vezj420
Member
Hi all...so this is my 2nd post, meant to be a follow up to my intro story where I talked about Indian Charas. The stash that I happened upon was a so-called "super cream" from the valleys of North India! So sticky that it almost seems covered in turpentine...luckily not actually the case. 
This charas has been so good and intriguing that it led me down a new voyage of discovery into the world of concentrates, vaporizers and modern hash techniques! It is like I have re-discovered MJ even after all my years of use (15+ years).
Basically, I didn't want to waste the hash by rolling it into Js. The next option was smoking in a pipe/bubbler (which I did, for some time - even got some hemp wick for it too) but this was getting too harsh on the throat and lungs, even with hemp wick.
I then went ahead and bought (hindsight - wasted money on) a couple of "pen" wax/oil vaporizers - since I'm in India, these were mostly Yocan/other Chinese-branded silica-wick atomizers. Although I loved their portability, hits from these combustion "vaporizers" also got too harsh for me to handle on a regular basis. And it was still "smoking", after all...
It was at this point that I remembered my time dabbing honey oil with a buddy in the States. I also did some learning on dabbing temperatures and researched about all the modern solvent and solvent-less hashes! I figured if my charas was close enough to "full-melt bubble" hash it may actually be dabbable (sort of). I was then inspired by this guy who talks about the joy of dabbing bubble hash after suffering a couple of bad BHO runs:
So I went and got myself a little oil bubbler through an online retailer in India (along with some other butane-related accessories). Came with a little glass nail and dome. This was an interesting find in itself as I had not expected a piece/market here in India for oil consumption - its quite possible that there are like-minded individuals just like me here, but they are few and far between.
After managing to crack the nail after like 5 uses, I went and ordered both a Ti and quartz nail from dhgate.
An image of the bubbler with the quartz nail. Notice I also got myself a drop down adapter...
Another shot with the Ti nail
So the result? Meh, if not done correctly (took me a couple of tries with both nails), but AMAZING if you do it correct! The flavor of the charas truly comes out when dabbed instead of smoked...and it tastes like the flowers of Parvati valley themselves !
(that's where the most famous cream charas originates from in India)
Tbh, nails from dhgate/China really aren't that great...the Ti seems to lose heat rapidly (unlike a well made Gr 2) and the quartz nail seems to be always either too hot or too cold. But, I find the Ti nail to be much more suited to the job - it retains just the right amount of heat for a nice flavorful hit which can then be complemented with use of a carb cap.
The Ti nail is a breeze to clean as the ABV (?), if you can call it that, becomes a blackened, powdery heap of plant material (which doesn't seem combusted) which I can easily scrape off the nail.
Overall, not as clean as an oil/full melt dab, but this sure seems to work well!
What about you guys? Have you, like me, tried to dab non-full-melt hashes? I'm sure you have...let's hear those experiences! Also, any pointers in case I'm doing anything wrong/not ideally? Suggestions for other methods are also welcome, although I am already very familiar with most portable vapes (thanks to FC mainly).
In case you guys are wondering, I have pressed the charas into rosin as well, but that's a story for another thread!
This charas has been so good and intriguing that it led me down a new voyage of discovery into the world of concentrates, vaporizers and modern hash techniques! It is like I have re-discovered MJ even after all my years of use (15+ years).
Basically, I didn't want to waste the hash by rolling it into Js. The next option was smoking in a pipe/bubbler (which I did, for some time - even got some hemp wick for it too) but this was getting too harsh on the throat and lungs, even with hemp wick.
I then went ahead and bought (hindsight - wasted money on) a couple of "pen" wax/oil vaporizers - since I'm in India, these were mostly Yocan/other Chinese-branded silica-wick atomizers. Although I loved their portability, hits from these combustion "vaporizers" also got too harsh for me to handle on a regular basis. And it was still "smoking", after all...
It was at this point that I remembered my time dabbing honey oil with a buddy in the States. I also did some learning on dabbing temperatures and researched about all the modern solvent and solvent-less hashes! I figured if my charas was close enough to "full-melt bubble" hash it may actually be dabbable (sort of). I was then inspired by this guy who talks about the joy of dabbing bubble hash after suffering a couple of bad BHO runs:
So I went and got myself a little oil bubbler through an online retailer in India (along with some other butane-related accessories). Came with a little glass nail and dome. This was an interesting find in itself as I had not expected a piece/market here in India for oil consumption - its quite possible that there are like-minded individuals just like me here, but they are few and far between.
After managing to crack the nail after like 5 uses, I went and ordered both a Ti and quartz nail from dhgate.
An image of the bubbler with the quartz nail. Notice I also got myself a drop down adapter...
Another shot with the Ti nail
So the result? Meh, if not done correctly (took me a couple of tries with both nails), but AMAZING if you do it correct! The flavor of the charas truly comes out when dabbed instead of smoked...and it tastes like the flowers of Parvati valley themselves !
(that's where the most famous cream charas originates from in India)
Tbh, nails from dhgate/China really aren't that great...the Ti seems to lose heat rapidly (unlike a well made Gr 2) and the quartz nail seems to be always either too hot or too cold. But, I find the Ti nail to be much more suited to the job - it retains just the right amount of heat for a nice flavorful hit which can then be complemented with use of a carb cap.
The Ti nail is a breeze to clean as the ABV (?), if you can call it that, becomes a blackened, powdery heap of plant material (which doesn't seem combusted) which I can easily scrape off the nail.
Overall, not as clean as an oil/full melt dab, but this sure seems to work well!
What about you guys? Have you, like me, tried to dab non-full-melt hashes? I'm sure you have...let's hear those experiences! Also, any pointers in case I'm doing anything wrong/not ideally? Suggestions for other methods are also welcome, although I am already very familiar with most portable vapes (thanks to FC mainly).
In case you guys are wondering, I have pressed the charas into rosin as well, but that's a story for another thread!
Most of the good flower grown here is used up for Charas and does not make it into the market. There are apparently some strains of sensimilla grown around the country but I have yet to see/try these. The (traditional) hash is just so much better here...