Everything You Need to Know About Dabs

The nice thing about innovations in the cannabis industry is finding alternatives to consuming cannabis without resorting to smoking.

There’s an infusion with edibles, tincures, vaping and dabbing.

Dabbing is one of the more recent ways of consuming concentrates, especially for those looking for a quick fix. It gets you high in one dose and has fewer carcinogens associated with smoking.

 

 

What is Dabbing?

 

 

Dab refers to high concentrations of THC in small amounts that are enough to deliver a high to users. The name is derived from the small amount used and heated on a metal nail. Dabs are heated on the nail by a blow torch and are enough to provide a potent high in one hit.

While dabbing is associated with THC, you can also use CBD for dabbing by deriving concentrates from hemp, which is ideal for states with restricted THC usage.

 

 

What makes Dabs different from Smoking Cannabis?

 

 

For one, concentrates for dabbing are much more expensive than buying a joint. Despite the cost, dabs became famous for its ability to provide a quick fix to anyone who wants an instantaneous high.

Another thing to note about dabs is the purity of the material. Since concentrates are purer, you don’t get burnt plant matter, as well as smoke, in your lungs. This experience makes dabs a good option for getting high with fewer risks to the throat and lungs.

As dabs are in concentrate form, you get a more potent dose than what you get from smoking plant material, resulting in shorter bouts of high. On the bright side, it also means having a quicker recovery to get back to what you’re doing.

 

 

What Concentrates can You use for Dabbing?

 

 

For the most part, most concentrates can be used for dabbing, but your mileage varies per type of concentrate.

Shatter, for example, works well for dabbing, but it can be brittle to store. The malleable property makes it harder to manage for dabs. Budder or Butter, meanwhile, is creamy and easier to portion for dabs.

Crumble is one of the easiest to portion for dabs due to its fine consistency. But storing it needs an air-tight container to preserve. Wax can be hard to portion due to its sticky nature, but it has decarboxylated THC, making it activated.

Oil is another concentrate that’s derived from CO2. It would be best if you had a syringe to load it in your dabbing rig and requires a silicone or syringe to store. Rosin is one of the purest and most straightforward to produce since it does not use any solvent and requires a rosin press to extract.

Lastly, Live Resin is perhaps one of the best things you can dab, given how pure the THC is. But it can be hard to get, considering the extraction method implemented for this concentrate.

Aside from concentrates, you can also use byproducts, such as Kief and Hash.

 

 

How to Use a Dab Rig?

 

 

Dabbing is done through a dab rig composed of a water pipe with a nail, dome, blow torch, and dabber. You heat the nail with the blow torch, then cover it with the dome. Apply the concentrate on the heated nail. Once the dome heats up, you apply your concentrate to the nail then inhale.

It takes practice to get it right, but with a few tries, you’ll get the hang of it.

Now, the process looks similar to using a bong. But the difference lies in how heat is applied. Bongs light up the material directly while dabbing heats up only the nail and relies on heat transfer to cook the concentrate. Bongs also heat plant material, while dabs use concentrates.

 

 

What’s the Difference Between Dabs and Vapes?

 

 

Dabs and vapes may be interchanged, considering that some people think of vaping as a form of dabbing. While the principles of use are the same, there are minor differences.

For one, dabs use more solid or paste-like concentrates for better results. Since these are tighter than oils or freebase juice, you need a higher temperature to heat the material.

Vapes, meanwhile, use oil or a more liquid concentrate. It needs a lower temperature to heat up to vaporize the material.

 

 

What are the Benefits of Dabbing?

 

 

There are essential benefits to dabbing, which should be considered.

First, it’s smokeless. Unlike lighting up a joint or using a bong, dabbing produces vapors from the material. Without smoke, you can avoid lung damage from burning plant material.

The second benefit would be fast-acting. You get high quickly in one day, so you get quick relief from any chronic illness. And with concentrates, you get higher doses, too. On top of that, the high dissipates quickly, unlike smoking a joint, which lets you get back to what you’re doing.

Lastly, dabbing has more flavor. Since you get to control the amount of heat, dabbing lets you unlock the potential and taste of your concentrates to get a flavorful experience.

 

 

What are the Disadvantages of Dabbing?