Dabs: cannabis concentrates, wax, shatter and dab rigs explained

The definition

Cannabis concentrates: the resin without the plant.

A cannabis flower is mostly plant material. Cannabinoids and terpenes are found mainly in the trichomes, those tiny resin glands covering the buds. A concentrate is the result of an operation that's simple in principle: separate that resin from the rest and keep only the active part.

There are two big families. Extracts made with solvents, obtained with hydrocarbons such as butane or propane, sometimes with CO2: that's the world of BHO (butane hash oil), where wax, shatter and budder come from. And solventless extracts, obtained only with water, screens, heat or pressure: ice water hash, dry sift, rosin. Traditional hash is, at heart, the oldest concentrate of all; we explain it in what is hash.

• What changes compared with flower: the amount of cannabinoids per gram, far higher.
• How they're used: mostly vaporised, with a dab rig, an e-rig or a pen.
• The name: it describes a texture or a method, not guaranteed quality.
• In Italy: if they contain THC they're narcotics, and since 2025 art. 18 also bans extracts and resins from hemp flowers.

The words

Dabs, dabbing, dab rig: what we're talking about.

On Google.it, the word "dab" mostly brings up DAB digital radio or a brand of hydraulic pumps. In cannabis slang, however, a dab is a small dose of concentrate, and dabbing means vaporising it by placing it on a very hot surface to inhale the vapour. An editorial published in Cureus in 2017 defines it exactly that way: a cannabis concentrate volatilised on contact with a red-hot platform.

Dab rigs and bongs look alike, but they don't do the same job: a bong burns plant material in a bowl, a dab rig vaporises a concentrate on a hot surface. Accessories aside, it's the product that matters.

Types of concentrates

Wax, shatter, live resin, rosin: how to tell them apart.

Concentrate names mostly describe a texture and an extraction method. The definitions below follow those of the trade magazine Cannabis Tech; the 2025 report to the Italian Parliament confirms that "amber or brown pasty gels" known as shatter or BHO also circulate on the Italian market.

Live resin stands out for its starting material: fresh plants frozen right after harvest instead of dried flowers, to keep more terpenes. Rosin is the only solventless one in the table; we've devoted a full guide to it, what is rosin. Water extractions, like frozen hash, belong to the same solventless family.

• "The lighter it is, the purer it is": colour also depends on the starting material and the process, it's not a measure of potency.
• "Shatter and wax are different products": they're often the same type of extract, with a different texture.
• "Solventless means mild": a THC rosin is still a heavily loaded concentrate.

The gear

Dab rig, e-rig and temperature: why heat matters.

In dabbing, nail temperature is the hardest variable to control. With a classic dab rig you heat the nail then let it cool by eye; with an e-rig the temperature is set and held. That's one reason users talk about "low temp dabs", at a lower temperature, to preserve the aromas.

It's not just a matter of taste. A Portland State University study published in ACS Omega in 2017 recreated the conditions of a real dab in the lab: the terpenes present in the extracts formed methacrolein and benzene, along with other compounds of health concern. The authors stressed that the difficulty of controlling nail temperature exposes users to these substances.

• The nail (or banger): the surface that vaporises the concentrate, the hottest point in the system.
• The carb cap: a cap that traps the vapour above the nail.
• The dabber: the metal or glass tool used to pick up the concentrate.
• The torch or the coil: the heat source, a flame for the dab rig, electric for the e-rig.

If you want to avoid combustion with resins, classic vaporising is another route: we've gathered the key points in vaping cannabinoids the controlled way.

Harm reduction

The risks of concentrates: dose comes first.

The first risk is arithmetic. A dab packs into a few milligrams what a flower spreads over a whole joint. The authors of the Cureus editorial believe it's the THC level, even more than the contaminants, that drives the toxicity of the cases described, and call for research on the toxic dose in humans.

• Residual solvents: a poorly purged butane extract can retain traces, as the contaminated samples cited above show.
• Home extraction: butane is a highly flammable gas; the Colorado study documents serious burns. Never attempt an extraction at home.
• Temperature: a nail that's too hot generates unwanted breakdown compounds.
• Tolerance: repeated use of heavily loaded products quickly shifts the dial. We cover it in potent molecules and controlled sessions.

Rules that don't change: adults only, start low and wait, and never get behind the wheel after using a psychoactive product.

The legal framework

Concentrates and the law in Italy: what it says in 2026.

In Italy, a THC cannabis concentrate is a narcotic: it falls under the consolidated drugs act, DPR 309/1990, which punishes production, supply and trade and provides penalties even for possession for personal use. The product's name (wax, shatter, rosin) changes nothing. What's new in recent years, on the other hand, concerns industrial hemp.

The upshot: in October 2026, the status of hemp extracts and resins in Italy is contested and shifting. A question raised before the Constitutional Court doesn't suspend the law in general: until a ruling is handed down, art. 18 remains the reference text. Before buying a hemp-derived product, check the up-to-date rules in your country.

At Golden High

Where our Delta-P resins fit in.

Let's be clear: we don't sell dab concentrates, no wax, no shatter, no live resin. Our resins are products from the Delta-P range, CBDX-based, under 0.3% THC, lab-tested and shipped from France. They borrow the style of a hashish, not the composition of a THC extract. How it works is explained in the Delta-P guide.

If you're after a resin texture with a high percentage, the Heisenberg Delta-P 60% is the most loaded in the range, while the 3X Filtré Delta-P at 40% follows the triple-filtration style. Every product, with the percentage shown on each page, is in our Delta-P resin collection.

Sources

The references cited in this article.

1. Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Department for Anti-Drug Policies (2025). Relazione annuale al Parlamento sul fenomeno delle tossicodipendenze in Italia 2025 (in Italian).
2. Normattiva (2025). Decreto-legge 11 aprile 2025, n. 48, art. 18 (amendments to law no. 242 of 2 December 2016) (in Italian).
3. Italian Chamber of Deputies (2025). Il settore della canapa, update of 9 December 2025 (in Italian).
4. Cureus (2017). To Dab or Not to Dab: Rising Concerns Regarding the Toxicity of Cannabis Concentrates.
5. Journal of Medical Toxicology (2015). Butane Hash Oil Burns Associated with Marijuana Liberalization in Colorado.
6. ACS Omega (2017). Toxicant Formation in Dabbing: The Terpene Story.
7. Cannabis Tech. The Different Types of Cannabis Concentrates Explained.

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