Concentrates for Noobs - Q&A

[FlyingLow]

As I said I went to the dispensary looking for hash the other day and on finding none I was ready to leave but I decided to look around a little and ended up in a conversation with a bud tender. He talked me into trying some Badder. Ha'tuh is the strain I think. I haven't tried it yet, but I am planning to put it on top of a load of flower in the Lotus or maybe a Splinter Z much like I do with crumble when I have it. I don't have a dabbing rig or anything other than flower vapes (see spoiler) but is there a better way to try this without dedicated eqip for dabbing? I'm thinking the Lotus especially may do the trick.

We smoked it mostly in pipes made from lamp parts, but occasionally squished it between hot knives. My Mom used to get sooo pissed about the knives I took a pair and kept them in my room...

The good old days...

Hot knives... we are of the same generation.

I would STRONGLY encourage you to NOT use your Lotus for concentrates. In my experience I have found the plates just get too hot for the wood base, and will scorch if you push to concentrate temps. I love the Lotus and Max is not going to make any more of them- take care of your unit.

You don't even know what you have, and you are 90% of the way there! I checked your signature and you can use any of the glass you have! ANY of the glass you have! Go get a $20 quartz nail from your local shop or get a quality one from 710coils.com for about $40. All you need is a quartz banger (10, 14, or 19mm depending on your glass, additionally choose 90* or 45* angle on the neck), and a torch (best torch in the business is Blazer BigShot at $50-80), and a tool to move your concentrate into a hot nail. You may already have a tool laying around from a concentrate pen or similar device.

One draw on a banger, and you will never want to waste your concentrate in a device ever again!

 

[hans solo]

Been enjoying some mazer el sharif recently , vapes good but hash rosin is a great alternative.

 

[Bad Dog]

to add to what @FlyingLow said you will also want a carb cap a cheep bubble one will do and any torch will do I use my shitty honest torch more than my big shot

 

[FlyingLow]

Good catch- definitely get a carb cap!

 

[cybrguy]

Hot knives... we are of the same generation.

I would STRONGLY encourage you to NOT use your Lotus for concentrates. In my experience I have found the plates just get too hot for the wood base, and will scorch if you push to concentrate temps. I love the Lotus and Max is not going to make any more of them- take care of your unit.

You don't even know what you have, and you are 90% of the way there! I checked your signature and you can use any of the glass you have! ANY of the glass you have! Go get a $20 quartz nail from your local shop or get a quality one from 710coils.com for about $40. All you need is a quartz banger (10, 14, or 19mm depending on your glass, additionally choose 90* or 45* angle on the neck), and a torch (best torch in the business is Blazer BigShot at $50-80), and a tool to move your concentrate into a hot nail. You may already have a tool laying around from a concentrate pen or similar device.

One draw on a banger, and you will never want to waste your concentrate in a device ever again!

Well damn, I forgot that I got a banger from Goo Roo in lieu of a bowl on the last piece I got from them. So all I really need is a carb cap, and I imagine I could at least try it out without one. Part, probably a big part of why I have avoided dabbing is the fact that hot glass (or metal) and I don't get along very well, but I guess I have to try this out the "proper" way. I have a few torch lighters that should do the trick...

 

[ataxian]

Yes! I can still recall the smell and texture of real afghani style hash. That stuff was amazing. I wish it were still around.

Catamaran long haired freaks was away2-live.
The bump on the animal across the dessert was scary!
Hash was why risk was not the factor!
Cheap material be-4 $? 5/gram Middle East price?
Stairway 2 heaven !

 

[FlyingLow]

You are well on your way! Do find something to cap with... it is the difference between a wispy draw and pouring milk.

 

[Ramahs]

he got about 1/2 LB of black opiated hash

Does "opiated" mean that it was actually infused with opium? That sounds awesome!

 

[Bad Dog]

Could make a makeshift carb cap out of cereal box cardboard, just cut it a bit bigger than the top of the banger with a hole in the middle

 

[cybrguy]

Does "opiated" mean that it was actually infused with opium? That sounds awesome!

Yup. It had an odor to it that gave it away, and it was a little tacky to the touch. If you worked with it a while your fingers got pretty stinky.

Could make a makeshift carb cap out of cereal box cardboard, just cut it a bit bigger than the top of the banger with a hole in the middle

I think this was a shield for a cheap glass nail I got with some Dhgate bubbler. I never throw anything away. This worked adequately as a cap, but I'm gonna order a cap and banger from dabber Whse just to give it a fair trial. The banger I have is angled but I think I will get a straight one.

 

[ataxian]

Does "opiated" mean that it was actually infused with opium? That sounds awesome!

The THAI from ASIA was dipped in WHITE POWDERY OPIUM that hippie long haired male’s smoked while music played on vinyl @ 33! Decent dimension obtained!
Could not anything productive B-achieved?
Not 4 successful CIVILIZATIONAL EXISTENCE?
Just thinking of the past?
ZIGGY PLAYED GUITAR!

 

[Bad Dog]

This is my current banger setup and I don’t think I’d ever go more expensive, a sneaky Pete frost bottom banger and twin jet carb cap with 6mm terp pearl. My technique is a little unorthodox and I’m sure most of you will laugh and scoff at my technique but it goes a little something like this. In a cold banger I load my dab as much on top of the pearl as possible smack dab in the middle of the banger, I use a shity honest torch and begin by heating the lower half of the walls of the banger, only briefly heating the bottom in a circular stirring pattern between heating the walls, once the walls are hot I start heating the bottom more, until my dab starts to melt, I hit while continuing to heat the bottom stirring with the torch for my entire hit. So it starts as a cold start and moves more towards a traditional dab. I put the torch down and take another 2-3 hits without heating and it gradually gets more whispy till I’m done I never scorched my dab unless I heat to much in one spot so I stir pretty fast. Always works and gets me super baked. These days though I’m very happy with my VRod and the banger just sits there, maybe ill revisit it again later.
View attachment 10056

my technique for hybrid dabs, you might find it useful @cybrguy .

 

[cybrguy]

How does this look for a starter kit for a noob who doesn't intend to get too deep into dabbing... (I know, famous last words...)

20mm Cold Start Banger Combo Pack

With this 20mm Cold Start Banger Combo Pack, you'll be ready to run "cold start" dabs, also known as "reverse dabs"!

dabbingwarehouse.com

 

[FlyingLow]

Looks Perfect! Might I make a last recommendation? Choose the ruby option for the pearl.

Cheers!

 

[cybrguy]

Thanks for that. I had no idea about the pearl as I have never even seen one.

 

[CrazyDiamond]

All answered in my PM...I am pretty much exclusively using ruby at the moment as @FlyingLow suggested to you. If you already have a banger then you don't need the banger per say.

 

[cybrguy]

I thought I would try a straight one with a round bottom as the one I have is angled and I'm guessing a straight one is easier to leave a cap on. For under $30 delivered I think I am good here. I will try and get by with the torch lighters I have unless this method sucks me further in...

 

[strech]

method sucks me further in

Be prepared for it to suck you in. Once I started dabbing I never went back to flower.

 

[Bad Dog]

tried the bubble hash twice in my banger and failed both times first attempt was a traditional up and down dab, which I've never dialled in with my banger so you can guess it went poorly. I was using my big shot on its lowest setting shooting for a minute of torching and 20-30 seconds cool down before adding the hash. I messed up my torching spent to much time on the walls and accidentally stoped 10 seconds early on my torching which I caught so I only waited 15 seconds to drop the hash, which only sort of melted barely giving any vapour so I quickly started torching while hitting, waiting for the dab to melt the rest of the way but I was to aggressive and it didn't melt, just started to burn as if I wasn't disappointed enough I had to clean the horrible mess in my banger so a total fail. later I made a second attempt with my hybrid approach and honest torch, it went a little better but I just got a few wispy hits and it didn't melt fully either............ fail. this evening to console myself I had a big piece in my Vrod , perfection! I'm no banger master lol

 

[cybrguy]

Be prepared for it to suck you in. Once I started dabbing I never went back to flower.

My brother has CHS. It is a real thing. Like me he has been using cannabis for over 50 years but he, like me, was almost entirely a flower guy. His daughter had a med card so he started getting some concentrates. When our state went legal Rec he started buying concentrates more often and then when covid happened he started using mass quantities because he was mostly stuck at home. Then one day he started having acute stomach pain and uncontrollable puking. The ER decided he had pancreatitis and started treating him for that. After a couple days his symptoms subsided and he went home. He started doing mass quantities of concentrates again and his symptoms came back. That was when a wise doctor thought of CHS and the rest is history. He has gone back to flower and gotten his tolerance back in line and finds if he can keep the quantity low he can continue to get high, but if he pushes it he starts to feel bad again.

I tell you this story to suggest that I think it unlikely that concentrates will take me permanently away from flower. I don't know if CHS is hereditary or not, but I really don't want to risk his symptoms so I am not likely to get too caught up in concentrates and take the chance. Besides, I am really not a let's get blasted kind of guy any more. Now and then, maybe, but mostly I like a decent but not overwhelming buzz. Unless it's for pain.

https://www.sunnyside.shop/product/335737

Is this what your looking for?

They don't seems to have any of this around me, but I will give it a try when they do.

 

[BabyFacedFinster]

My brother has CHS. It is a real thing. Like me he has been using cannabis for over 50 years but he, like me, was almost entirely a flower guy. His daughter had a med card so he started getting some concentrates. When our state went legal Rec he started buying concentrates more often and then when covid happened he started using mass quantities because he was mostly stuck at home. Then one day he started having acute stomach pain and uncontrollable puking. The ER decided he had pancreatitis and started treating him for that. After a couple days his symptoms subsided and he went home. He started doing mass quantities of concentrates again and his symptoms came back. That was when a wise doctor thought of CHS and the rest is history. He has gone back to flower and gotten his tolerance back in line and finds if he can keep the quantity low he can continue to get high, but if he pushes it he starts to feel bad again.

I tell you this story to suggest that I think it unlikely that concentrates will take me permanently away from flower. I don't know if CHS is hereditary or not, but I really don't want to risk his symptoms so I am not likely to get too caught up in concentrates and take the chance. Besides, I am really not a let's get blasted kind of guy any more. Now and then, maybe, but mostly I like a decent but not overwhelming buzz. Unless it's for pain.

They don't seems to have any of this around me, but I will give it a try when they do.

I went totally concentrates a few years ago. Flower tastes too vegetal to me now. But I can't tolerate getting blasted with it either. Rather I use it as a means to get the great flavors found in all the wonderful resins, waxes and sugars available around here. The second big reason is to reduce the amount of active vaping that I need to do. I can get to my comfort zone with just a few hits of concentrate compared to vaping 2 whole bowls of flower.
I have tried the torch and banger and even own the whole 710 setup, but the intensity of those hits would kill me. I prefer vaping my concentrates at a slower pace. Right now I use a Core erig which gives me any size hit I want, and then I can set it down and come back for more later. I also really enjoy using my dynavaps for a slow paced session. In doing this, I am able to keep my tolerance in a very moderate place, even with daily use. I could see my tolerance getting out of hand if I truly dabbed each day. Besides the fact that I might destroy my throat, which is very sensitive to harsh vaping.

If that style of dabbing was my cup of tea, I would have jumped on the bandwagon for one of these:

The RIO by Stache Products

The first cold-start liquid rig that has an all-in-one design. Powerful enough for any occasion with unmatched portability. Fill your Rio with water and take it with you. Or better yet, stay at home, cook a pizza and have an all night session with this portable powerhouse. 100% satisfaction...

puffitup.com

 

[CrazyDiamond]

Be prepared for it to suck you in. Once I started dabbing I never went back to flower.

Happens to the best of us and it happened to me...full intention not to get sucked into it, but I did. I do still vape flower though.

 

[invertedisdead]

The CHS thread is literally full of members who have gotten CHS from using flower vaporizers. In fact people on FC were aware of CHS long before it became more well known in mainstream cannabis circles.

Re: "the science"
Vaporization itself is a concentration process. When you use a dry herb vaporizer you are concentrating the cannabinoids and exposing your body to the very same high THC dosages that a dab would. When you vaporize flower you're inhaling a concentrated aerosol that is ~70-80%+ THC yet when people see rosin at 75% THC they look at it as weed moonshine for some reason.
Fun fact: This is actually why many dry herb vaporizer enthusiasts aren't as impressed with dabs as smokers - because we are already used to that extremely high THC rich vapor in our dry herb devices.

 

[Ramahs]

Yup. It had an odor to it that gave it away, and it was a little tacky to the touch. If you worked with it a while your fingers got pretty stinky.

The THAI from ASIA was dipped in WHITE POWDERY OPIUM that hippie long haired male’s smoked while music played on vinyl @ 33! Decent dimension obtained!
Could not anything productive B-achieved?
Not 4 successful CIVILIZATIONAL EXISTENCE?
Just thinking of the past?
ZIGGY PLAYED GUITAR!

Nice. That's one more thing that is now on my bucket list!

 

[cybrguy]

Is the reason folks prefer Ti dabbers to SS that SS is more likely to flake over time or is just personal choice? SS ones, or more likely SS wax carvers are much more common and available. I would expect them to be cheaper too, but there doesn't seem to be that much difference. They really don't have to be a pricey item.

For example this seems a good inexpensive option it seems to me...

Amazon.com: 3 Packs Different Style Rainbow Wax Carving Tool Wax Tool Carving Tool Stainless Steel Tool Spoon

Shop LLIKE at the Amazon Arts, Crafts & Sewing store. Free Shipping on eligible items. Save on everyday low prices.

www.amazon.com