A Complete Guide To Dab Rigs For Beginners and Experts

What is a Dab Rig?

A dab rig, oil rig, wax rig, whatever you'd like to call it, this integral element to any dabbing setup is an absolute marvel with tons of twists, turns, fully customizable in every possible way. Colorful or plain, big or small, extensive or minimal, there are loads of options out there to choose from!

A dab rig is a water filtration system used when dabbing. A quartz banger or a nail is connected to one end and a mouthpiece on the other end. Your dab vapors travel throughout your piece continuously filtered through heaps of bubbles to deliver a smooth and satisfying experience.

Anatomy of a Dab Rig

• Mouthpiece - The part of the rig where your mouth is placed on, this is where you inhale your dab vapor from.
• Body - Main body of the dab rig, sometimes the body will have two separate filtration chambers one on the top and one on the bottom.
• Joint - This is where your quartz banger or dab nail connects to your rig. The quartz banger or dab nail is responsible for vaporizing your extracts and turning them into vapor.
• Percolator - After your dab is vaporized, it makes its way down into the lower half of your rig and filtered through the percolator.
  • Diffusion happens when your vapor is forced through the perc holes or slits. Once it travels through the perc your vapor (and air) stream is separated into smaller bubbles.
  • With diffusion comes cooling, dab vapor is pulled through the water situated at the bottom of your rig. The water is at a cooler temperature than your hot vapor, which in turn cools down your dab allowing your dabbing experience to be more pleasant.
  • As you inhale your vapor is pulled through the water catching ash and toxins so that your dabs are filtered. Providing a cleaner smoother dab overall.
• Bottom Base - The bottom base is the lowest part of your rig that helps it to stand upright. The reason why the bottom base is so important is because the base structure and design will tell you if your rig can handle the weight of certain accessories without tipping over.

How Do I Use a Dab Rig?

1) Fill the rig with water

• Add water until it’s just a few millimeters above the percolator slits/holes.
• Do a dry pull - inhale from the mouthpiece without dabbing:
• If water hits your mouth, you’ve overfilled your rig and you need to pour some water out.
• If the water barely bubbles, add a bit more water into your rig.
• The goal is easy bubbling without splashback.

2) Attach your banger or dab nail

• Make sure the joint sizes on your banger and your rig match, male fittings line up with female fittings.
• Insert the quartz banger or nail, make sure you have a secure fit.

3) Heat Your Dab Nail or Quartz Banger (Torch method)

• Point the flame at the bottom and lower sidewalls of the banger; keep it moving for an even heat.
• Typical heat time: 20–45 seconds (thicker quartz will need more time).
• Let it cool down to a good dab temp: usually 30–60 seconds after heating, depending on thickness.
• Lower Temp - Flavor: target roughly 480–540 F
• Higher Temp - Bigger clouds: 550–600 F (more harsh, less terp flavor).
• Tip: Use a terp timer or IR dab temp reader on your banger for more consistent and precise dabbing temperatures.

3b) Heat Your Dab Nail or Quartz Banger (E-Nail method)

• Set your controller box temp around 480–540 F.
• Let the coil/banger heat up to proper temperature for 2–3 minutes before dabbing.

4) Dose Your Dab - Prep Your Dab Size

• If you're new to dabbing, start small with a dab size that is about the size of a grain of rice.
• Pick up your desired dab size with your dab tool.

Click Here To Read More about Proper Dab Sizing!

5) Drop Your Dab Into Your Nail, Cap Your Nail, and Inhale

• Place your dab into your heated banger or nail, swipe or roll your dab tool to fully vaporize your dab.
• Cover the top of your banger or dab nail with your carb cap to control airflow and to keep the heat inside your banger.
• If using terp pearls, gentle inhales will help them spin and distribute your dab.
• Inhale steadily through the mouthpiece for 6–10 seconds.
• To finish up your dab remove the carb cap or lift it slightly to clear the chamber.

6) Clean While Warm

• After your dab is fully vaporized and your banger is still warm (not scorching), swab the inside with a dry cotton swab.
• Follow with a cotton swab dipped in iso alcohol.
• Clean after every dab to keep your dab flavors on point and your quartz clear.

7) Cool Your Banger and Store

• Let the banger cool fully before removing it from your dab rig.
• Store your rig upright, keep your tools clean.

What's the Difference Between a Dab Rig and a Bong?

Both Dab Rigs and Bongs have the same purpose, but they have different characteristics to fit dry sessions or dabbing sessions better. Bongs will vary in size, some can be up to five feet tall, with varying percolators that prioritize cooling. On the other hand dab rigs tend to be smaller in size, use less water, for minimal cooling.

There are no rules in the world of dabbing or smoking, you are free to use your dry pipes and dab rigs interchangeably if you would like! In the long run though, larger sized water pipes will change the richness of your dab vapors, making it go stale and tasteless. Also using a perc that provides too much cooling will result in a ton of reclaim buildup.

Most dab rigs have somewhat of a basic percolator, like a showerhead perc, or an inline. This is to keep too much cooling/reclaim at bay. Your dabs start off as a liquid/solid, but then are turned into a vapor with heat, once that vapor gets too cold it'll start to solidify. Too much cooling of your dab vapors is what is responsible for excess reclaim build up inside of a rig.

Using a percolator that is meant for dry herbs, like a tree arm perc, honeycomb will resolidify your dabs and they might actually get clogged up pretty frequently. We only recommend going with these types of percs if you are a medical patient and have a hard time with the harshness of dabs.

Well get into the full descriptions and purpose of each percolator later on!

Why is Water Filtration Important?

Water filtration isn't necessary when dabbing, there are tons of devices out there that do not come with a water bubbler attachment. Prime example, electric nectar collectors like the Lookah Seahorse Pro Plus.

Although it is not necessary, water filtration tends to make dabbing less harsh and more enjoyable. Using a dab rig or water bubbler while dabbing allows for diffusion, filtering, and cooling of your dab vapors.

Dabs are vaporized at high temperatures, around 400-600 degrees, imagine how hot your vapors must be while inhaling. Water filtration cools your vapors slightly to make them more bearable and less harsh. Water filters out any sort of impurities from your vapors like hot globs of wax that didn't fully vaporize, so that these impurities don't make their way to your lungs! Diffusion breaks up your vapor and air into smaller sized bubbles so that your inhales can be strong and controlled at the same time!

Things To Look for When Purchasing a Dab Rig

There are a few key features you should look for when purchasing a dab rig, as we mentioned earlier size and percolator are the two most important. We will give you a further breakdown on those two factors below and also go over things like compatibility, accessories, and more!

If you already have a quartz banger or dab nail that you would like to use with your new dab rig, the first thing you should look at is compatibility. Dab rigs have a joint where your quartz banger or dab nail is inserted into or onto. If you don't already have a quartz banger or dab nail you can skip this step and just move on down to the top style/body style.

Things to look for:

• Joint Gender: Most dab rigs have now adopted a female joint to make it compatible with male bangers and dab nails, but there still are male options out there.
Picture of male joint vs female joint
• Joint Size: Joint sizes can range from 10mm, 14mm, or 18mm. You can measure the size of your joint using some household items that come close to these sizes.
Picture of 10mm, 14mm, 18mm and household items
• Joint Angle: There are two joint angles available, most dab rigs are at a 90 degree angle.
Picture of 90 degree banger and rig vs picture of 45 degree banger and rig

Once you have your joint specifications laid out for you next you can take a look at the top style or body of your new dab rig.

Top Styles:

There are a few different top styles seen on dab rigs, the most common being a straight neck or a bent neck.

Picture of straight neck and bent neck

The straight neck is extended straight upwards from the body of your dab rig, this provides a more comfortable standing up session. While the bent neck is curved to the side which is better for sitting down personal sessions, providing a more relaxed experience.

The side car is also popular which places your mouth piece on the opposite side of your joint almost completely separated. This helps to keep the heat away from your face while keeping things in the same line of sight!

Some other styles include a flared lip, pinched neck, and recycler mouthpieces.

Body Styles:

This is where things get fun! There are so many different body styles to choose from when it comes to dab rigs, they all have a different function while some add to its filtration capabilities!

First lets start off with the more basic styles:

• Straight Base: Cylindrical style bottom usually with a heavy bottom base that is extra sturdy.