Some of the cannabis enthusiast look for a new ways to use them. Sometimes due to increase of tolerance for marijuana, they want to try something what will give them more intensive “high”. One of these ways is using dabs.
How to make dabs?
Before we answer this question, let’s talk about what dabs are?. Most simply: This is a product of extraction and concentration of phytocannabinoids such as CBD, THC and other. You need a solvent for it. The most common one is butane. We differentiate a few types of this: Wax, Butane Hash Oil, Budder and others. So, the way of making them may differ to each other. The way of consumption is quite easy. We put a dab on a hot surface and inhale all of the “smoke” which come out of it. There are a lot of tools which are made for that. You can even use dabs using your e-cigarette. Till this moment you probably thought why people use dabs.. We will answer this question a bit later. At the moment, let’s discuss some of the technical, medical and chemical issues of this process.
Which substances we are able to extract?
As you probably think, this stuff is available in shops, the internet and other places. But what if I want to make them by myself? How to make dabs? Is it difficult? Which solvent should I use? Let’s look into the process!
First of all, we should discuss which substances you can extract during creating dabs. Almost every substance. It can be THC, CBD, terpenes and even fragrances. The last one is the hardest to extract, because these substances are chemically unstable and they come into reaction with the most popular solvents like butane and alcohol. You can do this process on your own without specialistic tools, but keep in mind that there is a few high-tech methods to do it like full-spectrum extraction.
How to make dabs at home?
You may think: Is it possible to make dabs yourself at home. Of course, it is!. The difficulty of that may differ on type of dab and process of therpenes/phytocannabinoids extraction. The main issue is which type of solvent are you going to use? Butane or alcohol?
#1 Solvents: How to make dabs with butane?
We should say something important at the beginning. Making dabs with butane is dangerous. This substance is highly flammable. Due to that, we don’t recommend to make it on your own. Especially if you aren’t experienced. There is a lot of techniques of performing this method of solvation. We will try to describe it in a few simple words. The main issue of action is passing butane liquid through raw sample of cannabis. Due to that, some substances such as: THC, CBD and others dissolve in butane and goes out from the plant to filter. The butane evaporates from the filtered concentrate and extract with high level of phytocannabinoids is ready. Remember that this is dangerous process. In USA there is a lot of explosions because of making dabs using butane as a solvent.
#2 Solvents: How to make dabs with alcohol?
This method is much easier and safer than extraction using butane. Let’s look into that.
#1 After preparing small, round nugs put them into the glass. Pour the alcohol to cover nugs with them.
#2 You have to leave this solution for about 10 minutes. You should stir it during this time.
#3 On this step, we demand to evaporate off the alcohol from our solution. To make it, we need a source of heat. It could be for example a pot which stays on cooker’s fire. You pour a mixture which we have made before and keep it on the smallest fire we can. This step should last a few hours. Be careful with the temperature. If it will be too high, it will break a chemical structure of phytocannabinoid.
#4 If everything is going well, after time you should get a bit sticky mass, which contains a low level of alcohol. If it gets harder, replace it to another dish and cumulate the biggest portion of wax which you are able to.
#5 Repeat steps described above as many time it’s possible.
#6 One of the last steps is filtering concentrate from the solvent. You can use a coffee filter to drain concentrate to another clean glass.
#7 To evaporate the rest of the solvent, from the jar with concentrate to warm water and wait. This will speed up the evaporation of the solvent from our product.
Steps above present a “shortcut” of the process. Before doing it on your own, we recommend you to do your research about this topic. The Solvent you have used has determined the way of administration of the dab. What do we mean? Dabs which are made with alcohol as a solvent should be only consumed by oral. In Vaporizer and Dab Rig you shouldn’t use materials with alcohol. So, if you feel confused because of the lack of butane there is a chance for you. We have just described how to make a dab without butane. The best of alcohols which you can use is ethanol and isopropyl alcohol. Another, interesting technique is QWISO – Quick Wash Isopropyl Extract. One od the biggest advantage of this method is time. You can save a lot of it making dabs this way.
#3 Do we always need a solvent to make dabs?
Not exactly. There is a type of dab which you can make on your own without experience and even specific tool (aside from hair straightener). It’s Rosin. To perform the process of making Rosin, you will need cannabis, parchment paper, and source of weight and temperature: iron or hair straightener. Ok, if you everything from this list, let’s start.
#1 Turn your hair straightener or iron on and aim your temperature on medium.
#2 Make a something like pocket using your parchment paper and put the cannabis (not a large amount) into it.
#3 Put this into the straightener or under the iron for about 5 seconds.
#4 As you can notice, there is a yellow, sticky substance on the paper. This is Rosin. Now you can collect it with some tool to the jar.
#5 You can repeat steps 3-4 a few times using the same sample to extract everything from that.
We have talked about what dabs are and how to do them. We shoul look into their effects and how reacts human’s body on them.
Do dabs get you higher?
As you probably think, due to high concentration of the phytocannabinoids in extract, dabs may lead you to intensive high. This is true. But you should know that dabs are easy to overdose. So, instead of pleasant high, you will get paranoia, anxiety and insomnia.
What are the side effects of dabbing?
We have to warn you from dabs which were made using butane. This substance in higher temperatures (978F) degrades into methacrolein and benzene. The first one is similar to a harsh pulmonary irritant – acrolein. This substance can lead to pulmonary oedema and acute lung injury. But there are other dangers connected with using dabs. Look, the dab is a pure extract of substances from cannabis. So, concentration, for example of THC in 1 gram of dab is a lot higher than in 1 gram of cannabis leaves. According to that, it’s easy to overdose phytocannabinoids and the feelings of it could be overwhelming. Despite several pieces of research, the toxic dose of THC and CBD isn’t already known. But remember, there isn’t a substance which in high doses is good for you, because even water can kill you. Have you read our article about purple strains? They contain a high level of THC. We have mentioned that they will lead you to paranoia and anxiety if you overdose them. The same effect can exist after using a dab which contains a higher level of THC than “normal” cannabis. Like using any other substance, overdosing phytocannabinoids may lead to increase of tolerance to them.
Addiction. Are dabs addictive?
This is an interesting question. Phytocannabinoids, in rare cases, can lead to physical addiction. In this type, your body “demands” the next dose of the substance. If you don’t take it, you will feel withdrawal symptoms. But as I mentioned before, the risk of that is low. The other type is psychological dependence, which is described as an addiction to feeling – for example to “high” after marijuana. The chance of developing this illness is higher than the first one. At the and of the day, because of intensive “high” after dabs, there is a higher risk of developing mental dependence.
Are You Ready to dab?
Before using a dab, you have to answer a few questions:
-How I use cannabis? Recreational or medical?
-How high is your tolerance for cannabis?
-Are you going to buy dabs or make it yourself?
-If you want to do them yourself, do you have some skills, tools and place for that?
If you use cannabis recreational (mainly strains with high THC), you have to be aware of the side effects of overdosing. On medical aspects, you should consider and get info if you take other medicaments, so which effects would you expect if the dose of CBD will be too high. For these issues, you have to answer yourself. Nobody knows your situation. From the technical point of view: are you aware of dangers connected with manufacturing dabs? Do you remember that butane is high flammable? Are you ready to take a risk? The last issue. Be aware that buying good quality dabs could be difficult. There is a lot of bad-quality dabs with which are made with unknown solvents and other chemical substances. You must be confident of the seller. We hope that this article will be helpful for you to take your decision.
Summary
Using dabs is a good way to take a high dose of phytocannabinoids and to feel stronger effects of them. The process of manufacturing each other type of dab may differ to each other. Some of them are simple to make, for example, Rosin. Other need to butane as a solvent, which is highly dangerous. the whole process of making them can be time-consuming due to the time of evaporating off the solvent. Buying dabs from the market could be a bit risky because of low-quality products. Some of them can contain toxic substances and unknown solvents. Unfortunately, there are some articles and users which claims that a lot of dabs are contaminated by pesticides and residual solvents. Before the decision about using them, you have to consider the adverse effect of dabs. There is a suspicion that some solvents used in the process of manufacturing dabs (butane) can lead to lung injury. You have to be aware that the high wouldn’t be a pleasure if you overdose dabs. In this article, we tried to give you short but reliable knowledge about dabs and effects of them. Because of different types of solvents, not every dab is possible to use in every possible way. You have to also remember that using dabs in e-cigarettes may be dangerous. They can mix with vaping liquids, which can lead to some toxic substances. We hope that it will help you to answer some of your question connected with this subject.
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