The Sock Method

About

The Sock Method, also known as The Sock Trick, refers to a hack or trick that purportedly extends the life of a weed dab pen (aka "cart") that involves putting the oil cartridge in a sock and spinning it in the air after heating up the resin with a hair dryer or lighter. The heat plus the spinning causes the remaining oil to migrate to the cart's bottom where it can be lit. The Sock Method went viral on TikTok in 2023 and 2024. It was originally discussed on Reddit in subreddits dedicated to stoner culture.

Origin

On April 18th, 2018, Redditor^[1] boozythedrunkghost posted to the subreddit /r/Waxpen, writing, "wax stuck to the side of cartridge." To help, Redditors in the comment section suggested using a lighter or a heating pad to heat the cart, bringing the resin to the bottom where it can be ignited and used.

On November 2nd, 2019, Redditor^[2] hazelnut3313 posted to /r/StonerEngineering concerning the same problem experienced by Redditor boozythedrunkghost. On November 3rd, Redditor^[3] ThousandthWolf said that in addition to heating it up, "Put the cart in a sock and swing it around. Put the threaded side of the cart in the toe of the sock. The centrifugal force should push the remaining oil into the coil" (shown below). The Redditor's comment is currently the first known post discussing the Sock Method.

Spread

In the following years, posts about the Sock Method surfaced on multiple weed-related subreddits. For instance, on June 24th, 2022, Redditor^[4] DJ-Slim_Dick shared a post to /r/fakecartridges called, "Sock trick," in which they outlined a step-by-step tutorial on performing the method. Over two years, the post received 55 upvotes (shown below).

On March 23rd, 2023, Redditor^[5] zorfog posted to /r/trees warning against heating up a cartridge with a lighter, writing, "Friendly Tip: don’t use a lighter to heat up a cart to move the oil around." The post received over 1,400 upvotes in a year (shown below). In the comments, Redditors claimed that a plastic cart can not handle the lighter but a glass one can.

In 2024, videos about the Sock Method began appearing on TikTok.^[6] For instance, on July 3rd, TikToker^[7] @_guapnese posted a video that joked about the method, gaining over 345,200 plays and 60,300 likes in three months (shown below).

On September 13th, 2024, TikToker^[8] @f3ntblunnntkunt posted a video of a girl seemingly doing the Sock Method in a school bathroom stall, receiving over 5.8 million plays and 708,200 likes in a month (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References