Breaking Down Cannabis Concentrates
Cannabis concentrates can be confusing, even for seasoned consumers. Rosin or Live rosin? Sugar or sauce? Badder or Budder? The choices can be a bit overwhelming. Luckily, we’re here to help break it down for you. In honor of the 710 holiday aka “Oil Day” we wanted to share a quick lesson on cannabis concentrates. Don’t forget – we are offering 20% off all concentrates + vape and dab accessories at all of our locations Friday, July 10!
Below we will show you just how each concentrate is a little different from the last. Cannabis concentrates can come in many textures, shapes, colors, and consistencies. However, the differences generally stem from factors like moisture, temperature changes, and physical agitation.
Most concentrates are consumed by “dabbing” aka flash vaporizing a dollop of cannabis extract through a temperature-specific heating method like a dab rig, e-rig, or vaporizer. However, some people like to get creative and use extracts to top their joints, blunts, or bowls. Remember everyone has a different experience so what works for a friend might not work for you. Concentrates are typically more potent than flower, so if you’ve never dabbed – consume with caution.
Now let’s dive into the different consistencies:
sauce
sugar
rosin
solventless, shatter like concentrate made from heating and pressing dried flower, hash, or kief together
live rosin
solventless, made from pressing bubble hash that was derived from freshly frozen flower
live resin
solvent-based, usually BHO, high-quality, flavorful concentrates produced by flash-freezing the whole cannabis flowers then extracting them.
“Live” products are frozen immediately after harvest and are often preferred for their the pungent aromas of the live plant or the terpenes.
badder
budder
dried oil with a crumbly honeycomb consistency
Hash
kief compressed into a block like shape
Bubble Hash
uses water, ice & mesh screens to extract trichomes into a paste-like consistency
ice wax
created by using water, ice, & mesh screens to extract trichomes into a fine, grainy, sand-like texture
dry sift
dry sift uses fine mesh screens to sift the dried flowers, separating trichome heads from the plant material, also known as kief
wax
concentrate whipped in the purging process
shatter
golden to amber colored concentrates made with a solvent producing a translucent, brittle, glass-like texture
distillate
exposes a winterized & heat decarboxylated extract to heat & vacuum, commonly used as a base for most edibles & vape cartridges
crystalline
isolated cannabinoids in their pure crystal structure
Interested in enhancing your smoking experience by testing out a new concentrate?
Check out our favorite concentrate brands and products here.