How to Use a Carb Cap

A carb cap is a tool that is designed for use with domeless nails, either titanium or quartz. These tools have a small hole to maximize airflow to your nail. When using a carb cap, you will heat up the domeless nail, put the oil or concentrate on the nail and place the carb cap over the domeless nail.

Carb caps are going to offer you a flavor that is far superior, and will allow you to keep the smoke where it belongs: in your piece. A carb cap will also restrict airflow and help to maintain the nail's heat.

How to Use a Carb Cap

A carb cap can come in handy no matter if you are new to concentrates or have been using them for years. The following will give you a detailed account on what to do with your carb cap.

Dabbing at Low Temperatures vs. Dabbing at High Temperatures

Dabbing at high temperature is what people who are new to concentrates will experiment with. Learning to heat your nail correctly is not easy. Properly heating up your nail will make all the difference when it comes to preserving your glass piece. Experienced users will take preventative measures to make sure that the heat will not be applied directly to their glass piece.

Hottest Part of Flame

There are two major areas that you need to consider in order to get the most out of your flame. The two areas are the bright blue part and the light blue part.

  • The bright blue part of the flame is where the primary combustion will occur; it is where the initial burning happens. It is NOT the hottest part of the flame.

  • The hottest part of the flame is at the tip of the inner flame. When you use this part of your flame, you will find that you are left with far less combustion byproducts and a much faster heating time.

  • The high temperature dabbing trend may have also come about from the common misconception that your nail needs to be red hot in order to use it but this is not true. The perfect temperature for vaporization is going to occur between 350 and 410 degrees F.

    If you try to use your nail when it is red hot it will only result in less efficiency while burning away your materials. The type of nail you are using will not affect this. If you have nails that are made out of glass, quartz, titanium or ceramic, they will all still work the exact same way.

  • A red hot ceramic nail and a red hot titanium nail will be the same temperature. Titanium does have a tendency to lose heat rather quickly and this is why people using titanium are told to wait until the red glow from their nail fades before applying their concentrates.

Low Temperature Dabbing

Low temperature dabbing is a concept that more experienced users generally consider. Low temperature dabbing will optimize your flavor and provide you with a much smoother hit.

How to Use Carb Caps with Open Air Systems

Carb caps will help you in the low temperature dabbing process. If you want to use a carb cap, you must make sure that you are using a product that is going to operate as an open air system. An open air system is when your concentrates rely solely on the heat from the dish of the nail for vaporization. You can use carb caps on:

  • Domeless nails
  • Bangers
  • Curves

Operation of Carb Cap

A carb cap creates a chamber with restricted airflow for your concentrates to vaporize. Most of your carb caps are going to have a single hole which will in turn help to create suction within the chamber. The carb cap will then produce a vortex that will help to cool down both the air and vapor that is trapped inside the piece.

Most carb caps are similar in design. They all will feature a hollowed, rounded end which will function as the cap and the pointed handle end.