Concentrates Good or Bad?

Cannabis concentrates have been around almost as long as humans have explored cannabis. Hash products have been found in archeological digs dating back a couple of thousand years.

As anthropologists have mused, we Westerners are not known for chewing coca leaves nor smoking much opium. We like our products - refined, made more potent and easier to store and transport. Instead of coca leaves we're predisposed to cocaine and crack. Instead of opium, we're fond of heroin and morphine. The suspicion has been that once cannabis is lifted out of the illegal stance that we begin to refine and concentrate the cannabis high, and the concentrates industry will explode. We tend to agree.

In the last twenty years, cannabis concentrates has exploded - literally and figuratively - on to the scene. Today hash and cannabis concentrates are made in any number of ways including with the use of solvents such as butane. This has resulted in cannabis hash oil explosions. Today in Washington State it is illegal to make butane hash oil without an I502 license, in order to minimize such explosions.

Sincere patients would avoid butane hash oils in which still remain carcinogenic solvents such as acetone.

So what are hash, hash oils or honey oils, kief, budder, shatter and wax? And what is dabbing?

Hash and kief is mostly packed trichomes and retains all the terpenes and flavonoids.

Hash oil is a solution of various compounds found in the cannabis plant and many things can affect how its extract will turn out. As long as all the components of an extract are still in a single, homogeneous phase, the extract will be transparent. The different components will dictate whether the extract is hard, moldable or sappy. Hash oil is the least refined and thus retains all the terpenes. Thus hash oil remains fully effective medicine with similar canabinoid and terpene ratios as found in the raw material that was used in its making. Hash oils can be excellent medicine particularly if made solvent free.

Budder retains more, but not all, of the terpenes so it tends to be more flavorful but less potent – with THC percentages in the 70s. It has a creamy consistency from being whipped.

Wax - very similar to budder - where the cannabinoids crystallize around each other and separate from the terpenes and waxes. Like budder many but not all the terpenes are removed. This mixture of phases does not allow light to pass through and can have anything from a dry crumbly texture to a peanut butter consistency.

In shatter, the cannabinoids (in their natural acid forms), terpenes and waxes are all mixed together in one phase and in a way that allows light to pass through the molecular structure, just like hard candy. Shatter is smooth, clear and solid. It is the purest and most potent form because it involves a second extraction process that removes fats, lipids and waxes. This can result in over 80 percent THC. However, it also means that terpenes are lost in the process. Thus while shatter can be a hard recreational hit of nearly pure thc it is devoid of the 'entourage' effect which make otherwise cannabis excellent medicine.

Aim solventless (link to acetone test). SO NO butane hash oil or BHO. Ultra-fine water hash is now being pitched as “solventless” wax, reflecting the level of distrust about poorly made butane-tainted products (thank you Ed Rosenthal).

Because terpenes act as solvents, the higher the percentage of terpenes present, the more liquid-like the end product will turn out.

Concentrates - good or bad are here to stay.

Patients often find there's a balance between needing higher potency products for break through pain moments or unmitigated sleeplessness. But the more frequent use of concentrates appears to negatively affect dependency issues. Concentrates can also become expensive to use - particularly if habituation has occured.

A Word about the Dangers of Dabbing

Solventless hash: Dry ice kief

Rosin Method - Hash w/ a Hair Straightener!

Advanced Bubblehash