The Deal with Good Dabs (Updated)

(The original article “The Deal with Dabbing Safely” was published on twelvehighchicks.com September 16, 2015.)

So here’s the deal—the Cannabis Act isn’t perfect, and regulations have only slowly loosened, but finally Canadians can legally grow our own bud and use or alter it for our own purposes. Including dabbing. And a good dab is worth it. But doing it right is not as simple as packing a bowl or rolling a joint—what’s the deal with dabbing well?

Dabbing Dos and Don’ts

The basics of dabbing are easy:

Get your dabs, a dab rig, tools (like a dabber and cap), and a torch.
Heat the nail end of your rig, add a dab, and inhale the vapour from the other end.
Feel an almost immediate high.

For a good dab experience, first learn your equipment: rig, torch, dabber, and cap...then choose good dabs! — From left to right: Dab rig from Leash Glass (with quartz banger nail), carb cap (also from Leash Glass), dabbers (yes that one is Spider-Man, artist unknown), dabs (in silicone tub), and torch.

But a good dab experience can take trial and error. So, here are a few tips for making the most of your dabs.

Do choose good dabs

Let’s start this off safely: please do not make your own extract. Not only do people blow up houses trying to make their own BHO, but amateur extracts that still contain chemical solvents taste disgusting.

Get extract from trained professionals or—because there should always be an or—use a solventless method to make concentrate. Perhaps bubble bags or even a hair-straightener.

Do learn your rig

If you’re not familiar with dab rigs, get to know yours without any extract at all. Find the best flow to move from heating your nail to placing your dab. When you’re trying to use your rig for the first time, you don’t want to be fumbling around for a good position: you can burn yourself, or worse, waste your dab.

So get comfortable with your piece before you start. After all, it’s not gonna be easier to handle once you’ve done your first hit.

Do get to know your torch

A butane torch is an intense tool for the unfamiliar. Read the manual that comes with it and start it (and keep it on) once or twice to use on nothing before you use it for dabbing. It’s not a Zippo and it’s not a BIC. It’s easy to burn more than weed with these things, and cannabis acceptance (and good dabbing) isn’t helped by people being treated in the ER for something manuals warn about. Go read it now, I’ll wait.…

You are now familiar with both your torch and your rig, right? The rest of a good dab experience is all about personal preference and practice.

Don’t have eyeballs bigger than your lungs

Dose is important—it’s better for both your body and your wallet to take a couple of smaller hits, not one huge one. Large dabs look awesome, and maybe you’ll feel hardcore and extravagant taking it, but if you can’t inhale it all, it all goes to waste.

And dabs aren’t just big bong hits. Because flowers and concentrates impact differently (just like smokables and edibles differ) it’s easy to take too big a hit, and dab highs last. Especially don’t dab more extract than you’d smoke. Getting so high you lose yourself doesn’t improve anyone’s experience!

Don’t dab a burnt budder

Your optimal temperature is going to vary based on your concentrate or extract and your nail, but below-smoking temperatures when vaporizing create better flavours. Extracts, unlike flowers, have already been decarboxylated so they don’t need to be cooked again. Vapour rather than smoke is the goal: burning your dab with too-hot tools isn’t going to make you higher, it’s going to make the hit taste bad. Not too cool though or no vapour is created while your extract melts and you waste your dab.

Don’t forget to breathe—seriously, breathe

Everything we inhale takes only a little time to pass into the blood from our lung cavities. Cannabinoids need just a few seconds to be absorbed and the vapour you’ve inhaled is going to make you want to cough in about that much time, too. Dabbing doesn’t bypass physiology—holding it longer than needed won’t make a good dab better. Breathe it out before you cough it out and hurt yourself.

Good! Now Do Your Dab

You’ve learned your tools, gathered just enough extract on your dabber, and torched your nail then let it cool to the right temperature. You know the rest: touch the extract to your nail, inhale the vapour, and hold it until you need to breathe again. Exhale.

Enjoy your dab.