In my experience this is very normal, and sounds as though it has been in your experience as well. Best method I've found for cleaning is salt and alcohol. I use a 91% isopropyl from CVS and sea salt. The abrasiveness of the salt scrapes away sticky resin. Use along with a pipe cleaner if you like. Not much to do in the way of prevention that I know of, but you could probably keep her clean by soaking in some alcohol after each use - probably won't even get to the point of needing to use salt if you soak regularly.

If you so choose you can scrape the resin into a ball before cleaning (easier after heating a little with your lighter) and smoke it when you're hard up, but this is not healthy and tastes pretty nasty. But it will get you high.