You’ve been smoking for years and swore you were an expert on the subject. Glass pipes, water pipes, and al kinds of vapes abound in your home and you’ve tried everything... except dabbing. Now you’re ready to move onto the wonderful world of dabbing concentrates and if you’re like me, you’re completely lost. Nails, bangers, carb caps, dabbers, torches, rigs... What is the world? How complicated is this?
Take a decent hit and have a chill, it will all make sense soon enough. Let’s start very simple. Dabbing comes from the word dab, which means a small amount. Therefore, when people speak of dabbing, they’re referring to the vaporization of concentrates (wax, shatter, crumble, budder, etc.). Because of the consistency of concentrates, dabbing isn’t as straightforward as putting a lighter to your herb. It requires a rig (dabbing rig) composed of several parts and that can be customized to your preference.
The essential part of a dabbing rig is very similar to a water pipe, but instead of a glass bowl to put your flower material in, you use a dabbing nail or banger to load up your concentrate of choice. So basically, nails and bangers are the dabbing equivalent of the bowl. The main difference between a nail and a banger is the shape. Nails are straight with the bowl on top, whereas bangers have an elbow-like bend that holds the bowl at an angle. Both are made from a variety of materials, in particular, titanium, quartz, and ceramic. Each material has its own advantages. For example, quartz is the material of choice for low temperature vaporization and flavor enhancement, but they are delicate and if you’re klutzy, it might be better to go with a titanium option, which is more durable, though you do sacrifice some of the flavor. In the end, it’s your choice.
Unlike your water pipe for which you use a flame directly on your herb material, when dabbing you preheat the nail or banger with a small torch and when it reaches the right temperature, you insert the concentrate using a dabber, which is basically a long thin tool made from a material that can handle high heat. The heat from your banger will vaporize your concentrate on contact.
Now comes the carb cap. As the name suggests, it’s a cap and it covers your nail or banger to lower the vaporizing temperature of your concentrate for a better, easier experience that doesn’t waste any material. There are several different kinds of carb caps, some of which direct the airflow and spin your concentrate around in order to even out the vaporization process and they usually have cool colorful designs. Some dabbers have a carb cap on the opposite end, making them a 2-in-1 tool that can prove quite useful.
Once you familiarize yourself with these basics for your dabbing, you will find there are plenty of extra dabbing nails and attachments available to enhance your dabbing rig and personalize your experience. We suggest you start small (it’s called dabbing for a reason) and move on to the more complicated. Hopefully, you’re not as lost as you started out at the beginning of this article and very soon you will be dabbing your lungs into oblivion.