Cannabis Dabbing Vs. Vaping: Which Is Right For You?

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While the recreational use of cannabis has been illegal in the past in most parts of the world, cannabis is one of the most used drugs in the world. How? Primarily, people consume it for medical purposes like helping patients manage pain.

With the recent relaxation of restrictions and the legalization of recreational marijuana, more people are attracted to its allure. These individuals may be interested in trying it out of curiosity, the potential capability to relieve stress, or just to have fun with friends.

Regardless, as someone entirely new to weed consumption, you may wonder which method you can use. Technically, you have many options: smoking, dabbing, vaping, eating, or applying it through the skin. Currently, the two most trending ways of consuming cannabis are vaping and dabbing. Now, which of the two would be right for you? To know the answer, continue reading.

Vaping

Before exploring dabbing and which dab tools help most, you must familiarize yourself with vaping. Indeed, you’ve heard about vaping before, as many journalists and bloggers talk about it online. But what is it exactly?

Vaping is the usage of devices called vaping pens, mods, or e-cigs. Initially, these devices are meant to emulate smoking without the smoke. Instead of the combustion of materials to create smoke, vaping devices rely on producing vapors, which is done by applying the proper amount of heat to reach the vaporization point of the material used.

Mainstream vaping devices often use e-liquid or e-juice ¹, a mixture of natural chemicals infused with flavors and other active ingredients like nicotine, as the vaping material. While most people would use e-liquid, some may use cannabis wax, oil, and even dried weed.

The mechanism of how a vaping device works is simple. These devices have what people call an atomizer. This part is where the vaporization happens. Inside it are heating and wicking materials. The vaping device also has a battery connected to the atomizer to power it; often, a small circuit board is also in the device to control the device or add more functionalities.

Put a few drops of e-liquid or concentrate on the wicking material to start vaping. Some vaping devices may have a reservoir or tank to store the liquid on the atomizer to reduce the frequency of manually dripping e-juice to the wicking material.

Once the wick has absorbed enough e-liquid or concentrate, the user can activate the vaping device—often by pushing and holding some form of a firing button—to heat the atomizer and reach the vaporization point of the concentrate or e-liquid. Once the material is vaporized, the user can inhale the vapor through the mouthpiece connected to the atomizer.

Dabbing

Dabbing is considered one of the most potent ways to consume marijuana. It’s vaping, as it also takes advantage of vaporization for a user to consume cannabis. The most significant difference between the two is people do them. With vaping, you often need a single device to produce and inhale the vapor from your marijuana. Meanwhile, you typically need multiple tools to dab.

The standard tools you need to use in dabbing are a dabbing nail (banger), dabbing knife (dabber), rig (oil rig), and torch. The nail is where you can put the cannabis concentrate to vaporize using the torch. This nail is then connected to a rig, which looks like a bong, filled with water. The rig has a mouthpiece where you can suck or inhale the vapor from the nail.

The dabbing process can be complex. To start, you need to heat the nail. Depending on your nail or setup, you need to heat the nail for at least a minute. Once the nail is hot enough, use your dabber to get some dab and place it inside the nail. The moment the dab hits the nail, it'll vaporize.

To consume and avoid wasting the vapor, inhale from the rig’s mouthpiece. As you inhale the vapor, it’ll quickly go through the rig and the water. The water cools the vapor for a much better dabbing experience.

Which One Is For You

Now that you know how the two differ, you may already know which method you’d like to try. However, that might not be enough information, so here’s a quick guide you can consult before you go.

Choose vaping if:

You want to keep things simple. All you need is a single vaping device; accessories are often optional.
You want to vape almost anywhere it’s allowed and discreetly, as vape pens are small and can often fit in your pocket.
You just want to chill. Vaping devices have limited power and don’t have enough power to sustain vaporizing large amounts of concentrates.

Choose dabbing if:

You can only consume cannabis at home. You can do more things with a dabbing rig than with a vape pen.
You want to get high with friends. A single vape pen wouldn’t be enough for two people or more.
You want to get solid hits. Dabbing can significantly produce more vapor compared with a vape pen.

While you can always try both, it helps to know the difference between dabbing and vaping.

Conclusion

There are many ways to consume cannabis. The two methods discussed are among the common ones. Of course, knowing which one suits you is always the best way to go.