A dab rig is usually a hand-held apparatus, usually made of clear glass, intended for cannabis concentrates instead of pot, instead of flowers. In some ways, it’s kind of like a smoking pipe: You light up the dabber (the “dab”) and inhale the smoke through the mouthpiece. There are various styles of dab rigs available, ranging from straightforward dab straws (an old-fashioned tube of clear glass or plastic, heated at the end for smoking concentrates) to elaborate electronic dab rigs with temperature-controlled vapor emitters and auto shut off indicators. But, with so many different dab rigs out there, how do you choose? How do you weed out the dud ones and find a quality dabber that will last? Here are some basic guidelines that can help you make your choice.
The most common dab rigs are simply long, narrow glass pipes with a hole in the middle for the hose to go through. These are the easiest to use, and you can even buy them pre-assembled at many stores. You just need to unscrew the top and take out the handle and then attach the glass pipe to the hook on the side. Hooking the glass pipe onto a banger (much like you would a regular nail gun) makes the banger a convenient place to hold a joint or grind.
Many people, in their quest for cheap high-quality cannabis, settle on the image lightbox style of bongs. With an image lightbox, you get a similar sort of feel to a regular joint pipe – you heat the bottom of the box and inhale, the top is cool and gets warm as you push the image into your lungs. These are usually made out of clear glass or acrylic. While they do look nice, I wouldn’t recommend them for smoking heavy pot.
I’ve found that you can buy glass beads and nails individually that are cheaper than buying the entire set of nails and glass rods. Glass beads and nails are also a great alternative to the image lightbox bongs. You can use them to create beautiful patterns with them, or just leave them as-is. Some people who use glass beads and nails sometimes even make a design out of them to use just like a regular bong.
If you’re looking for a super-easy way to create a dab, you should look into buying one of those fancy electronic nail kits. With these, all you have to do is put the glass and nail in the base, push a button, and put the electronic nail enhancer on top. When it’s glowing, it will look just like a regular bong! You can even buy several sets of electronic nail enhancers so that you can try out different designs and patterns.
If you don’t want to use the electronic nail kit, there are still other ways to get a dab rig. There’s the “drawing” technique, which involves attaching a piece of cardboard to the end of a regular bong. Then, you’d apply some glue to the end of your blowup nose and smoke it up. Voila! You have your own unique electronic nail rig!
