Cheap, high - quality nails

[farscaper]

Just got back from half-way around the world and ready to...

...Doh! I forgot I broke my castle



I got to figure out my next nail asap, and there are so many choices in here.
I am leaning towards the Green Buddah banger 14mm male.

Is there a better banger for the buck?

you will do ok with the male. since the females they sell are a hand worked joint they are a little subjective in qc. the ground glass joints should fair better... im used to the easy heating and cooling of the castle and am having a hard time with my banger... keep hitting it hot. abd it has taken a looooooot longer to season... If you like the castle style may I make a suggestion.... that I wish I had the cash for too.

http://dabfarm.bigcartel.com/product/c2-daisy-nail-carb-cap-combo-set

it comes in 14mm male specific 14mm female/18mm male and they make a 10mm adapter. plus a matching carb cap.

 

[pigfoot]

you will do ok with the male. since the females they sell are a hand worked joint they are a little subjective in qc. the ground glass joints should fair better... im used to the easy heating and cooling of the castle and am having a hard time with my banger... keep hitting it hot. abd it has taken a looooooot longer to season... If you like the castle style may I make a suggestion.... that I wish I had the cash for too.

http://dabfarm.bigcartel.com/product/c2-daisy-nail-carb-cap-combo-set

it comes in 14mm male specific 14mm female/18mm male and they make a 10mm adapter. plus a matching carb cap.

I've heard a lot about seasoning a quartz nail - mine seemed to taste the same from day 1 (I did an iso rinse and heat cycle first). Also, sometimes I am left with a bit of unvaporized erl, and I heat until it burns off, there's no visible seasoning I can see.

 

[farscaper]

by season.. I mean the user not the nail.

about the only actual seasoning I did and do is a little water or crap claim on a superhot quartz so it will cause surface coat... just so I can see it turn redish.

quartz is more like a seasoned motorcycle rider... or seasoned pie eating contest participate.. or maybe a seasoned lawn tractor professional rodeo rider.... cause how do you learn all the lawn tractor moves in just one season right?

 

[HugieLewis]

Ordered some cheapie quartz nails from Green Buddha for some friends. Placed order monday, arriving today. Suh.weet.
Also snagged a j hook for myself. Because GAS.

 

[pigfoot]

Went to a LHS today, had a lot of stuff for concentrates. Selling some ebay nails like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ROCKBROS-Do...122?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4182dc8c2a
For SIXTY DOLLARS! They do look nice in person.

 

[blankrider]

This is the female joint quart banger I got and it is made perfectly. I could not be more happy with it

 

[farscaper]

This is the female joint quart banger I got and it is made perfectly. I could not be more happy with it

well that fits better than both that I got from green buddha...so consistency is most def in question if you got that from the same place... thats all im saying... but it is pretty neat thermodynamics wise... cause I have been successfully using the tripple flame torch that I got with my prototype healthstone. very quiet midnight operation!

 

[FlyingLow]

any of y'all tried anything like this?
I saw it at my LHS...it is a bit of a novelty...

Heat the pan, slip it into your favorite water pipe and dabs away!

 

[pigfoot]

any of y'all tried anything like this?
I saw it at my LHS...it is a bit of a novelty...

Heat the pan, slip it into your favorite water pipe and dabs away!

Yeah, I saw that at a LHS, not impressed, really. Very light, little mass, yet another piece needed, and expen$ive! I'm looking forward to getting a couple Ti nails from ebay.
One is that Dab Essentials copy, another is this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Rockbro...543?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item417cc6a1af

The way the pic is in the auction, you can't tell what it is, unless you know, it's a copy of the Highly Educated Infiniti. I won an auction on one for $10! The vendor is a bike store, they have a lot of Ti parts for low weight bikes. Should be pure Ti. EBay vendors are starting to show documentation of grade 2 in their products. Ti is not super expensive. I think they are catching on to what people want (pure Ti), and realize they can make more money by offering it.

 

[blankrider]

well that fits better than both that I got from green buddha...so consistency is most def in question if you got that from the same place... thats all im saying... but it is pretty neat thermodynamics wise... cause I have been successfully using the tripple flame torch that I got with my prototype healthstone. very quiet midnight operation!

I did get mine from the same source. Sorry to hear that they sent you a crappy one. It is a shame that they are not offering a consistent product. I guess I got lucky. Kind of like how I got a cool domeless quartz off eBay called a "bho bullet" the first one was great but when I tried ordering more he kept sending me glass ones even after I told him that they were different than what I first received. I eventually gave up

 

[farscaper]

the replacement functioned well enough I stuck with it and have been using it. ive just been rotating between the banger, a cup with short center shaft thats DI and the DI quartz castle. those I really enjoy.

ceramic nail - functionl but cracked
healthstone - has not been my cup of tea.... pure lung buster ouch!
18mm divited nail and dome I have used a bit... but its a PITA with an adapter on a little rig.

 

[blankrider]

the replacement functioned well enough I stuck with it and have been using it. ive just been rotating between the banger, a cup with short center shaft thats DI and the DI quartz castle. those I really enjoy.

ceramic nail - functionl but cracked
healthstone - has not been my cup of tea.... pure lung buster ouch!
18mm divited nail and dome I have used a bit... but its a PITA with an adapter on a little rig.

I totally hear you on it being a pain in the ass with some of these rigs. It's like tiny has become so popular that it has overshadowed functionality. I don't want my face 2 inches from my nail and I should not need to buy an adapter to fix that!

 

[HugieLewis]

My quartz nails from green buddha came in yesterday. I had a couple of friends want some cheap nails so I ordered the three pack of quartz cups and kept one for myself. Works pretty well too, and the flavor is an improvement over boro for sure. Overall I am pretty pleased.

 

[blankrider]

@HugieLewis I am surprised to hear you say that quartz gets better flavor than boro nails. I always thought that they were about the same with quartz being far more durable.

I definitely have heard flavor snobs trying to claim that boro is the absolute best and that they rather get a new nail every week than use something else.

This was before ceramic hit the scene which seems popular now even though they have a pretty short life expectancy. I doubt that anything will rival quartz for me any time soon

 

[HugieLewis]

Maybe its in my head, or maybe its due to me heating the nail differently? Can't say. I personally do feel that the quartz tastes better than the shitty nails I had been using, even if just a bit. Also superior to the Ti most of my friends use.

 

[blankrider]

I think flavor perception is an interesting thing. Some people who I referred to as "flavor snobs" no offense anyone, seem to have incredible distinction between various types of nails. Even between nails of the same composition.

I like to compare them to audiophiles. You know, those people with incredibly learned ears who are always complaining about sound quality and need to have like a thousand dollar pair of studio headphones because everything else sounds like shit to them while a normal person can barely hear any difference.

I have pretty distinguished taste but I don't think I will ever be one of these people. I really hope not at least because it seems like they can barely enjoy anything due to their overly refined taste

 

[farscaper]

I just prefer the taste of quartz over Titanium. there is soooooo much controversy over Ti... yet no concern for quartz. with exception of if its fake and just boro. as for nails... pretty much all quartz that I own tastes exactly the same... how you operate each is slightly different... but in my experience quartz is quartz...

I have few nails for a reason... do you wear the same shoes in all occasions?

just too bad this last pair I got is a little too tight... in the joint lol.

next up is an overpriced halen honey hole... they come in 14mm DI instead of jointed... I think you can find them jointed too... but anyone seen a honey hole under $90?

 

[syrupy]

I think flavor perception is an interesting thing. Some people who I referred to as "flavor snobs" no offense anyone, seem to have incredible distinction between various types of nails. Even between nails of the same composition.

I like to compare them to audiophiles. You know, those people with incredibly learned ears who are always complaining about sound quality and need to have like a thousand dollar pair of studio headphones because everything else sounds like shit to them while a normal person can barely hear any difference.

I have pretty distinguished taste but I don't think I will ever be one of these people. I really hope not at least because it seems like they can barely enjoy anything due to their overly refined taste

That post hits a little close to home. I end up rejecting over 90% of herb because I can tell from the smell it's not going to TASTE quite right. And I'm not talking about obvious stuff like non-flushed. It smells good, but it won't have THAT TASTE. Tenders will sometimes ask me to smell jars and describe it to them what it's like (I place smell and taste close together) just for their entertainment, like I'm fracking Roger Ebert or Julia Child. I notice even with oils that I use with cheap-high-quality nails *veers back on topic* flavor is starting to be a big concern. The audiophile analogy is perfect. I think of film snobs, so knowledgeable and sensitive to movies that an Adam Sandler film is just pure torture to them.

I know most people are going to quartz and/or domeless. I want to get back to the old fashioned nail, before there were short cups, when those suckers were flat-headed or if you were really lucky maybe there was a tiny dimple. Back when placing a dab on a nail through a dome was like an olympic event in sharpshooting. Why? Because I like cheap high quality nails, and the rigs like seeing their awesome dome babies. Plus, it justifies the dabber fetish.

Edit: I feel there's a small taste difference between quartz and boro, but not enough to be concerned about. I think what drives taste a lot, besides quality of product, is how near the ideal temperature the dab got. Scorched hits taste bad, lower temp dabs tend to taste like fruit rainbows. I can scorch with quartz because I'm worrying about how quickly heat is dissipating and inhale the vapor too quickly. TI is nice because it retains heat better in my setup, not so much a hurry to hit, but the taste isn't comparable.

So I'm going boro for a bit. Cheap boro, that is.

 

[farscaper]

@syrupy
http://aqualabtechnologies.com/conc...boro-syndicate-divited-quartz-nail-14-mm.html

I sold mine used lol but wish I hadnt.. still have the 18mm and it is huge.

 

[blankrider]

I totally have that exact nail!

Mine is 18mm and it is indeed huge. It sticks out of most low profile domes that are around these days but it works great with my boro farm periscope. I used to use an adjustable ti nail with it but then one day I had the bright idea of modifying this sweet quartz nail so it would fit. The problem was it was too long to fit in the nail holder and I used a bench grinder to make it like half an inch shorter and now it fits great. I will try and post a picture when I get off work

 

[farscaper]

if only someone made a threaded shaft adjustable quartz nail! I keep wishing and still nothing.

 

[Trixman22]

Yeah, I saw that at a LHS, not impressed, really. Very light, little mass, yet another piece needed, and expen$ive! I'm looking forward to getting a couple Ti nails from ebay.
One is that Dab Essentials copy, another is this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Rockbro...543?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item417cc6a1af

The way the pic is in the auction, you can't tell what it is, unless you know, it's a copy of the Highly Educated Infiniti. I won an auction on one for $10! The vendor is a bike store, they have a lot of Ti parts for low weight bikes. Should be pure Ti. EBay vendors are starting to show documentation of grade 2 in their products. Ti is not super expensive. I think they are catching on to what people want (pure Ti), and realize they can make more money by offering it.

Dude, you had me all excited for a cheap Infinity knock off then I see its coming from China. I would not trust that shit with out some lab testing. China is notorious for making cheap dangerous knock offs.

 

[pigfoot]

Dude, you had me all excited for a cheap Infinity knock off then I see its coming from China. I would not trust that shit with out some lab testing. China is notorious for making cheap dangerous knock offs.

Right. There's this one photo - I think posted on HE's blog, of a wildly corroded nail. Then everyone takes it for gospel that all nails made in China must be the same. If I had a dab for every time I've seen someone repeat that.....I'd be very stoned Like the glassheads reddit, people assume all China glass is crap, that you MUST spend at least $300 on a rig for it to be decent.....nothing else is worth consideration. Now, I'm not saying all China nails are Pure Ti, nor are they probably all fake. @ataxian got a China nail recently, and he is using it.........we just don't know. It would be great if we could test them. In a non-legal state, I wouldn't take a nail to a recycling center to find out.

Also, a few ebay sellers will provide documentation for their Ti.

 

[ataxian]

Now, I'm not saying all China nails are Pure Ti, nor are they probably all fake. @ataxian got a China nail recently, and he is using it.........we just don't know.

I must say the nail I got works amazing.
I was going to have it tested before I keep using it.
It seems right however I will double check..

 

[pigfoot]

I must say the nail I got works amazing.
I was going to have it tested before I keep using it.
It seems right however I will double check..

Welcome @ataxian. So I guess it turns the rainbow colors we associate with Ti? No flaking or pitting, etc?
I got this one today, getting ready to test it!