Like a character from the script of an American sitcom, I pulled my brand new, Yo! Dabba Dabba 4mm quartz banger out of its bubblewrap packaging…and dropped it.
Ping!
Cringing, I watched as it hit the cold, tiled floor and bounced in all its shiny, crystal-like glory …
But the banger was completely intact! (Phew.) An angel must have been watching over because there wasn’t a hairline crack or fracture to be found! Then again, 4 millimeters is some seriously thick quartz — the thickest I’ve seen on the market — and substantially more robust than the regular 2mm quartz banger.
Robust design
On the Mohs scale of mineral hardness – where 1 is very soft and 10 is very hard – quartz is a 7. Here, hardness refers to a material’s scratch resistance. Most glass ranks around a 5 and, according to a publication from the Netherlands’ Technical University Delft, borosilicate has a hardness of 4.5.
Before buying a banger, always check the airflow. Too often, bangers are blown with necks bent so tight they block and obstruct smoke from pulling through smoothly. But with about 1/4 inch of open space on both the 2mm and 4mm quartz bangers’ elbows, I figured there would be no issues.
Smooth airflow
Placing my mouth on the frosted joint (where the banger attaches to the rig), I drew a long, hard breath in.
Swoosh.
Neither the 2mm or 4mm quartz banger offered any resistance!
It’s also worth noting these female bangers both fit perfectly snug on my 14mm rig with no room for wobbles.
High heat-stress resistance
The melting point for quartz is about 3,092 °F (1,700 °C), which is why it’s used for light bulbs in automobiles with high-powered halogen headlights. Fun fact: most lava couldn’t melt quartz, reaching temperatures up to 2,000 °F, but it could definitely melt borosilicate, which melts around 1,500 °F.
Yikes.
Bangers are designed to prevent heat stress and stress fractures, making them a great investment piece if you’re looking to purchase a quartz nail. Other styles of quartz nails have separated at the neck and joint after heavy usage and heat stress — but with a bent neck holding the bowl out and away from its joint, the banger prevents this issue and extends the life of your rig as well by keeping the flame away. If want to keep the flames even further away, check out Yo! Dabba Dabba’s 45° quartz bangers.
Optimal use
To prevent heat stress and fractures on any quartz nail, torch the bowl evenly to prevent possible expansion in one area and not the others. After just 9 seconds above the torch, my 2 millimeter quartz banger glows orange. It takes about 15 seconds for the 4 millimeter.
With a relatively low thermal conductivity value of 1.3 watts per kelvin-meters, quartz doesn’t retain heat nearly as long as titanium or ceramic, so prepare your dabber before you start torching the bucket and don’t expect to get a second dab out of it. Being twice as thick, the 4 millimeter quartz banger retains the heat about twice as long as the 2 millimeter.
It’s very cool watching the concentrates vaporize in the bangers’ transparent, crystalline bowls while everyone dabs.
Flavor isn’t an issue for quartz bangers — especially seasoned ones. Like ceramic, quartz is food/medical-grade meaning no toxic gases are emitted when heated. If you have a carb cap handy, preserve your concentrates’ terpenes with some low-temperature dabs on your quartz banger.
Quartz is fast and easy to clean using a torch or rubbing alcohol, so if you’re a dabber looking for a new nail that’s not titanium but stronger than glass and offers an even cleaner taste ceramic, go with a quartz banger.
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