Marijuana in the flower plant form has been around for thousands of years. It has been used recreationally and medicinally throughout the many different cultures that exist around the world. In the past 30 years, the race for the highest THC content started and it’s only been increasing exponentially since then.

The THC percentage has been rising because of the advances and efficient cannabis growing methods that we have discovered. Some people have switched their cannabis grow lights while others have changed their soil and moved more towards indoor growing. As growing has been getting bigger, new cannabis products have been sprouting too. One of those are concentrates and waxes.

What Are Wax Concentrates?

Wax or concentrates are a concentrated form of marijuana that consists of much more potent THC. For example, marijuana in the flower form goes up to about 29% THC whereas wax can get potencies percentage levels to upwards of the high 90s. Concentrates are created through different methods and processes and they come in different forms. Some are softer and break apart easier while others are stickier and harder.

What is a DAB Pen?

A dab pen is the perfect portable device that you can use to vaporize your waxes with a simple click of a button. Although using a wax pen can be a bit more complex than using most other smoking devices, it has a very small learning curve. The way it works is actually very easy to understand. It has a battery case where it attaches to an atomizer coil encased in a chamber. Then you have a mouthpiece that goes on top of that.

To load your wax onto your coil, simply use a dabber tool. Dab some wax onto the coil. Coils are usually a flat ceramic dish or a ceramic or titanium rod tied around a steel wire. The ceramic dish or steel wire heats up to melt the wax. It melts it into vapor where you then inhale it from the mouthpiece.

Benefits

- Portable: A dab pen has the portability aspect that the dab rig does not. Although you can take the rig out of your house, it is usually glass which makes it riskier. They can easily fall and break and they are pretty bulky. A wax vape can simply be put into your pocket and taken out without being noticed.

- Easy to Use: Although there is a learning curve to deal with at first, you will get the hang of it very quickly. Simply just dab your dabber and put a bit of wax onto your coil. When you close your mouthpiece, press the power button and inhale the vapor.

- Discreet: One of the best parts about owning and using a dab pen is the discreet aspect. It’s so small, you can put it in your pocket without it even being noticeable. You can even take it out and use it without anyone around you really noticing.

Disadvantages

- Needs to Charge: Unlike other ways to smoke, you don’t really need to charge anything. With a vaporizer, you need to make sure the batteries are charged and ready to go. Charging can take 1-3 hours and you can generally use it for a couple of days. The bigger the battery, the less discreet it is.

- Can Malfunction: Although it doesn’t happen so often, vapes are electronic products which means they can mess up. Whether it’s a short circuit wire or you drop it and it breaks, vapes can stop working and it’s definitely not the best feeling.

- Requires Coils: Coils are the annoying part of a vaporizer. Coils can often burn out depending on which dab pen you have. If you use them too much, you will need to buy back up coils.

What is a Dab Rig?

A dab rig is one of the more intense ways to smoke your concentrates. It’s not only intense because you need a torch but the high it produces is much stronger. A dab rig looks similar to a regular bong but it has a different stem and instead of a bowl, you put a nail or banger. Another difference between using a regular bong compared to this wax water pipe is that with a regular bong, you need to pack the bowl first then light it up. With this, you simply heat it up first with the torch then dab the dabber tool onto your nail or banger.

Benefits

- Clean Smoking Experience: One of the aspects of vape is that you use the same coil over and over until it stops working. With a dab rig, you use a torch which heats up the nail a lot. This removes the old resin because of the heat.

- Intense High: You cannot get an intense hit from any other way of smoking then with a wax bong. The heat mixed with the concentrate gives the best of both worlds.

- Cool Glass Designs: Vapes have different designs but they generally come in a few different forms. Wax water pipes come in different materials like silicone and glass along with the different designs. Glass blowers like to create intricate designs like microscope rigs, dragons and much more.

Disadvantages

- Price: One of the things that makes people shy away from dab rigs is the price. Prices can vary with them and sometimes they get so expensive, it’s not even worth using it. If the price is too little, the material can be bad too. Bad quality usually means thin glass which can break easier.

- Can Break: Another disadvantage to having a dab rig is simply for the fact that it can break. Silicone is a great material to help stop this but not everyone likes smoking out of silicone. Glass is the most popular and a simple waist level drop can shatter it.

Which Ones Better?

If you are thinking of getting a dab pen or a dab rig, ask yourself what’s more important? discreet and portability or an intense high and a great smoking experience. Being able to serve the reason you want it for is going to be best for you. At the end of the day, these are both devices that will get the job done well.

Vaping has become insanely popular in recent years, especially when it comes to cannabis, but the technology dates to ancient times. Ancient Egyptians used to place herbs, oils, and seeds on hot stones then inhale the vapors that were produced. Thankfully, today we have the technology so that we don’t have to keep hot stones nearby. In fact, today’s vaporizers are creating a new market for the cannabis industry and consumers are buying.

In 2018, a report by BDS Analytics and Arcview Market Research estimated that up to 60% of all concentrate sales will be for pre-filled vape pen cartridges. That number is expected to be higher in Colorado, as much as 86%, and as much as 71% in California. More and more, consumers are turning towards cannabis oil cartridges.

Cannabis and Vaping Industry

This explosive growth means one thing: The industry is investing a lot of money into improving their vaporizers. Like with computers, it seems that the vaping industry is evolving its technology every 18 to 24 months, trying to deliver to consumers the tech they want and the performance that they need.

Not only that, but the oil is evolving as well as science catches up with the plant. Producers are working on creating oils with varying levels of both CBD and THC as well as gincorporating flavors into the mix.

While you can utilize a regular vape mod or pen with cannabis oil cartridges, THC and CBD oils have a different viscosity than nicotine and regular vaping oils. Using a nicotine vape pen for a thicker oil can burn out coils quicker as well as gunk up the system. This means that the industry is turning to portable vaporizers especially produced to handle cannabis oils where the more THC, the thicker the oil.

Since vaporizing the dry herb releases those cannabinoids without burning it and producing carcinogens, dry herb vaporizers have also become a popular method of consuming cannabis. Popular and more discreet, since vaporization produces less of that familiar cannabis smell.

Vaping Devices for Cannabis Oil

When it comes to vaporizing cannabis flower or cannabis oil, a consumer has a few choices. Many companies have made devices geared towards either cannabis oil, cannabis concentrates, or dry flower. Some manufacturers, such as Pax, have come out with all-in-one devices that can handle flower, oil, and wax with a simple change of atomizer or cartridge.

Many vape pens come with pre-filled, disposable cartridges. Some do offer refillable cartridges as well. Trying the many different kinds of oils and flavors available can help you to determine the kind that’s right for you as well as determining what type of vaporizer that you’ll need.

Also, remember that vaporizing cannabis flower or oil can provide a vastly different experience than smoking dry flower in the traditional way. For some, it provides a more potent experience using less material. It also takes effect faster. The exact effects will also depend on whether your cannabis strain or oil has more THC vs. more CBD.

If you do decide to go with a traditional mod, make sure that it has temperature control available. THC and CBD is best when vaporized at very specific temperatures. If you also use that mod for vape juice, make sure you have a separate atomizer or tank for your cannabis oil. This will prevent mixing of flavors and chemicals from the different oils.

In the end, vaporizing cannabis is a growing trend among cannabis consumers. Technology is being driven to keep up with consumer demands, so look out in the future for more technology to hit the vaping industry that is specific to cannabis consumers needs.