Are Electric Bongs Safe?

The key benefits of switching to e-rigs from traditional torch dab rigs

There are many ways to consume dry herb, maximize its effects, and experience its amazing benefits. To begin with, the buds or the plant’s flower can be ground up, rolled into a joint or a blunt, and then smoked directly. It can also be smoked through a traditional wood, glass, or ceramic pipe, with or without water, depending on its design.

Then there’s the bong, that weird-looking cylindrical device (often made of glass) that your roommate keeps in their closet or under the bed. A poorly maintained bong will often smell putrid with darkened water at the bottom that looks like sewage. But those were the college days, right? Nowadays, dry herb enthusiasts are more sophisticated when it comes to their dry herb smoking devices. Like the growing acceptance of dry herb use in society, the technology behind devices for smoking and consuming dry herb has advanced greatly as well.

For instance, the dry herb vaporizer is a recent device that gained significant popularity only in the mid-2010s. Today, a lot of dry herb enthusiasts are sure to have at least a portable or desktop vaporizer for dry herbs. While a vaporizer smoking device is great and extremely popular, most of them can only support dry herbs (and extracts in certain models). Dry herb nowadays comes in various forms, from edibles to tinctures. It’s not just about dry flowers or buds.

One of the most popular forms of the dry herb is the dab, also referred to as shatter, wax, budder, or honeycomb. This is a concentrated version of butane hash oil—also known by its abbreviation BHO—which contains concentrated levels of THC. Now, dry herbs in such form can’t be smoked directly through a traditional glass bong, although some individuals will mix a tiny portion of dab with their dry herbs before lighting it up.

There are two main reasons why most people don’t usually smoke dab directly from a dry herb bong—they are too concentrated, and they can be harsh. A burnt dab tastes bad. This is where dab rigs come in, also referred to as bongs but with a specific rig setup for dabbing, instead of dry herbs. The most recent product in this category of vaporizing machines is the electric bong, also known as an e-bong or e-rig.

What is an electric bong or e-rig?

Electric bongs are nothing like the classic glass bongs that most people are familiar with, mainly because they can’t be used to smoke dry herbs. While some electric bongs or e-rigs can be modified to support dry flowers or buds, they are designed for dabbing. Instead of using a blowtorch to heat the coil and nail, e-rigs use batteries.

An electric bong such as the Trident Laser by Hitoki is a smart dry herb vaporizer bong that is specifically designed for consuming dry herb in oil or wax form. It works and heats the nail using a battery instead of a butane torch. It’s a smart dry herb smoke machine that allows the user to fully control the temperature of the dab, which ensures the perfect experience, and the best possible flavor and vapor production. The ability to control the temperature of the dab is crucial—especially when it comes to dry herb concentrates with high levels of terpenes—which requires low temps to keep them from evaporating.

Electric bongs allow users to get precise control of the temperature of their dabs and maintain it for more consistent sessions. Normally, they set it anywhere between 154 and 205°C to retain the flavorful terpenes in the dab. With butane torches, dialing in the right temperature requires a lot of practice, and even then, there might still be a bit of inconsistency in the results.

The benefits of electric bongs

Electric bongs offer several benefits that a lot of dry herb enthusiasts enjoy, which is why this type of device has gained quite a following in recent years. One of the selling points of a good dry herb vaporizer bong is its size and portability like that of Saber laser. Most e-rigs are typically smaller than the standard dabbing rigs in the market.

Most classic dabbing rigs are made of glass; they look remarkably similar to a lot of the apparatus that you often find in science labs, except they’re bigger, usually the size of a small pitcher or carafe. Compared to a decent-sized electric bong, classic rigs are enormous. Considering the size and the fact that they’re mostly made of glass, it’s almost impossible to carry them around comfortably, without a robust carrying case.

Electric bongs, on the other hand, are more portable and convenient. Some models are the size of an electric smoking pipe or an inhaler, although there are e-rigs that are designed as tabletop devices. So, if you’re looking for the best desktop vaporizer to use at home, a tabletop electric rig might just be what you need. With a smaller-sized version of an e-rig, you can carry it around in your pocket and use it discreetly, without attracting eyeballs.

Electric bongs and e-rigs are normally very beginner-friendly when compared to traditional glass bongs, which can be finicky and requires a lot of practice to get more consistent sessions. Dabbing rigs are already complex devices, especially for beginners. With electric bongs, the setup process and operation have a short learning curve. You don’t have to worry about maintaining the right temperature to avoid under or overheating the dab. You only have to press a button to start the session.

Electric rigs are more customizable than traditional butane torch rigs. If you’ve been in the dabbing game for some time, then you’ve probably always wanted to upgrade or customize your rig. And if you did, then you probably spent quite a bit of cash just to buy the custom parts. The bottom line is that customizing traditional glass rigs can be more costly than electric bongs, not to mention more difficult for beginners.

Most electric bongs in the market produce clean and high-quality vapor and excellent flavor. E-rigs and regular vaporizers have plenty of similarities. If you know how to use a dry herb vaporizer, then you should know that the fundamental similarity between both devices is that they both use the same heating method, conduction. The key difference is that electric bongs are designed to vaporize dry herb concentrates in oil or wax form and not dry herbs, although there are custom pieces that you can purchase for your e-rig to get it to work with dry flowers or buds.

Contrary to common misconceptions, electric bongs are more cost-effective than traditional glass bongs and most portable or desktop vaporizer products, especially when you’re opting for e-rig kits instead of buying the vaporizing machine separately from its supplies and custom parts. In addition, most electric bongs on the market already come with all the extra equipment that you need to get the maximum experience in every session.

So, what about the safety aspect? Are electric bongs safe? Well, when it comes to electric bongs or e-rigs, safety is already a huge bonus. The most obvious reason for this is the absence of butane torches, which can be incredibly dangerous when not handled properly. Traditional glass bongs and dab rigs rely on butane torches to heat the material or the nail in the case of dab rigs, whereas electronic bongs and other electric dry herb smoking devices only need batteries to generate heat in a far more controlled manner.

Speaking of temp control, this is another aspect that makes electric bongs safer and more practical than conventional torch rigs. With e-rigs, you get full control over the temperature of your dab in every session. This is very beneficial for beginners or people who are relatively new to dabbing and want to avoid getting that burnt taste from an overheated dab, which can be very harsh and uncomfortable.

The temperature settings in electric bongs are easy to master. It only takes seconds and a few button presses to set the right temperature for vaporizing dabs, and the best part is that you only have to do it once to get consistent results every single time. As electric bongs are more portable, they are also safer to carry around and use in different places other than your desktop. They are great travel companions, especially when camping or going on road trips, so long as you’re traveling to places where dry herb consumption is legal.

The conclusion

So based on the aforementioned benefits of electric bongs, there are a lot of takeaways here that we can appreciate, especially if you just recently jumped into the world of dabbing. Apart from the convenience, practicality, and cost-effectiveness of e-rigs, we’ve also learned that they are safer than traditional butane torch rigs, in the sense that they eliminate the need for open flame when heating the dry herb concentrate.

So, if you’re new to dabbing or want to experience that mind-altering high only dabs can provide but are intimidated by the classic glass rigs that look expensive and difficult to operate, a battery-powered electric bong is a reasonable choice and a good entry point to the world of dab rigs.