How to Properly Troubleshoot a Dab Rig

A dab rig may look intimidating to the novice, especially if they’re used to more basic pieces like standard spoon pipes. But, once you start actually using one, you can see that it’s a very simple, straightforward and streamlined piece of equipment with not all that many moving parts. And, because it’s analog, there’s no technological skills that you need to hone, in order to then make the most outta each dabbing session.

Still, it’s not uncommon to have some problems from time to time with your rig, especially if you’re a beginner who is making some type of rookie mistake without even knowing it. Let’s go over the most common problems when using a dab rig, and how to solve them.

Your Dab Hits are Way Too Harsh

A person who is dabbing for the first time will, without a doubt, notice that dab hits are much stronger than hits of dry herb. That’s just the nature of concentrates – their higher potency of compounds makes them more impactful when we inhale them. But, that doesn’t mean that your hits should be so powerful that you feel like your throat is on fire when you draw in the vapor, or you cough so much you feel like you’re going to choke.

If this is a problem that you’re running into, it’s due to how you’re prepping the nail or banger before hitting it. Overheating the nail, to a temperature higher than, say, 600 degrees, can definitely lead to significant harshness. The most common mistake is not giving the nail the required time to cool down before putting the dabs on. Without it cooling down, you’re going to end up combusting your dabs rather than vaporizing them, and that’s going to be plenty harsh to say the least.

Your Smoke is Too Thin

Dabbing promises huge clouds of thick and flavorful vapor. So, why is it that sometimes, the smoke that comes out is extremely thin and weak in taste? Well, believe it or not, a lot of times the issue is overloading the nail or banger – in other words, loading too much concentrate at once. When you do this, you end up preventing enough air from swirling around the dabs, and this is going to greatly suppress the amount of vapor that is produced, as it struggles to heat evenly. So, the simple solution is using less dabs next time. In many cases, less is more.

You’re Barely Getting Any Output

Now, if you’re getting pretty much nothing when you hit your rig, it could be that your dabs are too small. If you have a larger nail or banger, you’ll need to use more dabs than the average person at a time, or else there just isn’t enough surface heating area to properly lead to vaporization. If you don’t want to start going with larger dabs, then you’ll instead want to invest in a smaller nail or banger.

Your Flavor Isn’t Cutting it

If you’re chasing the taste of fresh and rich terpenes, then it can be very disappointing when the flavor you actually get is anything but. But, the good news is that a lot of times, it’s just a matter of cleaning your rig. First off, you should be replacing the water regularly – in fact, ideally, you should be replacing it after each use. With each dabbing session, that water gets dirty, and you never want to dab with dirty water, or you will never get the best taste experience possible. Besides that, you should do a thorough cleaning of your rig once a week or so, by soaking it in an alcohol solution, to remove the film of grime that builds up and interferes with flavor.

Your Banger Turned Brown or Black

There’s a term in dabbing circles known as “chazzing,” which refers to scorching your banger by applying too much direct heat to it. When it gets scorched, it can permanently turn dark brown or black, and there’s really nothing that you can do about it. This only happens with quartz bangers, which are the most common, and while the color is not necessarily nice to look at, the banger itself will work just fine regardless.

Avoid Common Dabbing Mistakes to Dab Like a Pro

As you can see, a dab rig is a piece of equipment that’s easy to master, and since it doesn’t use any electronic components in its natural state, you don’t have to worry about malfunctions and error messages. This means that the most common problems with dab rigs are caused by the user simply making a mistake because they don’t know any better. Good news is, assuming you’ve a high-quality, sturdy rig on your hands, you will be able to solve any problem easily.