Quartz
Quartz is a high-purity mineral used to make bangers, nails, and other heated components for dabbing. It's prized for heating quickly, retaining temperature consistently, and delivering completely pure flavor without any material interference.
Key features:
- High-purity crystalline structure
- Rapid heating and consistent temperature retention
- Preserves flavor completely — no taste interference
- Durable when handled properly
- Various grades affect performance and price
The purity matters. High-grade quartz (often called fused quartz or high-purity quartz) contains 99.9% silicon dioxide with minimal impurities. Lower-grade quartz includes more impurities that can affect heat distribution and durability. You can sometimes see quality differences — clouding, inconsistent color when heated, or devitrification (a white, hazy buildup) indicate lower purity.
The heat characteristics of quartz make it ideal for dabbing. It reaches vaporization temperatures quickly with a torch, holds that temperature long enough for complete vaporization, and cools in a predictable timeframe. You can see when it's reaching temperature — quartz glows slightly at high heat, giving visual feedback. This transparency to heat also means you can see your concentrate vaporizing, helping you learn optimal techniques.
Wall thickness affects performance. Standard quartz (2-2.5 mm walls) heats quickly but cools faster. Thick quartz (3-4 mm walls) takes longer to heat but retains temperature significantly longer, supporting larger dabs or multiple applications without reheating. The tradeoff is between heat-up speed and retention duration.
Working with quartz: Heat your quartz banger with a torch until it glows slightly (indicating it's reached temperature), then let it cool to your target range. Most people use timers — heating for X seconds, cooling for Y seconds — to create consistent results. Lower temps (30-60 second cooldown) preserve terpenes and deliver exceptional flavor. Higher temps (10-20 second cooldown) create denser vapor. Clean your quartz immediately after each dab while it's still warm — cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol remove residue before it bakes on. Buildup (also known as chazzing) permanently clouds the quartz and affects the flavor. Never heat dirty quartz. Clean first, then heat. Store quartz carefully since it can chip or crack if dropped.