This article was made possible thanks to my friends over at Vaporizers Direct.
Having concentrates but nothing to smoke it out of is such a bummer. Traditionally, wax and shatter are smoked out of a dab rig. Unfortunately, these can get kinda pricey – especially for someone who doesn’t smoke concentrates that often.
BUT, no need to worry.
I put together a list of 5 good ways to smoke wax or shatter without a rig. Additionally, I included 3 bad ways to smoke without a rig at the end. If you have any additional tips please let me and everyone else know in the comment section at the bottom of the page.
Glass Bowl or Bong
This is for sure the easiest way to go about smoking concentrates without a rig. Load your bowl up like normal then put your shatter or wax on top of the herb. You can smoke it like you normally would and it’ll get you plenty high.
Positives:
- Super easy and hassle-free.
Negatives:
- This way can be a bit wasteful. Once it starts smoking it doesn’t extinguish itself like it normally would so it’s better to keep hitting it so you don’t lose as much smoke to the air.
- You don’t get the taste of just the wax which some people prefer. You’re always going to get a taste of herb with your concentrates.
- You have to have herb in order for this to work. You can’t smoke just wax out of a glass bowl.
Tips:
- If your concentrates are a bit unstable (i.e. melted or sticky) put it in the freezer for 10 minutes or so. It will harden it enough for you to place it in your bowl.
- When first starting hit the bowl slowly and don’t bring the lighter too close. Ideally, you want to melt the concentrates into the rest of the herb. If you hit it too hard then it will light up on fire and you’ll loose more of your wax.
Roll It Up
If you really like rolling joints and blunts then you’ll be happy to know that it’s totally possible to add concentrates to your favorite hand rolled smoking device. There are two main ways you can go about this:
- You can put it around the outside of your joint or blunt. I like to do a circle around the blunt – I call them checkpoints. Some people also call the speed bumps. Really you can wrap it around however you like. Be ready for it though because it will get drippy so you have to hold it at a higher angle.
- You can also roll it up in the inside of your joint. I make a little ‘snake’ that I line the entire length of the rolling paper with. Then place your herb on top and roll as usual.
Positives:
- This way is pretty easy and if all you have are joint papers then it’s really all you can do.
Negatives:
- Like with using a glass bowl, rolling up your concentrates isn’t exactly the most efficient way to smoke. You’re going to lose to quality smoke to the air, but you’ll still get nice a stoney.
- As mentioned earlier, the concentrates will get drippy. This isn’t as much of a problem if you put the concentrates on the inside.
- The concentrates may cause your joint or blunt to burn a bit weird and create runs.
Tips:
- If you have any kief then you can roll the joint in it. This not only gets you higher, but it also looks neat.
Knife Hits
Oh, knife hits. What a love-hate relationship I have with those things. Here’s the deal. I personally am not a huge fan of knife hits for one reason – they make me feel like a weed junky. Putting that aside, they do work really well and can be done using common household items. All you need is 2 butter knives, a heat source (usually a stove top or small torch), and an empty plastic bottle.
The basic idea is to get the knives super hot, drop some concentrates on, then press them together. This will vaporize your concentrates. This is when you need to be ready with your plastic bottle which you’ve cut the bottom out of it. Use the bottle like a funnel and suck up all the smoke. The whole process is much easier with 2 people, trust me.
Positives:
- When done properly it is pretty efficient and probably the closest thing to an actual dab on this list.
- Can be done with everyday items in your kitchen.
Negatives:
- Makes you look like a weed junky. Hide those knives before your mother comes over – she’ll think you’re smoking meth or something.
- A little difficult to coordinate until you get the hang of it.
Tips:
- Hot knives are one of those things you just need to see in action. If you’re interested in trying it then check out this youtube video.
- In most youtube videos you see them use a torch. If you don’t have a torch just get the eye of your stove red hot and place the knives on there.
- If you’re having trouble dropping the concentrates on the knife then consider only heating one knife and having the dab on the other knife. I’ve found you can still get plenty of heat off just one knife.
Vape Pen
I know, this requires you to purchase something, but it’s a lot less expensive that a rig. It’s also a lot more inconspicuous. Vape pens are widely available in both head shops and online. I highly recommend Vaporizers Direct. They have a huge selection and can help you pick a vaporizer that will suit your needs.
Positives:
- More affordable than a rig.
- Inconspicuous and fits in your pocket.
- Very efficient and helps conserve your concentrates.
Negatives:
- Not something that you would have lying around the house like the other methods.
- Some people do not like the taste that a vape pen gives off. Personally, I find it different but not necessarily off-putting.
- You don’t really get a huge rip like you would off a dab rig.
Tips:
- If this is something that you’re going to be using regularly then you may want to spend some time online looking at reviews. You may end up deciding to spend a bit more on a long-lasting vape. On the other hand, if you just need a quick solution then grab up a cheap one and have at it.
Eating
This one is not really smoking at all, but it is a way to consume concentrates so I thought it was fair for it to make the list. You can get high from eating concentrates, but you will have a bit of prep work beforehand. First, you need to decarboxylate your concentrates. Basically, you need to heat it up to the point where your THCa turns into THC. Like the knife hits, this is a process that is best explained with video so here’s one for everyone considering eating their concentrates. The most important thing is to go very slow with this method. Start out with much less than what you would expect.
Positives:
- Uses things found commonly in the kitchen.
- Don’t have to smoke or vaporize if your throat is sensitive.
Negatives:
- Nothing like taking an actual dab. This is pretty much exactly like taking an edible.
- Many people don’t like the taste, but I have a tip below that may help with this problem.
Tips:
- You can also put the decarbed oil in pill capsules if you don’t want to worry about the taste or getting the wax all over your mouth and teeth.
Ways Not Recommended For Smoking Wax
There are a few ways we found that people are smoking wax, but these methods are not recommended. There are better ways to go about smoking without a rig which I mentioned above.
Stove
The stove is fine for heating up your hot knives, but we’ve found some people are just dropping their concentrates on the eye of the stove. This goes bad a few different ways. First off, the concentrates tend to drip off the sides only to be caught by your stove’s grease trap. More importantly, you are sticking your face next to a big, red hot burner. This method is just asking to be put on the evening news.
Car Lighter
You can use the red-hot coil of a car lighter to vaporize concentrates, but you’re most likely going to end up ruining your car lighter pretty quickly. The coil will vaporize most of it, but there’s always a chance of getting it on the sides. Once this happens you can’t put it back into the slot without getting goo inside.
Tin Foil / Aluminum Foil
This method will work, but the problem is foils tend to off-gas more than solid metals. Once this happens you’ll be breathing in more than just wax vapor. This method – like the hot knives – will make you feel like a weed fiend.
I hope you enjoyed this article. Let me know what you think in the comment section below.
Also, if you enjoyed this article then here are a few of my other article you may like:
Interview with Rick Simpson – Oil that Cures Cancer
Can You Donate Blood If You Smoke Weed?
Can You Eat Raw Weed & Get High?
need a price list of various i hear they vary.
Take any normal pipe, fill with ash, top with concentrate. Melt concentrate into ash then ignite and enjoy.
That also works somoking crack brah..
The ash has to be clean, as in.. you just light a butt & put it down & let it burn & try Not to disturb the fluffy ash!
You could use a, I think it is called, honey sipper – it is just a long glass tube, about 7 inches, and cost 20 bucks – heat one end, put close to dab, and inhale the smoke. You can get ones that allow you to put different nails on the end, titanium, glass or quartz. These are more expensive, a little longer in length, etc. But, they are 90 bucks mas o menos, depending on tip and style. Much easier for folks with Parkinson’s, etc because there is not al the cap over the nail thing going on.As an FYI, glass is good for nail, but breaks easy, quartz is nice, but also breaks easy. Titanium is great, but expensive.
It’s called a nectar collector but the best way to smoke in my opinion
Nectar collector
Take a knife
Put your wax on it. Press it so it wont fall off the knife. Take a lighter or candle.
Hold the knife decently over the candle. The flame should NOT touch the knife. We just want the heat. (It will fail btw if YOU fail here)
You will see some smoke. You can breath in if you want to get high now. Your wax should start to increase volume and you will see that it will “dry out”.
You’re done when your wax dont feel soft anymore. Tipping with fingernails will help to figure this out. Just do it before you heat up the knife – and when you think youre done to have a comparsion of what i mean.
When ready take a sharp knife. Cutter or similar. Now you can scrape your dryed wax step by step off the knife. It will be dusty. But it will hit you like a bomb rolled up into a joint or puttet into a bong. Reverse engineering wax into hash again lol
Have fun trying this out.
btw – dont smoke wax if you cant affort the reqs ^^
Don’t type a comment if you can’t spell either
What a s—ty comment to make
I am surprised that I never have seen online the way I do it.
We used to smoke crappy pot oil like this in the eighties.
You need the following;
1 tablespoon
1/3 gram shatter
1/2 of a king size cigarette
1 piece of thin cardboard from the cig pack.
Rolling paper.
Place the 1/3 gram of shatter into the tablespoon. ( Do not substitute for tin foil, the foil cools off to fast and you will leave to much behind!)
Heat the spoon with a lighter. The shatter will melt into a liquid form. Do not heat to much, just enough to be a liquid. Break the king size smoke in half and use one of the halfs and put into the liquid. Heat again with lighter. Some shatters are different but you should see at least three large bubbles with the tobacco soaking up all the shatter. Remove from heat and use your index finger and swish around all and then spread it out onto a wax paper, or magazine, eat.
Let it cool down and the crunch it up with your fingers and get it nice to roll. I always make a small cardboard filter to make certain the joint will keep good draw and it gives you something to hold onto. I have it down but it takes a bit to know how to make the filters just right.
Torch it up!
I will admit, I am a long time smoker so the tabbaco does not bother me, but I tell you this works so well and you really do taste the shatter!
Try it out.
I have a gram of shatter. Can I break it up in chocolate and melt? I’ve done this with oil, but have never see the shatter. If I can, how much would I put in each cookie?
What do you think shatter is , wow it is oil lol wake up bro
It’s rosin bro lol
dick ^
Great, but my method of preference is vaping, I just love it. Thanks for the share..
When I was in this situation I just took some wax and ripped a tiny piece of paper and mushed it into one. Put in my batty and The paper prevents it from just becoming nothing after a hit.
What the fuck is a batty
Did that ruin the battery at all over time? Looking for ideas to smoke from mine, yours is the best I’ve seen.
For all those who don’t mind the occasional cigarette, all you need to do is make a hole in a bottle (plastic or glass), make little balls of shatter and scoop em’ up using the cigarette. The wax sticks to the cigarette and you can see a thick smoke come off of it. Then all you need to do, quickly, is put the cigarette in the bottle and wait until there is no more thick white smoke coming off your cancer stick.
If it is hot outside, you will need to make sure to unstick your ball of shatter from the surface you have it on before trying to scoop it up with your cigarette.
When using a bong I usually will use a lighter and melt down the concentrate ( the gooier the better) but don’t touch the flame to the concentrate, you don’t want it to catch on fire. You can tell when it’s melted in when it looks like shiny pretty weed. Then I sip the bowl and use a cover to waste no smoke.
My coworker had a old black n mild and I asked if I could kill it and then I put it out and lay my shatter piece on there. You wanna melt it onto the cigar, not burn it all at once. Once it’s melted on the end of it; spark it and it should hit you like a small dab.
Take your wax and put it on a zig zag paper and like it’s resin and put that in your pipe and smoke it. You can also take your paper after getting last chunks out and your tool, then just rub your paper in there to get the wax off your container. Or just smoke it
exactly how we used to do regular hash back in the day. bottle tokes. except we used beer bottles and and had to make the hole woth a pebble in the bottle. good times
If you have a bowl…why not flip it around from normal heat the tip til it’s hot and breathe in through the bowl shaped in while you dip the other side in the dab?
exactly what i thought bro my name is mike too!! ima try this rn lets get it..
Im in need severe needs of was to smoke wax like real quick and discreetly. Now mu buddy keep telling my to get a grenade but again no-fuckin ideas what’s that means so a lil for would help me so much,like for real! Plz help me understand this shit without feeling like.HIVHT SCHOOLER AGAIN! PECE BRO!
I have nectar collector and torch how do I use them to smoke rosin?
Heat the end to red hot then touch that hot end to the rosin/wax/etc and inhale from the other end like a straw while it’s touching the stuff. Just make sure you only let it touch the concentrate as much as possible, and that it’s on something safe to smoke off of; you don’t want to have your dab on plastic and accidentally melt that along with your wax. Silicone works great and I don’t think it’s easy to burn by accident (I try not to test that theory though).
Ok, so from past experience in prison in Canada the best way without a dab rig is to use a rechargeable double A with a piece of thin wire and a hoot stuck between a rolling paper and ripped to size
Wrap said hoot with thin copper wire about 6 or 7 times, scrape a small piece of the rechargeable battery wrap off and remove the wrap from the top completely, use a folded piece of paper to make sure you don’t burn yourself, hold one end of the wire to the side of the battery and the other end needs to be touched to the top of the battery with a pencil or something that won’t melt and within a second it’ll smoke and poof you’re baked
Get a bong drop a ball barring in it heat and tap dab on ball barring and there ya have it
You can use whats called an oil burner. (At least that’s what I call it.) Cost is relatively low and can be found in most head shops. Just drop a dab into the head or bubbled part of the glass and simply heat the bottom. Voilà! Now your going to have to be somewhat careful with your lighter (I would not recommend using a torch) and keep it low so you dont just boil your dab away. It will bubble some just move lighter down a little bit more until it is smoking off the glass. Inhale deep and hold it long. Lastly enjoy it lasting an incredibly considerable amount longer than the other ways mentioned above. (Not “better” guys just more efficiently)
This guy is full of shit: DO NOT PUT CONCENTRATES IN AN OIL BURNER! Probably the worst sensation I ever felt. It was goddamned horrible.
What the hell is a Hoot??
Hoots are what Canuck call a dab, or hit, or chunk of dope.
I use what kind of looks like a crack pipe. glass stem “about 3 inches” put char in one end. Then all you do is put a little piece in said end and “viola” your good…use lighter sparingly ..no waste, no problems
Take a small coffee can or something and flip it upside down to the metal side. Put a screw in the middle of it.. Heat the screw with a torch until the screw gets hot enough and do it off that.
Enjoyed your post, especially your sense of humor. Oh, how many times did I think I was gonna end up on the evening or morning news. Lol.
I put wax in an almost empty distillate tank that I put some vape juice in and the wax won’t mix in with the vape juice and just sticks to the tank and doesn’t get heated melted or smoked? Why isn’t it working for me? And instead of 2 knives could you do a spoon for more control?
Seems a bit complicated for me, but I’ll try it anyway.
This was the best article I have EVER read . I actually READ all of it !! All the tips and everything ! I don’t usually do that but this was so perfectly detailed
I think I would go with the coffee can upside down method without the screw just simply heat underneath with a torch or small torch and use my baseball bat weed hitter or the hot knives. And I also agree this is the best fucking thread I have ever seen stay high my friends smoke weed everyday!
Ps.. thanks for the tips, had I not discovered this thread I probably would’ve wasted my supply… After reading all the comments, I actually put two and three different methods together sort of and eventually sunk into my couch and ended up walking in circles pretty much the rest of the evening trying to remember the task at hand.!