How to Season a Quartz Nail
If you usually smoke out of a bong or are new to the world of dabbing, a dab rig might confuse you. Especially the dab nail — what is it? What on earth does “seasoning” mean? Do you need to know how to season a quartz nail? How to season a titanium nail?
Never fear, folks: the experts at SMOKEA® are here to answer all your questions, including how to season your dab nail. Let’s dig in.
What Is a Dab Nail?
Your dab nail is an essential part of your rig and dabbing experience. It’s the attachment that lets you vaporize your concentrates. You heat the tip of the nail with your torch, wait for it to cool for about 45 seconds, apply your concentrates (and a dome, if you use one) and inhale the vapor. Now you’re dabbing!
Why Should I Season My Dab Nail?
There are tons of reasons why it’s beneficial to season your dab nail.
- It helps eliminate dirt or residue left on the dab nail from manufacturing. This helps give you clean hits which keeps you safer the first time you use it.
- It helps eliminate any metallic taste, either from first-time use or titanium nails.
- If you’re not using a nail with walls, your dab nail may be too smooth and you run the risk of your concentrate sliding right off before you can vaporize it. Seasoning your dab nail helps provide traction so your concentrate stays where it’s supposed to.
Okay, now that you know what a dab nail is and why it’s important to season it, let’s talk about how you do so.
How Do I Season My Dab Nail?
There’s one main go-to method for seasoning in the dabbing world: the torch method.
The Torch Method
In this method, you only need your nail, your torch, and oil or concentrate.
1. Use Your Torch.
Using your torch, heat your nail until it’s red hot but be careful of overheating. For titanium nails, this is about 500º F (20–30 seconds) and for quartz it’s 450–600º (45–60 seconds. (You don’t need to season glass nails.)
2. Be Consistent
Make sure you’re heating evenly!
3. Let It Cool
Once it’s reached the right temperature, let the nail cool for approximately 10–20 seconds.
4. Add Extract
Add a small — we mean small! — bit of oil or dab of extract to the nail. Using your dabber tool, spread the substance of choice over the top of your nail. If you smell burning instead of sweet aromas, your nail is too hot. Let it cool more then try again.
5. Cool It Completely
Once you’ve applied a thin layer, let your nail cool completely so the oil or concentrate fully fills the pores in the nail and hardens. The resin should be slightly gooey but not sticky and the nail should be warm but not hot.
6. Repeat
Repeat this process 3–5 times.
This is the most common way to season your nail, but a note of caution: some folks get impatient and try to skip the “3–5 times” part. They just put a huge gob of concentrate on and think that will work the same.
Spoiler alert, it won’t. The pores in the nail need light layering to fully absorb the concentrate, so take your time.
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