710 (Dab Day): What It Is and How to Celebrate

Write the number 710 on a sticky note. Flip it upside down. Read it back.

OIL.

That’s it. That’s the entire origin story of the second-biggest holiday on the cannabis calendar. Where 420 celebrates the whole plant, 710 is laser-focused on one thing: concentrates. The wax, the shatter, the live rosin, the diamonds, the sauce. All the sticky, potent, terpene-loaded “oil” that gets vaporized on a hot surface and inhaled. If 420 is the family barbecue everyone shows up to, 710 is the dinner party for people who already own a dab rig.

I’m Professor High, and I think 710 is one of the most quietly fascinating moments in cannabis culture. Part of that is how it started: a numeric joke in a video chat room. Part of it is what it stands for: a whole craft category that grew up alongside legalization. Let’s break down what Dab Day is, where it came from, and how to celebrate it without face-planting into your couch by 7:15.

What 710 Actually Means

In cannabis slang, “oil” is shorthand for concentrates — products made by extracting the cannabinoids and terpenes out of flower and leaving the plant matter behind. That covers a huge range: butane hash oil (BHO), shatter and wax, live resin and live rosin, bubble hash and dry sift, THC diamonds, distillate, and the RSO some folks stir into edibles.

Because the digits 710 rotate to spell OIL, the number became a universal code for “anything concentrate.” You’ll see it on dispensary menus, in event names, and as a profile tag. Just like “420-friendly” means a space welcomes general cannabis use, “710-friendly” specifically signals that dab rigs, torches, and sticky extracts are welcome.

And the date? July 10 lines up perfectly as 7/10. So July 10 became Dab Day, and — mirroring 420’s clock convention — 7:10 a.m. or p.m. became the ritual moment to spark up your rig. Same calendar-and-clock logic as 420, just rotated 180 degrees.

The Origins: A Video Chat Room and a Rapper Named TaskRok

Here’s where it gets fun, because unlike 420’s somewhat-legendary “Waldos meeting at the Louis Pasteur statue” story, 710’s origin is recent enough that journalists actually tracked down the people responsible.

The most credible account [Colbert, 2015] traces 710 to around 2010, inside an online video chat room (TinyChat) where some of the biggest names in early dab culture were hanging out and, well, dabbing. According to that crew, a rapper and dab-accessory innovator who went by TaskRok — founder of the titanium-gear company Highly Educated and inventor of the carb cap and e-nail — suggested the term. As he put it: “I was the one who suggested 710 because it clicked in my head that it spelled oil upside down.”

A few honest footnotes from the lore:

• Task didn’t claim to invent the joke. As he noted, there’s an old gag about someone walking into an auto shop asking for a “710 cap” — not realizing they’re holding the oil cap upside down. The numeric pun is older than cannabis culture. What Task and his TinyChat crew did was attach it to hash oil for the first time and turn it into a movement.
• It was a group effort. Task repeatedly credited friends from glass and oil-clothing brands, and was clear about ownership: “I don’t want to try to own it. It belongs to the community now.”
• The Grateful Dead coincidence. The Dead famously lived at 710 Ashbury Street in San Francisco. It’s a great coincidence — but multiple original sources (including the Waldos themselves and a longtime Deadhead) confirmed nobody there used “710” to mean hash oil. Fun trivia, not the origin.

To cement the idea, Task and his duo (Task & Linus) released an album titled The Movement on July 10, 2011, with tracks like “7:10” and “Boil the Oil” that pushed the holiday concept directly. The name The Movement referenced the literal movement to “smoke from 420 to 710.” Not everyone loved it at first — Task himself recalled that a lot of the early online community thought it was “stupid,” and admitted, “I don’t blame them though, it kind of was.” But the idea snowballed anyway.

How a Forum Joke Became the Concentrate Holiday

The timing was everything. The early 2010s were exactly when dab culture exploded. Colorado and Washington legalized recreational cannabis in 2012, extraction technology matured fast, and the first U.S. Cannabis Cup in San Francisco in 2010 introduced these newer solvent-based concentrates to a much wider audience. High Times put dabs on its cover for the first time in October 2012.

Then 710 went mainstream in 2013 [Reis, 2020]: LA Weekly ran a piece literally titled “710 Is the New 420,” and the first 710 Cup — a concentrates-only competition modeled on the Cannabis Cup — took place in Denver on July 10, 2013. By 2014, High Times was running its own 710 coverage, locking the date into the weed lexicon for good.

The craft kept evolving right alongside the holiday. In 2015, Phil “Soilgrown” Salazar accidentally discovered solventless rosin when oil leaked out of low-quality hash he was pressing — and the live rosin category was born. That’s the through-line of 710: it’s a holiday that celebrates innovation as much as consumption.

Today, July 10 is widely cited as the second-largest cannabis shopping day of the year and the number-one day for concentrate purchases. Dispensaries with serious extract menus treat it the way wine shops treat the start of harvest — vendor showcases, new drops, and the most aggressive concentrate sales of the year, usually running from about July 8 through July 12.

How to Celebrate 710 (Responsibly)

You do not need a rig the size of a chemistry set to enjoy Dab Day. Here’s how people mark July 10 — pick the level that fits you.

Try a concentrate you’ve never had. This is the spirit of the day. If you’ve only smoked flower, 710 is your nudge to explore. New to extracts? Start with live rosin — it’s solventless, terpene-rich, generally lower-potency than shatter, and gives the most honest expression of the strain.

Host (or join) a sesh. Group dabs are a 710 staple. Modern portable e-rigs make this dramatically easier and safer by eliminating the blowtorch entirely. One person runs the rig as the “dab master” (more on that below).

Run a terpene flight. Sample small amounts of several cultivars side by side, like a wine tasting. This is where 710 culture really shines — it’s about flavor and craft, not just getting blasted.

Shop the deals. It’s genuinely the best day of the year to buy concentrates. Just buy from a licensed, lab-tested source — solvent-based extracts especially should always be lab-verified for residual solvents and contaminants.

Or keep it simple. A dab pen, a vape cart, or even a concentrate-infused pre-roll all count. One solid dab is plenty. 710 isn’t about wrecking yourself — it’s about appreciating the ride.

One more thing: cannabis laws vary wildly. In some places concentrates are tightly regulated or flat-out illegal. Know your local rules before you celebrate, and never dab and drive.

710 vs. 420: What’s the Difference?

The cleanest way I’ve heard it put: 420 is everyone. 710 is enthusiasts.

420 has been around for 50+ years and pulls in everyone from curious retirees to T-shirt vendors. 710 is younger, narrower, and more dedicated — and that focus is exactly what gives it a distinct identity. It’s 420’s potent, slightly more refined little sibling. If you want the full backstory on the original holiday, I broke that down in The History of 420.

Dab Etiquette for Newcomers

Dabbing has its own social rulebook, and it’s stricter than passing a joint — because the equipment is hotter, the potency is higher, and mistakes cost real money. A few essentials:

• Start ridiculously small. Flower runs 18–30% THC; concentrates run 60–95%. A dab the size of a grain of rice can equal multiple bowls. New dabbers almost always overshoot — and then regret it twenty minutes later.
• Bring your own concentrates. BYOC is the default. A gram can run $40–$80, so showing up with your own is the dab equivalent of bringing a bottle of wine.
• Let the dab master run the rig. One person controls heat, load, and the carb cap for the group. Don’t grab the torch uninvited.
• Never “chazz” the banger. Chazzing means overheating quartz until it discolors and chars. It ruins the host’s banger and instantly marks you as a rookie. Low-temp dabs (around 450–500°F) protect both flavor and the glass.
• Swab between dabs. A cotton swab on the warm banger after each hit is standard session hygiene.
• Clear what you load, and cough into your elbow — not the rig.
• Pace yourself. Concentrates hit fast and hard. Wait a few minutes before deciding you need another.

Want the deeper dive on consumption manners across the board? I covered the full rundown in Cannabis Etiquette: The Unwritten Rules, and the beginner mechanics in Dabbing 101.

The Professor’s Takeaway

Here’s the thing 710 quietly teaches us. A more potent product is not a better one by default. A 90% THC dab and a 20% THC flower bowl can both be perfect. They can also both be too much. It depends on your body, your tolerance, and the terpene profile. The number on the label is the worst predictor of how you’ll feel.

That’s the whole idea behind High IQ. Don’t chase the strongest shatter or guess from a strain name. Instead, track what each session does for you — the concentrate, the dose, the terpenes, the time of day. Soon your patterns get clearer than any dispensary label. Celebrate 710 with a fresh gram of rosin if you like. Just know exactly why you’re high.

Key Takeaways

• 710 spells OIL upside down. That pun is the whole reason July 10 became the concentrate holiday.
• It’s about concentrates. Wax, shatter, live rosin, live resin, diamonds — the “oil” side of cannabis.
• It started around 2010. A TinyChat dab crew and rapper TaskRok popularized it; LA Weekly and the 2013 Denver 710 Cup pushed it mainstream.
• 420 is everyone. 710 is enthusiasts. It’s the second-biggest cannabis day and the top day for concentrate sales.
• Start tiny. Concentrates hit far harder than flower. A rice-grain dab is plenty — and good etiquette.

FAQ

Is 710 the same as Dab Day? Yes. “710,” “Dab Day,” and “Oil Day” all refer to July 10, the cannabis holiday dedicated to concentrates.

Why is July 10 the date? Because the date writes as 7/10, and the number 710 spells “OIL” when flipped upside down. Both the date and 7:10 on the clock became the ritual time, mirroring 420.

Can beginners celebrate 710? Absolutely — just start small. Concentrates are far more potent than flower, so a tiny rice-grain dab is plenty. Live rosin and live resin are flavorful, beginner-friendlier options.

What does “710-friendly” mean? It signals that a person or space welcomes dabbing and concentrate use — the concentrate-specific version of “420-friendly.”

Is 710 bigger than 420? No. 420 is the mainstream holiday everyone knows. 710 is the second-biggest cannabis day and the top day for concentrate sales, but it’s a more niche, enthusiast-focused event.

What gear do I need to dab? At minimum, a concentrate plus a way to vaporize it. That can be a traditional rig (glass + banger + torch + dab tool), a portable e-rig, a honey straw, or simply a dab pen or vape cart.

Sources

• GreenState — “Exploring the legend of 710: 15 years of big dabs” (2025): https://www.greenstate.com/lifestyle/exploring-the-legend-of-710-15-years-of-big-dabs/
• The Leaf Online — “The Real Story Behind the Founding of 710” (2015): https://theleafonline.us/c/lifestyle/2015/07/real-story-behind-founding-710/
• High Times — “Dabbling in Dabs: The History of 710” (2023): https://hightimes.com/dabs/dabbling-in-dabs-the-history-of-710/
• Weedmaps — “What is 710? Everything you need to know about 7/10”: https://weedmaps.com/learn/cannabis-and-its-evolution/everything-you-need-to-know-about-710
• NuggMD — “What is 710?” (2024): https://www.nuggmd.com/blog/what-is-710
• Cannabis Etiquette — “710 Day Explained” and “Dab Etiquette” (2026): https://cannabisetiquette.org/420-culture/710-and-concentrates-day