OC How I maintain and use my Storz & Bickel Mighty Plus (Mighty+)
Equipment
Every day items
- Mighty Plus with standard charger
- Hard shell carry case
- Dry herb grinder
- Rolling tray to catch wastage from the grinder
- Small rectangular ceramic plate for emptying already vaped herb onto when I'm inside
- Small metal cleaning pick (the pick came with the XMax v3pro, but you can use anything pin-like. Before switching to the pick, I used to use a tiny screwdriver head made for glasses,)
- 2x standard Storz & Bickel brushes
- 3x cooling units
- 12x dosing capsules
- Dosing capsule holder keyring
- A small round pop up tin
- Dosing capsule holder with funnel
Deep cleaning
- Ethanol (I've also used Isopropyl alcohol in the past with no issue, but Storz & Bickel recommend ethanol)
- 2x small mason jars and a ramakin
- A cotton cheese cloth
- Q-tips / cotton buds
- Spare mesh screens (both fine and coarse)
- Small toolbox for spare parts (I also keep spare parts for my other vapes in here)
Use
It depends on the circumstances. When it's just me and my partner, I mostly use the dosing capsules, but not for the convenience, just to limit the size of the dose, albeit marginally.
When sharing with 2 or more friends, I usually pack 2 or 3 dosing capsules for the convenience of not having to grind dry herb between sessions.
I tend to avoid grinding a large amount ahead of time to fill more than 2 or 3 dosing capsules, because I prefer my herb freshly ground, and I like keeping it in bud form while in storage.
I suppose if I go camping or on a short trip I will grind up a large batch of 10-12 dosing capsules just to save on space, and for pure convenience.
Sometimes I use the funnel to help pack the dosing capsules (or to pack straight into the oven), sometimes I don't. I find the funnel useful in low light, or any other less than ideal refilling situations.
Each session lasts a few minutes, and I always start at 180c. I give it a few seconds after it's reached 180 to warm up a bit, and then I give it a long gentle pull to get it going. Then I'll usually pass it or take another draw at 180 for more of the green flavoured goodness.
From there I will temp step up 5c at a time until I reach my desired temperature. If I'm with friends I'll usually crank it up to the max 210 every time to get the most extraction.
If it's just me and my partner I will sometimes only step up to somewhere around 190-200 rather than blasting 210. Cranking up to 210 delivers a much more intense effect, so it depends on what I'm doing.
It's fairly obvious when the session's over mainly because you can taste it, but also because the cloud size starts to drop off.
Maintenance
After every session
The moment I finish the session, I take off the cooling unit and -- being careful not to touch the hot oven -- I turn the device upside down so that the dosing capsule falls on to a small ceramic plate to cool. If I am outdoors I tip it into a small round pop up tin to avoid having to put it on a rock or something where it might get lost.
While the dosing capsule is cooling, I'll use a brush to gently clear any residue off the screen on the cooling unit.
Then I hold the device upside down and lightly brush the inside of the oven, hoping that any toasted herb that escaped from the dosing capsule will fall out. Next I brush the oven's ceramic outer edge. Sometimes there is some stubborn residue that requires dislodging with the q-tip.
Setting the Mighty Plus and its cooling unit aside to cool, I open up the spent dosing capsule over the plate. If I'm outside I'll just do it over the ground so as not to carry round toasted herb with me. I hear some people like to keep the leftovers but when I'm outside I prefer not to carry it around to minimise the smell.
I'll then use the small metal cleaning pick to scrape out all of the herb. Sometimes to fully clear the capsule of herb I need to use the brush. Then I'll put the empty used dosing capsule in the small pop up tin ready for cleaning. Most of the time I keep my pick in the dosing capsule holder keyring instead of dosing capsules, because the pick is small and tends to be hard to find in the hard shell carry case.
I've used dosing capsules 2 or 3 times before cleaning in the past with no issue. It's just that by the time I have used a dozen dosing capsules I tend to clean my Mighty Plus, at which point I might as well clean them too while I'm swapping over cooling units.
I find that after the second or third use, the dosing capsules get a bit oily so need a clean anyway.
Deep cleaning
The cooling unit can start to get a bit oily after a dozen or so uses. I don't think it's strictly speaking necessary to clean it after that many uses if you are vaping regularly, but I'm a light user so I don't want to leave an oily cooling unit on my Mighty Plus longer than I have to.
I just prefer to keep on top the cleaning and maintenance whenever I can spare a few minutes in amongst all the millions of other life tasks.
I soak the dosing capsules and brushes in a ramakin containing a little ethanol, I dismantle the cooling unit and remove the screens, and soak the parts in a mason jar filled with just enough ethanol to fully submerge all the parts. Instructions for dismantling the cooling unit and removing the screens can be found on the official Storz & Bickel YouTube channel.
After an hour or two, I use a fine mesh sieve/strainer to catch the clean parts while I pour the dirty ethanol into a clean mason jar to re-use. Next I wash the parts under a running water for 30 seconds, before placing all the parts on a flat cotton cheese cloth for a few hours to dry.
While the parts are drying, I dip a q-tip in ethanol, and gently wipe the oven clean while holding the Mighty Plus upside down so that any loose residue falls out of the device.
Once dry everything is dry, I'll reassemble the cooling unit and place it in my toolbox. The clean dosing capsules go in my dosing capsule holder with funnel. Anything that doesn't fit goes in the toolbox.
Final thoughts
Life is busy, so I am constantly trying to make a more efficient workflow, which is why I've picked up so much equipment. And it actually doesn't seem like there are too many bits and bobs because I keep things organised.
I hope this was useful and I look forward to any suggestions or questions.
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