There are numerous types of concentrates available, making it challenging to understand their distinctions, production methods, and applications. Let this guide serve as your go-to resource for further insight!
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What Are Concentrates?
Concentrates are similar to the orange juice concentrate you may have in your freezer – the concentrated product of extracting the most desirable parts of the plant. They contain all the cannabinoids and terpenes present in cannabis while being free of excess plant materials.
What is Shatter, butter/budder, wax, sugar, sauce, and crumble…?
All of these terms reflect the consistencies of the cannabis concentrate extract itself. Certain extraction methods and post-processing techniques are more suitable for making some of these concentrates, but these extracts can be made in multiple ways. One thing is true: these products are much more potent by volume than cannabis flower. Cannabis concentrates contain anywhere from 60 percent to more than 90 percent THC, while cannabis flower typically contains anywhere from less than 10 to more than 30 percent THC. If you haven’t used concentrates before, it’s important to start with a very small amount! Read this guide to learn more about each specific concentrate and how they are made.
KIEF
What is it? An un-refined particle containing cannabis flower trichomes. It is more potent than cannabis flower and can be sprinkled on a bowl or in a joint. It can also be decarboxylated and added to food. Keif can be further refined into many other concentrates as well.
How is it made? By agitating dry and cured flower to allow for the dry and brittle trichomes to separate from the flower or trim and be collected separately. Kief does not require the use of solvents and can be further refined into a dry sift kief by using different-sized screens and filtering trichomes and resin glands by size.
Dry Sift Hash
What is it? A refined kief that is usually pressed into a ball and has a more solid consistency compared to a powdery kief. It can be added to a bowl, decarboxylated, and added to food.
How is it made? By taking kief and refining it through filter screens, then compressing it into a solid form. It does not require the use of solvents and can be further refined into other concentrates.
Bubble Hash
What is it? A concentrated solid hash with a similar consistency to dry sift hash. It can be dabbed, vaped, added to a bowl or joint, or decarboxylated.
How is it made? By using cold water and ice to knock the trichomes off of dry and cured cannabis plant material. The ice agitation breaks the fragile trichomes off the flower material and then passes through a series or micron filters. Once filtered, it needs to be properly fried. A well-refined bubble hash, called full melt, is a potent hash that will bubble when heated, hence the name “bubble hash”
Hash Rosin
What is it? A rosin that is made using hash as the starting material. It can be more potent than regular flower rosin. It can sometimes have a shatter, pull and snap, or taffy consistency and is a perfect product to be dabbed or vaporized. It can be added to a bowl, decarboxylated, and added to food.
How is it made? By taking already extracted has and adding heat & pressure to extract just the oils and terpenes from the has. No solvents are used to make hash rosin. It can be further refined to make other concentrates.
Rosin
What is it? A solventless concentrate containing cannabis oils, terpenes, and lipids. Rosin is stickier in consistency and can produce a higher cannabinoid potency. Typically used in dabbing and vaping, but can also be added to a bowl/joint or decarboxylated.
How is it made? Using heat and pressure to extract cannabis oils from plant matter. Usually pressed through a micron screen for a cleaner consistency Rosin. No solvents are used in the extraction of Rosin, and it can be further refined into other concentrates.
Live Rosin
What is it? Using the same extract processes as normal rosin, but instead of using dried and cured cannabis material, a fresh frozen material is used instead. It contains more terpenes than normal rosin, making it more flavorful and representative of the living plant. It can be dabbed, vaped, added to a bowl or joint, or decarboxylated.
How is it made? By taking fresh frozen cannabis products and usually making a bubble hash out of the live fresh frozen plant material. It is then freeze-dried and pressed into live rosin. Solvents are not used during any of the extraction process.
Resin
What is it? A sticky cannabis oil with terpenes that is extracted using a solvent. It can be a very potent extract and terpene-rich. It great for dabbing and vaping, but can also be used to dress up a joint or bowl, or be decarboxylated.
How is it made? By using a solvent to extract the cannabinoids from the plant material. Typical solvents used are CO2, alcohol, propane, or butane. The solvent will extract the cannabinoids, and the solvent is then removed, leaving behind only the cannabis oils that are desired. Further refining can be done to make more pure forms of resin.
Live Resin
What is it? The same as Rosin, except instead of using dried and cured cannabis material, a fresh frozen material is used and extracted using a solvent. It can be very potent and terpene-rich. Great for dabbing and vaping but can also be used to dress up a joint/bowl or be decarboxylated.
How is it made? By taking fresh frozen cannabis material and extracting the cannabinoids with a solvent, usually butane or propane. The solvent is then ‘removed’ leaving behind the desired extract. It can be further refined to make more pure forms of live resin. Testing is recommended to ensure no solvents are leftover.
Distillate
What is it? Oil that can be refined using distillation. The process does not use any solvents and is used to further refine the oil into a more pure form. Typically, distillates are already decarboxylated and can be dabbed, vaped, added to a joint or bowl, or eaten. Sometimes terpenes are added back into distillates to improve taste; during the refining process, a majority of the terpenes have been removed.
How is it made? By placing an extracted oil under a vacuum and heat to vaporize the desired cannabinoids to then condense and separate them from heavy residues. Knowing the vapor points of cannabinoids, extractors can fraction off and collect pure oil while the heavy residues are left behind.
Diamonds
What is it? Isolated THCA crystals are made from a resin or live resin.
How is it made? By using certain solvents to assist in the crystallization of THCA. THCA is a crystalline structure and can attract more THCA crystals to grow and form into larger crystals that have now been called diamonds. The process is often called ‘diamond mining’ and takes time for the THCA crystals to stack on top of one another. Pentane is usually the solvent of choice when washing diamonds.
