Concentrates

Ah concentrates, that miracle in stoner engineering, that turns trash into the most potent form of cannabis. When it comes to concentrates, I have noticed there are two kinds of stoners. Those that love it, or those that are scared shitless about it. I personally love it, mainly for the stealthiness of it while out and about. A few quick puffs off of a vape pen and you’re good to go! There’s all sorts of different types so let’s get into it.

Solvent Based

These are your more well known and easy to find kinds of concentrates. BHO, CO2, PHO, and Alcohol are the four types, with BHO and CO2 being the most popular and widely available. BHO uses Butane, CO2 obviously uses CO2, PHO uses Propane, and Alcohol obviously uses Alcohol. DO NOT TRY TO MAKE SOLVENT BASED CONCENTRATE AT HOME! I can’t stress this enough, the news is already full of people blowing up their houses while trying to make it themselves. Leave it to the licenced pros, and keep yourself out of the news, and hospital. With that out of the way, it is made using a closed loop system to blast the plant material with your chosen solvent. After separating the material from the good stuff, it must then be purged, either by evaporation or a vacuum oven, to get the remaining solvents out. The final products are Oil, Shatter, Wax, Live Resin, and Distillate, depending on what solvent used and purging methods. Live Resin is made with fresh frozen plant material, and CO2 oil is what is commonly found in the pre filled vape cartridges. THC % can range anywhere from the 50’s to 80’s, with Distillates being the most pure, in the high 90’s. These are the newest, and usually used for edibles as they are scent and tasteless.

Non Solvent Based

These are made using Water, Heat or Pressure, so it is both safe and legal to make at home. Legal if you happen to live in a legal state, that is. Non solvents would be your Kief, Bubble Hash and Rosin. Kief, or dry sift, is what you get at the bottom of most grinders, or from sifting your cannabis in a kief box or dry sift box. This separates the Trichomes from the plant. Bubble Hash is made using Ice, water, and agitation, usually using a washing machine. The water is then filtered through a series of different sized mesh bags. Each of which gets a different grade of hash. Food grade, Mid grade, and High grade. The higher the grade, the less plant material that is in it. It’s called bubble hash because it’s supposed to bubble when lit. Rosin is made using Heat and pressure. They sell fancy presses now, even at walmart, but you can get away with using a hair straightener. Just make sure to use some parchment paper, as to not bring down the wrath of the owner (if you’re not said owner). All of these would obviously be cleaner, as there is nothing chemical used to strip the trichomes from the plant.

Whatever your choice is on what concentrate to use, start small! You can always do more, and you will only need a little. I’m guessing why it’s called a Dab is because a little dab will do ya! Stay safe and Enjoy!