How this dab timer works
A good dab comes down to how hot the banger's surface is when the concentrate touches it. Too hot and the terps scorch, the hit turns harsh, and you're left with a charred puddle. Too cool and the dab pools up without fully vaporizing, which wastes it.
You can't see that temperature. Some people use an infrared thermometer, but most count in their head. This timer does the counting, adjusted for the things that actually change the numbers: what the banger is made of, how thick it is, how you heat it, and how you like your dabs.
Why thermal mass matters most
Think of a banger as a heat battery. The torch charges it, and once the flame comes off it drains into the air, the rig, and your dab. How fast that happens depends on how much material there is, what it is, and its shape. A slurper or blender carries a lot more glass than a plain flat-top, so both stages take longer.
Quartz is what most people run. It heats fast, spreads heat evenly, and stays clean at dab temperatures. A 2mm banger heats quickly and cools quickly, so its dab window is short. A 4mm banger takes a lot longer under the torch but stays in range through a long, slow dab. Neither one is better. They suit different dabs, and the wall setting accounts for the difference.
Titanium moves heat much faster than quartz, so both stages get shorter, and since titanium isn't sold by wall thickness the timer skips that question. Ceramic is slow in both directions. Thermal double-wall bangers insulate the dish, so they're slower to get hot and then hold their heat, and the timer gives them a longer dab window to match. Titanium and ceramic timings are modeled estimates, so rate your first few dabs and let the timer adjust.
The two-stage countdown
For torch users the timer runs two stages.
Heat-up estimates how long a steady flame takes to heat the whole banger, walls included. A fully heated banger cools on a predictable curve. A flash-heated one drops off the moment the flame comes off, and no clock can save that dab. If you heat by eye, tap Torch is off when you pull the flame, or skip the heat stage and time only the cool-down.
Cool-down is where your goal matters. Flavor waits for roughly 480 to 540°F, which keeps the most terps. Balanced lands around 545 to 595°F, the everyday zone. Clouds dabs at 600 to 650°F for heavier vapor, a harsher taste, and more thermal breakdown byproducts. Your concentrate nudges the target too: rosin and live resin do best at the cool end, and shatter needs a little more heat to vaporize fully.
Cold-start dabs
Cold start flips the order. Load the dab into a clean, room-temperature banger, then run a low flame under the dish until the melt bubbles and runs, usually well under 20 seconds. Cap it and pull. Plenty of people set the cap on before heating so there's nothing to fumble.
It works in a regular bucket, a dedicated cold-start banger, or a slurper, where it's especially popular. The bubbles are the real signal, so in cold start the big button becomes It's bubbling. Tap it when the melt runs and the timer jumps to your cap-and-pull window. The low-flame countdown is a backstop for when the bubbles are hard to see.
Back-to-back dabs
A banger that just finished a dab is still warm, which is why your usual count so often comes out too hot on the second one.
After a torch dab, the timer switches to back-to-back timing on its own. Warm five seconds after a dab is very different from warm three minutes later, so it scales the shorter timing by how long it's actually been, and after five minutes it goes back to first-dab timing. If the banger has visible residue, swab it first, because burnt residue changes how the surface takes heat.
E-rigs and e-nails
An e-rig holds a set temperature, so there's no cool-down to guess. In e-rig mode the timer suggests a setpoint for your device, goal, and concentrate, then runs a session countdown to pace you.
The device matters because each one measures in a different place. A Puffco Peak reads its heated chamber, so the timer follows Puffco's own presets, which run lower than open-banger surface temps: about 490°F for flavor, 520°F for balanced and 575°F for clouds. Portable e-rigs tend to read a little hot, so their setting sits slightly above the surface target. A coil e-nail reads the coil wrapped around the banger, which runs well above the dish, so its setting sits well above the target range.
Carb caps and terp pearls
A carb cap restricts airflow into the banger, which lets the melt vaporize fully at lower temperatures, and lower temperatures keep more flavor. Terp pearls stir the puddle so the dab spreads across the hot surface instead of sitting in one cooling pool. If your low-temp dabs keep coming out weak, a directional cap and a pair of pearls will fix it better than more torch time.
How the timer learns your rig
After each timed dab, the timer asks one question: harsh, nailed it, or weak? Harsh adds 5 seconds of cool-down next time. Weak takes 5 seconds off, and two weak dabs in a row add 4 seconds of torch time as well, since a weak dab can also mean the banger wasn't fully heated.
One good dab isn't proof, so the timer won't call a setup dialed in until you've had two clean runs in a row. A few dabs in, the numbers are yours. Your calibration saves with your setups, and you can move saved setups to a new phone with the code under Saved setups.
What a timer can't do
This timer predicts. It doesn't measure. The ranges on screen are estimates from your setup, and torch fuel, flame size, room temperature, and banger wear all move the real numbers.
That's why the heat-up stage is optional. If you heat by eye, time only the cool-down, which is the part a clock is actually good at. Treat the first run as a safe starting point and let your ratings walk it in. An infrared thermometer gives you a reading instead of an estimate, though it reads the outside of the glass and your oil sits on the inside.
Safety
Torch on a clear, stable, nonflammable surface. Never heat quartz until it glows. Keep hot glass away from skin, and if you cleaned with iso, let the alcohol fully evaporate before the flame comes back out. Hotter dabs also produce more thermal breakdown byproducts and harsher hits, one more reason to dab on the cooler side.
Temperature windows at a glance
| Goal | Surface target | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flavor | About 480–540°F | Rosin, live resin, terpy sauce | Smaller clouds, wants a cap and pearls |
| Balanced | About 545–595°F | Everyday dabs, badder, most setups | The all-rounder |
| Clouds | About 600–650°F | Shatter, maximum vapor | Terp loss, harsher hits, more breakdown byproducts |
| Cold start | When the melt bubbles | Slurpers, flavor chasers, small dabs | Needs a clean banger every time |
Frequently asked questions
How long should I heat a quartz banger?
With a full torch flame, about 25 seconds for a 2mm banger up to about 60 seconds for a 4mm banger, heating until the whole banger is evenly hot. The timer adjusts this for your wall thickness, bucket size, material, style, and torch.
How long should I let my banger cool before dabbing?
For a flavor dab, about 45 to 80 seconds on quartz, depending on wall thickness. Thicker walls hold heat longer and need the longer end. Balanced dabs go about 10 seconds sooner and big-cloud dabs about 20 seconds sooner. Set your goal in the timer and it works out the number, then tunes it from your ratings.
What is the best temperature for dabs?
Most dabbers land between about 480°F and 650°F at the surface. Around 480 to 540°F keeps the most flavor, the mid 500s is the everyday zone, and 600°F and up gives the biggest vapor at the cost of taste, with more thermal breakdown byproducts. Rosin and live resin do best at the cooler end, and shatter handles the warmer end.
What is a cold-start dab?
You load the concentrate into a clean, room-temperature banger first, heat it gently with a low flame until the melt starts to bubble (usually 8 to 20 seconds), then cap it and pull. It's the gentlest, most flavor-forward way to dab. Slurpers made it popular, but it works just as well in a regular bucket. The timer's cold start mode times the low flame and gives you an It's bubbling button for the moment the melt runs.
Do terp slurpers need different timing?
Yes. Slurpers and blenders carry more glass than flat-tops, so they take longer to heat fully and longer to cool. The style setting adds that mass to both stages. Slurpers also work best with marbles and terp pearls, and plenty of slurper owners prefer cold starts.
Why does my second dab always feel hotter?
Because your banger never got back to room temperature. The timer switches to back-to-back timing after each torch dab, scales it by how long it's actually been, and goes back to first-dab timing once you've stepped away for five minutes.
Can I save my settings?
Yes. Match the timer to your rig, name the setup, and save it. A saved setup keeps your calibration and loads with one tap. Setups are stored on your phone and backed up under an anonymous code, with no account or email. To move them to a new phone, open Move saved setups and enter that code on the new phone. The full-screen version also works offline once it's on your home screen.
Does a carb cap really let me dab at lower temps?
Yes. Restricting airflow lets your dab vaporize fully at a lower temperature. That's the low-temp approach in short: a full heat-up, a patient cool-down, a directional cap, and pearls to keep the puddle moving.
Put this timer on your site
Run a glass blog, forum, or shop? Embed the full timer for free with two lines of code.
<script src="https://timer.oilslickpad.com/widget.js" async></script> <div id="dab-timer-widget"></div>
Preloaded setups, a version without product suggestions, and a live preview are in the embed guide.