Behind the search for the perfect dab

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The dab market is by far the wildest corner of the weed world. From high-tech devices to crystalline extracts, innovation moves at a frenetic pace, churning out futuristic products and new forms of concentrates at warp speeds. In the race to create the perfect dab, it’s hard to believe that in 2018 we were still dabbing wax with torches.

While this rapid development may seem excessive for the more niche corner of an already niche market, something is working. Concentrates are now the fastest growing sector of the industry. According to Headset, a cannabis data and consumer insights company, concentrate sales skyrocketed by more than 40% in 2020 from $ 567 million in 2019 to $ 797 million in 2020, representing a larger share of the cannabis market. cannabis than ever.

While some of this can be attributed to the fact that we have been literally stuck on the couch throughout 2020 trying to get as high as possible, it is also due to advances in the oil space that have made this divisive hiring method more accessible than ever before. .

As a cultural journalist working in the cannabis field since 2014, and before that as a lifelong smoker, it was crazy to see dab-volution happen. I remember being at a High Times party in February 2018, a few weeks after Puffco Peak, the first electronic implant and catalyst for seismic change in dabbing culture was released. I was shocked to see Peaks replace traditional implants in every concentrate brand booth.

The event celebrated women in cannabis, although at the time the dab world was a boys’ club and the method of taking the concentrate was reserved for only the most intoxicating of smokers and considered inaccurate by almost everyone else.

Dr. Dina, an industry veteran famous for being the inspiration for the hit show Weeds, was also at that party. An early proponent of Puffco’s pivotal creation, it gushed prophetically.

Looking at all the smart rigs and portable vaporizers available today, it’s clear the industry has exploded. Every day my inbox is filled with public relations emails on a new futuristic device that may or may not do exactly what everyone else is doing. Isolated cannabinoids and new forms of solvent-free extraction are all the rage. The industry is always running forward, fueled by a mix of innovation, imitation and hype.

While this advancement behemoth is fun to watch and even more fun to experiment with, whether we want, need or even care to understand most of what is flooding the market is yet to be determined. Which begs the question: Is the industry’s quest for the perfect touch a solo mission, or are we just as excited as they are about another way to get high?

When dab rigs went high tech

One of the ways I write about cannabis is in the form of device reviews. When judging a new dabbing system, e-rig or vaporizer, the first question I ask myself is what does it make different, or better, than everything else? If the answer is nothing, it is essentially just creating trash on earth that no one needs.

Like most industries, true innovation in the device arena rarely occurs, creating a domino effect of imitations in varying degrees of quality. The Peak is the perfect example of a lightning rod invention that changed the world of concentrates and launched thousands of doubles in the process.

Puffco Peak innovated the concentrates world when it entered the market. (Source: Gina Coleman / Weedmaps)

The idea for the Peak was born in 2016 and grew out of a desire for a dabbing device with no learning curve, said Roger Volodarsky, founder of Puffco and creator of The Peak. I wanted it to be shaped like a beer bottle, so people could walk around a party without raising the alarm or hanging out.

He continued, It really started out as a way to convince people that they were disinterested in dabs because of stigma, because of intensity, or because of a learning curve. It was our way of involving them, mainly because these people were our friends and we wanted them to share an experience with them.

In 2017, when the Peak was conceived, concentrate sales were shrinking. I had to convince [my designer] that the reason it was dying is because something like the Peak wasn’t on the market, Volodarsky said. There was no easy, classy way to interact with concentrates. It stopped. Concentrates are now the fastest growing segment in space.

Since then, dabbing devices of all kinds have flooded the market, from super cool to totally lame.

In the end, we obviously have the Peak Pro, as well as Puffco’s new Hot Knife electric dab instrument. The Dab Tech Trio is a remarkably affordable three-in-one electronic straw, vape pen and concentrate vaporizer that fits into any bong or rig. I also love the G Pen Roam, which is basically a hybrid of a giant pen / e-rig with a bubbling fountain that’s perfect for adventures.

Indux Labs Reflux is one of the most innovative systems available, which uses electromagnetic waves to perfectly vaporize chemical compounds at optimal temperatures. And then, of course, existing at the pinnacle of dab couture, lazer bongs and levitating dab rigs.

At the totally lame end of the spectrum exist all the blatant imitations of the original designs. I don’t feel the need to call into question any of these brands or devices. Just know that if you are considering buying a knockoff device, there is a reason they are cheaper. These derivative options are often poorly fabricated, which means they constantly break down. In the world of dab devices, and in life in general, you get what you pay for.

Hash oil, budder and live resin options now flood the cannabis space. (Source: Gina Coleman / Weedmaps) The evolution of the extracts

While the devices have gone from analog to the moon and beyond, the excerpts have also undergone notable splendor. Growing up as a teenager in SoCal in the late 2000s, the first extracts to hit the California medical market looked gooey black and were THC distillates that knocked out all the other cannabinoids and terpenes and got you high in the most one-dimensional way possible.

Now, we enjoy a delicious range of rosin, resins, diamonds, rubs, butters, badders, meticulously mined high quality and more. The evolution of the extracts has been marked by three important developments, particularly in recent years. There is the shift from solvent extracts to solvent-free concentrates, the preference of live products over cured products, and the increase in isolated cannabinoids.

A dab instrument with live rosin. (Source: Gina Coleman / Weedmaps)

To learn more about what all this means, we spoke to Khalid Al-Naser, Head of Product at Raw Garden, one of the most popular and highest quality extract brands on the market.

I have been part of the California cannabis community for over a decade and there has been a huge evolution, said Al-Naser. My earliest memories were of very low quality hashish, or cannabis oil, which was all that was referred to at the time. Butane honey oil explosions were happening in apartments and garages, so there was this feeling that this wasn’t medicine, or it wasn’t clean.

He continued, Many people just seemed to be pushing towards solvent-free alternatives and things they perhaps thought were safer, and then they started trying to push on quality.

The market has taken a sharp turn from promoting solvent extracts such as these distillates or, more recently, live resins, where an accelerator such as butane is used to separate trichomes from plant matter. Solvent-free concentrates like rosin are extracted using only a combination of heat, ice, water and pressure and have become highly sought after, sparking a debate within the industry and consumers as to which is best and why.

With rosin, it was as if someone came across the idea that the heat and pressure would separate the oils from the hash, then discovered they could do it with the flowers as well, Al-Naser said. You’ve seen this resurgence of solvent-free products. I think much of that change was partly a reflection of the volatile nature of the pre-recreational market.

Live products, such as live resins and live rosin, have also become very popular. These products use instant frozen live plants in the extraction process, creating an extract with a much more robust terpene profile than those obtained from dried buds, as much of the smell and taste of cannabis is lost during the drying process.

At the forefront of innovation in the concentrate space, there are products such as THCA diamonds, the search for isolated cannabinoids and supercritical C02 extraction forms that claim to revolutionize solvent-free extraction. The possibilities for advancement in the extract arena are truly limitless, especially when it comes to cannabinoid isolation, as we’ve barely scratched the surface to understand what these chemicals do together, much less alone.

A diamond sauce dab instrument. These concentrates are coveted among the niche weed subcultures. (Source: Gina Coleman / Weedmaps) The future of dabbing

So, back to the question that exists at the heart of it all: Are we consumers as excited about all this wild progress as the people who profit from it? Rodger Volodarsky is not convinced, and neither am I.

I think consumers like one thing, he said. And this is experience. I had to learn this lesson very early on when I came with the Puffco Plus. Currently, we sell a ton of them. But when it first came out, I thought people would lose their minds when they saw that it was a ceramic concentrate pen with no coils. But it didn’t matter to one person.

The glaring flaw in the dab rush is that brands are so caught up in outdoing each other and making money on the wave, that they forget that most consumers not only don’t care, but don’t have the bandwidth to keep up. with all this hyper-complicated advancement.

Casual consumers just want to get high and feel good. They buy the products that communicate most clearly that is what they do. After reviewing dab devices for years, I own pretty much all of them. When friends who occasionally smoke come up and see all of these things, they giggle with frowning smiles, but very few of them are interested in learning more. The vibe I get from most people is why, not wow.

Products that simplify something complicated, like the Peak did with traditional dabbing, will always beat products that unnecessarily complicate things in the pursuit of innovation. Innovative advances like electronic dab rigs, portable vaporizers, and live rosin are what have made concentrates more accessible, and along with weed marketing, hype and subcultures celebrating 7/10, are what will continue. to bring more people into the world of dabs.

They didn’t figure it out until we started presenting how to use it and made them realize it’s a one hitter hash. Then sales exploded, Volodarsky said. I think innovation is about leveling the experience, not new features.

Featured image by Gina Coleman / Weedmaps

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