What is a dab nail?
A dab nail, also known as a banger, is essentially a nail for dabs. They’re usually made from quartz, titanium, or ceramic, but in all cases, they provide a place for you to heat and vaporize your concentrates. Your wax nail slides into your dab rig and is heated using a torch or an e-nail to the proper dabbing temperature. Then a concentrate is applied to the banger with a dab tool and capped with a carb cap. Once all those steps are completed the dab will vaporize in the nail, allowing you to inhale it.
What’s the difference between a banger and a nail?
Both banger and nail refer to the separate piece you insert into your dab rig to use for dabbing. However, in many cases, banger refers to the quartz bucket design, while nail usually refers to the flat surface found on a titanium or ceramic nail. These days though, banger and nail are used interchangeably. At the end of the day, they both refer to the piece of your setup that you apply heat and concentrates to.
What are the different types of dab nails?
Dab nails come in many different shapes, styles, sizes, and materials. But at the end of the day, you’re looking at three main categories: titanium, quartz, and ceramic. All of them can be used with both a torch and an e-nail.
- Quartz — Quartz bangers are the most popular style of dab nail because they curve away from the rig for easy access and are more durable than glass. Since they’re made from quartz, they retain heat very well and prevent heat stress to the rig itself. They’re much more durable than glass nails for dabs since they can take the heat longer and cool down faster, though they can still break if you drop them or heat them improperly. However, they’re easy to clean and don’t alter the flavor of your concentrates, unlike the others. With a quartz banger, all you taste is your smooth, flavorful dabs.
- Ceramic — Ceramic nails are straight and flat, but exceptionally fragile and can crack under intense heat or accidental drops, like glass. Ceramic takes a lot longer to heat than other materials, but it holds its heat for much longer and is easy to clean. Longer-lasting heat means the full vaporization of your concentrates and less overall waste, though. Unlike quartz, ceramic does add its own flavor to your dabs, which many users find unpleasant.
- Titanium — Titanium nails are the most durable on this list, which makes them the most expensive. However, these flat, straight nails are usually adjustable and can be transferred to most rigs at various sizes. They heat up exceptionally fast and hold their heat well, though they’re prone to scorching dabs if you heat them up for too long. Like ceramic nails, titanium nails transfer a somewhat metallic taste to your dabs, but higher quality nails are less likely to leach these flavors.
What size dab nail do I need?
The size of the dab nail you need depends on the joint size on your dab rig. Dab rigs and bangers fit 10mm, 14mm and 19mm male and female joints. Female nails have an open-mouth joint that fits around the pipe’s joint, while male nails fit inside. So, if your rig has a female joint you need a nail with a male joint, or vice versa.
How long should you torch your dab nail?
There are a lot of things to consider when timing your heating and cooling times on your banger. You’ll want to consider everything from the material of your nail to its quality and thickness. We developed a handy guide that will tell you how long to torch your dab rig nail, along with a few tips for getting the temperatures just right. If the heating and cooling seems a bit complicated, you can always opt for an e-nail to save yourself some time and get the perfect temperature dabs every time you hit your rig.
