Terp Pearls – Terp Balls – Ruby or Silicon Carbide SiC

Terp pearls also known as terp balls move around in your crucible or bucket helping to mix the concentrate and spread it around the base. This aids the production of smooth vapour with a more consistent flavour profile throughout the session. With larger surfaces like the DC V5 Micro Diffuser they also help the material come off more slowly in multiple draws helping your concentrate last a little longer! They’re especially useful for larger dabs and dabs of material with a higher plant wax/fat content due to the mixing and spreading effect. Due to their light weight and smooth surface they are most effective when used in a clean bucket or crucible.

Terp Ball Grabbers which are designed for handling balls between 2-8mm making them the best solution available for handling hot or sticky terp pearls. 

We stock ruby and Silicon Carbide terp balls because they are extremely conductive of heat and in coil heated crucibles or buckets these are more effective than quartz alternatives. To give you a general idea – ruby is around 10x more conductive than quartz and SiC is around 80x more conductive of heat! When used with torch heated crucibles or bangers quartz pearls are often used because they have the same thermal properties as the crucible/banger, helping vapourize the material before the crucible cools down due to the movement and extra trapped heat. In coil heated atomizers they take too long to heat up reducing their effectiveness which is why we don’t stock them.

Due to the different materials and sizes each variant provides a slightly different experience and flavour which is entirely down to personal preference. At Recommended Vape Supplies we’ve come to the agreement that Silicon Carbide terp balls provide slightly smoother vapour while Ruby provides a slightly crisper flavour profile. Silicon Carbide also stays hot for longer, aiding vapourisation better through the session, which makes it our preference. 

Generally a single terp pearl is most effective for bucket atomizer setups. However some people like to put a number in, preheat them and drop their concentrate on that, providing fast vapour production in large quantities. Depending on your desired use you may find the best results by preheating your bucket and terp ball, this will provide more vapour more quickly but will reduce the clarity of flavour. 

Both of these materials are formed in conditions well over 1000 degrees Celsius (1200C and 2700C) and so do not produce any vapour contamination during use. As with all vape items it is best to clean them first to remove any residue left over from manufacture and packing.

When to consider avoiding terp balls:

It is not recommended to use terp balls in low quality fast moving quartz spinners as there is a small chance of wear to the poorly machined quartz and inhalation of small quartz particles due to damage from the terp balls.

We have not found any such damage on any of our products and have searched for evidence of this with no result. While the balls spin in the V4 Crucible it is extremely smooth and the balls are not heavy enough to cause particles of any significant size to be produced. With slower moving balls, not being spun fast enough to wear the quartz, the possibility of this damage is not present as the terp balls are very small and light so lack the forces to do damage, especially when lubricated with concentrate or residue. 

As a side note it’s also worth considering the quantity of this (Silica) and similar substances you breathe every day walking near roads, in dry dusty environments or in a more extreme scenario, going to the beach. The quantities produced by a fast moving terp ball in a high quality crucible are infinitesimally smaller and could be considered negligible relative to background levels of particle inhalation. Especially considering a significant portion of the world’s population live in dry regions and Silica based deserts. 

Metal crucibles/buckets are malleable and so do not chip or fracture and the SiC and Ruby terp balls themselves are extremely hard and even after a year of daily use show no signs of wear. When spun fast with SiC buckets we have found no damage on either the SiC terp balls or the buckets. 

Terp ball gabber not included in listing, for illustrative purposes only.