Dab rigs & tools
The Cadmium Temperature Indicator Capsule is a quartz crystal bead containing cadmium granulate that changes colour as your banger heats up — turning red at the exact temperature you need for a proper dab. No guesswork, no thermometer apps, no burnt concentrates. Just drop it into your banger, torch as usual, and watch the colour shift. When it hits red, you're in the sweet spot for maximum flavour and cannabinoid delivery from your wax or oil.
Dabbing concentrates at the wrong temperature is the single most common way people waste good product. Too hot and you scorch the terpenes — that harsh, throat-burning hit with almost no flavour is the giveaway. Too cold and the wax just pools in the bottom of the banger, barely vaporising, leaving a sticky residue you'll spend ages cleaning. The window for a proper low-temp dab sits roughly between 260°C and 315°C (500–600°F), and without some kind of indicator, you're just guessing.
We've sold infrared thermometers, terpometer probes, and timer-based methods over the years. They all work, but they all add faff. The cadmium capsule sits inside the banger itself, so you're reading the actual surface temperature where your concentrate lands — not the outside of the glass, not the air above it. The cadmium granulate inside the quartz shell changes from its resting colour to red right in that ideal dabbing range. It's the simplest solution we've come across, and honestly, for the price, there's no reason not to have one in your setup.
One honest limitation: the capsule tells you when you've reached the right temperature, but it doesn't tell you how far past it you've gone. If you keep torching well beyond the red stage, you'll overshoot. So watch for the colour change and pull the torch away promptly. That's the one thing to get right.
Cadmium is a metal that responds to heat with visible colour changes in its granulate form. Sealed inside a quartz crystal capsule, the granulate shifts through a colour spectrum as temperature rises. The critical colour — red — aligns with the temperature range where concentrates vaporise cleanly without combustion. Quartz was chosen for the outer shell because it handles thermal cycling without cracking, and it's chemically inert so it won't off-gas or affect flavour at dabbing temperatures.
The capsule weighs almost nothing — you'll barely notice it sitting in the bottom of your banger. It feels like a small glass bead between your fingers, smooth and about the size of a peppercorn. After each session, it cools back down and resets to its original colour, ready for the next use. No consumable parts, no replacement cartridges, no charging cables. It just works.
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| SKU | HS1170 |
| Outer material | Quartz crystal |
| Inner material | Cadmium granulate |
| Indicator colour at target temperature | Red |
| Target temperature range | Optimal low-temp dab zone (260–315°C / 500–600°F) |
| Reusable | Yes — resets on cooling |
| Compatibility | Standard quartz bangers |
| Electronics required | None |
Complete your dab setup with a proper quartz banger if you haven't got one already — the capsule sits directly inside, so a flat-bottomed banger gives it the most stable base. A carb cap is the other essential: once your capsule turns red and you drop your concentrate in, capping the banger traps heat and lets you vaporise every last bit at low temp. A dab tool with a scoop tip makes handling wax concentrates far easier than trying to balance a glob on a pointed pick.
We've watched people torch bangers until they glow orange, drop a dab in, and wonder why it tastes like burnt plastic. We've also seen the opposite — someone waits 90 seconds after torching, drops the concentrate in, and it just sits there in a puddle going nowhere. Both problems come down to the same thing: no temperature feedback. The cadmium capsule isn't fancy technology. It's a colour-changing bead. But it solves the actual problem, which is that human beings are terrible at estimating the temperature of hot glass by looking at it.
Compared to an infrared thermometer gun, which costs 3–5 times more and requires you to point, read a screen, and react, the capsule gives you a hands-free visual cue right where you're already looking. Compared to the "count to 30 after torching" method, it actually accounts for variables like ambient room temperature, banger thickness, and how aggressively you torched. A 30-second countdown works differently in a cold garage versus a warm flat. The capsule doesn't care — it reads the actual temperature of the glass it's sitting on.
| Method | Cost | Accuracy | Hands-free |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cadmium capsule | Low | Good — reads banger surface directly | Yes |
| Infrared thermometer | Medium–High | Good — but reads exterior surface | No — requires aiming |
| Terpometer probe | High | Excellent — direct contact reading | No — must insert and read |
| Timer/countdown | Free | Variable — depends on conditions | Yes |
Yes. The cadmium granulate is fully enclosed within a quartz crystal shell. Quartz is chemically inert at dabbing temperatures and keeps the cadmium sealed away from your concentrate and vapour path. You're not inhaling cadmium — you're reading its colour through the glass.
Indefinitely with normal use. The quartz shell handles repeated thermal cycling without degrading, and the cadmium granulate inside doesn't lose its colour-change properties over time. Just avoid dropping it on hard surfaces — quartz is tough under heat but can chip on impact.
It fits any standard quartz banger. Flat-bottomed bangers give the capsule the most stable resting position. If you're using a very small 10mm banger, check that the capsule sits flat without blocking your concentrate from reaching the heated surface.
You'll overshoot the ideal temperature. The capsule shows when you've reached the right zone, but it can't stop you from going further. Pull the torch away as soon as you see red. Overshooting means harsher vapour and wasted terpenes — exactly what you're trying to avoid.
You shouldn't need to. The quartz exterior doesn't absorb residue. If concentrate splashes onto it, a quick torch cycle will burn off any film. Don't soak it in isopropyl alcohol for extended periods — brief contact is fine, but prolonged soaking isn't necessary.
Timers don't account for banger thickness, ambient temperature, or how hard you torched. A 30-second cooldown in a 22°C room hits differently than in a 14°C garage. The cadmium capsule reads the actual glass temperature, so it adapts to your specific conditions every time.
Gradually. You'll see the granulate shift through intermediate colours before reaching red. This gives you a few seconds of visual warning — you can see it approaching the target zone rather than suddenly flipping. Useful for timing your torch pullback.
Last updated: April 2026
