Alright this is how it's done.
I'm not sure what sort of stem you are using?
I'm going to guess it isn't a plain rose stem like back in the day, but if you look around you can find an offering to the "gods" and a stem in one purchase.( all I'm going to say, since I don't know how many people know of these and don't want the same thing to happen to these thicker better longer stems that come with a better gift than a stupid little rose. I'm probably making a fuss over nothing and I'm sure you have something already but... just trying to be helpful PM me if you can't figure out what I'm talking about.)
Well, now if you go to pretty much ANY grocery store you will find a section where they keep all of the cleaning products. Look for as already posted a Scrubber/Brillo pad/Copper coloured looking steel wool. It's usually in an orange package, but can be hard to miss. ( You can even pick up some extra NaOH while you are here! )
I don't like to mention brand names and obviously I'm sure from region to region brand loyalty differs. But once you see it ( if you haven't already... ) you'll know exactly what to buy.
Take your little tangled mess of coppery metallic fishnet and cut off a small ( Less than 15²mm of it. ) then grab some tweezers or your fingers, if you're a bad ass! Then give it some flame from a bic, zippo, flint and steel... whatever you want. I wont judge you for it.
Find a long metallic rod, I personally made a really fancy one out of one of those poles that have a decorative knob on one end to pull up on that they put behind the faucets on the sink hardware. The thing that enables you to trigger the stopper in the drain. ( Instead of a rubber stopper like in the early 1900's. ) I then proceeded to use my rotary tool to cut the metal bar into the proper length for my stem. Then I put some glitter on the knob end and a diamond on the tip of it ( Not the end that you use to push the "Chore" or "Brillo" down into the stem with. ) NO I'M NOT EXPECTING YOU TO DO THIS! I just happen to be particularly fond of the way it looks when I'm coming back from my journey, dancing through the fields of emerald universes rub against my Astral body/Simulacrum on my way to visit my friend LAM.
Now take the piece of burnt copper Brillo roll it into a ball and stuff it into your stem being careful not to break it, you want the piece big enough to the point where your spice will not fall through, but not compacted to much to the point where you won't be able to suck much air / vapor when you start to hit the stem and start twisting it in your hand. I've never pushed my stem that I use for spice like I have the one I use for well... other things. But I do use my pusher/metal rod to put a new screen in every 20 or so hits. ( Obviously the more refined your substance is the less you have to change. ) If your stem seems to keep breaking because of the heat try getting a different brand of stem or get a metal tire gauge and break it apart for the metal tube. ( I don't for see a metal tube shattering from flame anytime in the near future, unless some change in physics occurs. ) I prefer glass stems, because I like to see the smoke and I don't like the taste of metal. The metal chore is enough as it is.
An all glass apparatus is ideal in my opinion, more fragile; most lovely things in life are. Yet, unless you're planning to be adding spice to parsley or some other dry, smokable foliage; I wouldn't try using any sort of glass screen. I'm sure it's possible, somehow... But I can't think of any way besides just choosing an entirely different method of smoking... Ex. Vaporizer or proper glass pipe that has a large glass bubble that you can rest your substance in. ( Basically a glass blown non makeshift light bulb, with a mouth piece. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.)
By the way, does anyone know what the proper name for those "glass blown non makeshift light bulbs" (as I so eloquently put it) is? I've been trying to get a local shop to custom blow me one. But I don't want to be blunt about the use, out of consideration for their business. Since we all know all those shops are really just for hip tobacconists anyways!
I'm sure most of this is common knowledge and I hope this HELPS someone swimming about in the multiverse, perhaps peering through a tiny peep hole five thousand and three sextillion light years in length all the way through. Blinking erratically as it runs it's diamond triangle like hands through the Mandelbrot textured multi-coloured latticework existing on it's "head"? Or whatever that thing is... Probably, smiles and then goes back to what it does and you go back to your own life with a little hopefully useful information. At least I can say I tried. ( I have nothing responsible to do today. As you may have noticed. )