Understanding your dab rig's parts is how you get the perfect dab hit.
A dab rig has four main parts: The banger (where dabs are heated and turned into vapor), the body (where vapor flows through), the water chamber (where vapor is cooled and filtered), and the carb cap, which covers the banger to prevent vapor from escaping.
Every part has a purpose, from the banger where your torch heats, the downstem that pulls the vapor from the banger into the water chamber, and even the seal of the joint, which prevents vapor from escaping. All parts of the dab rig work together to deliver a powerful dab hit similar to the strength of a bong rip.
Dab rig parts:
- Banger or nail (where your concentrate goes)
- Carb cap (controls airflow for perfect hits)
- Water chamber (cools your vapor)
- Percolator (makes vapor extra smooth)
- Dab tool (transferring dabs without burning yourself)
- Butane torch (provides precise heating)
What does a dab rig look like?
A dab rig looks like a 6-10 inch tall glass water pipe that looks very similar to a small bong. But instead of a bowl where ground cannabis goes, you have a banger (a bucket) that holds dabs and the water chamber is usually smaller than a bong to preserve flavors.
Inside the water chamber, you’ll find the percolator, which creates water bubbles. There are many different types of dab rigs, so the material and the body of a dab rig can change. Recycler rigs are much more intricate, with winding arms, and mini rigs are much simpler.
Anatomy of a dab rig
A dab rig’s anatomy includes 5 main parts: banger, joint, downstem, percolator, water chamber, neck, and mouthpiece. All 5 parts work together to transform your cannabis concentrate into filtered and potent vapor for you to inhale.
How dab vapor flows through each part of your rig:
Traditional dabs start with an empty banger, whereas cold start dabs start with the dabs inside the banger. For this example, we’ll use traditional dabs (an empty banger).
First, you heat your empty banger with a butane torch, and once it’s hot enough, you move your dabs in with a dab tool. The hot banger melts the dabs and turns it into vapor, which you inhale:
- The vapor then travels through the sealed joint and down the downstem into the water chamber.
- The hot vapor is broken apart by being forced through different holes in the percolators (water diffusion).
- The holes in the percolator plus the force from your inhale creates water bubbles which further spread the hot vapor apart.
- The hot vapor then travels up your rig’s neck and through the mouthpiece for you to inhale.
1. Quartz banger (where dabs go)
A quartz banger is a bucket-shaped bowl made from high-quality crystal quartz, designed specifically to vaporize concentrates. The quartz crystal is strong enough to withstand high temperatures from a butane torch, and the banger connects to your dab rig via a male or female joint.
There are many different types of bangers, all designed to super-charge the filtration and cooling process. The butane torch heats the outside of the banger and gets the entire bucket hot enough, so when you place your dabs in, it begins melting and the cannabinoids and terpenes turn into vapor form for you to inhale.
2. Carb cap (lid to the banger)
A carb cap is basically a lid that fits over your quartz banger, creating an airtight seal to prevent vapor from escaping. Its purpose is to control your dab vapor’s airflow by trapping heat and pushing the heat evenly over the concentrate, forcing all of your dabs to touch the walls of the heated banger to vaporize evenly.
There are different types of carb caps: bubble, flat tops, and directional flow, and each design delivers unique airflow patterns, which is a fancy way of saying each one helps your dabs move around more inside the banger so it melts and gives you more vapor to inhale. Some caps have multiple air holes, and some deliver vortex effects that work with terp pearls.
3. Butane torch (heats the banger)
The butane torch, or dab torch, is a torch that uses pressurized butane fuel to produce a super focused and intense flame. You need this level of heat, because a quartz banger or titanium nail needs to absorb enough heat so when you drop your dabs in them they melt and produce vapor.
The best dab torch offers adjustable flame control, safety features like child locks, and ergonomic grip design. While propane torches can work, butane torches offer a cleaner burn, more precise temperature control, and gentler heating which is important for preserving the flavor of your dabs and extending the lifespan of your quartz banger.
4. Mouthpiece (you inhale here)
The mouthpiece is the opening at the top of your dab rig where you inhale the vapor after it’s gone through the water filtration stage. Mouthpieces usually have a rounded lip design to make things more comfortable.
Dab rig mouthpieces can be different angles, for example a side car dab rig places the mouthpiece perpendicular to the body to help prevent water from splashing up the neck and into your mouth. All dab rig mouthpieces usually have a wider opening so more vapor can flow up effortlessly.
5. Base/Water Chamber (holds water)
Your dab rig’s water chamber is the main reservoir at the base of the rig where hot dab vapor flows through. The water chamber either has a diffused downstem or a percolator, both create water bubbles to help your dab vapor filter and cool down for cleaner and smoother inhales.
The water chamber also helps your dab vapor moisten to prevent dry throat coughs. Water in your dab rig not only cools hot vapor but also impacts potency, terpenes, and how much stress you put on your lungs. Without the water chamber, your dab rig would be a dry pipe, and the hits would be potent but extremely harsh, causing a ton of unnecessary stress in your lungs.
6. Downstem (pulls vapor underwater)
The downstem is a glass tube that connects your nail or banger (where dabs go) to the water chamber of your rig and into the percolator. An easier way to visualize it is that he downstem is what connects the banger to the percolator in your water chamber. Hot vapor flows from your banger through the downstem and then flows out of the percolator slits creating water bubbles.
7. Percolator (makes bubbles)
Percolators, or “percs”, are filtration systems built into your dab rigs' water chamber. It’s usually connected to the end of the downstem and sits at the bottom of the water chamber. They are meant to be submerged under water, so when you inhale the force through the holes of the percolators creates water bubbles.
There are many different types of percolators, such as honeycomb, showerhead, and inline designs, each offering unique advantages when it comes to filtration and cooling. While bong percs focus more on smoke filtration (cleaning), dab rig percs are specifically engineered to prevent terpene loss and enhance flavors while cooling down hot vapor for a mother hit.
8. Glass joint (connects banger to rig)
The glass joint is the tapered hole where your nail or banger slides into to create an air tight seal for vapor to flow from the banger into your dab rig’s water chamber without any vapor loss. The banger size and the joint size has to match perfectly, or else you’ll have a very difficult time pulling the vapor from your banger into the water chamber.
45 and 90-degree quartz bangers were made specifically for the joint angle:
- 90° banger has a right-angle joint, designed for dab rigs with a joint (the hole where the banger slides in) facing the ceiling.
- A 45° banger has a slanted joint made for dab rigs where the joint (the hole where the banger slides in) points diagonally rather than straight up.
Pro parts (upgrades)
1. Sidecar arm (no more splashback)
If you’re tired of inhaling nasty rig water, a sidecar arm is what you’re looking for. It’s a clever trick where the neck of the dab rig (usually going straight up) is cut and placed in the center at an angle. This design stops water from bubbling up into your mouth during hits, no matter how hard you pull or how much water you fill.
2. Reclaim catcher (saves leftover oil)
A reclaim catcher is an attachment for your dab rig that catches leftover concentrate before it falls into your water chamber. It usually sits between your banger and the water chamber, so when hot vapor cools and turns back into droplets of oils, it falls into this clever little reservoir.
Reclaim catchers come in different shapes, angles, and styles, including attachments with handy removable silicone jars that are easy to clean and remove reclaim from. They save you money by returning to you the dabs you lost in the process.
3. Thermal banger (keeps heat longer)
A thermal banger is an upgraded quartz banger designed with a smaller bucket suspended inside it, creating an insulating air pocket between the two layers. This design traps heat in the air pocket, keeping the dab temperature consistent. This prevents quick cooling, which can lead to harsh, partially vaporized hits.
There are dozens of different types of modified bangers that enhance the dab experience, such as core reactor bangers, terp slurpers, and auto-spinning bangers. The primary purpose of all these bangers is to trap heat longer and promote a much more productive vaporization process so your dab vapor is more potent, smoother, and terpene-rich.
4. Directional carb cap (spins vapor)
A directional carb cap is a glass cap with an angled air channel that pushes air directly at the bottom and corners of the banger, creating a vortex of air that swirls concentrate around the heated surface of the banger, increasing your vapor production, potency, and flavor extraction.
The spinning action works well with terp pearls and helps prevent concentrate pooling (dabs that begin melting but don’t form vapor), reduces waste, and helps your banger distribute the heat from its walls into the dabs much more evenly.
5. Quartz insert (little bowl inside)
A quartz insert is a small bucket container that fits inside your quartz banger, usually made from quartz, ruby, or sapphire. Instead of putting your dabs directly on hot quartz, you drop your loaded insert into the heated banger, then put your dabs into the insert. This prevents over burning of your concentrates which is really common with torch dabbing.
Quartz inserts are great for cold start dabs or low temperature dabbing. Both methods are focused on flavor preservation, less dab aroma, and full spectrum release of cannabinoids. Inserts are easier to clean than your main banger, and you can pre-load multiple inserts for quick back-to-back reverse dabbing.
6. Drop-down adapter (extra distance)
A drop down adapter is a glass attachment that extends the distance between your banger and your dab rig, protecting the body of your rig from heat damage from excess flame from the butane torch, collecting reclaim, and moving the heat source further away from your face and hands. The extra distance not only protects your rig but also helps cool the vapor for smoother hits.
A drop down adapter slides into the joint of your rig, similar to an ash catcher as an extension arm. It acts as a long tube, where one end slides into the joint of your rig and the other end of the tube is where the banger slides into. Dropdown adapters come in various angles (45° or 90°) and joint sizes to match your unique dab rig setup.
7. Terp pearls (move heat around)
Terp pearls are small spherical beads made of quartz, ruby, or scientific glass that sit inside your banger. When the dabbing process begins, the heat from your torch and the airflow from your carb cap begin spinning the terp pearls at the bottom of your banger, which helps distribute heat and concentrate evenly across the banger's surface (so more dabs melt and turn into vapor for you to inhale).
Terp pearls come in 4 mm to 8 mm sizes. Larger pearls hold heat longer, while smaller ones spin faster. Using multiple pearls can create a vortex effect for maximum vapor production. Terp pearls work best with flat-bottom bangers and directional carb caps or auto-spinning carb caps.
8. Recycler arms (loops water again)
A recycler arm is found in a recycler dab rig and usually has two extra glass tubes that continuously circulates water and vapor through the dab rig in a cyclical motion. One end of the arm is connected to the main chamber and the other to the drain, which creates a longer loop where as a traditional dab rig only exposes the vapor through the water chamber once.
Recycler arms loops your hot dab vapor longer in the filtration process and exposes it more to water, which absorbs the heat from the vapor cooling it significantly for a smoother, cough-free inhale. You can choose between single arm or multi-arm systems, but remember wider arms gives slower, smoother pulls while narrow ones create faster, more turbulent cycling.
