How to Dab So You Don’t Make A Fool Of Yourself Around Your Stoner Friends

how to dabHow to Dab 101

Dabs, dabbing, dapper dabbers and the ever present IG hashtag, #StopDropandGlob have all worked their way into the stoner culture vernacular to almost organically create a new form of getting stoned with your friends. Not everyone knows how to dab. It’s through no fault of their own. Remember, there still happens to be several regions of the United States where dabs, wax and other forms of cannabis extract and dab smoking is illegal.

It’s also a good idea to have a grasp on the whole dab etiquette thing. Especially if you are planning to participate in a dab sesh with your friends. There’s even some places in certain states that operate like a members only club. Pay a fee to get your membership card. Then whenever you roll through the club, you can flash the card and gain entrance to everything the club provides. Dab on dabber!

what is dabbingWhat is dabbing?

Before we get too deep on our how to dab tutorial, let’s first gain a basic understand of a couple definitions. A dabbing definition of sorts. What is dabbing? What is a dab? Is dabing even a word? If it is, dabing doesn’t have to do with dabbing. These are two phrases you’ll hear over and over again depending on the crowd you roll with. A dab is the extract, because it only takes a dab.

A dab’ll do ya, so the saying goes. Dabbing is the act of doing a dab. Some people ask how to smoke dabs, but once you understand how dabbing works, you’ll see that you aren’t actually dab smoking. If anything it’s more of a dab vaporization. You can call it taking a dab, or dabbing wax, if you are in fact, dabbing wax.

Dabbing tools

Dabbing requires some tools. If you are a daily dabber sometimes these items might get taken for granted. Sure you can go all ghetto rig style. But if you want to be taken seriously with your higher culture friends, you’ll want to get yourself a legit setup. If you want some heady American made glass, hit me up on IG.

what is a dabDabbing step-by-step

How do you dab though? First of all, as I previously mentioned, you’ll need a dab rig. A dab rig is just a fun water percolator without a dab nail. So you’ll need one of those too. They come in many shapes, sizes, and materials. From titanium that is actual legit, graded titanium, to cheap knock off titanium that has the potential to offgas something not so tasty if you get it too hot.

Some people prefer taking a dab off a ceramic nail, but thankfully, I think most people are over that phase of their dab life. Ceramic flakes, you could inhale the ceramic dust particles. It’s wicked fragile and takes forever to heat. I honestly have no idea why anyone would still reach for a ceramic nail over something like quartz or even a good titanium nail.

Dabbing torches & nails

So you have the dab rig and the dab nail, now you’ll need a torch. Not just any torch you can get at the gas station. Although depending on how thick your dab nail is, those little micro torches could get your nail hot enough to get a low temp dab in. But if you want the legit stuff, right now everyone is using the Blazer Bigshot GT 8000. They also make a smaller one called the Blazer Piezo micro-torch. But if you are using XL size quartz nails, you’ll definitely want to invest in the Blazer Bigshot GT 8000. You can find the Blazer on Amazon.

Now you’ll need a few other accessories to make the dabbing experience that much nicer. A dabber will be necessary, and they are usually made out of glass, quartz, or titanium. This is the tool you put your dab on, so it has to be made out of something that can handle the heat.

Dabs! Of course you are going to need to get some dabs. Before I explain how this all goes together, let’s get into exactly what a dab is. But first, if you already know, then do a dab! I’m going to do a dab right fucking now! I’m not going to make a dabbing video out of it, but I’m definitely going to take a dab. If you want to see a dabbing video I made, look no further than my Instagram account.

what is a dabWhat is a dab?

This is probably a good spot to give you a quick breakdown on the different kinds of dabs. Some people like to hit a nice hot wax dab, while others like to taste the terpenes, opting for the low temp lenny approach. Some people prefer distillate because it’s winterized, which means the fats and waxes are removed. Others prefer CO2 oil.

It’s completely dependent upon the laws in your particular region, and how much money processors can afford to spend on dope high tech lab equipment. Some of these distillate facilities cost in upwards of $300,000 to build out, and that’s just the equipment needed to extract and refine the material. That’s definitely a huge distance away from the backyard BHO blasting a lot of people are more familiar with that costs around maybe 100 bucks to get started.

Dabbing definition

The basic dab definition is cannabis concentrate that can be vaporized due to its high potency and hopefully low plant material percentage. A dab can be anything from hydrocarbon extracted cannabis oil like PHO, BHO, or RSO (of course there are others, I’m just listing the more popular ones for the sake of this piece). There are many forms and grades of dabs. Many variations depending on the temperatures, solvents, and a bunch of other variables the extract technician controls. This, along with the quality of the input material going in, will determine how fire that weed dab is going to be.

Now that we have a basic understanding of what a dab is, we can get into how to use a dab rig, and how to take a dab. Everyone has to start somewhere, and we’re glad you’re starting here with us. There are many ways to dab, and even more dabbing videos out there to watch, but if you want to know how to use dab rig, then keep on reading.

dabbing is SSLHow do you Dab? A SSL dab tutorial

I don’t know about you, but I dab like the most dapper dabbing mad hatter no matter bring on the wax or shatter boss hog lab hacker. Ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I definitely enjoy my dabs on the daily. But for real, how do you dab? Regardless of whether you want to know how to dab shatter, or you want to know how to dab wax, it’s all the same concept. Heat the nail, let it cool to the appropriate temperature, apply the dab to the dab nail and inhale through the dab rig. That’s how to take a dab, the summary version.

Dab smoking outro

Just know, that while some ways work better for others than other ways work better for some, there really isn’t a best way to dab. Just dab you baby! Although if you get your nail too hot, just know that the dab could combust, and that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with how much residual solvent is in there. If it bursts into a fireball, that would be more of a clue that maybe that dab material wasn’t purged as well as it should have been.

You’ll also want to toss a carb cap on there, depending on the type of dab nail you are using. It’s much easier to show you how to dab and how to use a dab rig through these IG videos. But that’s pretty much it. As always, drop us a comment about your dab experience, and if you have any questions, get at me! Dabs are definitely stuff stoners like, and so is knowing your shit when it comes to dabs and dabbing. I’m here to help out with that as much as possible.

BY Mat Lee

Do you dab? If so we’d like to hear from you. What’s your favorite concentrate to dab? Tell us about your dab rig. And definitely drop all your dabbing tips and tricks on us in the comments section below.



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