Discovering Reclaim and How to Collect and Use It
If you’ve never tried dabbing reclaim, you’re in for a treat. Reclaim may sound like unappetizing leftovers from a high-temperature dab, but in reality, it contains tons of therapeutic cannabinoids that can be dabbed again. Instead of letting your darkened dab go to waste, use your reclaim to get the most out of your weed.
What is reclaim?
Reclaim is the gummy and sticky substance that builds up after taking dabs of concentrates in a dab rig. Concentrates usually have an amber color and varying consistencies. However, reclaim has a much darker yellow, orange, or brown color due to exposure to high temperatures.
The recondensed leftover dab is reclaim. Lab testing on multiple samples of reclaim with different textures, consistencies, and colors revealed that dab reclaim can have between 30 to 60 percent THC levels. Reclaim contains higher-than-normal levels of cannabinol (CBN), which may cause feelings of drowsiness.
How to collect reclaim and clean a dab rig
Reclaim can build up quickly, especially for first-time dabbers, as they may not be adept at heating the nail properly. Heating a dab nail too low can leave behind a puddle, but heating it too high can burn your dabs. Regular cleaning ensures your dab rig hits perfectly, and your dabs taste exquisite.
Collecting reclaim with a reclaim collector tool
A drop-down attachment or reclaim catcher allows you to move your nail further from your dab rig and collect reclaim as it falls through the downstem, respectively. To collect reclaim from these accessories, place your attachments on a silicone pad and carefully heat them with your blow torch to get the oils to drip down onto the pad for collection.
Collecting reclaim without a reclaim collector tool
If you don’t have a reclaim collector attachment, you can remove dab reclaim from your glass rig with high-proof alcohol, a hot plate, a razor blade, paper towels, and a Pyrex dish. Here’s a step-by-step guide to collecting your reclaim:
- Fill your dab rig with enough alcohol to cover the reclaim-encrusted portions.
- Cover the mouthpiece and glass joint with a piece of paper towel to ensure no water spills out.
- Covering the mouthpiece and glass joint, shake the piece to dislodge the reclaim.
- Run the rig under hot water, if needed, where the reclaim remains stuck.
- Repeat shaking the solution until the reclaim is removed.
- Pour the alcohol solution into a Pyrex dish.
- Heat the dish on a hot plate at the lowest temperature possible. Do not heat your dish over an open flame because the evaporated alcohol is flammable.
- After the liquid has evaporated, let your reclaim sit for a day to air dry.
- Scrape the reclaim with a razor blade and use it as desired.
Unlocking the Potential of Reclaim
When we collect reclaim using the alcohol solution, it’s not suitable for consumption unless the solution has been purged. We can use reclaim for dabbing, edibles, tinctures, and topicals. Reclaim dabs might not taste as flavorful as their original form, but they still have plenty of cannabinoids. Since reclaim is already decarboxylated, we can add it to any cooking recipe to make weed-infused edibles.
Leftover reclaim in our dab rig can make dabs taste harsher. By collecting our reclaim, we’ll have something to dab on days when we’re running low on concentrates. Cleaning our dab rig from reclaim ensures our dabs are tasting flavorful and potent without any harsh-tasting smoke flavors.
Reclaim FAQ
Can we dab reclaim?
Can we smoke reclaim wax? Absolutely! We can collect and dab reclaim again, though it might make us feel a little more drowsy. Test results of various samples of reclaim showed that it still contains 30-60% THC, but it also has lots of CBN. CBN is a result of degraded THC and tends to be more sedative than standard THC.
Can we smoke reclaim safely?
Yes, we can. Don’t let the discoloration deceive us; there’s still plenty of potency when we smoke reclaim. If we’re out of fresh concentrates, it’s an economical choice and will suffice in a pinch. We can even use reclaim as a bowl topper with flower.
Can we make edibles from reclaim?
Can we eat reclaim? Indeed! In fact, the lack of terpenes removed from the dabbing process makes reclaim better for edibles than other concentrates since the taste is more easily masked by chocolate, fruit, or other edible ingredients. Edibles made with reclaim might not be as potent, but they’re still tasty and can help us feel great in a pinch.
To make them, we melt the reclaim over low heat with our favorite cooking oil for about 30 minutes. Then we can run it through a cheesecloth to remove any possible fine particles, and it’s ready for use in our recipes.
How to get water out of reclaim?
If we collected reclaim from a water pipe, we might wonder how to get the water out so we can use it. Thankfully, there are two methods. The easiest one is to take the reclaim container and stick it in the freezer for about 5 minutes. After that time, we just take it out and smack it on the counter. The water will separate from the wax, allowing us to pour it out and dab our reclaim.
We can also use the double boiler method, which involves laying our reclaim out on a silicone mat. We’ll lay the mat on a plate and allow the plate to rest over a pot with boiling water on the stove. The heat from the boiling water below will make the leftover water in our reclaim evaporate away, leaving us with dabbable reclaim.
