A lot of things in the weed world go hand in hand. For example, I personally think pizza rolls and bong rips are a better pair than peanut butter and jelly, although red wine and live resin are a close second. In all seriousness—I’m talking about things like kief scraping tools and sifter boxes, or a vape scoop tool and a dab pen.
Decades ago, I wasn’t really into stoner accessories. I was just hoping to puff a bowl and not get caught. The flashiest thing I owned in high school was a puffy corduroy pouch that I stuffed my pipe into to mask the smell of burnt weed. Nowadays, we have high-end blown glass bongs infused with gemstones and every kind of stoner tool you can imagine.
There is so much fun to be had when building up your stoner tool kit, but don’t get distracted by shiny things and forget a few essential staples you’ll need. This is especially true if you are a dab fan. While luxury dab rigs are nice to have at home, they are not very discreet or portable. This is when a dab pen comes in handy. And if you are going mobile with your dab device, you’ll want to take a vape scoop tool along for the ride, too.
Why You Need a Vape Scoop Tool
Cannabis extracts are highly concentrated and extremely potent. A dab the size of a pinhead might not seem like much, but that little golden drop of oil could be as much as 90% or higher in THC content. For a casual flower smoker, dabs can launch you to another planet. That’s why it’s super important to start with a small amount and work your way up.
While this seems logical enough, if you’ve never worked with extracts, you are soon to find yourself playing guesswork with a sticky mess of dabs. How much is too much? Why are my fingers stuck together? Are the pizza rolls ready yet?
Trying to use your fingers to get a small amount of dab is impractical, and if you are using a dab rig, you’ll burn your fingers before you get the wax onto the nail. You need a vape scoop tool because no other device will do. You can’t handle the extracts by hand, and when you are using a dab pen, we’re talking about delicately placing a small glob of oil into a cigar-sized device.
Keefer Scraper Mini Scoop Multi-tool
Keefer Scraper Scoop Multi-tool
Choose something that can scoop, scrape, and tamp. A shovel on one end helps you portion and scoop your extract. A pointed end can help scrape up super sticky and tacky extracts that often get stuck inside the corners of their container, or need to be gently lifted off of parchment paper. For dry herb vaporizers, use the back of the shovel to gently tamp the buds into the champer or bowl.
How Does a Dab Pen Work?
A dab pen differs from a vape pen because you add your own extracts. A vape pen is usually pre-loaded with a viscose extract, and you typically replace cartridges with new ones once you’ve vaped all of the oil. The cartridge is often made of glass, so you can see how much of it is being used up and know when to replace it.
A dab pen (also called a wax pen) is a small, handheld electronic device used for smoking dabs. It works much like a vape pen, but instead of distillate or liquid, you use extracts like shatter, crumble, rosin, live resin, crumble, or wax.
All you need is a fully charged dab pen and a quality extract of your choice. Then you simply:
- Remove the mouthpiece from the top of the pen
- Use a vape scoop tool to place the desired amount of wax onto the heating coil
- Place the mouthpiece back onto the pen
- Press the button to heat and inhale
As the oil is heated, it melts onto a wick and turns into an inhalable vapor. Don’t rip too hard, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to overdo it with a dab pen. Most importantly—use a dab tool designed to load your pen! It will make your life so much easier and help keep your pen clean.
Choosing the Best Dab Pen
Okay, you know how a dab pen and vape scoop tool work, and now your mouth is watering for tasty terps on the go. So, what is the best dab pen? Here are a few of my top favorites.
Pax 3
Pax makes some of the best pens on the market. I like the Pax 3 because it’s made for both flower and extracts, so I can enjoy either whenever I want. Its sleek design and color options add to its appeal, and it fits perfectly in my pocket.
If you are into vaping herb, be sure to grab a dry herb loading tool to make packing the pen easy. The Pax 3 can hold up to a half gram, so use your scoop and tamp tool to press ground bud into the chamber.
PuffCo
PuffCo Plus is a super sexy dab pen. It’s tall and slender, made of stainless steel, and looks like a fancy pen you’d find on an executive’s desk. No, just me? Okay, well, I think it’s sexy. It has a coilless ceramic bowl and three heat settings.
One thing I’ll note about this pen is that you definitely need a vape scoop tool because the opening is fairly small, and you’ll want a tool that can precisely place your dab into the bowl.
Utillian 5
The Utillian 5 dab pen is the heavy hitter of the bunch. It’s a bit bulkier than the other two, but it also has a giant coil. This is nice for two reasons: 1. I can use my vape loading tool to place a pretty big glob of extract in at one time, and 2. You can blow massive clouds of vapor with this thing.
It has a long battery life, USB charger, and comes in three different colors.
Wrap It Up
If you want to use a dab pen, you’re going to need a vaporizer loading tool. Fortunately, Keefer Scraper has the best vape scoop tool to help you handle even the stickiest of dabs. Check out our blog about dab tools to find the right tool for you.
Remember, all good things come in pairs, including dab pens and vape scoop tools. And of course—fat blunts and eye drops.
