An electric dab rig — an e-rig — swaps the torch and the guesswork for a battery, a heating element, and a temperature you actually pick. You load the concentrate, press a button, and the atomizer holds a set temp instead of drifting from red-hot to cold the way a torched quartz banger does. That means the same hit twice in a row, no propane on the desk, and a rig you can carry.
Everything on this shelf is a self-heating unit: portable e-rigs with swappable buckets, desktop e-nails with a coil and controller, and the cups, carb caps, and coils that keep them running.
Portable e-rigs are all-in-one: battery, atomizer, and glass in one hand-held body, usually 5–20 dabs per charge. Desktop e-nails are a controller box wired to a coil that wraps your existing banger — no battery limit, but they live on a table. If you dab mostly at home and already own glass you like, an e-nail is the cheaper upgrade. If you want to dab away from the couch, buy the portable.
Low temps (around 500–550°F) keep terpenes intact and give a lighter, tastier vapor. High temps (600°F+) produce bigger visible clouds and burn off flavor. Most e-rigs expose 3–5 presets in that range; the better ones let you set a specific number. Rosin and live resin reward low temps; shatter and budder tolerate more heat.
Quartz heats fast and tastes cleanest — the default for most dabbers. Ceramic holds heat longer and is more forgiving on low-temp dabs but is slower to reheat. Titanium is basically unbreakable and best if the rig travels. Buckets are consumable: plan on replacing one every several months of regular use.
Battery capacity (anything under 1500mAh means charging mid-session), whether the bucket is user-replaceable, whether it charges over USB-C, and how the water piece detaches for cleaning. A rig you can't take apart is a rig you stop using.