So, last time we went over the difference between a flower and concentrates and how to consume each. Today, we will be going over what types of concentrates are out there and how they differ.
So, in the last lesson, I went over how concentrates are made. Just to quickly sum it up, a lot of concentrates that you see on the market and what you will hear about, are made with solvents: Butane hash oil, Propane hash oil, or C02. They put the cannabis flower in a tube and put one of those solvents into the tube with the cannabis, and kind of hose it with one of those solvents and pressurize it. That makes the cannabis turn into a sticky, yellow, honey-like substance. Then they flush the end concentrate a few times to make sure the leftover solvent isn't messing up the product, because you don't want to inhale or consume leftover butane for example.
After the extraction process, what you're left with depends on how the curator wants the consistency of the concentrates to be, but a lot if not all of these consistencies that go through this extraction process will still have the same feeling\effects.
-
Shatter: This is the consistency of yellow glass that you can break apart with your tool or your fingers if you wanted.
-
Wax: Sometimes wax can look like hard ear wax or yellowish toffee candy.
-
Crumble: Crumble, and wax are usually the same thing, crumble is mainly the consistency and look of toffee candy while wax can also look like hard ear wax or crystalized honey.
-
Diamonds: These straight-up look like diamonds or pure sugar, and they are straight THC or CBD; they don't taste like anything.
-
Sauce: Sauce looks like and is the consistency of honey, and sometimes has diamonds in there as well.
-
Budder: Also looks and has the consistency of honey, but also will kind of look like peanut butter.
Then there is Live Resin, the king of concentrates. You can have live resin in any one of these consistencies, but it is made differently. Live resin is taking the plant, and it does not go through any curing process (meaning not hanging, drying, curing) and it goes straight into the freezer. This means it is not stripped of any of the terpenes or cannabinoids; with live resin, everything stays intact.
There are also solventless concentrates. So, with this type of concentrate, it does not go through any butane, C02, or propane. In fact, some live resins are solvent-less.
-
Rosin: This is made by taking the nug and pressing it between 2 hot plates. This condenses the bud with heat and produces a sticky yellow substance that is the concentrated form. Rosin looks similar to wax or budder; it just depends on how much friction they try to "irritate" the end product.
-
6* Hash: If you've ever heard of cannabis looking "frosty", the "frost" is referring to the white specks that look a lot like snow on your cannabis; these are called trichomes. Trichomes are what make the plant; they are full of the terpenes and cannabinoids we've been talking about. Now, with hash the way that it's made is taking the plant, freezing it, then they put it in water and stir it until the trichomes separate, and then they press all the trichomes together. Hash looks like a brown brick pretty much. To be honest, it doesn't look appetizing unlike some of these other concentrates, but it's still potent and still tastes great.
-
Hash Rosin: Hash rosin is taking the process of hash, separating the trichomes of the plant and pressing them together; then it goes through the rosin process of pressing the hash out between 2 hot plates. This can look like honey, peanut butter, or kind of like yellow taffy.
The look and consistency of each of these differ depending on the process as well as the friction when making the product. That's why with a lot of these, they can look the same, but taste different; some of them might have stronger effects than the other depending on your system, but they are all potent.
In the next lesson, we will be going over edibles: How they are different from other methods of consumption and the importance of dosing.
