Swab touch spray ionization mass spectrometry, an ambient ionization technique, has been applied to the analysis of six explosives from various surfaces including glass, metal, Teflon, plastic, human hands and three types of gloves (nitrile, vinyl and latex). A swab, attached to a metallic handle, was used to sample explosive residues and acted as the ion source. The explosives, 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazinane (RDX), 1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocane (HMX), and 2,2-bis[(nitrooxy)methyl]propane-1,3-diyl dinitrate (PETN) had an absolute limit of detection of 10 ng from all the surfaces except for PETN from the nitrile gloves (limit of detection 100 ng). Sodium perchlorate, 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene (TNT) and tetra-butylammonium perchlorate had limits of detection of 100 pg, 10 pg, and 1 pg, respectively from all surfaces. This study demonstrates the feasibility of swab touch spray ionization mass spectrometry for detection of a wide array of explosives from a variety of forensically applicable surfaces with disposable, commercial, tamperproof and individually-wrapped conductive swabs without complicated/lengthy sample preparations or extractions.