When we talk about smoking hash many people flash back to their friend ’ s dingy basements in the 1990s , with Cypress Hill or Nirvana blasting from the boom box . Someone would be standing next to the stove , heating up two knives on the burner , as another friend rolled up little balls of hash to be pressed between the scorching hot blades . As the oil sizzled a cloud of thick white smoke would emerge . At the time , these hits packed quite the punch , but the smoke was quite harsh , and sometimes people would even burn their face on the hot knives . Towards the end of the 90s , Silica Alchemy released glass paddles to eliminate the need to pillage the nearest cutlery drawer , but it would be another 10 years before we would see the next innovation in dabbing : the metal swing . As the quality of extracts continued to improve , so did the price of extracts . This led to a desire to be more efficient when dabbing , so new innovations began to appear on the scene .
Swingarms
The introduction of swingarms eliminated the need to hold hot knives near your mouth to inhale all the smoke . HMK Glass is considered one of the swingarm pioneers . The swing was a borosilicate attachment , shaped like an upside down sherlock or funnel , in place of a bowl on your bong . The metal swing was generally a piece of wire with a relatively flat piece of metal , the size of a quarter , attached on the end . After heating up the metal with a blowtorch , people would swing the hot surface under the boro funnel and place their dab on the surface . At the time , the consensus was “ the hotter the better ,” so the dab would often bounce across the red metal surface before leaving a charred spot on the metal swing where the oil eventually settled . With the introduction of swings , male joints began becoming the standard for dab specific pieces .
Dome and Nail
A dome and nail was the next leap in dabbing innovation . JP Toro is often credited with coming up with the nail and dome design , where a small boro nail was placed inside the male joint , with a female dome providing insulation when placed on the male joint after the nail was heated . “ I made a few quartz nails for domes back in 2008 , however , there were a handful of quartz workers from a scientific background also making quartz nails for domes , and for way cheaper than I could make them , which is why I only made them for friends ,” says Toro . Around the same time , Pukinbeagle was working with quartz , which helped push quartz into the next generation of nail styles . In 2010 , companies like Highly Educated took it to the next level by innovating titanium nails for dabbing , which were less breakable and adjustable to optimize the experience with different rig and dome configurations . They also had better heat retention , which is important , because it allows dabs to be consumed at a lower temperature , which is both smoother and tastier . While the dome and nail were a huge improvement , they weren ’ t flawless . The dome would quickly get covered in oil , and drip all over the male joint , often leading to the downstem getting clogged . The boro domes would also get quite hot while dabbing , leading to many burns and dropped domes .
Domeless Nail and E-nails
Task Rok from Highly Educated ushered in the new wave of nails with the invention of the dome-less nail and carb cap . This meant no more hot and sticky dome , and the carb cap allowed people to dab at lower temperatures . The small hole restricts the airflow to the rig , decreasing the pressure within the nail , which in turn lowers the boiling point of the extract . As the industry began switching to the dome-less nails ,
Highly Educated released the first electronic nail , dubbed the E-nail . This featured a metal coil wrapped around the nail that hooked up to a small computer that plugged into the wall . This perfect temperature also ensured you were vaporizing the product , instead of accidentally hitting a dab at too hot of a temperature , causing the extract to have a crude combustion . Brian from D-Nail reminisces on their involvement in the E-nail scene , and their transition into the quartz market . “ We started working with quartz a long time ago , near the beginning of quartz nails , really ,” says Brian . “ It was a new thing ; customers asked about it , we started looking . At the time , we were only doing electric nails , and as it turns out , quartz is extremely particular about moving heat . Some of the best designs the industry has seen came from us working with Pukinbeagle . We specialized in design , and he specialized in execution . Not long after , we started doing cold-worked quartz for E-nail dishes .”
“ Flavor , the high , the experience — it ’ s all enhanced with it , in my humble opinion .”
— JP Toro
Quartz Club Bangers
While the origin of the banger-styled nail is up for debate , the Club Banger by Quave is known as the standard look when it comes to quartz nails . A 90 0 or 45 0 quartz arm , with a male ground joint on one end and a dish attached at the top . The top of the banger was cut at an angle slanting away from the rig .
“ I didn ’ t get back into the quartz game till quite a few years later when I kept seeing other quartz designs on people ’ s rigs at seshes ,” says JP . While the club banger was great , there was a new trend on the horizon many in the industry wouldn ’ t be ready for .
Slurpers
A slurper is a quartz bucket with a one-inch straw-like barrel attached to the bottom with a small quartz dish attached to the bottom of the straw . The idea is that you place the dab on the bottom of the dish and block the airflow with a marble or plug at the top of the nail , causing the melted dab to striate up the inside barrel . It allows people to take larger dabs more efficiently than ever before . What ’ s the benefit ? “ Flavor , the high , the experience — it ’ s all enhanced with it , in my humble opinion ,” says JP . The concept behind the terp slurper came from the idea of wine slurping . According to The Cannabis Sommelier , Andrew Freedman , “ aeration enables the process of evaporation , vaporization , and oxidization at the same rate to get a better expression of flavor . Without adding oxygen to the pallet when wine tasting , the true flavors of the wine won ’ t be found .” The way JP applied the concept of aeration to dabs ( first with the slitted grail , and then with the terp slurper ), he brought forth one of the tastiest evolutions and innovations in dabbing . Toro released the first slurpers to the public in mid-2017 , most of them in Hawaii , though it would be more than two years before slurpers would become widely popular . “ Hawaiians loved slurpers ,” says JP . “ Not sure why it took the mainland so long to jump on it . Perhaps the cleaning , or the cost , or the fact that you need a temperature reader to get that perfect tasty terps slap !”
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