Dabbing concentrates is a great way to enjoy the potent effects and tasty flavors of cannabis. But if you’re new to cannabis even the sight of a dab rig can be enough to confuse you. Dabs can actually be a fantastic way to enjoy cannabis. Don’t miss out, keep reading to learn more about dabs and how to dab!
What Are Dabs?
Dabs are hits of potent cannabis concentrates. The name comes from the fact that you usually only need a small dab of concentrated extract in order to feel its effects.
Why even bother with dabs? Dabs of concentrated cannabis extract are super potent and super tasty.
Thanks to their potency, dabs are hard-hitting: Doing just one dab is comparable to taking several puffs of high-quality cannabis flower. When it comes to flavor, extracts don’t just possess large amounts of concentrated cannabinoids, they’re also packed with flavorful terpenes. Many people have come to prefer the intense flavor of a dab over the taste of a joint or a bowl.
How To Dab Concentrates
There are several different ways to enjoy dabs!
How To Dab Marijuana Concentrates: Vaping
Vaping dabs is usually preferred because vaped dabs tend to be more flavorful than smoke. Vaporization preserves more of the flavorful terpenes contained in the extract. When terpenes are exposed to the open flame of a lighter, some of them are destroyed, making each puff less flavorful than if it was vaped. Moreover, vaporizers tend to produce cleaner, smoother hits that can really allow you to enjoy their flavors, especially at lower temperatures.
If your vaporizer is designed to vape concentrates and extracts, then just use your dab tool to load it up and dab away. But if your vaporizer can only handle dry herb, trying to dab with it could result in damage to the unit. Be sure to know the capabilities of your vaporizer before using it with concentrates.
How To Dab Marijuana Concentrates: Using a Dab Rig
A dab rig is a glass water pipe that works similarly to a bong. Except instead of a bowl for your green, a dab rig has a nail (also known as a banger) for your dabs. To do dabs out of a dab rig, you’ll need the right equipment. You will need a dab tool (to scoop your dab), a carb cap (to cover your hit), a butane torch (to heat your nail), and maybe a small silicone mat to prevent any mess or spillage.
Here’s how to dab marijuana concentrates out of a dab rig step-by-step:
- Use your butane torch to heat up your nail/banger for anywhere from 30–60 seconds or until it is red hot.
- Let the nail cool down before dabbing. How long you let it cool will depend on what material it is made from. Glass nails can require as long as 45 seconds of cooling time whereas a titanium nail will usually only require as little as 10 seconds. The less you wait, the hotter your cannabis dab will be.
- Grab your cannabis dab tool and use it to apply your dab directly to the hot nail.
- Inhale slowly and use the carb cap to manage airflow.
- Exhale!
How To Hit Dabs From a Wax Pen
Wax pens (also known as dab pens) are vaporizers specially-made just for dabbing wax-based concentrates. These pens are perfect for on-the-go dabbing due to their small size and general convenience when compared to a table-top dab rig.
Don’t confuse wax pens with vape pens. Vape pens are much smaller and only work with pre-filled cartridges of cannabis oil. Wax pens, on the other hand, are larger cylindrical units that are bigger than vape pens, but are still small enough to fit into your hand.
They usually disassemble into two pieces, one for the chamber and one for the battery. To do a cannabis dab out of a wax pen, first make sure that the battery is charged. Next, use a dab tool to place a dab into the chamber and close it. Then, just press the button on the side of the pen to get it going and inhale.
Many people believe that dab rigs provide more flavorful hits than wax pens. However, dabbing out of a rig can be much more time consuming and requires more effort. If you’re looking to keep it simple and quick, a wax pen is definitely the way to go.
How To Smoke Concentrates: The Best Way To Smoke Dabs
Although most people prefer to vape dabs, they can also be smoked. Doing a smoke dab can be difficult since wax-based concentrates melt down into liquid form when exposed to heat, and other concentrates are already liquid in consistency. This makes them harder to handle, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
The best way to smoke dabs is simply to add a dab on top of the green inside your bowl or inside of your joint. This can sometimes be a messy process so it’s usually easier to smoke concentrates that are more solid in consistency and easier to handle, like crumble or shatter. Unless you’re squirting it out of a syringe, applying a liquid concentrate on top of your bowl can be a real pain.
Just make sure that there’s enough ground herb in the bowl under the concentrate. If there isn’t then it’s possible that the smoke dab will melt down into the bowl and either get sucked up through the pipe and into your mouth, or get stuck to the sides of the bowl. Either way, it’s a waste of concentrate and it can make your equipment much harder to clean as well.
You don’t absolutely need a bowl to do a smoke dab though. You can also make your joints more potent by adding your dab directly into the rolling paper along with your herb. If it’s a liquid concentrate, just spread it out over the inside of the paper before you add the ground flower. This tends to work better with blunt wraps as they are thicker than regular papers and the liquid won’t soak through.
You can also add more solid concentrates to your rollies, just make sure that you break them up into small uniform pieces and spread them out evenly so they don’t clump up and clog the joint. Adding concentrates to your rollies is one of the best ways to smoke dabs with friends or in a group.
Cannabis Dabs: Final Thoughts
Cannabis dabs are very potent, so if you’re new to dabs and cannabis concentrates in general (and even if you’re not!) it’s always a good idea to start low and go slow. Starting off with a precisely measured dose of concentrate coupled with giving your body plenty of time to feel the effects before consuming more is a tried and true way to make sure your dabbing experience is as fun as it can be.
Looking for some premium cannabis concentrates to dab? Check out the online menu for our Des Moines dispensary to find an incredible selection of shatter, live resin, distillate, wax, and much more. We look forward to serving you!
