An Introduction to Drop Down Attachments
Because of how potent concentrates can be, dab rigs are often designed to be much smaller than dry herb bongs. There are plenty of pluses to a compact setup. They’re less likely to get knocked over, for instance, and a dab rig takes up less space by far than a bong with a couple of percs.
Despite the convenience of a smaller dab rig, the space limitation also means that it can be a tight fit between your butane torch, the nail you’re heating up, and the body of the rig itself. Lots of rigs can stand up to heat stress, especially ones made of borosilicate glass, but there’s no reason to risk the harsh realities of a heat-cracked rig or a shattered joint. Especially, that is, when drop down adapters are so accessible.
They might not be the best-known smoking accessory, but when it comes to keeping your dab rig safe and clean, drop down attachments are some of the best-kept secrets in the concentrate game.
What Is a Drop Down Adapter?
Drop down adapters are a great way to keep your dab rig’s body and joint safe from heat stress by creating extra space between these parts and your torch. These useful accessories are small attachments made of glass or quartz that slide into (or onto) your dab rig’s joint the way a nail would. This end connects to a downwards-leading tube, which ends in an upwards-facing joint into which you now place the nail. Once the nail is heated to the perfect dab temperature, vapor flows into the intake joint, up the adapter’s stem, and into the joint attached to the body of the rig.
Designs for drop down adapters are about as broad as you can imagine, ranging from simple clear glass with straight lines to adapters featuring double glass stems. Some attachments even have built-in quartz banger nails in order to simplify the process of finding compatible parts.
What Are Drop Down Attachments Made out Of?
Drop down attachments are often made out of either glass or quartz crystal. Neutral-tasting and strong quartz is a popular material for high-end banger nails, and drop downs with attached nails often opt for the material for these reasons.
Other drop downs are made of glass, either regular “soda” glass or scientific borosilicate glass. Though the former is cheaper, there’s a reason that borosilicate is the kind of glass used to make labware and Pyrex dishes: it’s stronger and much more resistant to heat and physical stress than typical glass. When it comes to dabbing at high temperatures especially, you’ll want to keep the temperature limitations of traditional glass in mind.
If you’re not going to opt for quartz, it’s always worth considering the additional cost to shell out for scientific glass if you’re looking for something that will last you a while. You’ll end up saving significantly more in the long run if you opt for hardier glass instead of a long line of cheap, breakable pieces.
The Other Benefits of Drop Down Attachments
Practically speaking, the drop down attachment creates a bit more space for smoke to collect inside of your rig. Since real estate is precious with dab rigs, even a little bit more room is nothing to underestimate. By creating a narrow space for air to flow through, drop down adapters can also increase the drag on each pull and help your piece to fully fill up with dense, well-circulated smoke.
As the name suggests, drop down adapters (like typical bong and dab rig joint adapters, which don’t usually have an extra stem for smoke to drift through) can also make it possible to change your rig’s joint type. If you’ve got a nail or ashcatcher that you’re in love with that’s not compatible with your dab rig’s native joint type, there’s absolutely no reason to run off and buy an entirely new setup or forego the rad add-on. Drop down attachments come with all varieties of ends, male and female, 10mm, 14mm, and 18mm alike, so you’re bound to be able to find a configuration that works for you.
Reclaim Catchers
Drop down adapters also often have space for the unvaporized concentrate, or reclaim, to fall into. These are often enclosed spaces that just collect the concentrate to keep it from dirtying up the main body of the dab rig, which definitely has its own benefits (namely that it’s much easier to clean a small adapter than it is a whole dab rig). But some drop down adapters opt for the added feature of a reclaim catcher, which is essentially an additional chamber leading off of the joint that holds your dab nail. This feature guides reclaim to drip out of the piece and down into a small bowl or dish. This not only keeps the reclaim out of the rig, but it also allows for the unvaporized concentrate to be put back into the nail and re-torched. That’s just a cost-cutting and time-saving no-brainer.