Dab Rig Parts Explained: Banger, Carb Cap, Dab Tool and More
The main dab rig parts are the rig itself (a small water pipe), a banger or nail that gets heated, a carb cap, a dab tool and a heat source, which is a butane torch or an e-nail. The banger has to match the rig’s joint in size (10, 14 or 18 mm), gender and angle, or it won’t fit.
For the steps and temperatures, see how to dab. Baller Club sells no rigs, torches or other hardware, so the gear comes from elsewhere.
Dab rig parts at a glance
| Part | What it does | Check before buying |
|---|---|---|
| Rig | Cools the vapour through water | Joint size and gender |
| Banger or nail | The surface you heat and dab on | Material, size, gender, angle |
| Carb cap | Holds heat in the banger | That it fits your banger’s bucket width |
| Dab tool | Carries concentrate to the banger | Tip shape |
| Torch or e-nail | Heats the banger | A locking trigger, or a set temperature |
What is a dab rig?
A dab rig is a small water pipe made for vaporizing concentrates. Where a bong has a bowl for flower, a rig has a banger or nail, and the vapour passes through water in the base before it reaches you.
Rigs are usually smaller than bongs, with less filtration, because the farther vapour travels through glass and water, the more flavour it loses.
The glass rig has its own parts:
- Mouthpiece: the opening at the top that you inhale from.
- Neck: the tube that rises from the chamber to the mouthpiece.
- Chamber: the base that holds the water. The vapour bubbles through it and cools on the way up.
- Stem: the tube that carries vapour from the joint down into the water. Some rigs have it fused into the glass, and these fixed stems usually bend, which makes them harder to scrub. Others take a removable downstem.
- Percolator: an extra chamber or insert that runs the vapour through water a second time. Not every rig has one, and each one adds glass to clean.
- Recycler: a second chamber joined to the main one by glass tubes, built into some rigs. As you draw, water rises into it, separates from the vapour and drains back down, so it stays out of the mouthpiece.
- Joint: the fitting where the banger connects, covered next.
Percolators come in several builds, including the honeycomb (a flat disc drilled with small holes), the showerhead (a bell shape with slits or holes around its bottom edge) and the inline (a horizontal tube with slits along its length, set at the bottom of the chamber).
Fill the chamber until the water sits about 6 to 12 mm above the openings at the bottom of the stem or in the percolator. That’s less water than a bong takes. If water climbs toward the mouthpiece when you draw, pour some out.
Joint sizes and genders
The joint is the fitting on the side of the rig where the banger connects. Its size, gender and angle decide which bangers fit.
Joints come in three sizes:
- 10 mm: the smallest, found mostly on mini rigs.
- 14 mm: common on dab rigs. It measures about 14.5 mm.
- 18 mm: sometimes sold as 19 mm. It measures about 18.8 mm.
A female joint is an opening, and a male joint is a tube that slides into one. The banger is always the opposite gender to the rig. Bangers also come in 45 and 90 degree versions, and the angle has to match the joint’s so the bucket sits level.
If the joint isn’t labelled, measure it. Measure across the mouth of a female joint, or the outside of a male tube at its widest point. About 14.5 mm means a 14 mm joint, and about 18.8 mm means 18 mm.
What is a quartz banger?
A quartz banger is a bucket-shaped quartz dish that sits in the rig’s joint. You heat it, then touch concentrate to the inside so it vaporizes. Nail is the older, general name for any heated piece in the joint.
Quartz is fused silica, a glass made of almost pure silicon dioxide that takes large, fast temperature changes without cracking. Titanium and ceramic are the other common materials.
| Material | Heats up | Holds heat | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quartz | Fast | Moderate, longer with a thick bottom | Cracks if dropped or splashed while hot |
| Titanium | Fast | Long | Can taste metallic until it’s seasoned |
| Ceramic | Slow | Longest and most even | Least forgiving of knocks and sudden cooling |
Older domed nails needed a separate glass dome set over them to hold the vapour in. Domes break easily, and open, domeless bangers used with a carb cap have since become the standard.
Besides the plain flat-top bucket, bangers come in a few other builds:
- Thermal: a banger with two walls, an inner bucket held inside an outer one. Reclaim can collect in the gap between them.
- Terp slurper: a banger built in sections, with a bottom dish, a column with slits cut around it, an open barrel where terp pearls spin and a marble or cap on top.
- Deep dish: a taller bucket, with room for terp pearls or a quartz insert. The insert is a smaller quartz dish that sits inside the bucket, so the concentrate goes in it rather than on the banger’s floor.
What is a carb cap?
A carb cap is a small cover you set on top of the banger after the dab goes in. A small hole in it limits airflow, which keeps heat in the banger so the oil pooled at the bottom keeps vaporizing.
- Bubble cap: a rounded dome that keeps a seal while you move the airflow around.
- Directional cap: pushes air in one direction, which spins terp pearls and spreads the oil.
- Spinner cap: works like a directional cap, with more motion.
Match the cap to the banger’s bucket, which is measured across from outer wall to outer wall. The common widths are 16, 20, 25 and 30 mm. A cap that’s too small won’t seal, so vapour leaks out and oil stays pooled in the bottom.
What is a dab tool?
A dab tool, or dabber, is a short wand of stainless steel, titanium or quartz that you use to pick up concentrate and touch it to the hot banger. The tip shape affects how cleanly the concentrate comes off.
| Concentrate | Texture | Tip that suits it |
|---|---|---|
| Shatter | Hard and glassy | Pick (pointed) |
| Cured resin and budder | Soft and sticky | Scoop |
| Crumble | Dry, breaks into pieces | Scoop or flat paddle |
| Sauce | Runny | Scoop |
Our shatter comes in 1 g slabs at $10 that break apart easily with a pick. Cured resin is soft enough to scoop, from our 1 g jars at $10 to a 1 oz jar of Pacific Northwest Black Label OG Kush at $170.
Torch or e-nail
You heat the banger with a handheld butane torch or with an e-nail, which is electric.
| Torch | E-nail | |
|---|---|---|
| How it heats | A butane flame | An electric coil, run by a controller |
| Temperature | You time the cool-down, or read it with an infrared thermometer | Holds the temperature you set, so there’s no cool-down to time |
| Also needs | Butane refills | Power, and usually a drop-down adapter |
A butane torch is the common choice. Pick one with an adjustable flame and a locking trigger, and keep it out of the sight and reach of children, as Health Canada advises for lighters.
Common extras
You can dab without any of these. The first four go in the banger or on the joint, and the other four stay off the rig.
- Terp pearls: balls about 4 to 8 mm across, made of quartz, ruby, sapphire or ceramic. They spin in the banger during the draw and push the oil around the hot surface.
- Reclaim catcher: a glass adapter between the banger and the joint. Oil that condenses on the way through drips into a removable dish, so it stays out of the rig and the water.
- Drop-down: an adapter that moves the banger lower and away from the joint, often paired with an e-nail or a reclaim catcher.
- Keck clip: a plastic clamp that snaps over the joint so the connection doesn’t slip apart while you use it.
- Infrared thermometer: reads the banger’s temperature, so you know when it has cooled enough to dab.
- Silicone mat: gives the rig and tools a non-stick surface, so drips of reclaim and hot glass stay off the table.
- Cotton swabs: wipe out the banger after each dab, while it’s warm but not hot.
- Isopropyl alcohol: 91% to 99% dissolves residue. It’s flammable, so let the glass dry before the torch comes out. For the rig’s glass body, follow how to clean a bong, since it cleans the same way.
Common questions
What are the parts of a dab rig called?
The glass rig has a mouthpiece, a neck, a water chamber, a stem and a joint, and some add a percolator. The banger (or nail) fits the joint and the carb cap goes over it, and you also need a dab tool and a torch or e-nail.
What size banger do I need?
The same size as your rig’s joint, in the opposite gender and at the same angle. A 14 mm female joint at 90 degrees takes a 14 mm male 90 degree banger.
Do you need a carb cap to dab?
No, a rig works without one. The cap keeps heat in the banger so the oil left at the bottom vaporizes instead of staying behind as residue.
What accessories does a dab rig need?
Beyond the rig, you need a banger, a dab tool and a heat source, and ideally a carb cap. Terp pearls, a reclaim catcher, a silicone mat and an infrared thermometer are extras you can add later.
How many dabs are in a gram?
It depends on how much you load each time. In a 2018 field study, researchers weighed the concentrate that 59 people loaded onto a dab tool and found an average of 0.08 g, roughly 12 dabs a gram, with loads anywhere from 0.01 g to 0.34 g.
Can you dab without a rig?
Yes. A nectar collector is a handheld option, and how to smoke shatter covers a dab pen, a bowl and a joint.
