Rowan Bailey
7th January 2026
Lung Health and Dry Herb Vapes For Medical Cannabis
When using something as medication, the last thing you want to do is pose risks to your health.
In the UK medical cannabis flower is prescribed to be used through a dry herb vaporizer. By avoiding combustion altogether, and only inhaling selective compounds up to the temperature you select, you are drastically reducing the health risks of inhaling cannabis. However, that doesn't mean there is no risk to your lungs/ health using this method.
The good news is, that following good practices when maintaining your device, and ensuring you choose a reputable device can minimise these risks as much as possible.
This article is here to help outline the ins and outs of device maintenance for your health, and how to get setup to do this on the cheap without compromising on your health.
*Disclaimer*
I am not a medical professional, and this article is discussing risks to health around using a dry herb vaporizer. I am in no way saying that using these methods makes using a dry herb vape 100% safe. I am simply outlining best practices as a patient as put forward by manufacturers of these devices and in to ensure you're doing so safely for your health, and with the some of the more volatile products used in the cleaning process.
Isopropyl alocohol is often recommended for the cleaning process, and is completely safe to use when you know how to. It's EXTREMELY flammable and dangerous if handled incorrectly. So it's important to make sure you are following any steps using this in a well ventilated area, with no risk of sparks, open flames, or any ignition points. It's also vital that you don't ingest this.
Our articles may include affiliate links to products that we recommend*
Lung Health with medical cannabis and why it is so important
Introduction
This article is here to be a quick and easy resource for someone who's new to maintaining their dry herb vape, or want to ensure they're doing it the right way.
Secondly, it's here because it's needed as the risks here can be significant. Recently, there was a post shared on the UK Medical Cannabis reddit where a user shared a friend of theirs had recently passed of pneumonia and posed the question whether it could have been attributed to poor device maintenance of their DHV. Whether this is true in this case or not, the fact remains it could well have been an issue relating to this, and if so, the risk could have been reduced with better device maintenance. I cannot express our sadness of the loss of this persons friend, and if this article can help avoid someone else losing a friend of theres, then it is absolutely worth me taking the time to write it out with this cup of coffee.
So without further delay, below i'll jump into what's going on inside your dry herb vape, best practices for maintaining it, and how to get setup on the cheap to stay ahead of it!
Continued below.
Die besten Trockenkräuter-Verdampfer für medizinisches Cannabis in Großbritannien: Unsere Auswahl
Die besten Trockenkräuterverdampfer für medizinisches Cannabis in Großbritannien
Was ist der beste Trockenkräuterverdampfer für medizinisches Cannabis in Großbritannien? Diese Frage ist schwer zu beantworten, insbesondere bei der großen Auswahl zwischen 25 £ und über 500 £!
Wir teilen unsere Top-Auswahl an medizinischen Cannabis-Trockenkräuterverdampfern für medizinisches Cannabis in Großbritannien auf, damit Sie gleich beim ersten Mal die richtige Wahl treffen können!
Wie immer, wenn Sie Hilfe bei der Versorgung mit medizinischem Cannabis benötigen, herausfinden möchten, ob Sie berechtigt sind oder etwas mit CBD zu tun haben, lassen Sie es uns wissen!
Explaining the risks of dry herb vaping
We all are aware of the risks of smoking, and that vaping reduces alot of these risks, but does it remove all of them? No.
For context I am writing this as someone who uses a dry herb vape daily for my medical needs. I am not writing this as a fear hit piece but to share the risks as I understand them, and good practices for maintaining and cleaning your device to reduce these risks.
Firstly, inhaling anything that can leave residue in your lungs isn't ideal. Our body is designed to process all sorts, but that doesn't mean that throwing more at it than it would normally experience through breathing is a good idea. Having said that, for many, using cannabis flower/ extracts poses a very specific result in terms of effects/ medical relief vs other options such as edible options. So, if you need to use this method, using a reputable dry herb vape over smoking is absolutely the best choice.
Secondly, simply using a dry herb vape over smoking doesn't mean the dry herb vape can't become a risk in itself. Many dry herb vapes have a pathway between the oven the heats the flower, and the mouthpiece that you inhale from. As this cools the vapour down, some of the 'vaporised' oils and moisture will condensate and stick to the insides of this pathway. Depending on the device, small particulates from the flower like trichomes may also make their way into this pathway.
Granted, at first when this happens, these have all been exposed to temperatures that will mean there's no bacteria in them. However, the further away it get's from the oven, the cooler this is. Meaning that this condensation buiild up (Many call this reclaim) that is closer to the exit of the mouth piece, may not be continually exposed to high enough temperatures to wipe out incase bacteria build up. If anything, the continued use of the device warming this area up, can infact help bacterial growth over time. So what ends up happening if you don't clean it? You inhale spores, bacteria and anything else that develops in these pathways. So this is where the secondary risk lies when it comes to dry herb vapes. But the good news? It's really not difficult to remove this risk 100% with the right tools and consistent maintenence. Better yet? These things you need can be bought for as little as £20.
Step By Step Guide To Clean Your Dry Herb Vape
- Refer to your device manual or youtube videos on how to take apart your dry herb vape for maintenance. You may already know this, as many devices are self explanatory. Once you know how it comes apart, and what you are having to clean you'll then know what you need to prepare.
- Get setup somewhere with good ventilation, nowhere near an ignition point, risk of sparks, open flames etc. Gather the following materials:
A. Safe to use cotton swabs (No added chemicals to the cotton etc).
B. Kitchen towel for cleaning up and working on. The residue inside the device is extremely sticky, and this will stop it getting on the table etc.
C. 99%+ Isopropyl alcohol. Yes you can get 70%, don't. Get 99%. It evaporates faster, cleans faster, and has no other contaminants to be left behind.
D. A small egg cup/ shot glass to pour ISO into and dip your cotton buds in.
E. A glass jar with a lid. This is optional depending on your device. If your cooling unit could benefit from a soak in iso. you can put it in this jar, and cover with ISO. - Now you have everything ready you want to take apart your device. Depending on how much build up there is inside, this may be seized shut. To make this easier, you can time cleaning for after you finish a dose so that the device is hot which in turn makes the reclaim more manageable.
- Assuming your device is hot before opening up/ taking apart, you can work quickly with dry cotton buds to remove the bulk of the reclaim/ resin in the pathways of your cooling unit/ mouth piece. It will rapidly cool down and get to the point where th cotton buds start getting stuck.
- Once you've done the warm pass with the cotton buds you can either start dipping them in the iso and continue working away at removing all of the remaining residue. Or, if your device permits you can simply place the remaining pieces into the jar, and fill it until the pieces are covered in ISO. Place the lid on and shake to get it in everywhere. Waiting 5-10 minutes, and shake again, and repeat until you can see that the residue is gone.
- Once your cooling unit/ mouth pieces are clean and removed from the jar, you want to dry them off as much as you can with papertowels. Remember, iso is highly combustive, so dispose of these safely.
The remaining iso will evaporate easily if you've got 99%, so in a well venitlated area you can wait for this to try out 100% or continue dab every part dry with cotton buds. - Finally, once you are 100% certain every last bit of isopropyl has exaporated you can put your device back together and get back to using it.
It's worth nothing that you may find that the parts are slightly stick at this stage despite looking clean. Depending on how much build up there is, the iso can sometimes leave a small film of the resin over your device. This is a sign that you need to use more iso at that stage, or that it wasn't rinsed for long enough. Depending on how sticky this film is, it isn't the end of the world. But worth knowing so you can avoid in the future. - You're all done. Iso will sterilise everything as it goes as well as absorbing the pesky resin that can be impossible to get off otherwise. Making sure you do this regularly means that your device will never get to the point where the secondary risk comes into play and you can rest assured you've optimised what you can do for your lung health with your DHV.
What to buy below!
What to buy
First off, we sell alot of what you need, but the point of this article isn't to profit but to help. For the sake of transparency with these, i'll be linking externally to amazon and elsewhere. If you do want to support us, simply use the search bar at the top :)
The things needed to maintain your dry herb vape can be bought in many places, don't have to cost the earth and only have a couple of key things to look out for:
Use 99% ISO. It leaves nothing behind to be vaped after, it cleans and evaporates faster than lower strengths.
Cotton buds must be unfragranced, and safe to use for vapes. You don't want any uknown residue from the cotton buds to be leached onto your cooling unit and inturn to vape them.
As long as you hit these points well, you're covered, which means these supplies can be quite cheap!
Isopropyl Alochol (£5.99 at the time of writing this) https://amzn.to/49cvz3D
Cotton Buds
Once you've got your ISO and cotton buds sorted, the rest is typical house hold stuff like small glasses, kitchen towel and an old jar you have spare.
Outro
I really hope this article has helped break down the risks to lung health around dry herb vaporizers and why it's so important to clean them properly.
We are always happy to help with any questions you may have! Feel free to drop us an email or on live chat and we'll get back asap :)
With all that said, Happy New Year and I hope everyone has a briliiant year ahead!
- Rowan
Other Strain Reviews
Aurora Sourdough
A unique aroma that pleases the senses and soothes my symptoms with ease. This 29% strain has been making waves as it's difficult for pharmacies to keep it in stock, and with good reason.
This potent strain is ideal for my afternoon and evening doses when my back starts getting sassy.
Check out our review by click here!
Curaleaf LA Kush Cake
LA Kush Cake was a stable for me for a while. It's a strong strain with excellent bud structure and typically consistent from batch to batch.
At 25% it sits as one of the stronger options, but can be used to balance symptoms in the day in light measures!
Read more about what I thought here!
Wedding Pop Triangle (WPT)
I had no idea what to expect when this was added to my prescripton, but when I stuck my nose into the bag I was immediately transported back to Amsterdam in 2007. A familiar sour tone came flooding through backed up with some other familiar tones that I still cannot put my finger in. All in all I was really happy and the effects backed it up.
Sadly from batch to batch I haven't always had that same impactiful terpene profile, though effects have typically remained consistent. My recent two batches have been on point though!
Check it out under the microscope and my full review here!
Meet the writer
Rowan is one of the founders of Infinity CBD and Pembrokeshire CBD Centre. Having worked in the CBD/ Cannabis industry for over five years, he has extensive knowledge of the supply chain issues, compliance and other fun things you have to contend with from the corporate side of all of this. However, having also been a patient for 4+ years he has also seen first hand of the ups and downs of the patient experience, quality woes and what to generally expect.
These medical cannabis reviews are presented to try and form a balanced and honest opinion relating to his experience and understanding of the limitations the clinics/ pharmacies and producers face with trying to navigate compliance standards that compete with perceived quality of some products.
Everyone is different, and Rowan is prescribed for specific conditions and is provided these prescription legally by a Dr who has been working alongside him to find the best treatments. This means that any perceived benefits expressed in his article are purely anecdotal and related to his experience and may not reflect yours and certainly in no way mean to boast any medical claims about the use of these treatments outside of what he has personally experienced.
“Medical cannabis has given me back control and vast improvement in terms of my quality of life day to day. Although I still struggle with my symptoms, this has enabled me to still be present and functional on the worse days, and given the peace of mind that knowings it's there if I need it on the better ones.”
- Rowan Bailey
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