HASH AND CONCENTRATE GUIDE FOR THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA USER

1st off im no chemist but ive made it daily for 15 years and work a s a buyer and seller in the largest orange county co-op with  only high end products and i made a lot of the concentrates. I had to explain to 300 patients a day the difference between hashes and extraction methods and purity levels. ok.. on with the fun stuff..

Abused often and misunderstood frequently. Let me start by clarifying :

The terms -hash,- concentrate, -extract ARE ALL  REFERRING TO THE SAME THING!!! They’re just different terms used to describe when the active ingredient,(trichomes, or the dome heads on the trichomes) in marijuana  has been separated from the plant. Hash is  just extracted and concentrated active ingredient!

There are 2 important things to know when buying hash,

First, The extraction method. There’s about four or five types of extractions. What extraction method was used to remove the active ingredients (trichomes) from the plant to create the hash you see. Was it “water and ice” extracted?… Otherwise known as bubble hash!!! Was it a butane extracted? Known as BHO!!! Was it solvent extracted (acetone/iso/everclear)? Was it Co2 extracted (dry ice or gas)?

Second, it’s important to know the strain(s) name(s) of marijuana used for the extraction; this will give you the lineage and genetics so you can know what to expect when the effects kick in..

Ok as i was saying there’s 4 or 5 types of hash you’ll see in southern California co-op’s. There should only be 4 or 5 type of hash followed by the strain name when you buy hash.in any co-op anywhere in california.

1. Keef, Kif, kief… (isnt really even a hash or concentrate so you shouldn’t even see this in the concentrate section but i will add it just to be PC.)
It’s either loose and sold by the gram or it’s pressed and sometimes heated to make hard hash, shady vendors or shops will say this is bubble hash but it is not. The color of pressed and heated kief ranges from blond to black in color.  You can see the plant matter in the hash when broken open. It’s made by taking marijuana and shaking it over fine screens. Not the purest product in terms of removal of plant matter and harmful combustibles but it Works great for butter or oil extraction for edibles. But, Just make hash and get 100% of your thc extracted and then put that into your , food grade glycerine, oil or butter! Simple things like maximizing your extrraction amount and the cleanliness of hash makes huge difference between recreational and medical. Anyway for you smokers out there ….This product does not bubble or melt when heated. I don’t recommend smoking it, as it’s not much purer than just smoking bud itself.

2. Bubble Hash (water+ice)
It comes in many grades from light beige to golden to dark black depending on purity. The general rule is the lighter the color the better, the more it melts the purer it is. So dark color hash= plant matter and contaminants. light colored hash= purity and quality. Some are soft and moist and pressed like silly puddy (i avoid these) while some are un pressed, smell great and look like sand. The natural state is unpressed. pressing it till it’s hard chunk before it’s dry has terrible effects on quality. It should be dry as beach sand when dried/cured properly. As i always say, smoking water isn’t productive. Sorry to repeat myself but trying to make a point there. You’ll see this product under the name bubble hash, crystals, trichomes and If your super lucky you may come across Full Melt Bubble which is the ultimate in organic purity of concentrated cannabinoids, it melts 100% and leaves little to no ash when smoked. If it doesnt melt to a liquid 100% then you have been taken by false advertising. Trust me the co-op knows if it melts and to what percentage it melts, they can be honest and truthful but most just choose to say full melt for any bubble hash that seems to bubble or melt to any degree. It takes several ounces of top shelf buds to make a gram or two of full melt bubble in many cases. The best full melts are usually sativa, indicas don’t always melt 100%. This product and process is organic in nature. It’s the same idea as kief and screens but its all done under ice cold water making a much purer product by up to 50%. Bubble hash is great for culinary use, especially full melt. When heated, bubble hash will slightly bubble due to small amounts of water trapped when the oil glands burst from being pressed together.(hash makers: be gentle with your bubble hash until it’s totally chopped up and bone dry on cardboard for days.)

3. Solvent Reduced (acetone, alcohol based)
Named hash oil, honey oil, full melt hash oil and black gold among other names. It’s made by soaking plant material for a certain amount of time in the chemical of choice. The longer the plant material soaks the darker the extract will be. you can usually spot this stuff from its darker color and in some cases even dark green or black. Also full melt, it turns to a puddle of oil when heated. Product should look waxy but when touched be hard as a rock, beware of liquid or strong fume smells in the product that’s leftover chemical not evaporated from the extraction.

4. Butane Hash Oil (BHO)
When it’s bomb. you can tell by the structure and color of it. It’s not all oily and leaving stickiness all over the container, in fact you can easily handle it like bubble hash. In co-op’s this falls under the names goo, earwax, honey oil, amber glass, moon rocks, “full melt” and a few other various aliases (i really don’t like that name game just call it what it is).BHO Is made by passing butane over marijuana buds and plant material. At room temp the hash is soft like ear wax and when very pure it is hard like glass. When heated it turns into a puddle of clear to yellowish amber oil. This is Full Melt But not to be confused with full melt bubble hash which is the water and ice extract…. Easily confusing. Butane makes this process non organic. Excellent for culinary use. Extremely potent and pure the smell and taste are totally left intact while the plant matter and other useless garbage is gone.

5.  (a) Dry Ice method. It’s called shiva crystals, 95% thc, gold dust and/or moon rocks plus a few more names.  Product is usually rather pure due to the extra cold temps that cleanly break the trichome domes away from the plant with less plant matter going through the screens and  therefor less contamination of the final product. It’s like ultra clean kief. To make this hash, dry ice is shaken with plant material and allowed to fall through screens or it’s added to the bucket of water in the bubble hash process . The final product when shaken over screens is a  gold flake or powder.  Sometimes will melt in warm environments.

5. (b) CO2 in tank under pressure gas/liquid state. It’s made just like the butane process but, co2 is much colder, safer (besides the high pressure) and occurs everywhere in life around us. The very best co2 hash is called amber glass, (just like butane) it should be stable, or hard at room temperature. co2 products will be full melt and taste extremely sweet and delicious. Extremely potent.

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Final notes:

Ok so 80% of the hash out there are just made up catchy names such as the most recent “death rockets” i can only grimace and say,”really”? death rockets? what a insult to hash and patients. I’ve seen names like moon rocks, bark hash, toostsie wheels, gold flakes, black gold, white gold, nectar, oil, full melt, full melt oil, honey, wax, goo and it goes on and on BUT, those names don’t mean anything to anyone. Don’t panic or be confused by names because there are only so many types of hash extractions out there, just become familiar with them and their final products and you will eventually just know what’s what.

Also just like in regular green uncured marijuana, chlorophyll is extremely harsh, tastes sorta “green”  like front lawn mowing’s mixed with raw mint. So keep your eye out and stay clear of  deep dark green oils if possible.

THC extractions (hash) should smell/taste similar if not exactly or even better then the strain they were made from.

The Golden Rule:
Hash will only be as strong as the strain of marijuana it was made from.