Bubble Hash: What It Is, How It's Made and How to Use It

Cannabinoids are produced by stalked glandular trichomes, tiny resin glands on the female flowers, and that resin also stores the plant's terpenes, according to a 2021 review in Frontiers in Plant Science. Bubble hash is a way of collecting those glands without solvents. Leafly describes how it is made: cannabis is agitated in bags of ice water until the frozen resin glands break off and pass through a series of screens, leaving the plant material behind, and the resin is then collected and dried. Instead of burning, good bubble hash bubbles when a flame touches it, hence the name.

Ice water hash, as it is also called, is relatively new compared with hand-rubbed or sifted hash: Leafly says the equipment that popularized it was introduced at the High Times Cannabis Cup in 1997. A clean wash collects mostly intact trichome heads and leaves the leaf behind. According to Leafly's glossary, bubble hash ranges from light blonde to dark brown, and resin that carries more plant material tends to come out darker.

It is simple to describe, though it takes practice to do well. The basic process:

Federal law lets adults make cannabis products at home as long as organic solvents are not used to create concentrated products (Justice Canada), and provinces can add their own rules. Ice water hash needs only ice, water and mesh, which sets it apart from butane-made concentrates such as shatter.

Bubble hash is graded on a scale of 1 to 6 stars, and the best, called full melt, melts away when heated without leaving residue or char; Leafly says full-melt hash is usually rated 5 or 6 stars. Wikipedia notes that the resin caught in the 73- and 90-micron bags is the most prized, because that is where intact resin heads collect, and that it is sometimes sold on its own as full melt. Full-spectrum hash rosin usually draws on everything from 45 to 159 microns.

Lower grades carry more plant material. Wikipedia says standard ice water hash still contains enough plant matter to be poorly suited to full vaporization, and Leafly notes that full melts and rosins are typically the only solventless concentrates that get dabbed.

Hash can contain up to 60% THC, compared with up to 30% in dried flower (Health Canada), so check the label for the actual figure. Because it is concentrated, use less than you would of flower and start with a small pinch. Inhaled, effects usually arrive within seconds or minutes, reach full strength within 10 to 30 minutes and can last up to 6 hours (Health Canada).

Canada's Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines link higher THC potency with more mental health problems, cannabis use disorder and injuries, so stronger is not automatically better. For medical questions, talk to a doctor or pharmacist.

Use it the way you would other hash: crumble a little into a joint of flower, or put small pieces in a pipe or bong, on their own or on top of ground flower. For a smoke-free option, use a concentrate vaporizer or a flower vaporizer with a concentrate attachment. Each method is explained step by step in how to smoke hash.

Full-melt hash is the grade people dab, but dabbing can hit quickly and harder than smoking flower, and CCSA advises people new to cannabis to stay away from it; read the dabbing guide first. Bubble hash can also go into homemade edibles, but like kief it has to be heated with a fat such as butter or oil to activate the THC, and edibles can take up to 4 hours to reach full effect (Health Canada).

All of these start from the same trichomes; what differs is how they are separated and finished. For how pressed rosin compares with solvent-made resin, see the rosin vs resin comparison.

Treat it like other loose resin: keep it in an airtight container, ideally glass with a sealable lid, somewhere cool, dark and dry, and handle it with a clean scoop instead of your fingers. Keep it away from moisture, which invites mould, and lock it away out of sight and reach of children and pets, as Health Canada advises for all cannabis.

Look for the grade and the THC figure on the label, and the micron range if it is listed. GasDank delivers same-day across Toronto and the GTA, usually within 1 to 2 hours, and ships mail order across Canada with no minimum (free shipping from $150, $20 below that), paid by Interac e-Transfer. Browse the hash menu; the menu carries lab-tested products. Customers must be 19 or older (21 in Quebec), with ID checked at the door.