Difference Between Dab Pen and Dry Herb Vaporizer

When it comes to portable vaporizers, you usually hear two primary terms thrown around: “dab pens” and “dry herb vaporizers.”

If you’re completely new to vaporizing, this might seem a bit confusing. Especially if you don’t even know what exactly a “dab” or “dry herb” is referring to.

Not to worry. We’re here to help. Let’s take a look at what differentiates these two types of portable vaporizers and which one will serve your needs best.

A Little Bit About Portable Vaporizers

Just to lay the groundwork a little bit, both dab pens and dry herb vaporizers work on more or less the same principles. They are small, handheld, battery powered, portable devices designed to gently heat your cannabis material to its vaporization temperature, producing a tasty and potent cloud of vapor for you to inhale.

The two devices have quite a lot in common. But they diverge on one essential point: what you’re vaporizing.

If you’re not familiar with “dabs,” it is a term that has come to refer to an entire class of cannabis concentrates. A concentrate is a refined cannabis product -- typically a wax or oily material -- which has been concentrated from regular herb into a much more potent form.

In contrast, “dry herb” refers simply to unprocessed, “raw” cannabis flower or loose leaf which has only been dried out.

So, as you’ve probably deduced already, a dab pen is a type of portable vaporizer which can only be used with these refined concentrate products. Whereas a dry herb vaporizer is capable of loading up bowls of raw flower and loose leaf.

So Which Is Best?

Ultimately the deciding factor is mostly preference. Vaporizing dry herb has a different flavor and potency than concentrates. Each option gives you a different selection of materials to work with and a different vaporizing experience.

However, there are a few caveats other than your personal preference. For one, if you’re looking to maximize portability and concealability, dab pens have a clear advantage. The concentrated cannabis oils take up far less space -- and pack in far more active ingredients -- than you could hope for from a dry herb vaporizer.

This means that dry herb vaporizers tend to be a bit bulkier and on a hit-by-hit basis, less potent than dab pens.

But if you can’t get enough of the delicious aromas produced by vaporizing flower and loose leaf, you might be feeling a little let down by the comparatively taste-free experience of taking a puff off your dab pen, even if it hits you substantially harder!

Check out our Atmos Astra 2 Portable Dry Herb Vaporizer

What If I Want Both?

Serious cannabis connoisseurs can’t restrict themselves to one or the other! Fortunately, there are several portable vaporizers on the market capable of vaporizing both concentrates and dry herb material.

Because they need the bulkier size in order to handle the comparatively large bowls of dry herb, most of these dual-purpose vaporizers will be listed as “dry herb vaporizers,” even if they can do both. 

While a dry herb vaporizer might be able to do what a dab pen can, a dab pen can pretty much never vaporize dry herb. They are just to small -- and usually designed to only vaporize viscous liquids like oils in tiny, tiny chambers that don’t have nearly enough space to pack in dry herb material.

Be sure to look carefully at the information from the manufacturer and advertisements. You can find several dry herb vaporizers with attachments that allow them to double as dab pens and vaporize your favorite concentrates.

Generally, while you might find one capable of doing both, you can’t do them both simultaneously. Though you could add a bit of wax or oil to you dry herb bowl, this could run down in to your vaporizer and create a sticky mess -- or worse, an actual failure! It’s best to stick with one or the other.

See What Suits You!

Dab pens are extremely cheap. Cheap enough you can just pick one up to give it a try and see how it suits you. Even dry herb vaporizers aren’t too costly.

If you don’t have a strong preference, give them both a shot! You might be surprised where you end up on your vaporizing journey.

Have fun!