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CategoriesAnalysis/Opinion by

Dabbing May Pose Dangerous Health Issues

Dabbing is really popular.

The process of vaporizing cannabis concentrates  or ‘dabbing’ started gaining popularity in the last few years. Before that, the standard way to consume weed was by smoking the flower. Dabbing offers cannabis consumers a faster and more compact way to consume cannabis.
Boasting THC concentrations between 50-90%, a single dab is enough to get just about anyone high. Since concentrates only contain the active ingredients of cannabis, it is often seen as healthier as well. Instead of smoking an ounce of flower, a chronic user might only vaporize a gram of concentrates.
But recent research by Portland State University (PSU) published in the journal ACS Omega indicates that dabbing isn’t perfect. The main risk is that excessive heat from the ‘dab rig’ can degrade the terpenes into harmful versions of themselves.

Unlike cannabis flower, concentrates need a powerful heat source.

Cannabis smokers often carry bic lighters. These lighters are perfect for igniting cannabis flower but can’t provide enough heat to vaporize cannabinoids efficiently. So most dabbers use a propane or butane torch to heat a pad (commonly called a nail) to vaporize concentrates on.
The nail can be anything from glass to ceramic or even titanium but the most common is quartz crystal. The problem comes when those materials are heated to glowing, sometimes reaching temperatures over 950°F. At that temp, the chemical bonds holding the cannabinoids and terpenes together begin to fracture.
As the chemical bonds break, new compounds are formed. The terpene known as myrcene breaks down into methacrolein at around 500°F. Since methacrolein is a carcinogen, consuming cannabis high in myrcene (by the way, all cannabis has myrcene) heated above 500°F is not good for you.

Can dabbing hurt you?

According to principal study investigator Dr. Robert M. Strongin, “The higher temperatures go, the more risk that (users) will be inhaling things that could be harmful,” he came to that conclusion after some serious testing. The team used advanced testing methods like nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry.
Researchers used pure terpene extracts as their base for the study. They reported findings based on myrcene alone because it is the most abundant terpene. Myrcene also produced the lowest amount of harmful chemicals and was far easier to obtain than THC.
“The results of these studies clearly indicate that dabbing, although considered a form of vaporization, may, in fact, deliver significant amounts of toxins,” researchers wrote. “The difficulty users find in controlling the nail temperature puts users at risk of exposing themselves to not only methacrolein but also benzene.” But not all is doom and gloom for dabbing.

Temperature control is the key.

Researchers found that keeping the temp below 500°F can drastically reduce the amount of degradation that occurs. Less degradation equates to a safer product. This means that e-nails may be the safest way to consume cannabis.
 

CategoriesAnalysis/Opinion, List by

Top 10 Common Dabbing Mistakes

We have all made some dabbing mistakes when getting started.

Some of us learned from our dabbing mistakes while others remain ignorant of the finer points of canna culture. Regardless of where you fit along the spectrum of cannabis intelligence, you are sure to have experienced at least one of these common mistakes. These are in no particular order as each person will struggle with different parts (mine is overheating) more than others.
There are also more ways to counter these problems than I have time to list but I encourage you to share any tips or tricks with other readers in the comment section below.  We are all here to learn after all. So without further ado, here is my list of the top 10 dabbing mistakes and how to avoid them.

Overheating the NailBig Dab Rig

The normal way to heat a dab rig is with a torch. The goal is to heat the nail up enough that the concentrate vaporizes without combusting. Many dabbers don’t wait for the nail to cool slightly before taking their hit. These dabbing mistakes cause the concentrate to combust instead of vaporizing.
Combusted concentrate is significantly more harsh, lacks key terpenes and produces a lower quality high. Since terpenes act synergistically with THC and CBD to produce more powerful effects, burning them up robs people of the very experience they are trying to get. Glass should be a dull red, titanium and ceramic nails should be their natural color before dabbing

Solution:

It’s OK to heat the nail until it turns red hot. It can burn off waste from the last hit and creates a uniformly hot surface. Just wait for it to cool before taking a dab. The amount of time to wait depends on the thickness of the material but it is good to wait until just before the nail returns to its normal color.
Titanium and ceramic nails change color at a higher temperature so require longer heating times. Ceramic has the highest “red hot” temperature, followed by titanium, then crystal and finally glass. Titanium ends up retaining the most heat so it takes the longest to cool while glass is the worst heat conductor and cools quickly.

Grabbing the NailHot Dab Nail

Dabbing is a fairly new way to consume cannabis. Most people start by smoking flower through a glass pipe or bong. Bong users especially fall prey to rookie dabbing mistakes. When they are ready to clear the bong, they try to remove the nail in the same way the bowl is pulled in a normal bong.
It normally takes only a moment for people to realize their mistake. As they try to remove the bowl, their nervous system registers that their fingers are literally melting and they reflexively drop the scorching hot nail. If their reflexes are fast, it drops back in place. If not, pray it doesn’t shatter on impact with the ground.

Solution:

Don’t let people hold the rig. If the dab rig rests on a table or counter and doesn’t have to be held to hit. Having hands away from the rig can also give someone the moment they need to realize how hot that thing is and avoid touching it even if they start to reach for it.
Now, this is not always possible with exceptionally small pieces. If at all possible, don’t start a new dabber off with a small dab rig. Pain is a great teacher though so some people only need to grab the nail once and they will never forget why that is a bad idea.

Overloading the BowlOverloaded Bowl

Concentrates have to be heated to several hundred degrees before they vaporize. As product comes into contact with the nail, the two are at different temperatures. As they remain in contact with each other, their temperatures begin to equalize. The more concentrate that comes into contact with the glass, the faster it cools.
Adding more concentrate than the nail has heat to vaporize results in thin smoke and wasted material. Do this for long enough and the nail will become coated in a black resin-like substance. This residue catches on fire, produces foul smoke and can cause the piece to retain heat (which leads to spontaneous breaking).

Solution:

Make sure to use the right amount of product and heat. Thicker nails retain their heat longer than thin walled nail so the best bet is excess heat. Use a torch to heat the nail until it no longer smokes.
Electronic nails get buildup as well so periodically torching or otherwise cleaning the nail is part of a dab rigs regular maintenance. Use an old toothbrush and a rubbing alcohol/salt solution to clean the caked on residue without much risk of breaking the nail.

Missing the Bowlmissed bowl

This happens to new and veteran dabbers alike. They go to take a dab and the concentrate falls to the side of the nail or on the dome. This happens most when people hold their dab over the nail before taking their hit. They forget that heat rises so the 6 or so inches above a heated nail will melt concentrate and cause it to drip.
The bigger and less viscous the dab, the more likely it is to miss the intended target. If you have ever tried to drop something from a high place on a specific target, you know that the further away you are, the harder it is to hit. Crumble and saps tend to be difficult to put where wanted so contribute to this problem more than wax or shatters.

Solution:

Hold your dab over a container or to the side of the dab rig. Remember that the closer the dab is to the nail, the faster it is going to melt. Move the dab to the nail quickly but stay under control. Approaching the  nail from above at a 45 degree angle will give the most time and control over the quickly melting concentrate.
About one inch from the nail, most concentrate loses cohesion. What was wax or shatter becomes a liquid in about half a second so don’t delay when getting close. There is a lot of technique involved in getting exceptionally long or large dabs to hit properly. Finding the proper balance of speed, distance and heat is tricky but can be done.

Dropping the Dab Down the Center

This is a problem that comes from the overall style of domeless nails. You basically have a doughnut of glass with a hole in the center. Some people end up putting the concentrate into the center hole instead of in the glass cup. This results in the concentrate completely bypassing the heating element and dropping directly into the water.

Solution:

When dabbing, make sure the concentrate falls into the cup side of the glass. The center hole is to allow the vapor to be sucked through the piece, not the actual concentrate. If the dab doesn’t drop on and stay on a hot part of the nail it simply won’t vaporize.

Missing the Rig

dropped dabs
This is another hand eye coordination problem, just the next step up. These dabbing mistakes happen most with products like crumble and shatter. Instead of the dab dropping next to the nail, this is when the dab misses the whole rig.
Trying to drop a piece on a heated nail will often result in missing the whole piece. Since crumble and shatter are stable enough to handle, it is tempting to just use your hands. The rub comes when those tender digits get close to a heated surface and you are forced to ‘toss’ it the last of the way because it basically takes vector calculus to get it right.
There is a reason that vector calculus is one of the last lessons in math too. Because getting multiple things moving just right is REALLY difficult, especially with weights in the milligrams.

Solution:

Get a good dab tool. Having the right tools will go a long way to prevent dabbing mistakes from being an issue. Many come with a pointed end and a scoop end. Using the scoop for crumble and shatter makes getting the concentrate in the right place a synch. Silicone dab tools also prevent things from sticking to the tool while being relatively cheap.

Oversized Hitsdabbing mistakes

Hitting a dab is not like hitting a pipe or joint. It is closer to a bong but is still on a different level. People new to dabbing have a hard time judging how big a given hit will be and often get wrecked as they take their first few hits. Most of the time it is hilarious to watch people make dabbing mistakes like this.
But it can be a scary experience to get so high. There are hundreds of people that end up in emergency rooms each year from getting too high. If people don’t become somewhat catatonic, they often begin to freak out and panic.

Solution:

Start off slow when getting into dabs. With flower, the average concentration of THC /CBD (according to lab testing) lies around 15-25%. Concentrates rarely drop below 60% THC/CBD but can get as high as 99.9%.  That is a pretty big difference so always check the potency before taking a hit when possible.
Also, be sure to take small dabs to start. Taking a normal sized dab (about half the size of a pea) is the equivalent of smoking about 2-3 bowls of flower. A ‘dose’ of THC is commonly seen as between 3 and 5 milligrams.

ChokingHazy Daze

Our lungs are miracles of nature and finely tuned to process oxygen. When they register something other than oxygen, your lungs are designed to help get it out. Cannabis vapor is so much denser and hotter than normal air so when the lungs believe there is more smoke than air, they do their job and make you cough.
Stoners of all experience levels make dabbing mistakes and sometimes explode into bouts of uncontrollable heaving. It can last for only a moment or for several minutes. The denser and bigger the hit, the longer it takes to recover. There is a point on the inhale where the lungs decide enough is enough and with enough practice, anyone can find thier limit.

Solution:

Try taking a slower hit. Instead of sucking as hard as possible, take slow hits. This allows you to feel as your lungs approach their maximum capacity. You will feel your lungs begin to buck before they go full heave. With enough practice you should be able to get close to coughing without actually triggering the reflex.
In addition to breath control, practice deep breathing. Stretching your lungs when breathing normal air is a good way to strengthen them. It also helps your body process oxygen better and improves circulation, both key elements of processing THC and CBD.

PukingReady to puke

Sometimes a cough is so powerful that it causes you to spew chunks. Other times, attempting to burp up a hit can cause the gag reflex to go off. This dabbing mistake is similar to the choking issue where the body is trying to expel something it thinks is bad.
People with an overactive gag reflex may find themselves experiencing this regularly when taking big hits. They start to cough, and suddenly it becomes more. That is because coughing is tied to the gag reflex and a host of other respiratory systems.

Solution:

Try not to burp. It sounds counter intuitive but part of burping is swallowing. When smoke is swallowed, it causes irritation to the throat and other soft tissues. The body reacts to this irritation by trying to expel it through reflexive action. Not swallowing the smoke will drastically reduce the chance of puking.

Dropping the Piece

Whenever someone experiences one or more of the previous nine mistakes, bad things happen. Muscle spasms (like coughing and puking) can make limbs tense and smack glass into furniture. Grabbing the nail also causes reflexive motion that can lead to broken pieces.
Even people with the best intentions and a perfect tract record are not immune to dropping the piece. Get someone coughing hard enough that they start to puke and the piece gets forgotten. The most common way to drop a piece is when passing it to another person.
It takes careful coordination to pass a bong to another person. Misjudge how heavy it is or how tight a hold the other person has and the sound of shattering glass is sure to follow. When you are coughing up a lung and trying not to puke on everyone, it gets a lot harder to judge whether or not you should let go.

Solution:

The first step to prevent dropping the piece is to reduce interactions. There is a lot going on when dabbing. You have the rig, the tool, the torch and the concentrate all in your hands at once. Look for ways to keep things organizes and clear like having a special tray specifically for setting up and taking dabs. Minimizing the number of times you have to change hands or switch angles will save time, effort and reduce chance of making dabbing mistakes.
Additionally, make sure the area is glass friendly. Put down carpets/rugs, remove hard surfaces and that you store your piece where it won’t be bumped. Build a cocoon of softness around your piece and then even if it does get dropped it will survive.

Well, that’s the end of the list.

What did you think? Have you made any of these dabbing mistakes? Let us know how you avoid these mistakes or other ones you have made. I love getting to hear your stories  and getting to know our community. Thanks for reading.
 

CategoriesGuides by

Concentrates and Extraction Techniques

Concentrates are becoming a major player in the cannabis industry.

The word “Concentrates” often refers to the wax you vaporize, the tincture under your tongue, and your orally administered CBD oil. The potency of these cannabis products is steering consumers toward the more concentrated forms of weed. This is especially true as the therapeutic potential of non-smoking consumption is becoming better known.
People around the industry are taking notice of the meteoric rise in popularity of concentrates. OpenVape CEO Ralph Morgan believes cannabis concentrates will be more popular than smoking buds in the coming years. “I see concentrates becoming a part of folk’s daily regimen,” Morgan said in an interview.
The Cannabist’s concentrates expert Ry Prichard agreed with Morgan’s statement and his timeline. “Most of the clients that I work with have seen their sales go from 20 percent to 30 percent to 40 percent and now they’re about even,” Prichard said, “and a lot of shops, especially on the boutique end of the spectrum, are 70 percent concentrates.”

Concentrates make up a large segment of the current market.

Under the rubric of cannabis concentrates falls anything created through an extraction process. Solvents like butane, propane and CO2 strip the active compounds from the cannabis plant. Solventless processes also exist that can produce increadibly high concentrations as well.
Some types of extracts test in the 70-80% THC, while others are instead rich in non-psychoactive compounds like CBD. There are a lot of intricacies to cannabis and new methods of extraction are being developed regularly as the market expands. Here is a quick rundown of the most popular products the average consumer can buy that fall under the rubric of “concentrates”.

Solventless Extracts

Many solventless extractions are offered in less stable, sappy forms. Their color can vary from a golden opacity to a darker amber depending on production factors. Cure time and starting material play a big role in dialing in these nuances.
Heat, pressure, and exposure can impact the consistency of these products. Higher temperatures tend to create stable products that more resemble shatter, whereas lower temperatures often produce sappier, less stable products. Both high and low temp products appear on dispensary shelves these days and have begun to form respective niche markets.

Kief


Also known as dry sift or pollen, kief is made up of the resin glands called trichomes on cannabis flowers. These glands produce the terpenes and cannabinoids that bring the diversity of flavors and effects to cannabis. Kief is often used to make hash and is commonly collected in a grinder. It is normally sprinkled onto flower cannabis or vaped directly for a more potent high than smoking flower alone.

Rosin


Rosin opened the door for several different new products. Solventless shatter, a type of rosin that maintains a glass-like consistency, may resemble butane hash oil in appearance but is manufactured with nothing more than heat and pressure. Hash oil of this consistency is obtained through the acquisition of key genetics and the right combination of heat, pressure, and exposure to heat.

Hash


One of the oldest products in the cannabis industry is has. This concentrate is made by compressing the plant’s resin. Where kief preserves the structure of the trichomes, hash tries to merge them into a single superstructure. The powdery kief normally that coats your cannabis flowers can be collected and pressed together to form hash.
Solvents like ice water or ethanol may be used to more effectively strip the plant of their cannabinoid-loaded crystals but are not required. This method produces less potent results than BHO and other cannabis concentrates but remains a staple of cannabis culture around the world.

Budder

Another variation of hash is budder. Also called cake batter or “whipped” rosin, these products are created by incorporating light heat and agitation to rosin. The result is a whipped consistency that looks very similar to a salve of some sort. This technique has been known to significantly increase the aromatic properties of the hash oil it uses.
This method provides a new creamier texture that can be much easier to work with than shatter or sappy consistencies. While many retailers are beginning to sell whipped hash oils, the process can be achieved easily at home with preexisting rosin by simply stirring it with a warm dabber tool.

Solvent Based Extracts

Butane and propane are popular solvents used to extract cannabinoids like THC and CBD from cannabis plants. They are some of the more dangerous methods as well due to the explosive nature of the two solvents.
Extraction can be done at home using simple equipment and is also done on large scales, but the process is almost the same. To start, fill a tube (metal or plastic) with plant material. The quality of the material used directly affects the quality and yield.

C02 Oil

CO2 Concentrates
Supercritical fluid extraction is another method commonly used to extract cannabinoids. While it is possible to use other gasses, C02 is the most commonly used gas for this method. CO2 has the benefit of not causing harm if not fully purged from a product like butane.
C02 has become the connoisseur’s extraction choice because it goes past “critical” at around 90 °F, a temperature well below the deactivation temperature for cannabinoids. This means more flavor is preserved and a clearer high is produced than with other methods.
This extraction method relies on pressure and temperature to extract the terpenes, cannabinoids, and waxes from the cannabis material. Extractors use this knowledge of which temperature and pressure each terpene, cannabinoid, and wax separate them from the homogenous solution of marijuana material. This way they are able to target certain flavors and “types of high” produced by the genetics they are using or add additional flavorings.

Butane Hash Oil (BHO)

BHO, or butane hash oil, is an extremely potent concentrate used in dabbing and other vaporization methods. Cannabinoids are drawn out of the plant with butane which leaves behind a wax. The wax will either remain sticky or harden up, resulting in a crumbly “honeycomb” or a glasslike “shatter.” Because its THC content can reach into the 70-80% range, BHO is a popular remedy for people who need the highest concentrations available.
BHO is relatively easy to produce at home or in an industrial setting. After covering one end of a tube with a filter or mesh screen (with holes small enough to prevent plant material from seeping through), butane is sprayed into the tube. Refiners then allow the resulting cannabis-butane solution to drip into a glass dish below the filter end of the tube.
The butane must be purged from the solution for safety by heating the solution in a hot-water bath. The solution is slowly heated until the escaping gas produces bubbles.The water-bath quickly becomes cold, so it frequently changed or a heating plate is used until the solution is fully purged of solvent. The remaining “goo” is cooled and then used as the concentrate known as shatter.

Rick Simpson Oil (RSO)


In 2003 a man named Rick Simpson treated his skin cancer using a homemade cannabis remedy. By soaking the cannabis in pure naphtha or isopropyl alcohol and allowing the solvent to fully evaporate, a thick tar-like goo is created. Also known as Phoenix Tears, Rick Simpson Oil (RSO) can be ingested or applied directly to the skin. Many businesses sell their own renditions of the Rick Simpson Oil these days. Some are high in THC while others contain only non-psychoactive compounds like CBD.

Tinctures


Up until prohibition of cannabis in 1937, tinctures were the most common form of cannabis medicine in the United States. A tincture is a liquid concentrate using alcohol for extraction. Alcohol pulls out many of the plant’s beneficial cannabinoids and is stable to work with. A few drops under the tongue is a normal dose, but patients can safely use more as needed. Tinctures are a great way for patients to medicate without having to smoke and come in a variety of flavors.
Thanks for reading.