Author: James Anderson

Dabs What Exactly Is Dabbing And Why Is It So Dangerous?

Bubble hash is rated on its quality, or “meltability”—full melt or six star hash is the highest in quality and so named because it fully melts or bubbles away. Diamonds are primarily made of one cannabis compound, such as THCA or CBD, and have such a high degree of purity that they form a crystalline solid, like a diamond. Sugar, or sugar wax, has a consistency of wet sugar that hasn’t dissolved.

The presence of benzene is not to be ignored, but we cannot assume dabbing is dangerous based on the current findings. If you found that initial dab to be agreeable or underwhelming, and you feel up for it, slowly increase the size of your dab over the course of several hours. Begin with a dab that is half the size of a grain of rice, or smaller.

Cannabis Concentrates: What Is Live Resin?

For reference, the recommended starting dose for an edible is between 5-10 mg. The high amount of THC could build your tolerance to THC and marijuana quite quickly. If you are a regular user, developing tolerance will often result in higher doses over time. The possibility of transitioning to other more dangerous narcotics is present especially if you are not getting the same high. Other hydrocarbons like propane can be used to extract cannabis oils but they haven’t gained as much popularity. As with anything, sometimes you can have a little too much, and it’ll leave you feeling not so hot.

Choose Quality Concentrates

There are plenty of tricks to make sure that you’re dabbing safely and responsibly. It’s always good to make sure you take certain precautions and start slowly, as with any cannabis journey. There’s nothing worse than trying a new cannabis consumption method, only to quickly realize you’re in over your head. The extraction process is what makes experts so nervous because it sometimes involves the use of butane, a highly volatile and dangerous gas. John Stogner, the assistant professor of criminology at the University of North Carolina, put together a study that focused on the health hazards of dabbing that was published in Pediatrics. The boiling points for most terpenes (flavor molecules) found in marijuana loosely range from 310 to 400°F (154 – 204.4°C).

Dabs: What is Dabbing and Is It Dangerous?

But for those new to the art of consuming highly potent extracts, it’s always best to start off small. Not just with the size of your dab, but also the rig you use to consume it. Simply put, dabbing is a method of consuming concentrated cannabis extracts (also known as concentrates) for medicinal or recreational purposes. Solventless extractions use temperature changes and physical manipulation to separate trichomes from cannabis plant material. Most dabs are made with either trim or flower as the starting material.

The cooldown time will vary based on your nail and how you like your dab to be. When the nail has been cooled enough, drop the dab and allow it to melt before adding the carb cap. Once you drop the cap, your nail and rig should quickly fill with thick flavorful smoke.

Cold-start dabbing

Although not necessary, we highly recommend using a carb cap to help regulate airflow. Combination carb cap/dab tools are great for cutting down on the amount of dab gear. Vapor travels from the nail into the main chamber of the rig, and is cooled by water before hitting the dabber’s lungs. There’s a bit of a learning curve with dabbing, so if you’ve never done it before, it can be helpful to have someone experienced with it to show you how it’s done. I spent a lot of years as a restaurant Sommelier, so I’m comfortable identifying flavors across my palate.

  1. A typical dab rig looks similar to a bong—it is a glass piece with a chamber for water, except instead of a bowl for flower, a rig has a nail for dabs.
  2. The solvent is then purged from the slurry and the cannabis extraction pulled from the machine.
  3. If you’ve never dabbed before, we recommend you do it in a safe, comfortable place, and it’s also a good idea to have a friend or someone show you how to do it.
  4. Diamonds are primarily made of one cannabis compound, such as THCA or CBD, and have such a high degree of purity that they form a crystalline solid, like a diamond.
  5. However, unskilled extractors who use flammable solvents at home have an increased risk of creating an explosion when exposing the solvents to an open flame.

The concentrate is heated quickly, automatically transforming from a solid to a gas to be inhaled through a dab rig, which usually has a chamber for water to make the inhalation less harsh. When you dab, you are heating a highly concentrated form of cannabis and inhaling the vaporized oil which gives you an intense high. Hash, or hashish, is cannabis resin or kief that is packed or pressed together. Trichomes can be frozen off with dry ice and pressed together, or resin simply collected and rolled into a ball, as with charas. This solventless concentrate is brown in color and more potent than flower. A concentrate can also be whipped, turning an oily extract into a waxy one.

How to dab: What to know about smoking shatter and wax

Dabbing cold will also preserve your hardware better than traditional dabbing. By subjecting your nail to less heat, you’ll reduce the potential for breakage and reclaim buildup. Try heating the nail with a torch for 30 seconds and let it cool for 60 seconds before adding the dab to the nail.

The way cannabis concentrate connoisseurs dab today is by using lower temperatures. Low-temperature dabs require a carb cap, patience and more time than a high-temp dab. The principal extract used in dabbing is butane hash oil (BHO). BHO is a waxy, nonpolar extract of the cannabis plant made with butane as a solvent. Live resin is made from cannabis plants that are frozen at harvest and kept frozen throughout the extraction process, whereas most other extracts are made with dried plant material. This process retains more terpenes and leads to more fragrant and flavorful dabs.