How to Smoke Dabs Without a Dab Rig
Dabbing is championed as an efficient and tasty way to enjoy your cannabis. Take deliciously concentrated dabs, add them to a perfectly heated banger, and use your dab rig to inhale the pure concentrate vapor released. But what if you have some dabs but don't have a rig?
A good dab rig is a beauty to behold, with all-glass chambers and a quartz banger with a carb cap. Dab rigs are also reasonably delicate, which means that sometimes they break. Maybe your rig breaks entirely or just a critical piece that you need to complete a successful dab.
Without a backup rig, this is an unbelievable bummer. Not only do you have a broken rig or piece, but you also can't enjoy your dabs until a new rig is found. Or can you? Here is what to do when you have dabs and no way to vaporize them.
Dabbing Wax Without a Dab Rig
The good news is that you can still vaporize your dabs for that excellent high without a working glass dab rig. A rig and torch are the best way to vaporize your dabs cleanly, but not the only way. As it turns out, dabs mixed with weed is a great way to use dabs when you don't have a dab rig ready. How, you ask?
With a pipe, a bong, or rolling papers, you smoke dabs without a rig. Let's dive into the methods.
Combining Dabs with Weed
So first, let's frame the problem. A dab rig works very specifically to heat up your dabs, vaporize, and then help you inhale the tasty result. So how can you vaporize your dabs without a nail, quartz banger, and torch? The answer is "On Weed." By gently placing your dabs in with a bowl of ground-up bud, you can disperse that concentrated THC goodness into a regular pipe.
The fire from a lighter can heat your dabs to vaporization, just a little less cleanly than using a dab rig. So why can't you dab out of a standard spoon pipe or bong bowl? The problem is the hole in the bottom. Dab rigs feature a banger with a side-valve and a cap. When the lid is placed, all the vapor goes through the dab rig. But with a pipe or bong bowl, the smoke is pulled down through the bottom.
If you just heat a glass pipe or bong bowl to dab, all your dabs will liquefy and run into the bottom before you get all the vapor. But if you set your dabs on a pile of weed, the flower first absorbs the liquefying dabs, then releases vapor when the shredded buds themselves are burnt.
Smoking Dabs With a Pipe
When lighting dabs with fire instead of using a rig, expect a much harsher hit. Dry smoking is harsh because the temperature is uneven and non-ideal, your dabs won't vaporize as neatly, and you're also mixing weed smoke in with the hit. This can make a very rough hit on your throat, even if you're used to both flower and dab hits.
Our advice? Have an icy cold drink at-hand. This is a do-able challenge. In fact, it's easier than it sounds. But you will want a refreshment.
What to Start With
- Top Your Weed Bowl with Dabs
- Glass Spoon Pipe
- Any Herb or Tobacco Pipe
Start with a regular bowl of weed in a pipe. Pick your favorite kind of pipe or whatever you have available. Glass spoon pipes crafted for weed or even carved wood tobacco pipes will do the trick. All you need to start is a bowl of herb and a lighter. To this, add a small dollop of dabs to the top.
Take a small amount of dabs with the sharp tip of your dab tool. If you can, suspend the dab from the end and gently drop it onto the bowl. However, dabs are sticky, and leaf sticks to them. So you may need a second metal tool to lower the dabs onto the top of your bowl.
Now hit your bowl. The dabs will sizzle under the flame, then melt into the leaf, permeating the top of your bowl with a cannabis concentrate. As the flower smokes, the dabs will vaporize, and you'll pull the vapor through. Expect a harsh hit and an intense high from this result. Minimal amounts of dabs can go a long way when dry-smoked this way, so enjoy.
2. Using a Bong with Dabs
- Glass Water Bong
- Bong Bowl
If you have a bong on-hand with a herb bowl, then you can also enjoy your dabs this way. You don't need a nail for your bong to dab with it. Instead, use the same trick we just described with a green bowl. Running the bud-and-dab bowl through water filtration helps to reduce the harshness and preserve the flavor. To further minimize harshness, drop a few cubes of ice into the neck of your bond.
Grind up your bud and fill the bong bowl as you would typically do. Tamp down the bowl, so the top is not as loose, then drop your ball, slice, or shard of dabs on the top. Then light and hit as usual. The dabs will melt into the bowl and then vaporize as the bowl smolders and is smoked.
3. Roll a Joint with Dabs
- Rolling Papers
- Option: Joint Roller
Your final option is to spice up a joint or a blunt with dabs. If you have rolling papers or even an existing joint, you can add that extra kick of your dabs to the experience. There are two ways to do this. The first is a "twaxing," lining the paper or coiling a joint with dabs. The second way is to dab the tip of your joint, similar to the dabbed bowl method. This option works best when your weed has a robust flavor.
Be careful with dab-filled joints, as they can become very sticky and hard to handle. It can be tough to put out a dabbed joint.
Twaxing a Joint
To use the twaxing technique, you will add dabs to the length of your joint. The easiest way to do this is with new rolling papers. Create a sticky line of dabs down one side of the paper or spread out warm/butter dabs over the paper's inside. You can also create internal coils or coil the outside of a joint. Your available methods will depend on the consistency of your dabs - how firm or soft they are.
Other Ways of Using Dabs Without a Rig
A more straightforward beginner trick is to dab the tip. Add a drop of dabs to the tip of a joint or create a trail of dots along your joint. If your dabs are somewhat liquidy, drizzle a little on the end or tap the end in your dabs. Then smoke as usual. The first hits will pull some of the lighter-melted dabs through to the rest of the leaf.
4. Dab Through a Glass Straw
One unique temporary method for dabbing is using a glass straw. With this method, you use a single glass straw instead of the entire dab rig. Heat one end of the straw, then (extremely carefully) touch it to a drop of dabs on a heat-resistant plate. Inhale the vapor through the straw for a quick dab solution.
You can carry backup glass straws or borrow one if your friend keeps glass straws for science or emergency dabbing. Just be careful. It is inadvisable to use a glass straw as your long-term dabbing solution as they will eventually break with repeated overheating and use. Also, it's easy to burn yourself when simultaneously heating, touching, and inhaling through a single glass straw.
5. Keep a Backup or Travel Dab Rig Handy
Of course, your last option is to have a backup dab rig on-hand. There are a few ways to approach this. Your primary dab rig is probably fancy and reasonably valuable. But you can get smaller rigs and even bangers for a regular bong that are much easier to carry and non-tragic to replace. You can get a smaller portable dab rig or even seed your friends' houses with mini dab rigs, so there's always one available when you're out visiting.
If you love to dab, we've got what you need. From full-sized dab rigs that are works of art to convenient mini rigs and dab straws, we've got the goods. We can also help you supply your hand pipes, bongs, rolling papers, lighters, and anything else you can take with or out of. Contact us or just explore the site to find more great stuff to make your smoke sessions better.
