I think the cleaning is minimal also. I've never seen anything aside from very slight resin on a pipe cleaner. The oven cleans out with a quick wipe and a puff of air. This is I suppose partly because the herbs are in contact with smooth steel, and most of the surfaces are hot, so no sticking. The ABV is dry brown toast. All of it.
The LB, because not all surfaces get hot, requires more brushing after a session. There's always a slight buildup arould the O-ring and on the shelves. That area doesn't get hot. The ABV is not nearly as toasted and stays sticky.
Why do I say all of this? Because despite the quick characterization of the Pax as a high maintenance item, a good arguement could be made that the LB logs in more hands on cleaning time than the Pax. I can't speak for all of Paxdom.
I clean my daily driver LB about once a month or so, and then it is 60 seconds of heat with the PA and a quick brush along the rails. I have never cleaned my koa LB but it gets little use; it is a display piece. I have never had any build-up on the flat part of the shelves and definitely never around the O-ring of either of my LBs. The only thing that accumulates there is loose material that I can shake back into the trench. Since the heating chamber is small and the vapour path is extremely short (I hit the LB native) there is almost nowhere for the resin to accumulate. If your ABV is not really toasted and particularly if it is still sticky, you need to learn better technique. I can get black ABV from my LBs any time I want it.
The Pax accumulates more resin because it has a much longer vapour path but especially because it continues to heat after you draw. Since it is a conduction device this means it continues to produce vapour when you aren't using it. That vapour has to go somewhere. Some of it is inhaled on the next hit--if there is a next hit--but some of it condenses. I honestly wonder if those who insist that it needs no cleaning have ever looked through the vapour tube or into the mouthpiece tube. On mine, after three-four ovens there is obvious accumulation. I tried leaving it alone as
JoeKickAss describes, and noted two things: one, the accumulation near the top of the mouthpiece actually started to block the exit hole, and two, the taste (which goes off quickly in the Pax under the best of conditions) got to be simply awful. I can taste the buildup easily and it is not nice. I should add that I dry my stash thoroughly, because material that hasn't been dried increases resin accumulation by quite a bit.
Finally, and
I've posted this in this thread several times already, just because you and
JKA don't feel a need to clean your Pax doesn't mean everyone feels that way. Hell, look at
JKA's avatar. It's easy to understand why he insisted that crap on the shoulders wasn't an issue, he just doesn't mind it--but I do. Those who do feel compelled to clean the Pax for whatever reason find that it is high maintenance, and no amount of insisting that you don't feel that way doesn't change how someone else feels.
, to say the very least. Unless there is a simple fix, I will be returning for a full refund and not ordering another.
