Hail to the curious and the brave.
The most common electronic problem is dirty. connections, so make sure all the connections are clean and oxide free.
When it comes to drying mics it is good to be cautious as heat methods like lamps can be problematic. It would be wiser to bake the mic in a lab or convection (NOT MICROWAVE) oven for 4 to 8 hours at 120F degrees to remove moisture. These ovens should be confirmed using a thermometer, or temp logger, ( some parts of the oven may get hotter near where the hot air comes in) but be careful if there are any acetate components on the mic as acetate may deform even under this mild heat. A curious approach to dehydrating though and a warning to keep mics protected when not in use and using a minimum of moisture in cleaning them If you must.
Back in the smoking days, the residue on the diaphram surface was more of a resin (tobacco as well as pot) that can be carefully removed by a swab dampened with 99.9% isopropyl alcohol. The isopropyl has a bonus effect of removing water, but care must be taken to not leave solvent on the diaphrams more than 30 to 60 seconds. and avoid wetting the corners and getting it behind the diaphram where there are sometimes adhesives that the alcohol would affect.
If the brass of the capsule has oxidized and green spots on the plate gap, you may not be able to fix that but if there are resins or other stuff on the outside that you can clean off the mic should come back.
When cleaning diaphrams sometimes solutions will get behind the diaphram and the surface tension will stick it to the plate. Don't panic. just bake it or let it dry out and recheck it later. And sometimes the surface tension has to be broken to restore the gap by gently pushing on the diaphram. If it still doesn't unstick, redry and check again. Sometimes this takes several cycles to get the diaphram unstick. but it will eventually will just be patient.
) means the capsule itself. After all, the capsule is just a capacitor as well
