Medical Marijuana
6 Common Mistakes People Make with CBD Dabs
For CBD enthusiasts looking for a new way to enjoy the potent benefits of the liquid gold extract, there’s dabbing. Proven to be the most effective way of getting the strongest effects out of your CBD, this process involves the use of a specialized rig and delicate skill.
Unfortunately, the entire practice of dabbing isn’t what you would call intuitive. In fact, lots of CBD users – even more advanced ones – can easily make a bunch of mistakes, thereby diminishing the potency of what would have been the most powerful hit of their CBD user experience. So if you want to make sure you’re getting the best of each dab, try to avoid these common mistakes.
Overheating the Rig
This is by far the most common mistake – and the hardest to correct. There is a temperature sweet spot when it comes to heating your CBD dabs, and its at this specific heat that all the cannabinoids and terpenes are evenly vaporized.
For the most part, that temperature rests at about 315-450 degrees Fahrenheit. But since most dabbing rigs don’t come with a thermometer to tell you when you’ve hit the right heat, there’s no way to tell if you’re overdoing it. That’s why most people tend to prolong the torching out of worry that the nail might be too cool.
The result? An overheated nail. The best way to make sure you’re dabbing at the right heat would be to torch the nail until it’s red hot. Then turn off your torch and wait for the redness to go down just a little. Right before the nail returns to its original steel gray color, apply the CBD dab.
Applying Too Much Concentrate
Now that your nail is the perfect heat, it’s time to apply the concentrate. But what many first time CBD dabbers don’t know is that putting too much concentrate can actually cause that perfect temperature to drop drastically.
Thick globs of concentrate can neutralize the hot nail. That means that while the nail will heat the concentrate, the concentrate also cools the nail. The result is uneven vaporizing, leaving areas of the concentrate intact.
What’s more, applying more concentrate than necessary could also cause fire and smoke, which might affect the quality of the vapor and the integrity of your nail. As a general rule, you should apply a concentrated amount that’s no bigger than the size of a crumb to get just enough effects without damaging your rig.
Underestimating Amounts
Most of the people who try dabbing start smoking raw hemp flower, which makes it easier to understand how and why most rookies use too much concentrate to start off. The thing about concentrates however is that they can be exponentially more potent than raw flower.
According to industrialhempfarms.com, CBD concentrates can contain up to twice or even thrice the amount of active compounds than their raw CBD flower counterpart. So it should follow that you don’t really need as much concentrate to get the same potent effects that you enjoy with your flower.
If you’re not sure how potent your concentrate is, then it would be wise to start off with the smallest dose. In fact, a dab of concentrate on the size of a small breadcrumb is the limit for even more experienced CBD users.
Coughing Up the Vapor
A quick trip down memory lane will remind you of the first time you took a hit of hemp flower and all the coughing and retching that came with it. The thing about dabbing is that it produces a similar effect, although it might not be quite as irritating as inhaling smoke from CBD flower.
Nonetheless, our lungs can be very sensitive to anything that isn’t pure, plain air. So expect to cough and retch when that vapor enters your lungs. And while this won’t really affect the potency of the experience, there’s no doubt that all of that coughing can be a big pain to deal with.
The best way to avoid the irritation would be to simply take shallower drags as you get used to the process. With time, you should be able to tolerate deeper, longer inhales without the coughing fit.
Taking Your Time
The art of dabbing can be tough to get used to. With so many different elements to the entire process, it’s only natural for beginners to feel a little clumsy throughout the practice. And while it might be absolutely acceptable to make a mistake here and there as you learn the ropes, it’s equally important to remember that those mishaps can affect your overall experience.
That nail will change temperatures rapidly the moment you turn off the torch. So you’ll only have a few minutes to bring the concentrate while the nail is at just the right temperature.
That said, it’s imperative that you have your concentrate fixed to your dabbing tool at the ready the moment you light the torch. This should make it easier to vaporize the concentrate at the right heat without having to retorch your nail.
Approaching at The Wrong Angle
You’d think that you should be able to approach the nail any which way without affecting the outcomes. But that’s not the case. Again, dabbing is an intricate process, and every aspect requires careful execution if you want to get the most of each hit.
When you approach the hot nail directly from above, the concentrate melts as a result of the radiating heat. This can make it drop from the dabbing tool prematurely so that the concentrate drops on the rig (or on the floor altogether.)
Now, concentrate isn’t cheap stuff, and no one wants to waste even a single dose of this potent extract. So when you make that approach, draw your dabbing tool in at a 45-degree angle to prevent it from melting and dropping outside of the nail.
An Intricate Process
It’s true – dabbing is an art, and not everyone can perfect the process right off the bat. But with time and practice, you should be able to maximize each last drop of that concentrate to reap the most potent effects that CBD can offer. Expect to lose a few dabs now and again, but after a little trial and error, you should be able to dab like a pro.