Why titanium is better than glass for dabbing

420God

Well-Known Member
What I noticed most about my buddies electronic (metal) nail is that you can accurately keep the temp dialed in, so it's much easier to not overheat before you vape. Often ppl w a torch are guesstimating the temp and end up with a much hotter hit. The excessive heat is what can make an oil vape hit painful to your lungs ime.
So true, I've scorched a few bowls already. Heating it up and counting down isn't a very accurate way of setting the temp.

I'm new to dabbing since the beginning of the year and still learning.
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
Here's a couple graphs showing THCA decarboxylation at various temps. The best results were at 150 C. At higher temps there was significant degradation to cannabinol and dihydrocannabinol. That's why it curves down after 150. So heating that bowl up red hot may not be the best idea. Actually, you'd probably be better off to decarb the oil before smoking it. Though it might not make that much difference because THC vapes at 177 C. So it would reach that temp anyway. Maybe it's unavoidable.


This next one shows that at 180 it's about equal amounts of THC and degradation products.
 
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Rrog

Well-Known Member
So if you wanted max D-9THC, and we see that after 150C you get less D-9, why not just vape the oil at 150C?
 

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
I started with a titanium nail , never use it at all anymore, quartz is so much better for flavor and how clean it can get, titanium also gets messed up from repeated use(mine got all gunky inside it an impossible to properly clean even soaking in iso didn't work).
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
So if you wanted max D-9THC, and we see that after 150C you get less D-9, why not just vape the oil at 150C?
Yeah I just edited the post, because I read that THC vapes at 177 C so it would get up to almost 180 anyway. It boils at 157 but apparently vapes at 177, which seems odd but that's what it said. It may not even be possible to get more than about 50% THC from smoking.
 

Bugeye

Well-Known Member
Here's a couple graphs showing THCA decarboxylation at various temps. The best results were at 150 C. At higher temps there was significant degradation to cannabinol and dihydrocannabinol. That's why it curves down after 150. So heating that bowl up red hot may not be the best idea. Actually, you'd probably be better off to decarb the oil before smoking it. Though it might not make that much difference because THC vapes at 177 C. So it would reach that temp anyway. Maybe it's unavoidable.


This next one shows that at 180 it's about equal amounts of THC and degradation products.
Nice charts if you're making edibles. I seriously recommend you try dabbing on a quartz nail before you keep spewing useless info. See if it takes 7 minutes to decarb! LOL
 

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
Here's a little trick I use to keep my quartz banger clean, when you are hitting dabs get a q-tip and get the tip wet, after your done with your dabs wipe the banger with the wet q-tip while its hot, it will clean all the residue the dabs leave behind.
 

Rrog

Well-Known Member
I think the data is great, personally. I'm glad it was posted. Gives me insight into temp degradation of the D-9THC into other cannabinols.

It also brings up an old topic as BobCajun commented- Does smoking give you less THC? Seems the answer is yes
 

Bugeye

Well-Known Member
I see nothing in these charts that pertains to the temp range of smoking or dabbing. Consider that a bic lighter will burn at nearly 2000C. The assertion that the composition of your nail has anything to do with decarbing is ridiculous, especially coming from someone that has never dabbed.
 

Rrog

Well-Known Member
I see nothing in these charts that pertains to the temp range of smoking or dabbing.
Except maybe that we can directly extrapolate those lines to higher temps and see that temps above 150C start changing the cannabidol profile, reducing THC, and increasing others. That's interesting.

While the nail head material doesn't seem relevant, the data presented is still interesting.
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
I see nothing in these charts that pertains to the temp range of smoking or dabbing. Consider that a bic lighter will burn at nearly 2000C. The assertion that the composition of your nail has anything to do with decarbing is ridiculous, especially coming from someone that has never dabbed.
Yeah, dabbing makes you knowledgeable about science. Those poor chemists who wrote those articles have had their work completely invalidated by Bugeye saying it isn't so. Somebody stop Bugeye before he invalidates all science on earth.

But actually it probably doesn't make a huge difference if it's glass or titanium when the heat is applied in the right range. At room temp, yeah, only the titanium would decarb it.
 
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Bugeye

Well-Known Member
Yeah, dabbing makes you knowledgeable about science. Those poor chemists who wrote those articles have had their work completely invalidated by Bugeye saying it isn't so. Somebody stop Bugeye before he invalidates all science on earth.

But actually it probably doesn't make a huge difference if it's glass or titanium when the heat is applied in the right range. At room temp, yeah, only the titanium would decarb it.
Glad to see I changed your opinion! My argument is that dabbing makes you knowledgeable on dabbing. If you had such knowledge, you wouldn't come to the conclusion that you need 7 minutes to decarb on a dab rig, which is funny on a couple levels.
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
Glad to see I changed your opinion! My argument is that dabbing makes you knowledgeable on dabbing. If you had such knowledge, you wouldn't come to the conclusion that you need 7 minutes to decarb on a dab rig, which is funny on a couple levels.
It would take that long at 147 C, but the rig would be heated higher than that. Actually, I slowed down a YT video of a closeup of a dab being smoked in a glass bowl and what happens is that when you first put it in it bubbles rapidly, but then it stops bubbling completely and from then on it just vapes off gradually with no bubbles. The bubbles were obviously CO2 gassing off. Took a while though. Next time you do one see how long it takes for the bubbling to stop and you'll know how long it took to decarb. Then try it with titanium and see if it's faster or not.

Could also try a ball of steel wool in a glass bowl, since it is high surface area iron. The article said steel wire works, so steel wool is pretty similar. Make sure the steel wool is heated enough to burn off anything that may be on it from manufacturing. The article said it was discovered by observing that THCA extracts would have rapid onset of bubble formation when on a metal surface like steel. They didn't say heated but that must be what they meant. Extracts don't bubble at room temp on steel. Somebody would have noticed that long ago.
 
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Fadedawg

Well-Known Member
How do you like the electric heater, does it heat up fast?
I like it a lot. I heats up in a couple of minutes and I just leave in on all day, as long as I'm around. It is usually right on, or within a degree of set point, which is also handy.
 

Fadedawg

Well-Known Member
Ever try the sapphire inserts from dnail? Have heard good things but haven't had an opportunity to try yet. Kind of an expensive upgrade as you need their enail for proper fit.
Sorry no, but am game if someone wants to donate one for the extensive testing!
 

Dr.Nick Riviera

Well-Known Member
high5vape has cheap enails, I bought one months ago and I leave it on all the time, have had 0 issues, think I spent 109 for the unit and $29 for their quartz enail.
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
I think the makers of the Volcano vaporizer made the screen from steel coated ceramic to take advantage of the catalytic properties of iron. What an overpriced vaporizer though, even the plastic bags cost $100. I'll take 3, not.
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
Since my pipe screen was always getting clogged up I tried putting a ball of steel wool in there instead. I cooked it first with a lighter to burn off any shit that might be on it. The good news is that it works much better than a screen. It never gets clogged up. You just tap out the ashes and it's good to go.

Whether or not heating steel wool in a pipe is safe or not, I don't know. I guess it must be stainless steel, since it's shiny. I don't heat it more than needed anyway. If you heated it red hot it might put off some kind of metal vapor, who knows. I'm not recommending it. I would recommend a scrunched up ball of titanium wire or vape coil if available. I wouldn't even heat titanium red hot though, just to be cautious.

Speaking of vape coils though, could just install a titanium coil right in a pipe bowl and power it from an adapter. Sure would beat handling a torch in the living room. Just not a good combination, torch and living room. I wonder how much current you'd need. You can get the wire pretty cheap actually. That page mentions that it's not good to get it so hot that it forms an oxide, which may be unhealthy. Maybe stainless steel wool is the best choice after all. This is the kind I used. What about the people who heat up titanium nails with torches though? Are they producing some oxide and then breathing the dust in? The lesson is not to heat the thing up red hot. Only needs to be about 180 C to vape THC.
 
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