Why dab with these new enail devices?

As of July 2019, California has banned the sale of nonodorized butane. It’s meant to prevent unlicensed cannabis concentrate manufacturing. There’s a serious drawback:

How do you heat up your nail/banger for taking dabs?

Sure, there are dab pen batteries, portable enails, or other torch alternatives. This feels like a great time to test some new enail technology and see if it can upgrade my cannabis concentrate consumption.

Truth be told, traditional e-nails scare me. They just sit there and are constantly set at 500+ degrees. Given my penchant for clumsiness, I don’t really want to invest in an accident waiting to happen. My cat alone is great at knocking things over. I’ve been disappointed by quartz enail kits and the same portable enails you see everywhere.

There must be a better way dab without using any more butane!

Dabcrate brings the consumption technology.

So I went to visit Dabcrate, the cannabis consumption experts, and shared my dilemma. They had a few recommendations, and wanted me to try one of the most advanced options available.

Quite honestly, when the mad scientists at Dabcrate explained how to use these new dab tools, I felt overwhelmed.

How hot is too hot and how do I know? Can I burn myself? Do I click the button once or twice? How do I know if it got it all? How many hits will I get?

It felt like learning to use an iPhone after using a Jitterbug for the last decade.

The basic principles of dabbing on these expensive rigs are the same: Put your wax concentrate on the hot spot and inhale.

There is always an order of operations that must be followed while consuming a dab. How do these new magnetic rigs differ from traditional quartz bangers? Will I be able to remember all these changes while sucking down some high quality concentrates?

And maybe the biggest question of all… will the experience be ANY different from what I’m used to using?

The Loto vaporizer looks a little like my old Volcano vaporizer. Except this version is the futuristic vape that comes right out of the Jetson’s wacky world. The magnetic induction vaporizer uses a colorful display to communicate the temperature. Definitelty a different experience when compared to the digital display of the Volcano vape or other quartz enails.

I can choose my color/temperature preference and the Loto would rapidly come up to the proper heat for low temp dabs. The biggest drawback I found were the weird online instructions for proper use of the vaporizer. Even after watching videos and being walked through the steps, I still felt a little uneasy about using this advanced device.

I was most looking forward to trying this advanced vape rig, out of all the recomendations Dabcrate shared. Magnetic induction is used to create heat. The electricity passes through the copper coil and the resulting magnetic field heats the stainless steel nail, called a “suseptor” by Loto. Depending on your preferred heat setting, the vape can very slowly build heat and allow the lowest temp and satisfying dabs possible. I am impressed with how this device delivered enough heat to fully vaporize my cannabis extract. With enough practice, you can produce repeatable results.

One of the problems I encountered when dabbing with the Loto Legend is that there are a number of different methods to consume your concentrates. Similar to how one can choose a cold start dab or traditional hot dab when consuming with a quartz banger, you have options as to when to drop the nail assembly into the Legend. The Loto website and instructions suggest a few different methods, without a clear “this is the manufacturers recommended use case”. It left me stumped and I wasn’t sure which one to try first.

At first, it was an amazing experience and I loved it. I’ve never dabbed at such a low temperature that didn’t irritate my throat at all.

Without constant heat fluctuations, the Loto will continue to increase the heat all the way to 800℉. If you keep hitting the rig, your dab will eventually become very harsh and a strong metallic flavor starts to come through. This ridiculously high temperature makes for a bad dabbing experience. I eventually figured out how to pull the glass nail assembly out of the Loto before it got too hot and the dab became gross.

Another drawback when dabbing with the Loto: You can’t see the dab when you’re consuming. You can’t tell if you took the whole dab when you look down the slider. The metal susceptor isn’t easy to see and you can’t just drop it out of the glass assembly and have a hot piece of metal rolling around.

It’s suggested that minimal cleaning is required between dabs. While it appeared true, I couldn’t help but wonder what lipids and leftovers might be in the susceptor. The Loto definitely had beautiful flavor for the first few hits, but it certainly requires more thinking and guesswork than I would prefer while shredding dabs.

My takeaways?

The technology that is available for consuming concentrates has improved massively.  Over the last few years we have seen a number of new technologies. We have come a very long way from hitting hot knife dabs on the stovetop, all the way to incorporating technologies like magnetic induction into the experience.

It feels very much in line with the entire cannabis industry; dynamically growing and revealing “the new way” to do things… And stoners need to stay open minded on this ever-changing landscape.