WHAT ARE SOLVENTLESS CONCENTRATES?

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You may have heard the words solventless or solventless concentrates more and more lately in the Cannabis world, with Rosin, and Hash Rosin being the most popular when it comes to solventless. Most consumers are aware of or have tried BHO wax, shatter, batter, budder, sugar wax, sauce, and ThCa isolate aka (Diamonds). These are all concentrates made using solvents such as butane, Co2, and ethanol extractions, with this method, after the initial extraction there are extra steps that have to be taken to draw as much of the solvents back out of the THC concentrates as possible but there are sometimes more often than not still tiny trace amounts of residual solvents left behind, so there is the obvious concern that this may not be so good for our health over time if you’re constantly smoking trace amounts of solvents left behind in your smoke. This is the beauty of solventless just like the name says “solventless ‘there are no trace amounts of any solvents left behind because this method is done by mechanical separation and not using any solvents of any kind, so no worries of smoking trace amounts of chemical solvents. The only down side of switching to solventless, is if you’re not making solventless concentrates yourself, it can be pretty expensive to purchase, unlike BHO which is a little easier on the wallet, but harder on your health. Another benefit of solventless is that if you live in a legal state, it is legal to make your own solventless concentrates right at home. Unlike BHO which is illegal to make at home even if you live in a legal state not to mention it’s also very dangerous to make, risking fires and possible explosions if you do not know what you are doing. Some examples of solventless concentrates are Rosin but not limited to, Kief, Dry Sift, Bubble Hash, Flower Rosin, Hash, Rosin Badder, Rosin Sauce, Live Rosin, Diamonds etc.. Despite its hefty price tag Rosin and/or Hash Rosin has been quickly gaining more and more popularity lately and will keep gaining popularity for some time to come. People who use Cannabis for chronic pain management, and insomnia may benefit from the use of solventless concentrates because of the potency, you of course always want to consult with your Physician first. 

So now let’s get back to the mechanical separation methods involved in making solventless concentrates. Ok the first mentioned Kief is probably the most common and widely known probably because kief is the easiest for most average people can collect themselves most grinders have micron screens kief catchers in them, you can also buy kief boxes which have a single micron screen installed with a slide out mirror that catches all your kief so as you clean your flower to roll your joint or pack your bowl whatever trichomes fall off and falls through the screen to the bottom where it can be collected. 

Then There Is Dry Sift, this is done with multiple mesh dry sift screens to get an even better much cleaner product, the micron screen used in this method have smaller micron screens than what’s used to catch your Kief, designed catch less contaminates, are used to ensure highest quality possible. When using dry sift screens and proper technique you can achieve very high dry sift hash and/or a full melt product. 

And third there is Bubble Hash aka Ice Water Hash. To make bubble hash aka ice water hash all you need are bubble bags, Ice, water and material (trim/flower). The ice water is used to knock the trichomes off the material which then falls through a set of bubble bags catching a variety of the best material which is then collected off bottom of bags and set aside to dry. If you choose to you can smoke your bubble hash as is after it dries or you can further process it and make different consistencies of hash, like making Temple balls, or pressed into hash Rosin, not only the consistency of the bubble hash changes when you further process it but the smell, taste, and effects do as well. I can’t sit here and say one is better than the other because it really boils down to one’s preference.  

Last but not least we have probably one of my favorites, Rosin and/or Hash Rosin, and Rosin can get a little more complex because there is a lot more to it, for one When it comes to Rosin There is Flower Rosin and Hash Rosin both made the same way it’s just the starting material that is different, flower Rosin coming from your buds and Hash Rosin is made with bubble hash as your starting material. After it has been decided what the starting material will be it will then be taken and pressed the in what’s called a Rosin press. The material is placed between 2 heated plates and then pressure is applied usually using a hand cranked or hydraulic jack hooked up into a press which presses the heated plated into each other while extracting the good stuff from the material in the middle which is usually squeezed onto parchment paper where it can then be collected for curing. You can keep it simple and dab your cured material just as is. Or you can turn your Rosin/or hash Rosin into other consistencies if you choose to like Rosin Jams, budder, waxes, shatter, and diamonds you can even make “Live” versions of all this by starting with fresh frozen material then making your bubble hash and then taking that to further process into whatever kind of Live Rosin you wish too the most popular being Live Rosin Jams. Well, I hope this gives some of you a better idea of what solventless concentrates are, If any of you still do have any questions, we would love to hear from you and help just go ahead and send us an email and we will be happy to get back to you as soon as we can.