Dab Pen Battery vs. Vape Pen Battery: What’s the Difference?

Dab pen batteries and vape pen batteries are both 510-thread batteries at their most basic level and are more similar to one another than they are different. After all, any vape battery with 510 threading can work with either a vape cart or a wax coil as long as it physically fits. However, there are subtle differences between vape batteries designed for oil cartridges and batteries designed for dabbing – and if you’re in the market for a new battery, it’s a good idea to choose one specifically designed for your intended purpose.

So, what are the differences between dab pen batteries vs. vape pen batteries? Reading this article, you’re going to learn about the subtle differences that make a battery better suited to vape carts or dabbing.

A Dab Pen Battery Often Has a Manual Fire Button

If you’ve ever used a vape cart before, you know that most small 510-thread batteries use automatic puff-based firing mechanisms. With puff-based firing, a vape battery activates automatically when you puff on the cartridge. That’s great for oil vaping because after priming and filling a vape cart, it’s ready to go. No further maintenance is required until the cartridge is empty.

Using a wax coil, on the other hand, is a little different because you can’t just put a ball of wax on the coil and start vaping. If you don’t soften the wax first and let it absorb into the coil, you’ll experience a harsh “dry hit” because the coil will overheat.

The way to soften a dab of wax is by briefly pulsing the coil to generate heat. You can do that with a puff-activated vape pen battery by taking a few quick puffs without inhaling, but it’s much easier if you have a battery with a manual fire button. That way, you can just press the button a few times instead. That’s why manual fire buttons are very common on dab pen batteries.

Some Dab Pen Batteries Have Automatic Coil Preheating

Dab Pen Battery

Having a dab pen battery with a manual fire button is great for melting your wax, but there’s another option that’s even better: You can use a device that melts the wax for you automatically. That’s exactly what many dab pen batteries will do. A good dab pen battery will often have an automatic coil preheating function that you can enable by clicking the fire button two or three times. The preheating function automatically runs the battery at a low power level for a few seconds, which melts the wax and allows it to saturate the coil fully. After the preheating function is complete, you can take a deep puff without worrying about a dry hit.

A Vape Pen Battery Is Usually Smaller and May Not Work with Wax Coils

When you look at high-end vape pen batteries like the CCELL® Silo and CCELL® Palm Pro, one of the things you’ll notice is that the devices often have recessed chambers for their cartridges. That means much of the cartridge is hidden inside the body of the device, which allows you to vape very discreetly and also makes the device feel smaller and lighter in your pocket.

Using a vape pen battery with hidden threading is certainly a great thing for discreet vaping, but what if you want to use your device for dabbing? In that case, you might have difficulty because a device that’s designed for discreet oil vaping may not work with wax coils at all. That’s because a wax coil would be extremely difficult to load if it were as narrow as an oil cartridge – so a wax coil is typically much wider and won’t fit in a vape pen battery with recessed threading.

If you want to buy a 510-thread battery that will work with any oil cartridge or wax coil, you should choose one that doesn’t have hidden or recessed threading. That way, you can be certain that any attachment you want to use will fit. The Nomad vape, for example, will work with both vape cartridges and wax coils.

A Dab Pen Battery May Work with a Bong

There are many different ways to smoke, and rolling a joint is only one of them. Many people love the smooth experience that you can only get with water filtration, and that’s why bongs are so popular. Our Nomad vaporizer isn’t just great because it can work with both oil cartridges and wax coils – it also comes with its own set of glass attachments including an adapter that allows you to connect it to a bong. When you use the Nomad with a bong, you can even convert the device from manual firing to puff-activated firing for extra convenience.

A vape pen battery that’s designed for oil cartridges isn’t likely to come with a bong adapter because vape cartridges are fragile, and you wouldn’t want one breaking off inside your expensive glassware. However, it’s possible to have a very similar experience with our PS1 vape, which works with both oil and wax and has its own built-in water bubbler.

Dab Pen Batteries and Vape Pen Batteries Are Similar – But They Aren’t the Same

With this article, we hope we’ve enlightened you about the subtle differences between dab pen batteries and wax pen batteries. As we mentioned in the beginning, these two types of vape batteries are very similar to one another and serve more or less the same function since they both work with 510-threaded attachments. Nevertheless, the two types of batteries have subtle differences, and it’s important to understand those differences if you want to buy a vape battery that meets your expectations.

A dab pen battery will often have advanced features to ensure that you’ll have the best possible experience when using wax concentrates. Those features are designed to help you enjoy a potent and flavorful puff every time without having to worry about harsh dry hits. A vape pen battery, on the other hand, may work with both oil and wax concentrates – but if you buy a vape pen battery designed for maximum portability, it may not be compatible with wax coils.