With dabbing, you’re smoking waxes or concentrates. When you’re going to smoke these substances, it’s very important to heat these products right. For heating your wax and concentrates, it’s best to use a dab torch. A dab torch can reach temperatures up to 1430 °C (2610 °F), to perfectly heat your concentrates. If you don’t heat wax and concentrates correctly, you’re going to miss out on the powerful effects and flavorful rips dabbing can provide.

But what if you don’t have a dab torch with you when you want to dab? In this blog, we will tell you all alternative ways on how you can dab without a dab torch.

Here, we’ll go through all the options you have to dab without a torch. We’ll also let you know why most people use torches, and how to get similar results with different methods.

Let’s dive right in!

Why are torches used for dabbing?

To get a proper rip, you need to heat up your nail evenly and effectively. Unlike a regular bong bowl, where you simply light up your material, dabbing requires you to heat up the nail until it’s red-hot before you even place your concentrate.

The easiest way of doing it is with a torch. Torches allow you to spread a lot of heat very quickly, and their design allows you to heat the nail evenly without too much effort. Since torches produce hotter, more constant flames than regular lighters, they’re perfect to reach the temperatures you need for dabbing.

However, there are multiple alternatives to torches that will allow you to still get the results you’re after.

1. Use An E-Nail

E-nails are one of our favorite ways of dabbing without a torch. Instead of using a flame, e-nails use electricity to reach the temperature you need.

E-nails like the G Pen Connect replace both your nail and torch, allowing you to load your material directly onto it, and reach the perfect temperature to dab. Instead of trying to calculate the temperature by how the nail looks or how long it has been heated, e-nails allow you to dab at a constant, fixed temperature of your liking.

Since there’s no open flame, e-nails can be safer and easier to use than a dabbing torch. Plus, you don’t need to keep reloading them with butane, or worse, keep buying new ones. Instead, most simply charge through a USB port.

Although e-nails are more expensive than a simple torch, the investment can arguably improve your whole dabbing experience.

2. Use a Stove

If you ever find yourself without a torch, a stove is a good quick fix to start dabbing. However, you probably need tongs to safely handle your nail when heating it up with a torch.

The tongs should not have any plastic or silicone that can melt. Instead, look for tongs that can endure direct contact with the flames.

Once you have your tongs, turn on your stove and set your flames as high as they can be. Then, hold the nail with your tongs over the flames. You’ll have to hold your nail for a few minutes, usually about 5 minutes depending on your stove and your preferences. Once the nail is hot enough, carefully place it into your dabbing rig, and you’re good to go!

Although this can be a simple way to get around using a torch, it’s fairly inconvenient, and it’s not easy to heat up the nail evenly, so you probably will only want to use it as a last resort.

3. Use a Vaporizer

Wax and dab pens are a great way of dabbing without a torch, or even a dab rig. Instead of a flame, dab pens have a heating element and a battery to power it. All you need to do is to lead your material onto them, turn them on, and start dabbing.

Vaporizers like the PAX Era Pro are only slightly more expensive than some dab rigs, and allow you to dab at fixed temperatures with its own Bluetooth app. Electronic dab straws like the Atmos Electro, which allows you to vaporize your material without even needing to load it into the device.

Check out our dab pen collection to pick up the one that best fits your needs.

How NOT to Dab Without a Torch

There are multiple other ways to dab without a torch from random posts and obscure subreddits that are best to avoid.

Some people will tell you to use an electric car lighter, which is arguably even riskier than dabbing with a torch. Since car lighters are, as the name suggests, usually found in cars, you’ll have to sit in a car while using the lighter and a bottle as a smoke chamber, which can be pretty dangerous and lead to bad dabbing experiences.

Another dangerous method is “hot knifing”, where you heat two knives with a stove burner until they’re hot enough to vaporize your material of choice. This method isn’t just dangerous due to having to handle two red-hot knives, it can also be very tricky to pull off, and you may end up dropping your precious material more than once while learning to use this method.

Lastly, make sure to never use aluminium, since it can release toxic fumes when heating it up.

Final Thoughts

Dabbing can be challenging when you don’t have a torch, but it’s not impossible. With these alternatives, we’re sure you’ll be able to dab safely and comfortably with or without a torch.

Check out or dab rigs and e-nails, and, if you’re really missing a torch, just get a new one from our store, and an extra one to make sure you always have a replacement.