Is dabbing worth it?

[snaffle]

Hi all,

I've been vaporizing flower for a long time now, I suppose about 10 years. Never really got into cannabis before I found vaporizers, now I adore it. But I've never had access to proper concentrates before, so had never considered dabbing.

However, I now have access to some of the "shatters" and other concentrates that seems to be the thing these days, so the option is there. I've watched some youtube videos, and think I understand the basics of dabbing, but I'm not sure whether it would be a substantially different experience to just loading the concentrate straight into a vapcap with some cotton. Can anyone advise?

It looks to me like dabbing is just very high temperature vaporization of a concentrate that won't combust, manually heated with a blowtorch (or electronically with an expensive e-nail). Is that accurate? Is the difference then that you can consume a larger amount quicker (and harsher?) than through a vaporizer? That doesn't sound very "worth it" to me, so I wonder whether I'm missing something.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm happy to drop the money on a little nail and torch if they will bring a new experience to the table, but if it's just spending money for a more annoying way to consume concentrates with the same effects, I'd probably just pass.

 

[tennisguru1]

Hi all,

I've been vaporizing flower for a long time now, I suppose about 10 years. Never really got into cannabis before I found vaporizers, now I adore it. But I've never had access to proper concentrates before, so had never considered dabbing.

However, I now have access to some of the "shatters" and other concentrates that seems to be the thing these days, so the option is there. I've watched some youtube videos, and think I understand the basics of dabbing, but I'm not sure whether it would be a substantially different experience to just loading the concentrate straight into a vapcap with some cotton. Can anyone advise?

It looks to me like dabbing is just very high temperature vaporization of a concentrate that won't combust, manually heated with a blowtorch (or electronically with an expensive e-nail). Is that accurate? Is the difference then that you can consume a larger amount quicker (and harsher?) than through a vaporizer? That doesn't sound very "worth it" to me, so I wonder whether I'm missing something.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm happy to drop the money on a little nail and torch if they will bring a new experience to the table, but if it's just spending money for a more annoying way to consume concentrates with the same effects, I'd probably just pass.

Skip all that get a Sai Taf Quartz or Ti Bucket & an Espion 200 mod & press a botton &
if you miss your bong, connect it up.
It's another level of High! Just my opinion after 57 years of doing it all.

 

[Roth]

Hi all,

I've been vaporizing flower for a long time now, I suppose about 10 years. Never really got into cannabis before I found vaporizers, now I adore it. But I've never had access to proper concentrates before, so had never considered dabbing.

However, I now have access to some of the "shatters" and other concentrates that seems to be the thing these days, so the option is there. I've watched some youtube videos, and think I understand the basics of dabbing, but I'm not sure whether it would be a substantially different experience to just loading the concentrate straight into a vapcap with some cotton. Can anyone advise?

It looks to me like dabbing is just very high temperature vaporization of a concentrate that won't combust, manually heated with a blowtorch (or electronically with an expensive e-nail). Is that accurate? Is the difference then that you can consume a larger amount quicker (and harsher?) than through a vaporizer? That doesn't sound very "worth it" to me, so I wonder whether I'm missing something.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm happy to drop the money on a little nail and torch if they will bring a new experience to the table, but if it's just spending money for a more annoying way to consume concentrates with the same effects, I'd probably just pass.

Yes, I would consider the difference to be fairly considerable. You can absolutely consume concentrates using your VapCap and some cotton/hemp, but it won't be the same experience as a hit from a proper nail/banger.

If you were to make an analogy to alcohol, I guess you could say dabbing would be like taking a shot, where as vaping flower (or your shatter in the VapCap) to be more akin to beer or a mixed drink in the case of your VapCap. But unlike a shot, the taste from a dab shouldn't burn or make you pucker. A low temp dab of some terpy live resin is some of the tastiest way I've ever consumed cannabis so far.

When using a banger, you can consume a quantity MUCH greater than with the vapcap and it will taste way better too, not harsher by any means. In fact, the flavor from a proper low temp hit in a banger will be miles better than using that same shatter in your VapCap.

And just an fyi, I know there's lots of new terminology involved with dabbing, but a "banger" is basically a quartz bucket that hooks up to your glass. Here's a pic of a 25mm opaque bottom quartz banger, from @710Coils:

A "nail" is a hold over term from the early days of dabbing, when people would heat up a nail like portion of either Ti or quartz. Nails are still used by some, but they've greatly fallen out of favor for the newer styles. A quartz banger is head and shoulders better than any nail of the past. You can also go down the route of a surface made out of SiC (Silicon Carbide) using a set up like DNail offers.

Opaque quartz and SiC will give comparable performance and either would a good way to go.


Hope that helps some, and feel free to ask any other questions. And if you're looking to pick up a banger, no need to look any further than www.710coils.com. Fantastic products at a great price, amazing customer service, and a member of our own forum!

If you already have some glass, it wouldn't be that expensive to pick up a banger, carb cap, and a torch to see if you like dabbing. If you do, you can then look into getting a controller and coil so you don't have to use the torch anymore.






tl:dr Yes. If you enjoy consuming cannabis, a proper dab setup should be in your arsenal.

 

[shredder]

Hi all,

I've been vaporizing flower for a long time now, I suppose about 10 years. Never really got into cannabis before I found vaporizers, now I adore it. But I've never had access to proper concentrates before, so had never considered dabbing.

However, I now have access to some of the "shatters" and other concentrates that seems to be the thing these days, so the option is there. I've watched some youtube videos, and think I understand the basics of dabbing, but I'm not sure whether it would be a substantially different experience to just loading the concentrate straight into a vapcap with some cotton. Can anyone advise?

It looks to me like dabbing is just very high temperature vaporization of a concentrate that won't combust, manually heated with a blowtorch (or electronically with an expensive e-nail). Is that accurate? Is the difference then that you can consume a larger amount quicker (and harsher?) than through a vaporizer? That doesn't sound very "worth it" to me, so I wonder whether I'm missing something.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm happy to drop the money on a little nail and torch if they will bring a new experience to the table, but if it's just spending money for a more annoying way to consume concentrates with the same effects, I'd probably just pass.

Very good question! Your at where I was several years ago. Now I make my own rosin, and have a enail. And there's a huge difference in nails. After reading here and being turned off by heating ti nails with a torch that sent me into coughing fits, I took a big ($300 plus another $158 for a controller) leap of faith and bought a dnail slim series with a SIC dish. Couldn't be happier.

The concentrate naturally matters as well. But the right set up and a terpy concentrate can make anyone a believer. You'll consume less to get a similar effect. IMHO it tastes better, and less hits usually mean less coughing for my 64 yr old lungs. And with my dnail I can turn down the heat and sip rather than rip, but it will do both. So is it worth it? You decide........

 

[superdang9000]

Very good question! Your at where I was several years ago. Now I make my own rosin, and have a enail. And there's a huge difference in nails. After reading here and being turned off by heating ti nails with a torch that sent me into coughing fits, I took a big ($300 plus another $158 for a controller) leap of faith and bought a dnail slim series with a SIC dish. Couldn't be happier.

The concentrate naturally matters as well. But the right set up and a terpy concentrate can make anyone a believer. You'll consume less to get a similar effect. IMHO it tastes better, and less hits usually mean less coughing for my 64 yr old lungs. And with my dnail I can turn down the heat and sip rather than rip, but it will do both. So is it worth it? You decide........

I'm in a similar boat. I smoked cannabis for about 4 years before switching to vaporizing flower, which I've been doing for about 13-14 years now. My lungs and throat have always been sensitive and it's one of the main reasons I switched to vaping in the first place. Anyway, fast forward to last year... I was well aware of the dabbing scene but never considered it as an option for a variety of reasons. I finally ended up investing in a FlowerPot to fill the need for a powerful, reliable desktop vape. From there, my dabbing experience blossomed. Went from twaxing on the ShowerHead, to the VRod w/SiC dish... where I found myself dabbing 80% of the time, which is the exact opposite of what I was doing before. I've since invested in a rosin press, quartz bangers, additional coils, etc. and use concentrates almost exclusively.

Like others have mentioned, if you get a nice, low temp dab, it's really satisfying and the effects are immediate. For me, that's important because I use it mostly before bed to help with insomnia. If I'm just chilling during the day, I'll still use flower but the concentrate experience just feels cleaner and quicker to me when I really need it.

 

[hafalump]

must b nice to live where this is available, never had a chance to try......
lucky to even get quality flowers

 

[710Coils]

If anyone is on the fence about getting a banger and coil setup. I will work with you to try and get you setup within your budget. So do not hesitate to hit me up and we can see what can be done about getting you setup properly =)

I am getting a restock of axial coils and they encompass the banger with a coil and help give an even heat saturation and also helping lower dab temps. The removal of the banger to clean is beyond easy. Just one clip holds it all in place. You remove it and the banger comes right out. Easy Peasy.

Hope everyone is having a great day

Shane

 

[Sawyer]

To me, concentrates like shatter are not worth it (with an exception made for tasty hash). I found that when using concentrates my tolerance shot up incredibly quickly, to the point where bong hits of flowers did not even get me high at all any more. I guess if you have access to a steady supply, and don't mind the tolerance increase it can be great. I'm also not a fan of the utensils involved (e.g. the torch). Dabs give an amazing high though.

 

[ataxian]

To me, concentrates like shatter are not worth it (with an exception made for tasty hash). I found that when using concentrates my tolerance shot up incredibly quickly, to the point where bong hits of flowers did not even get me high at all any more. I guess if you have access to a steady supply, and don't mind the tolerance increase it can be great. I'm also not a fan of the utensils involved (e.g. the torch). Dabs give an amazing high though.

What I do is not right 4 some?
When I started with HONEY OIL it was $10/vile.
Foil, stick match & plastic straw from fast food joint.
2-day I use a mod and tank 4 ROSIN & use e-juice (kief added 2 da juice)
18 watts when clean cotton is used.

With kief at $5.00 & ROSIN $20/gram this not 4 everyone!

4-got to mention da ROSIN I brush da coils with!
Find what works 4 U?

 

[invertedisdead]

After dabbing for a while, vaping flower kinda feels like smoking a bowl... a low temp nail hit is just a cleaner vapor experience. Flower vapor has a fair amount of degraded plant contaminant that simply is not being inhaled in an extract. I still like flower but I have not had any desire to hit any in a while, once you have a rosin press there really isn't much reason to. I'm literally melting the resin off the bud and filtering all that trash out. I mean does anybody really like fiddling with ABV and making a big mess with grinders, scoop tools, crumbs all over the place? Try water curing ABV just once if you want to see how clean flower vaping really is. Seriously, put ABV in a mesh strainer and run it under water until the water goes black to clear if you want a little eye opener.

 

[BabyFacedFinster]

I have experimented with dabbing and will probably find a place for it in my repertoire. However, I often find it is a lot of medicine hitting me at one time. Lately I have done the cotton thing, but I use it in a glass gong with a plug in vape like my e-nano. I own 2 vapcaps and have never gotten good with the torch and heating consistency. The nano is as powerful as you set the dial and then maintains that constant temp like nobody's business. So I can then hit that concentrate as much or little as I want and spread the experience over a couple hits rather than all at once. Plus you get the flavor of the concentrates really well.

What works well for me is I place a small piece of cotton in the gong and drop a piece of concentrate on top. One hit with the nano melts the conc into the cotton. I then take some type of dab tool and mix the cotton around to spread the conc all over the cotton and increase surface area. The next hits can then be as big or little as you want.

 

[invertedisdead]

So I can then hit that concentrate as much or little as I want and spread the experience over a couple hits rather than all at once.

This is another benefit of the enail over a torched dab. You can dial in any type of hit, as little or as much vapor as you like.

 

[Roth]

Try water curing ABV just once if you want to see how clean flower vaping really is. Seriously, put ABV in a mesh strainer and run it under water until the water goes black to clear if you want a little eye opener.

I'm not sure I follow the logic in this, but I might just be misunderstanding. Seeing what's leftover in the ABV doesn't show you what you inhaled in the vapor you already consumed. It just shows what's left behind after you're done.

I don't necessarily disagree with any of your points, just don't follow that last bit!

 

[invertedisdead]

Seeing what's leftover in the ABV doesn't show you what you inhaled in the vapor you already consumed. It just shows what's left behind after you're done.

The vaporization is what causes the degradation - the ABV is left behind, but the byproducts formed from non vaporizable compounds being heated to high temperatures which create that ABV must also be inhaled at the same time as the cannabinoids. By separating the plant material first this can be bypassed.

When we're talking dried herb, the majority by weight is non vaporizable plant material which degrades or combusts at the same temperatures cannabinoids and terpenes vaporize; compared to something like a THC distillate which has almost zero non vaporizable compounds.

 

[Roth]

The vaporization is what causes the degradation - the ABV is left behind, but the byproducts formed from non vaporizable compounds being heated to high temperatures which create that ABV must also be inhaled at the same time as the cannabinoids. By separating the plant material first this can be bypassed.

When we're talking dried herb, the majority by weight is non vaporizable plant material which degrades or combusts at the same temperatures cannabinoids and terpenes vaporize; compared to something like a THC distillate which has almost zero non vaporizable compounds.

I see what you're saying, makes sense.

My next question though, do we know how many of these by products being formed during the vaporization process actually end up in the vapor that we inhale? Or could most of these compounds be solids that get left behind in the ABV and never enter the vapor?

I wonder what factor water filtration would play then. Would the byproducts be trapped in the water at a higher rate than terpenes?

Never really thought about it from that angle.

I wish there were some legit scientific studies of everything in the vapor produced from vaporizing cannabis flower. Or are there and I'm just not aware?

 

[invertedisdead]

do we know how many of these by products being formed during the vaporization process actually end up in the vapor that we inhale?

Not really, it's mostly speculative and based on bioassay and self study; but vapors, aerosols, and gases released during thermolysis is just a part of the degradation process.

You can research various common plant compounds which are also in cannabis that combust around the vaporization point of THC. Sugar is one most people don't think about.

But don't get me wrong, it's WAY less byproducts formed than full on smoking for sure, no doubts about that, not even really on the same page. I only mention it for those who are especially sensitive to vapor as a possible reasoning why.

I wonder what factor water filtration would play then. Would the byproducts be trapped in the water at a higher rate than terpenes?

Not sure but flower vapor bong water smells pretty gnarly to me after going back to using concentrates exclusively. It just has a certain "foulness" that I taste when test ripping my water pipes. My dab rigs just don't get off-putting like that ever. The Flowerpot especially can really stink up some water. When I add that with the weird smell ABV gets it just tells me the vapor is not as clean as I once thought. But its still a billion times cleaner than smoking a joint!

I wish there were some legit scientific studies of everything in the vapor produced from vaporizing cannabis flower. Or are there and I'm just not aware?

You would think legalization would churn up some information like that but I just haven't seen any. There's so much information missing from this whole vapor thing that would really shed some light. The old Volcano study is the only one I really know of.

 

[shredder]

To me, concentrates like shatter are not worth it (with an exception made for tasty hash). I found that when using concentrates my tolerance shot up incredibly quickly, to the point where bong hits of flowers did not even get me high at all any more. I guess if you have access to a steady supply, and don't mind the tolerance increase it can be great. I'm also not a fan of the utensils involved (e.g. the torch). Dabs give an amazing high though.

I kinda started out that was as well, like a kid in a candy store, lol. I mean it just tasted soo good.

But I'm a micro doser at heart. And so I soon cut way back to dabs of rosin smaller, let's say half of a bb size dabs. This will last me about 3 hours head wise, and longer body wise. And I still mix it up using herb with a dynavap or my fury 2, or our mighty if it's several users.

I did go rosin only for about four months but as a grower/caregiver I just have to sample so I can stay on top of things. So I found my own balance of herb to concentrate. And as someone with asthma, when it's bothering me I lean more to rosin because micro dosing low temp dabbing works better for me.

In the end it's just a personal preference but I see the trend is for younger users going more for concentrates, and older farts like me going more for herb. But i know 75yr olds dabbing now.

Edit @Roth here's a non scientific method that might help. Try inhaling vapor through a tissue, and exhaling into another tissue and compare. Could be an eye opener.

 

[Chickenhawk]

I've only been using shatter/wax for a few months. So far I've just been making sandwiches with flower in an Arizer EQ with a ddave adaptor. I'm wondering, though, if I'd get a better high/experience going with straight wax in a pen or rig. If so, is there a big difference in the experience between using a rig or pen?

 

[steama]

Dabbing is worth it if you enjoy it like anything else. If you dislike dabbing it is a total waste.

 

[invertedisdead]

I've only been using shatter/wax for a few months. So far I've just been making sandwiches with flower in an Arizer EQ with a ddave adaptor. I'm wondering, though, if I'd get a better high/experience going with straight wax in a pen or rig. If so, is there a big difference in the experience between using a rig or pen?

IMO the challenge with concentrate sandwiches is a great vape will almost always finish the flower before the oil is gone.

 

[Silver420Surfer]

IMO the challenge with concentrate sandwiches is a great vape will almost always finish the flower before the oil is gone.

Exactly. Best answer yet!

 

[Chickenhawk]

A couple times I've tapped out the bowl and the flower was a little oily, but for the most part it always comes out dry.

 

[invertedisdead]

A couple times I've tapped out the bowl and the flower was a little oily, but for the most part it always comes out dry.

It probably appears that way but there is most likely a good amount of oil left in the ABV. When you get a dab rig you'll see what I mean.

 

[Chickenhawk]

So you'd recommend a rig over a pen?

 

[invertedisdead]

So you'd recommend a rig over a pen?

Just depends on your usage style, personal preferences, and concentrate availability. I have both, for me they serve different purposes just like desktop and portable flower vapes fill different roles.