What are Cannabis Concentrates?
Cannabis concentrates, or extracts, are becoming popular in the medical cannabis community because of their extremely high potency and medical benefits.
Today, many medical patients prefer consuming cannabis concentrates over the more traditional method of smoking dried cannabis “flower" and many experts believe concentrates are the future of medical cannabis.
Using concentrates can also save you money because consuming them is more efficient and less product is wasted.
There are many different types of cannabis concentrates on the market and we have written this article to help you understand the differences between them.
What are Solvent based Cannabis Extracts?
Broadly speaking, cannabis concentrates fall into two categories: concentrates made with solvents and concentrates made without solvents.
Popular solvents used to make cannabis extracts include isopropanol, ethanol, butane, hexane and propane, while CO2 extraction is considered an organic extraction method.
Cannabis concentrates that are made without the use of solvents or chemicals simply use pressure, heat and cold to produce cannabis extracts.
Below are descriptions of the most common cannabis concentrates that are made using solvents.
RSO or Phoenix Tears
This concentrate was developed by a Canadian by the name of Rick Simpson, hence the acronym RSO stands for Rick Simpson Oil.
Rick discovered this cannabis concentrate in the early 2000s while looking for relief from Post Concussion Syndrome (PCS). Rick received incredible medical benefits from using RSO and he has been promoting it as an effective medical treatment option ever since in an effort to help people find relief from a variety of ailments.
RSO has become very popular for medical cannabis patients because it is a full-spectrum concentrate that typically contains anywhere from 50-90% THC depending on the quality of the flower and the process used for extraction. The most popular ways to administer RSO is to use oral or topical applications.
To learn more about RSO, we invite you to read the Kanteeva article “What is RSO?”
The BHO Family (Shatter, Butter, Honey Oil, etc.)
These cannabis concentrates use butane as a solvent and BHO stands for Butane Hash Oil. Depending on the terpenes, cannabinoids, and flavonoids extracted, as well as the temperatures used for decarboxylation and the purging cycle, the end product can have several different consistencies.
Shatter
Shatter is very brittle and breaks easily like thin glass and typically has a color that ranges between a translucent brownish yellow to a more transparent golden yellow.
Shatter is produced when butane is forced through a tube (usually made of glass, stainless steel or PVC) that is packed full of cannabis. The tube has a filter attached to the opening at the opposite end, which serves as a holding tank where the butane-cannabis mixture is stored.
After the butane has been forced through the tube, the mixture is collected and the “purging cycle” begins using techniques like a vacuum oven or vacuum pump.
These purging techniques involve heat being applied to the butane-cannabis mixture in order to “purge” and separate all of the remaining solvent from the cannabis concentrate. This is usually done in vacuum ovens.
Budder/Wax
Budder/Wax is a cannabis concentrate that has gone through the same extraction process as shatter, the only exception is that it has been “whipped” after its purging cycle. Budder, or Wax, concentrates have an appearance closer to cookie dough or soft butter because this “whipping” process has made the extract more malleable. Budder/Wax is “whipped” for 2 reasons:
- If there is an unacceptable amount of solvent left in the concentrate after the purging cycle than it is necessary to whip the shatter in order to release the solvent that has been trapped in the cooled cannabis extract or
- Once it has been purged the Budder/Wax is “whipped” when it is warm because this allows the THCA to precipitate from the cannabis concentrate and crystalize.
In both cases, the end product will typically look like cookie dough, butter or wax.
Honey Oil
Honey Oil is produced in a similar way as shatter, but the process of vacuum purging is replaced with a low temperature, non-vacuum purge cycle. Compared to RSO, honey oil generally has a golden colour and a honey-like consistency.
Live Resin
Live Resin is in the BHO family as well.
The main difference between live resin and other BHO products is that live resin is made using freshly harvested, frozen cannabis flowers instead of using dried and cured cannabis flowers.
Live resin has a high concentration of monoterpenes (think cannabis’ essential oil) due to the fact that the flower has not been dried. As the flower dries it loses its monoterpenes and increases the sesquiterpenes. Curing the flower and then making the concentrate will also decrease the total amount of terpenes by as much as 55%.
- The Volatile Oil Composition of Fresh and Air-Dried Buds of Cannabis sativa
Raw Resin
Raw Resin uses almost the same method of extraction as live resin, the difference is that raw resin is produced from newly harvested cannabis flowers that are fresh, not frozen. Very few raw resins solidify due to the high density of terpenes and sesquiterpenes that remain in the final product, but it is these terpenoids that create the unrivalled flavour profile of Raw Resin in comparison to most other cannabis extracts.
BHO family concentrates are usually consumed using a bong with a “nail attachment” or a “quartz banger,” an e-cigarette with a “concentrate attachment” or by using a portable “hash pen.”
If you want to make edibles with any of these BHO cannabis concentrates then you will usually need to decarboxylate the extract before cooking or baking with it.
Are Solvent based Extracts Dangerous?
Some cannabis extracts contain trace amounts of the solvents that they are made with, and it is these harmful residual solvents that pose the greatest health risk when it comes to consuming cannabis concentrates.
Due to the potential dangers associated with unregulated solvent based cannabis extracts, it is important to always acquire them from legal and regulated sources. This will allow you to ensure you are receiving the safest products possible.
What are Solventless Cannabis Extracts?
Solventless cannabis extracts are made without using solvents like butane, ethanol or isopropanol. These products are typically not as popular as the solvent base extracts since they usually do not yield as much as the other methods and can be quite expensive or tedious to make.
The benefit to these extracts is that will not have the risk or potential of residual solvents being left in the end product.
Rosin
Rosin is a solvent-free cannabis concentrate that rivals the potency, flavour and effects of solvent based concentrates. The process of this solvent free extraction uses heat and pressure to basically squeeze the THC and other cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids into a sticky cannabis paste. Rosin can be processed from raw or dried flower, leaves, trim, and even hashish.
Since hashish is created through a solventless process itself, the rosin you get from pressing hashish in this process will be just as potent as rosin produced from the cannabis flower.
Rosin also has extremely high levels of cannabinoids that are usually degraded over time during the traditional drying and curing cycles of the cannabis harvest. Rosin is truly a full-spectrum cannabis extract, rich in an abundance of cannabinoids that are not available from other extraction methods.
Rosin is gaining popularity because it is very effective, simple to make, solvent free and cleaner than other cannabis concentrates!
Live Rosin
Live Rosin is extracted from fresh, frozen flowers or trim. The major difference between rosin and live rosin is the terpene content. Heat alone is not effective for extracting rosin from uncured or freshly frozen cannabis flower because the water content of the undried plant matter will boil when heated, making it useless.
Live Rosin is made by first making ice wax, and then drying it, prior to pressing it into rosin. Live rosin’s taste is exceptional due to its high content of monoterpenes.
CO2 Oil
CO2 Oil is made by using carbon dioxide as a solvent to remove cannabinoids and terpenes from cannabis plant matter. CO2 concentrates are created with supercritical (high temperature, high pressure) and subcritical (low temperature, low pressure) extraction methods where pressure and temperature are used to turn CO2 gas into liquid form.
Liquid CO2 is forced through a closed loop system that first dissolves cannabinoids from the cannabis plant matter and then separates these dissolved cannabinoids from the CO2. The pressure and temperature is changed again which allows the mixture of liquid CO2 and cannabinoids to separate as the CO2 returns to its gaseous state.
After the CO2 has been evaporated out of the mixture nothing but pure cannabis oil remains; terpenes, cannabinoids, and flavonoids. CO2 Oil is a little bit of a paradox, a solvent is used to create a solventless extract!
The equipment needed to make CO2 Oil is extremely expensive and complicated to operate, making this processing technique available to mostly larger organizations.
Quality Over Quantity
The biggest benefit to using cannabis concentrates is that you can consume high doses of cannabis more efficiently and effectively than simply smoking cannabis flower. Some concentrates will have a THC content over 90%, therefore only a small amount needs to be consumed in order to receive the desired beneficial effects.
Patients with life threatening conditions can ingest more than 1000 mgs of THC using cannabis concentrates once their tolerance has been built up.
That is the equivalent of ingesting 7 grams of flower at one time, which not only would be a strain on your lungs, but would take close to an hour minimum and may be impossible!
What has your experience been with Cannabis Concentrates? Have you had success using them? How do you consume them? Let us know by commenting below. We would love to hear from you.
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