I got into dabbing some 8 months ago or so, after smoking flower (bud) exclusively for 12 years or so. Since trying dabbing I have never looked back. However I have found that it is such a new "art" that there is very little information about it, even in "friendlier" states such as Colorado and California.
After visiting a dispensary numerous times and buying flower I finally had to try the concentrate or "wax" that I had seen every time. At the same time I purchased an "oil rig" setup with a borosilicate nail and dome. The only information I received about it was to get the nail "red hot" then put the dome over it and the drop the concentrate onto the red nail. Now of course this will work but I have since found out that it is not the ideal way to dab. Not only is it less than ideal it will completely mess up your throat. I am talking a sore throat that feels like it was burned and is raw as can be. The reason is simple enough - it is burned. I confirmed these suspicions after visiting a local emergency room one night when the throat pain actually started moving into my tongue. The checked everything thinking I had strep throat, etc. After telling them about dabbing (which they'd never heard of) they examined my throat again with three doctors present. They determined it was actually burned from the inhalation of hot vapors. This is exactly what I suspected. Now I thought I was alone in this phenomenon and figured it was time to quit dabbing. Some few days later I was back in the dispensary and discussed what happened, it turned out almost everyone there had suffered from the same sitaution. One worker had her boyfriend go to the emergency room some days before. That lead me to realize this is widespread problem and I knew there had to be a solution.
That is when I discovered LOW TEMP DABBING. I came to find out that the method I had been using (and most people use) is far from ideal for vaporizing the concentrate we all love, no matter what form it takes. You can also use the same apparatus you already have for dabbing, however there are some speciality made pieces, ones that work particularly well with what they call "dome-less" nails. The idea is to get the nail super heated as we have been doing already, but then once it has reached a nice hot glow you turn off the torch and let the piece sit for a moment before applying the concentrate. The amount of time you want to let it wait depends on the nail you have. I particularly use the Dab Essentials Domeless Nail as well as the Highly Educated Infiniti Nail, both of which I combine with the Highly Educated Carb Cap. For the Dab Essentials nail I heat it up until the side I am heating is red hot - which takes a good 60 seconds of constant torching due to the thickness of the nail - then I let it sit for at least 5 full seconds before I even think of touching any material to the surface. I start by slowly touching the dab material to the nail a tiny touch at a time until I see that the heat has come down just enough to barely start to let the dab material "pool" in the nail. At that point I take the carb cap and place it on top of the nail and this allows me to use far less dab material to achieve long milky pulls from my piece. I can produce so many full lung pulls from one dab that it is honestly too much, and I use just the tiniest bit of dab material. You will find you use far less with this method, you get the full taste and flavor of the material (you won't believe the taste difference), and best of all it saves your throat from the burning!
Now the same exact process is true with my Highly Educated nail, however it heats up quicker and also cools down quicker - so I find the dab essentials is the "best" for this purpose as it holds its heat for a long period allowing for the multiple pulls. With the highly educated I heat it up for a good 25 seconds and the whole "dish" is red hot usually. Then I let it cool down for only 2-3 seconds before I start testing the dish with the material in the same way I described before. As soon as it starts to pool (as opposed to instantly vaporizing off with no pooling) you can drop your bit of dab material and place the carb cap on top and pull a few milky ones using far less material.
This is a demonstration of sorts, not my video but does show the idea:
Now if you don't have those exact pieces you may be wondering how you can achieve this. Well the carb cap is essentially just a little "hat" for the nail that restricts the amount of air flow that can get to the top of your nail. This is what allows the big milky hit to occur where without the cap there is too much "cold air" that is allowed to get to the nail and causing the material to just pool on the nail. So the answer is to use anything you can find to "cap" your nail setup. Depending on your setup you may have a dome that you can cover with your fingers (carefully of course) and restrict the air that can get to your nail. This works great with a Dave Goldstein piece I have used, jus placing my fingers over the top of the dome area to allow a tiny bit of air to flow through and I could achieve the low temp dab. If you have Highly Educated domeless nail setups already but don't have the carb cap you can just use another one of the "moats" or "dishes" as I called them earlier to act as a carb cap. I will find a youtube video and post what I mean, here it is, this guy does it beautifully and uses a homemade carb cap exactly as I describe using Highly Educated parts:
The time you need to allow the nail to cool down varies tremendously from nail to nail. With a smaller quartz nail it heated up in 10 seconds and was cool enough in about a second to achieve the low temp dabbing.
Essentially you want to allow the nail to cool down as cool as possible while still vaporizing the concentrate using restricted air flow. The lower the temp you can achieve this at the more you will taste your material and the easier it is on your throat. I have completely turned it around now where I can dab all throughout a day if desired and my throat is completely back to normal.
NEW UPDATE:
The latest way to achieve a low temperature dab is by using an Electronic Nail (called e-nail for short). They came out in the last couple years and were very expensive when they first arrived. Now there is a lot of competition so they prices are way down. I recommend and personally use this one, for around $160 on Amazon: E-Nail on Amazon (Including domeless nail)
So please check those out, I set the temperature to 710 degrees Fahrenheit and with the carb cap it is amazing!
Here are some more links to the products mentioned:
Carb Cap
Domeless nail that will fit all sizes
Electronic Nail for Dabbing which includes Domeless Nail
