Nail Buying Guide

Although dabbing with concentrates has proven to be incredibly popular, many people are still confused with the process of buying the necessary tools. After choosing your bong and grabbing an appropriate torch, the next biggest issue you’ll be facing is the purchase of a nail. Between domed or domeless, as well as the choice of quartz, titanium, or ceramic, there are a lot of options. Check out this guide to help you out in narrowing the choices!

Domed Vs. Domeless

Domed

A dome is an attachment for your water pipe that commonly goes over the nail and downstem connection and creates a dome around the heated nail with an open-ended top to allow users to reach their dab-tools inside to reach the nail. This prevents the user from inadvertently touching the hot nail, and the dome also helps catch some of the escaping vapor to get as much out of the dab as you can. Domes are usually made of glass and accompany glass nails as well.

Domeless

Domeless nails were made in order to reduce some of the effort that is required from a domed-nail, and also are more often made of other materials than glass. Typically domeless nails feature a single connection to the downstem connected to a larger heating plate than you would normally find on a domed-nail.

Common styles of domeless nail include:

Direct Inject:

A direct inject nail offers exactly that, a direct path for the vapor to flow into the piece with a heating dish and a slightly raised bowl that flows directly into the downstem.

Daisy:

A daisy nail involves a relatively flat or curved surface with slits along the outside of the plate.

Angled Cut:

An angled cut design is more for aesthetic appeal than anything else, giving users a visual change from the standard flat nail.

Banger:

Banger nails tend to feature a curved or joint-like design that distances the heating dish from your piece. They also tend to have bucket-like heating dishes for better containment of the vaporized concentrate.

Ceramic vs. Quartz vs. Titanium

Ceramic

Ceramic nails are pretty much all domeless. There are some claims that say that ceramic provides the best tasting hit, despite being the nail that takes the longest on average to reach the desired temperature. They are the cheapest type of nail on average, usually costing between $10 USD and $20 USD. Ceramics do have a tendency to crack over time, and require more care than other nails to avoid overheating, which could shatter it. If you end up heating your ceramic nails evenly and slowly, you should be able to get a long life out of them.

Quartz

Quartz nails, although look like glass, are much more durable than glass, and it is generally said that quartz nails provide the purest taste for your dabs. They generally are modest in price, you can find them usually at $20 USD to around $40 USD average, but will eventually show their wear after a few months. I’ve made my quartz nail last as long as 6 months before it cracking due to heat fractures. Quartz nails can be used with domes or you can also buy domeless ones. Quartz nails heat up the fastest out of any of the nails, taking around 20 seconds or less to reach the desired temperature, but they also don’t retain that heat for very long. This can make them quite desirable as the quick temperature change preserves some of your butane, and also reduces the risk of burning yourself on the nail after sooner.

Titanium

Titanium, like ceramic, is mostly domeless, and is for sure the most durable of all the nail types, so long as you’re sure to buy certified titanium. If you do, it is incredibly unlikely it would break due to dropping damage or heat over time. Some people claim that titanium gives off a metallic taste in the dab, however some people also claim there is no taste. The downside to the value is that titanium nails are usually the most expensive of the three, costing usually upwards of $40 USD and also take a bit longer to heat up when being torched; being approximately 30 seconds or so.

Halo:

Halo nails offers a very unique design with its arch above the heating plate. The vaporized concentrate rises from the heating dish and enters the slits on the ‘halo’ during the draw.

Universal (and Complete):

Meant to fit multiple joint sizes or both genders. Complete Universal nails are meant to fit all joint sizes (10mm, 14mm, 18mm) as well as both genders of connection.