip. This might be the most common and laziest strategy on how to unclog a cart, and yet it’s still pretty effective.

When it's clogged, and you try to hit it, you’ll feel the blockage of airflow. If the buildup isn’t too bad, you’ll be able to feel that the air is almost breaking through, in which case a deep breath inwards can sometimes do the trick.

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3. Clean Excess Oil With Rubbing Alcohol

When vape oil builds up so much that it bleeds out to the mouthpiece of your vape or dab pen, you need to do some cleaning before hitting it again.

Rubbing the mouthpiece and leaked areas with a Q-tip or cotton swab soaked in rubbing alcohol will help clear up that sticky resin. After that, you still may need to go into the mouthpiece with a toothpick or paper clip to clear space.

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4. Treat With Warm Water

Be careful with this trick because if you’re not, you could destroy your vape. Put your clogged vape into a zip-top bag, and make sure it’s completely sealed within it.

Then, put the bag and pen in a bowl filled with warm water for a few minutes. This warms the oil and helps the wick absorb it so you can get back to ripping.

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5. Heat With a Hair Dryer

To warm your vape oil and create better airflow without putting it in a bag in warm water, you can blow heat on it with a hair dryer.

It’s recommended to set the hair dryer to its hottest setting and hold it about a half foot from the vape pen for no more than 30 seconds. From there, you can try hitting it and then applying more heat if needed.

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5 Tips To Prevent Vape Cart Clogs

When you take steps to actively prevent clogs, you will enjoy your vape more, and you will need to revert to these tips on how to unclog a cart less.

1. Stand Your Vape Pen Up Vertically

We’ve mentioned this one a couple of times already in this piece, but stop leaving your vapes lying down on their sides or upside down. We get it; vapers can sometimes be forgettable, but this is such an easy way to drastically reduce clogging.

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2. Store Your Vape Pen in a Cool Place

Because heat can lead to a clogged vape cartridge, keeping it in a cool place is a practical and effective way to keep your pen ripping. You can even refrigerate your live resin or oil, which makes for refreshing, cooling rips.

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3. Clean Leaks and Clogs ASAP

When you slip up and lose track of your best practices, clean and unclog your vape as soon as possible. That way, you can help prevent excessive buildup, which will be more difficult to break through, making your vaping experiences pains in the butt instead of relaxing and enjoyable.

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4. Check For Clogs Before Putting Away

Leaving your vape with a clog for a while can make it more difficult to break up. By making it a regular practice to check for clogs before putting it in whatever drawer or on whichever countertop you tend to, you can maximize your chances of maintaining smooth rips from the beginning to end of a vape cartridge.

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5. Keep Your Vape Pen Clean

Generally, keeping your vape battery and pen clean will help reduce opportunities for concentration or condensation buildup. Beyond that, avoiding extreme temperatures and general maintenance should minimize the hassle of a clogged vape cart.

Grab a 2g THCa Ice Queen Dab Badder for $49 from the Mood Shop. Subscribe and save 15%.

Try These Disposable Vape Pens From Mood

We’ve got the goods you need for an easy, high-quality vaping session. Check out some of our favorite Mood Vapes here.

A Focused Vape Pen

This choice is arguably best for those who like a little hit to go with a project or a work block. Featuring a sativa-dominant hybrid Strawberry Cough, the live resin contained in this vape pen is known for its ability to support locking in and getting the job done.

Get a 1g THCa Strawberry Cough Disposable Vape for $60 at our online dispensary. Subscribe and save 15%.

Our Social Vape Pen

Another THCa live resin vape from Mood’s online dispensary, this Lemon OG delight delivers a well-balanced high. With just over 50% THCa, it’s rated a stellar 5/5 stars on our store by verified purchasers. We recommend this pen for group dates and comedy shows.

Get a 1g Lemon OG Disposable Vape for $60 from the Mood Shop. Subscribe and save 15%.

A Vape For Creativity

Featuring a balanced blend of THCa and CBD, this live resin vape is a favorite amongst the Mood community. Discover how it earned an average rating of 4.8/5 stars among verified purchasers and why one user described it as a “top-notch experience.”

Grab a 1g THCa Gelato Disposable Vape for $60 today. Subscribe and save 15%.

Check out more Farm Bill-compliant cannabis products at our online dispensary today. Subscribe and save 15%.

Prices subject to change.