Navigating Cannabis Concentrates:
Key Takeaway
There are many ways to enjoy cannabis but concentrates typically provide the best experience by delivering everything you want, such as terpenes and cannabinoids like CBD and THC. In addition, concentrates enable a faster and more potent effect than flower with long-lasting effects, flavor, and aroma.
Read this comprehensive guide to learn more about how to navigate cannabis concentrates so you can have the best possible cannabis experience.
Navigating Cannabis Concentrates: A Comprehensive Guide
When visiting your favorite dispensary, you have tons of options to choose from. Most people are familiar with flower, edibles, and vapes.
Cannabis concentrates are available in various forms, so whether you're new to cannabis or a long-time enthusiast, understanding cannabis concentrates can help you determine whether they're right for you and which products to try.
But what exactly are cannabis concentrates? This article will discuss everything you need to know about concentrates, including how it's made, the different types, and how to choose the right product.
What Are Cannabis Concentrates?
Cannabis concentrates, also known by terms such as extracts, hash, etc., are products that isolate the active ingredients of the plant. While most concentrates are consumed via vaporization (“dabbing”), they can also be consumed via topicals and edibles. Concentrates contain all the cannabinoids and terpenes in cannabis without extraneous plant material, offering a different experience than cannabis flower, marked by superior flavor and elevating effects.
Concentrates can be consumed in several ways, but the most common is using a dab e-rig or pen.
Cannabis concentrates aren't new. They originated thousands of years ago in the form of hashish used for medicinal and religious purposes worldwide. Similarly, dabs have been around for several decades, dating back to the 1970s when they first appeared in the US.
The last decade has seen a renaissance in hash-making as increased acceptance has led to rapid innovation in concentrate manufacturing techniques, such as “live” (fresh-frozen) starting materials and cold cure hash rosin.
Breakdown of Cannabis Concentrate Starting Materials
The original live extracts were made in India, where workers would catch fresh resin from living plants (Charas).
More recently, hash makers have developed technology and techniques that enable fresh cannabis to be deep frozen within hours of harvest, which optimally preserves the cannabis for longer.
But how are cannabis concentrates made? There are two different schools of thought, and concentrates are considered either cured or live.
Cured Flower
Most cannabis products start with cured flower, which is the plant matter typically smoked in joints, pipes, and bongs. More traditional methods of resin extraction use cured flower as the starting material, such as traditional or “temple ball” hash. Cured flower can also be extracted via any modern solvent-based or solventless extraction method.
Fresh Frozen Flower
While cured concentrates go through a curing process, live concentrates don't. Instead, the plant is frozen with dry ice or liquid nitrogen as soon as possible after harvest.
As a result, live extracts typically contain more terpenes and have a better flavor profile than other types of cannabis concentrates.
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