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AboutTo dab with a rig, heat the banger with a torch, let it cool for 30 to 60 seconds to about 420 to 475 °F, drop in a rice-sized dab, cover it with a carb cap and inhale slowly. With an electronic rig or dab pen, load the dab, pick a low heat setting and press the button. Swab the banger clean after every dab.
Dab tools
Dab tools come in two kinds of setup:
- A rig and torch: a dab rig with a banger, a torch, a dab tool, a carb cap and a timer. The banger matters. Bubbleman’s view is that titanium is hardest on flavor, quartz is better, silicon carbide better again, and sapphire the best of all.
- An electronic rig or dab pen: a battery heats the chamber to a set temperature, so there is no torch and no guessing. Puffco, one of Hash Church’s sponsors, makes the Peak and the pocket size Pivot.
New to all of this? Start with what dabs are.
How to take dabs on a rig, step by step
How to take dabs on a rig and torch, step by step, the low temperature way:
- Load the dab tool.
Take a dab about the size of a grain of rice on the end of your dab tool.
- Heat the banger.
Heat the banger with the torch, then turn the torch off and set it down.
- Let it cool.
Wait 30 to 60 seconds, by Puffco’s guide, so the banger falls to about 420 to 475 °F. A timer makes it repeatable.
- Drop the dab and cap it.
Touch the dab to the banger, then cover it with the carb cap to keep the heat even.
- Inhale slowly.
Draw slowly and steadily for a few seconds, and don’t hold the vapor in.
- Swab it clean.
Wipe out the banger with a cotton swab and isopropyl alcohol so old residue doesn’t burn on the next dab.
How to dab with an e-rig or dab pen
How to dab with an e-rig or dab pen is simpler, because the battery handles the heat. Load a small dab into the chamber, pick a heat setting and press the button; Puffco devices buzz when they are ready, and then you inhale. Start on the lowest setting and work up. Bubbleman still loves his glass, but he compares the two to a professional camera and a phone, and expects the devices to pass the rig one day.
Dab temperature
Dab temperature decides the flavor and how harsh the hit is. Puffco’s temperature guide breaks it into three ranges:
| Range | Temperature | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Low | 420 to 475 °F | The most flavor and the smoothest hits |
| Medium | 475 to 550 °F | A balance of flavor and potency |
| High | 550 to 650 °F | The most vapor and intensity |
Past about 650 °F, Puffco warns, a dab starts to taste burnt. Plenty of dabbers go hotter still: electric nail users posting online favor around 710 °F, according to a 2017 Portland State University study. Which terpene boils at which temperature is in the terpene chart.
Why low temp dabs are better
Low temp dabs are better for flavor and for what ends up in your lungs. Puffco says higher heat degrades the terpenes that carry the flavor, for a harsher hit. The Portland State study dabbed common cannabis terpenes on a heated nail and measured what came off: the toxicant methacrolein was undetectable at 612 °F (322 °C), appeared at 757 °F (403 °C) and rose with the heat, and benzene showed up only at the hottest setting, 979 °F (526 °C).
From the archive: Bubbleman on heat and gear
From the archive, Bubbleman on heat and gear in his own words, from two live Sunday shows. Tap a time to hear that moment.
Someone writes, listen, this is science. You guys are heating it up at 160 Fahrenheit, there’s terp loss, there’s degradation… So I asked him, well, how are you smoking your butane? He’s like, I take dabs. I said, oh, at what temperature? He says, oh, around like four thirty. I said, 430 Fahrenheit. Do you know what happens at 430 Fahrenheit?… It doesn’t matter what you have in the jar, it matters what translates in my lungs and in my olfactory.
On what reaches your lungsThe way the [titanium] nail retains heat and releases heat is very destructive to volatile organic compounds. You can reduce that by moving into quartz and you can reduce it further by heading over to silicon carbide. And if you really want to hit the holy grail, you can get into sapphire dishes that cost like 500 bucks a pop.
On what you dab off
Season 12, Episode 19, Live from The Reserve, Denver
That rig, metaphorically, is the DSLR camera, the high-end camera with the beautiful lens… And then there’s the iPhone. And the iPhone is the Puffco. And the DSLR is the rig with the quartz and the banger and… everything that you need to take that dab.
On a rig vs a PuffcoAs a photographer, I barely take a photo with my DSLR anymore… And these devices will get closer and closer and closer until I have zero doubts that they will surpass the rig.
On where the devices are going
How to dab without a rig
How to dab without a rig: use a dab pen, which is the whole rig in your pocket, or a dab straw, a straw with a quartz or titanium tip that you heat and touch to the concentrate. You can also top a bowl or roll concentrate into a joint. Smoking dabs that way burns them rather than vaporizing them, but it works with any hash; for bubble, see how to smoke bubble hash.
Hot knife dabs
Hot knife dabs are the old way to dab without a rig, hitting hash off a heated knife, and they ran very hot. Bubbleman figures the hot knives of the 1980s were probably around 1200 degrees, the metal almost dripping off the knife, when a low temp dab is about 400. Hit resin that hot, he says, and you can taste the destruction in the flavor.
How to clean a banger
To clean a banger, swab it out after every dab with a cotton swab and isopropyl alcohol; Puffco recommends 99 percent, or at least 90. Bubbleman’s tip: any residue left behind starts to smoke gently the next time you heat the banger, and if you catch it right away you can clean it out before it cakes on.
Dabbing questions
Dabbing questions, answered short:
What temperature should you dab at?
The temperature to dab at is about 420 to 475 °F for the most flavor and the smoothest hit, Puffco’s low range; past about 650 °F dabs start to taste burnt.
How long do you wait to dab after heating?
How long to wait is about 30 to 60 seconds after heating a quartz banger, by Puffco’s guide, so it cools to a low dab temperature.
How much should you dab?
How much to dab, to start, is about the size of a grain of rice; wait a few minutes before taking more.
What does a carb cap do?
A carb cap covers the banger once the dab is in, keeping the heat even so the concentrate vaporizes at a lower, more controlled temperature.
How do you smoke dabs?
Most people smoke dabs by vaporizing them rather than burning them: heat the banger, let it cool for 30 to 60 seconds to about 420 to 475 °F, drop in a rice-sized dab, cap it and inhale slowly.
How do you dab without a torch?
To dab without a torch, use an electronic rig, an electric nail or a dab pen, which heat with a battery or a plug instead of a flame.
How do you clean a banger?
To clean a banger, swab it out after every dab with a cotton swab and 90 to 99 percent isopropyl alcohol.
Sources for this dabbing guide
Sources for this dabbing guide:
- Dab temperature guide: the best temp for dabs, Puffco
- How to take a dab: a beginner’s guide to dabbing, Puffco
- Dabbing dos and don’ts: a guide for beginners, Puffco
- Dab straw guide: how to use a dab straw, Puffco
- Toxicant formation in dabbing: the terpene story (Meehan-Atrash, Luo and Strongin, 2017), ACS Omega
- Puffco Peak unboxing, Bubbleman’s World on YouTube
- Hash Church Season 12, Episode 14: Bubbleman on cleaning a banger, Buzzsprout
- Hash Church Season 12, Episodes 17 and 19: Bubbleman on heat and gear, linked above