What Is a Dab Pen? How It Differs From a Cart, an E-Rig and a Rig
A dab pen is a battery device you load by hand with wax or shatter. Here is how it differs from a vape cart, an e-rig and a torch rig, device by device.
A dab pen is a portable battery device with an exposed coil or ceramic heating element that you load by hand with a solid or sticky cannabis concentrate, such as wax, shatter or budder. It differs from a vape cart, an e-rig and a dab rig mainly in two things: what heats the concentrate, and whether you load the concentrate yourself.
Here is the part most product pages leave out. “Dab pen” is a market term, not a standard. The US National Institute on Drug Abuse uses “vape pen” for any pen that vaporizes hash oil or wax, and a 2020 survey of college students listed “wax pen” and “THC oil” as one item. Sellers draw the lines differently, so this lesson defines each device by its heat source and what you put in it. NIDA concentrates fact sheet · Berberian et al., 2022
Sources checked October 29, 2026.
Dab pen vs cart vs e-rig vs rig: what is the difference?
The four devices sit on one line. At one end, a torch heats a nail and you control nothing but timing. At the other end, a battery heats a sealed cartridge that someone else filled. Dab pens and e-rigs sit in between.
| Device | What heats the concentrate | What you load | How heat is set | What you need |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dab rig | A torch heats a quartz, ceramic or titanium nail attached to a water pipe | Wax, shatter or rosin, placed on the hot nail | By hand. You judge the heat by timing; there is no temperature readout | Glass rig, nail, torch, dab tool |
| E-rig or e-nail | An electric element heats the nail or cup | The same concentrates as a rig | You set a temperature | Electric unit, power or charger, dab tool |
| Dab pen | A battery heats a coil or ceramic element inside the pen | Wax, shatter, budder or similar, placed by hand in the chamber | A power button or preset level, not usually a temperature | Pen, charger, dab tool, loose concentrate |
| Vape cart | A battery heats a coil inside a sealed, pre-filled cartridge | Nothing. The oil comes already inside | Mostly a voltage or power level | A battery and a supply of cartridges |
The rig and e-nail rows rest on a lab study that heated a ceramic nail on a water pipe. Its authors note that people usually heat nails with a torch and have no temperature control, while e-nails allow temperature control. Meehan-Atrash et al., 2017 The cart row matches a recent review’s plain definition: a vape pen is small and has “a battery and a cartridge.” Munger et al., 2025
For the deeper version of each row, see our guides to buying a dab rig, e-nail and e-rig setup and carts versus disposables.
Same concentrate family, four ways to heat it. The labels name the heat source, not a safety rating.
How does a dab pen work?
A dab pen has three working parts: a rechargeable battery, a heating element and a small chamber you open. You place a small piece of concentrate on the element, close the chamber, press the button and draw air through the mouthpiece. The element heats the concentrate until it turns to vapor, and the airflow carries that vapor out.
Researchers treat this as its own device class. One lab study tested a “dab-type pen designed for wax-type mixtures,” with two ceramic coils, as distinct from pens that hold liquid oil. That study examined one device model, focused on vitamin E acetate mixtures, and its authors reported design flaws in the pen. It describes the hardware; it does not show that pens are safe or unsafe. Mikheev and Ivanov, 2022
The defining feature is the open chamber: you place the concentrate on the element yourself. A cart hides the same kind of coil inside a sealed, pre-filled cartridge.
Is a dab pen the same as a vape pen or a wax pen?
Sometimes, depending on who is talking. Many sellers use “vape pen” for the cartridge device and “dab pen” or “wax pen” for the hand-loaded one. Federal health writing does not draw that line. NIDA’s fact sheet says “hash oil and waxes can be consumed using vape pens,” and calls the torch-and-nail setup a rig. NIDA
Peer-reviewed researchers also fold pens into dabbing. A study of online dabbing forums defined a dab as concentrate vaporized “on a heated nail, passing the vapour through a water-pipe rig or portable pen device.” Meacham et al., 2019
So when you read a label or a forum post, ask one question: do I load the concentrate, or does it come sealed inside? That answer tells you which device someone means more reliably than the name does.
What can you put in a dab pen?
Dab pens take the solid and sticky concentrates: wax, shatter, budder, crumble, rosin and live resin. Texture matters for loading. Brittle shatter breaks into pieces, while soft badder and wax scoop more easily. Our guides to wax, shatter and rosin and to how wax differs from shatter cover those textures.
Two cautions belong here. First, these are strong products. NIDA reports that solvent-based concentrates average about 54 to 69 percent THC, with some above 80 percent, compared with just over 15 percent for seized plant material. Second, the product matters as much as the device. NIDA notes that 80 percent of the samples in one study it cites were contaminated. NIDA A pen cannot fix what is in the concentrate.
Accessories made for rigs do not always carry over. Our terp pearls guide notes that pearls are not compatible with dab pens.
Does a dab pen get as hot as a rig?
Nobody has measured that head to head in the studies we found. Pen coils and rig nails have been measured with different methods, on different devices, so their numbers cannot be compared fairly. What the studies do show is narrower.
- Rig nails run hot and uncontrolled. In the nail study, forum-reported e-nail temperatures ran from 340 to 482 °C. In the lab, the hottest nail runs produced more terpene breakdown products, including methacrolein and benzene. Those are bench measurements, not a dose or a health outcome. Meehan-Atrash et al., 2017
- A setting is not a temperature. In a bench test of three 510-style cartridge systems, “voltage alone was a poor indicator of coil temperature.” Only the temperature-controlled design held its setpoint. That study was funded and run by a maker of temperature-controlled devices, and it tested carts, not hand-loaded pens. Oar et al., 2022 Our lesson on why volts are not degrees explains the detail.
The practical reading: a button labeled “low” on a dab pen tells you the power level. It does not tell you the coil temperature.
Is a dab pen safer than a cart or a rig?
The evidence does not say. Seller pages call one device type “cleaner” or “smoother” than another. Our searches did not find a study that compares a hand-loaded dab pen against a cart, an e-rig or a rig on exposure, health outcomes or flavor. That is a gap in what we found, not proof that no difference exists.
What exists is broader. A 2019 lab analysis found lower gas-phase toxicant values for dabbing and cartridge vaping than for smoking. The authors still warned about different use patterns and the “higher aerosol concentration of THC.” Lower is not zero, and gas-phase compounds are only part of the picture. Meehan-Atrash et al., 2019
The 2019 to 2020 lung injury outbreak is often raised in this debate. CDC linked it strongly to vitamin E acetate in THC vaping products, especially from informal sources. CDC did not link it to one device design, and its 2020 recommendation was against THC vaping products, particularly from informal sources. CDC MMWR, 2020 That history does not make pens safe or carts dangerous by design. It says that what is in the product and where it came from matter. Our counterfeit cart warning signs lesson covers the sourcing side.
When to talk to a clinician: if you notice a cough, chest pain or shortness of breath that does not go away after vaping or dabbing, stop and get medical advice. Tell the clinician what product you used and where you bought it.
Is a dab pen good for beginners?
No device makes concentrates beginner-strength. The product, not the pen, sets how strong a hit is. In a study of 252 experienced adults using their own legal products, dabbing as a mode went with higher plasma THC right after use than joint-style smoking, and with stronger reported effects. The study’s “dabbing” group did not separate pens from rigs, so it cannot say which device. Chen et al., 2025 NIDA adds that dabbers inhale the whole amount at once. NIDA
What a beginner can compare is what each device asks of you:
- Do you want to handle loose concentrate? A dab pen, e-rig or rig all need that. A cart does not.
- Do you want a flame? Only a traditional rig needs a torch.
- Do you want to set a temperature? An e-rig does that. Most pens and cart batteries give you a power level instead.
- Do you want something portable? Pens and carts travel. Rigs and most e-rigs stay home.
If you try concentrates at all, start with dabbing 101 for dose basics, and read why THC per puff counts mislead. If you would rather compare flower and concentrate devices first, our flower or concentrate vaporizer guide is the step before this one. The High IQ app can help you note how a product felt each time, so your next choice rests on your own record.
Key takeaways
- A dab pen is a battery pen with an open chamber that you load by hand with wax, shatter or similar concentrates.
- A cart comes pre-filled and sealed. An e-rig heats a nail electrically to a set temperature. A rig uses a torch.
- “Dab pen,” “wax pen” and “vape pen” have no standard meaning. Ask whether you load it or it comes sealed.
- A power setting is not a coil temperature.
- No study we found shows one device type is safer. The concentrate’s strength and purity matter as much as the hardware.
FAQ
What is the difference between a dab pen and a vape pen?
Usually, a dab pen is loaded by hand with solid or sticky concentrate, and a vape pen runs a sealed, pre-filled oil cartridge. The terms are not standardized, though: NIDA uses “vape pen” for pens that take oil or wax. Check whether the concentrate is loaded by you or sealed inside.
Does a dab pen need a torch?
No. A dab pen heats its coil or ceramic element with a rechargeable battery. Only a traditional dab rig uses a torch, and an e-rig replaces the torch with an electric heater.
Is a wax pen the same as a dab pen?
In everyday use, yes. Both names describe a battery pen you load with wax or similar concentrates. Some sellers use them as separate product lines, so read what the device actually holds.
Are dab pens better than cartridges?
Neither is better by any measure we found. A dab pen lets you choose your own concentrate but needs loading and cleaning; a cart needs no handling but locks you into what the cartridge contains. No study we found compares the two on exposure or health outcomes.
Sources
- National Institute on Drug Abuse. Marijuana Concentrates DrugFacts. NIH, June 2020.
- Berberian S, Broussard ML, Tully C, Methuku V, Pardini DA, Meier MH. Young adults’ familiarity with different cannabis product terms. Journal of Cannabis Research, 2022. DOI: 10.1186/s42238-022-00125-0
- Meacham MC, Roh S, Chang JS, Ramo DE. Frequently asked questions about dabbing concentrates in online cannabis community discussion forums. International Journal of Drug Policy, 2019. DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2019.07.036
- Meehan-Atrash J, Luo W, Strongin RM. Toxicant formation in dabbing: the terpene story. ACS Omega, 2017. DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.7b01130
- Meehan-Atrash J, Luo W, McWhirter KJ, Strongin RM. Aerosol gas-phase components from cannabis e-cigarettes and dabbing. ACS Omega, 2019. DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.9b02301
- Oar MA, Savage CH, Rufer ES, Rucker RP, Guzman JA. Thermography of cannabis extract vaporization cartridge heating coils in temperature- and voltage-controlled systems. PLoS One, 2022. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262265. Funded and conducted by PAX Labs.
- Mikheev VB, Ivanov A. Analysis of the aerosol generated from tetrahydrocannabinol, vitamin E acetate, and their mixtures. Toxics, 2022. DOI: 10.3390/toxics10020088
- Munger KR, Anreise KM, Strongin RM. Cannabis concentrate vaping chemistry. Frontiers in Toxicology, 2025. DOI: 10.3389/ftox.2025.1568207
- Chen MY, Brooks-Russell A, Bryan AD, Bidwell LC. Mode matters: how modes of cannabis administration affect THC plasma concentrations and subjective effects. Journal of Cannabis Research, 2025. DOI: 10.1186/s42238-025-00282-y
- Krishnasamy VP, Hallowell BD, Ko JY, and colleagues. Update: characteristics of a nationwide outbreak of EVALI, United States, August 2019 to January 2020. MMWR, 2020.
