Dab oil and cannabis concentrates are all the rage. But if you’re new to dabbing, can you try it out without having a large or small dab rig? Or maybe your dab or oil rig is broken, or you’re saving up for one, but you want to dab right away. Either way, you’re in luck. There are a few ways you can easily smoke your delicious cannabis concentrates without a proper rig.

Admittedly, it can be a bit overwhelming if you don’t know what you’re doing, but we’re here to help you dab without a rig. But first things first, let’s make sure you understand what dabbing is.

Note that everything we suggest here should only be done very carefully, as there are high temperatures involved, and at your own risk!

 

What’s A Dab?

A dab, which you also may have heard called shatter wax or crumble wax, is a concentrated form of cannabis. A dab can come in a crumbly substance, smooth wax, or liquid oil. A dab hit will get you higher faster than smoking the traditional flower. 

 

What’s The Purpose Of A Dab Rig?

Your dab rig is an amped-up version of a bong or a water pipe. Dab rigs utilize water vapors to smoke potent concentrates. The dab tool has a nail, sometimes an e-nail or a quartz or titanium nail, and the rest of the body is typically made of glass.

When you smoke concentrates from a dab rig, you’re essentially using a modified water pipe with a handful of additional pieces to make it easy to use. And with its all-glass chambers and a crystalline banger with the carb cap, dab rigs are a sight to see. However, if you don’t have a dab rig, all hope is not lost.

You can accomplish the same thing with a plastic bottle or other random things you probably have lying around your house.

So, what can you use instead of a legit dab rig?

1. Aluminum foil

2. Empty Plastic Bottle

3. Bowl

4. Vape pens

5. Butter Knife

6. Car lighter/Heating Coil/any other heat source

7. Rolling paper

 

Dabbing With A Rig

Before we get into dabbing without a rig, let’s talk about dabbing with one.

You’ll need a butane torch, a rig with a banger, a dab nail for a bong, and any type of concentrates to take a dab with a rig. To dab with a rig, you’ll put your wax on one end of your dab tool, heat the banger with your torch, and, once it’s red hot and cooled slightly back down, you’ll run the tool along the glass banger to vaporize the wax.

If you use a dab pen, you don’t have to worry about the tool, rig, or wax. Many also have a pre-filled cartridge loaded with dispensary-quality dab oil.

 

How To Smoke Dabs Without A Rig

If you’ve got concentrates but don’t have a rig, we’ve got you covered.

We can easily help you figure out how to smoke dabs, whether shatter, budder, or wax, without a rig.

 

Tips For Smoking Dabs Without a Rig

1. You should always freeze your wax for about 10 minutes before you use it. This is especially important if the concentrate is sticky or has melted. This will solidify it, so it’s easier to handle to roll a joint or put it on top of your hot knives.

2. When you roll your wax, use equipment. They’ll maintain the sanitation of your workstation and your wax.

3. Hot knives work best if you have someone to help you out. Do this in your kitchen or a fire-safe setting where you won’t catch anything on fire.

4. Only dab with an electric car lighter as a last resort because you’ll have to heat the lighter twice, and it’s a huge risk of setting the car/car seats/you on fire. You could also ruin your car lighter if you can’t get that stubborn wax out of it.

Now that we’ve covered the basics, here are a few of our favorite ways to dab without a dab rig.

 

Dabbing With A Butter Knife

Hitting a dab off of hot knives is not the classiest way to smoke, but it works. It’s a pretty effective way to get the benefits of wax without spending all of your money on an expensive rig. This is the best way to figure out how to dab without a rig or torch.
 
All you need is a heat source and a small torch. A stovetop will work great too. You’ll also need to grab an empty plastic bottle with the bottom cut out and two hot knives. Use a butter knife; we don’t need to bring any sharp objects into this.

Again, this is much easier if you have two people. If you can’t get the concentrate on the knife, heat one knife up with the concentrate ready on the other.

You should be able to get enough heat with just one knife. Here’s what you do: 

1. Heat your knives on the eye of the stove or with your torch

2. Put your concentrate on the knives and press them together with your plastic bottle ready to go.

3. Use the bottle like a funnel to suck up the vapor.

This is the easiest method for almost everyone since everyone has a couple of butter knives and a plastic bottle. It’s also the closest you can to a true dab you can get without a rig.

 

Dabbing With Rolling Paper

You can also use wax to flavor your blunts or joints if you want to smoke wax without a rig. Smoking dabs adds an extra boost of flavor and potency to your joints with the help of rolling papers. You can even add a little bit of wax to a premade joint.

There are two things you can do to add wax to your joints. The first one is called twaxing and involves lining the rolling papers with your wax. 

Or, you could place a small dab of highly concentrated cannabis at the tip of the joint, similar to the bong bowl method. This method is excellent, especially if your cannabis has a strong taste.

The heating element should be a hand torch. You must handle dab-filled joints cautiously because they can get sticky and hard to control. This is a foolproof way to smoke wax without a rig.

 

Dabbing In a Regular Bong, Pipe, or Bubbler

Smoking dabs without a rig is pretty simple if your smoking gear has a bowl. Whether with a spoon pipe, bubbler, or bong, it's practically foolproof.

The first thing you'll want to do is pack the bowl halfway with your dry herb. This protects the wax because an open flame coming into contact with the dab is bad news. We want to smoke the dab, not choke on it.

Then put your wax on top of your herb. Now that you have a layer of green and your layer of wax, top it off with some more weed. This is so easy, and if all you have is cheap weed, the dab will bring it to life.

 

Dabbing With A Healthstone

Using a healthstone is another great way to dab. A healthstone glass is a unique type of porous glass often known as a vapor stone. The vapor stone sits in the bowl of your pipe or inside the lower part of the titanium nail.

You’ll dab your wax or oil onto the vapor stone, heat the insert, and you’re ready to go. Remember, a little goes a long way here.

 

Dabbing With A Vape Pen

You can also convert a vape pen into a makeshift dab pen. If you don't already have a vape pen, you can get one for pretty cheap.

To dab with a vape pen, you’ll need a vaporizer that gives you direct access to the coil (heating element). Your pen should have a removable cartridge or without a spot for a cartridge altogether. A pen that has a cart that you can't remove will block the coil, which is your heat source.

To dab with a vape pen:

1. Put a small dab on your metal dabber

2. Take the atomizer off the battery chamber and put your concentrate on the unheated coil. Make sure the metal dabber doesn’t make contact with the coil.

3. Turn your vape on and put the atomizer back on.

4. Press the button and hold it so the coil will heat up. Then, draw slowly on the vape. Don’t inhale too fast because it can lower the heat and create less vapor, and you’ll end up wasting your concentrate.

 

Final Thoughts

You’re not entirely out of luck if you have THC concentrates but don’t have a dabbing rig.

These methods are pretty straightforward, and a few involve materials you’ll usually have around the house. You might need to visit your local head shop or website for the others. But when you’re ready, a dab rig is a worthy investment.

From simple, small dab rigs to extravagant dab rigs, Daily High Club has every type of dab rig for sale, so click here to start shopping today.