Ever Wondered How to Make Dabs? Here’s Our Complete Guide

When you’re talking about making “dabs,” what you’re really talking about is making a cannabis concentrate that can be consumed with a dab rig (click the link if you want more info about what is dabbing). You may know these cannabis concentrates by any number of names, including shatter, wax, crumble, butane hash oil (BHO), pull, snap, or simply hash oil, and the’re well-known because of its great highs (you will have memorable high thoughts with them).

The main distinction between these concentrates is their different textures, which is owed to slight variations in the manufacturing process. Typically, what separates shatter from say, wax, is the moisture content and amount of heat used in its production.

If you’re looking to make a cannabis concentrate that you can consume with a dab rig, there are a few different methods you could try. The easiest method involves a hair straightener and some cooking sheets. You can learn how to make shatter using this method here.

But in this article, we’re going to teach you the method that the pros use. Just be careful. This method requires the use of butane, which is highly flammable and explosive. Many people have accidentally hurt themselves, and/or damaged their homes due to butane explosions while trying to make cannabis concentrates.

What You Need

• Ounce of cannabis
• 2 Oven-proof pans (one should fit easily into the other with lots of room.)
• Glass tube for extraction or stainless steel turkey baster
• 1 can of butane
• Thermometer
• Coffee filters
• Rubber bands
• Parchment paper
• Razor blade
• Cooking pot to boil water
• Stove

Instructions:

Caution: We recommend doing this process outdoors. This will keep you, and your home, safer if the butane explodes.

1. Take an ounce of cannabis, grind it up, and pack it in your glass tube. Make sure the cannabis is packed in the tube tight enough so there are no air pockets, but not too tight. You still want the butane to be able to move all the way through the cannabis.

2. Place the coffee filter over the larger end of the glass tube, and use the rubber band to tightly secure the coffee filter in place. You should now have the coffee filter completely covering the one end of the glass tube.

3. Turn the tube so that the end with the coffee filter is on the bottom, and the smaller end of the tube is at the top. Put the oven-proof pan on the table underneath the end of the tube with the coffee filter.

4. Start releasing the butane into the smaller end of the tube. The butane should move through the cannabis in the tube, and drip into the ovenproof pan you’ve placed beneath it. Keep releasing the butane until you’ve used all of it. Hold the tube in place and watch to make sure that all of the butane in the tube moves through the cannabis and into the pan.

5. The butane that’s collecting in the pan will contain your cannabis concentrate. Your job now is to evaporate the butane so that only the concentrate remains.

6. On your stove, boil a pot of water. Use your thermometer to check the temperature of the water. You want to get the water to a temperature of 155° Fahrenheit.

7. Put your pan carrying the butane into the larger pan. Pour the boiling water into the larger pan so that the water rises up beneath the smaller pan carrying the butane. It should float gently on top of the water. Be careful not to get any water in the smaller pan carrying the butane. This heat will cause your butane to fizz and boil, which means the evaporation process is working. Wait until all of the butane has been evaporated. You’ll know you’re at this point when the butane stops bubbling. (Don’t leave it for too long, otherwise, your concentrate will begin to darken, signifying that its quality is starting to take a turn for the worse.)

8. You should now have a solid, honey-colored substance in the bottom of your small pan. Allow this to cool, then use a razor blade to scrape it out of the pan and smear it onto a sheet of parchment paper.

9. Allow it to cool completely before using it.

Once your concentrate has cooled, it’s ready to use! The best way to consume this type of cannabis concentrate is with a dab rig. If you want to learn more about dabbing, and how to dab, read this article here.