Budder, kief, and extracts are all forms of cannabis concentrates. Cannabis oil cartridges and medicated muscle creams are other examples.
Concentrates are cannabis goods that have been refined to preserve only the most essential plant components (particularly cannabinoids and terpenes), as well as other impurities, while eliminating undesirable plant materials and other contaminants. When compared to natural cannabis buds, marijuana concentrates contain proportionally more cannabinoids and terpenes per ounce.
Concentrates can also improve the potency of your buds. Try sprinkling kief or a few drops of concentrated oil on top of your cannabis flower bowl next time. Concentrated goods may also be used alone. In recent years, dabbing has grown in popularity as one of the most common types of ingestion.
It’s critical to understand about each kind, how to dab or consume them, and how they’re produced before diving into the wide world of cannabis concentrates. As a result, when someone asks you what marijuana wax or cannabis concentrate is, you’ll be able to respond intelligently. Concentrates give you the ability to enjoy marijuana in a variety of ways; they are available in a variety of textures and can be consumed in a number of different ways. Concentrates allows you to enjoy cannabis in a variety of ways, with a wide range of textures and methods. The look and feel of a concentrate do not always correspond to its quality (effects, flavor, potency); they are simply aesthetic categories that may help you keep track on your specific preferences.
Concentrates are more potent and have a shorter onset period than cannabis flower. Concentrates have a high bioavailability, which means that the effects you feel and experience as well as the rate of absorption into your body occur almost immediately. Depending on the user, cannabis concentrates can last anywhere from 1 to 3 hours.
What are concentrates and extracts?
Concentrates are a collection of chemicals that have been extracted from a plant. They might be made in a variety of ways and contain the most essential elements of whatever they’re derived from. Orange juice concentrate, for example, has the scent and flavor of an orange fruit but lacks additional liquid, peel, or pulp. Cannabis plants can also be enhanced with aromas, tastes, and other appealing characteristics while removing the leaves, stems, and other undesirable components from them.
Extracts are concentrated forms of plants, seeds, or fruit that use solvents to extract the active components. Vanilla extract is one example since it is made by extracting vanillin from vanilla bean pods using alcohol as a solvent.
Cannabis plants create a range of chemicals, or chemical compounds, that may be used in a variety of things. These chemicals have an effect on the look, odor, flavor, and feel as well as physiological and psychoactive effects (if any) of cannabis products. The most sought-after Cannabis components are found in tiny sparkling formations known as trichomes throughout the plant. Any Cannabis product resulting from the collection of trichomes from the plant is referred to as a concentrate.
Trichomes are tiny, glimmering coverings that cover the whole cannabis plant. The most active chemicals are found in the leaves, buds, and flowers of the cannabis plant.
The sticky, pearlescent coating that adorns the plant’s petals is composed of tiny crystals called trichomes. Trichomes are responsible for containing all of the cannabinoids (THC, CBD, and others) as well as terpenes in cannabis plants.
Cannabis concentrates, as opposed to raw plant marijuana, have a stronger high, faster onset of action, and a wider range of usage methods. The perfect dose for each person varies widely based on their tolerance level and consumption habits. Cannabis concentrates come in many forms and are used in a variety of products. You may adjust the cannabis experience to your liking by selecting from a variety of options.
Is there a difference between a concentrate and an extract?
Extracts are concentrates that contain both THCA and THC. While the words are used interchangeably, the distinction between a concentrate and an extract lies in how trichomes are collected. Extracts are a form of concentrate produced by using solvents (such as alcohol or carbon dioxide) to wash off the trichomes from cannabis plants. Concentrates made without the use of solvents are created through mechanical or physical processes for removing and collecting trichomes.
Extracts are cannabis products that have been produced by filtering or evaporating the plant material to infuse it with a different solvent. Extracts include Butane Hash Oil (BHO), Rick Simpson Oil (RSO), and CO2-extracted cannabis wax, each of which has distinct textures such as shatter, budder, crumble, and so on. Different extracts and textures might produce varied effects from one product to another.
Rosin, dry sifting, and kief are three examples of concentrates that are produced without the use of solvents.
How to talk about concentrates
“Reduced Fat Homogenized Ultra-Pasteurized Milk” is also referred to as “2% milk.” Until you’re familiar with the product and its name, this may sound odd. The more comfortable you are when reading descriptions and labels after becoming accustomed to the terminology used with concentrates. Product names might appear complicated. For example, a product called “Hardcore OG Nug Run Shatter” may appear cryptic. What do these phrases imply?
To assist you find important characteristics and qualities of cannabis concentrates, producers and manufacturers utilize particular words and phrases. To identify:
- The type of cannabis plant materials used to make the concentrate
- The processing techniques
- The resulting textures
- The intended consumption methods
Input materials
Cannabis plant material is the beginning, or input material. The flowers, leaves, and stems of cannabis plants are referred to as the starting, or input material. The quality and grade of the initial material have an impact on the strength and flavor of its end concentrates.
Process type
Cannabis concentrates are created by the accumulation of trichomes (the gland that contains cannabinoids and terpenes). There are a variety of ways to remove the trichomes from the source material. Each procedure needs its own set of equipment and/or physical steps, or techniques, in order to create a concentrate.
Consistencies
After the plant material has been decarboxylated, it may take a variety of forms. These shapes allow users to choose their prefered texture of the concentrate; they aren’t always an indicator of how the concentrate will taste or act on them.
The resulting solution may take on a variety of appearances after the cannabinoids and terpenes have been extracted from the plant material.
Dabbing equipment
Concentrates are both safe and potent. To use a cannabis concentrate safely and effectively, you’ll need the right equipment in place to properly activate the concentrated cannabinoids and terpenes. When constructing the ideal dab rig, some people like to dab their concentrates on titanium nails, while others prefer quartz nails or bangers. Quartz is less sturdy than titanium but heats up considerably faster. It has a cleaner flavor and, compared to titanium, warms up much quicker. The majority of users will heat their banger nail for around 30 seconds or until it glows orange or red hot.
To safely and effectively consume a cannabis concentrate, you need a specific setup that includes the appropriate equipment to properly activate the concentrated cannabinoids and terpenes.
Textures and consistencies
The appearance (texture, color, malleability) of a concentrate is referred to as shatter, worse, crumble, sugar, oil, and sauce. In other words, these terms simply describe the concentrate’s look and feel. For example: A product with the name “Nug Run Blue Dream Shatter” informs you three things:
- The strain of the cannabis plant used was “Blue Dream”
- “Nug run” indicates that the plant material used to make the extract was dried and cured flower
- The extract has a “shatter”-like consistency and texture
The following seven categories describe the most frequent concentrate textures on the market.
Shatter, budder, badder, and crumble
Shatter is a highly translucent, brittle material. It can also be sticky-and-tender. (Imagine taffy being pulled extremely tight before being snapped). Shatters are usually golden yellow to bright amber in color and have a glass-like texture.
Budder and Badder are somewhat more greasy, softer, and easier to mold. They’re bendable, simple to handle, and have a bright orange hue that fades to a sun yellow. The extract’s buttery feel makes it easy on blunts or joints as well as dabbing with a dab rig.
Crumble is a more brittle variation of budder or badder. It has a crumbly, honeycomb-like texture, as the name implies. The color is often similar to that of budder or terrible, although they have an uneven hue of yellow instead of a glossy finish.
Sugar, sauce, and crystalline
Sugar is a term that refers to any concentrated product that resembles moist, spongy sugar in texture. They’re not consistent in terms of hue or tone, and the majority have colors ranging from a brilliant lemon yellow to a deep amber.
The sauce is thicker, more viscous, and clingier in texture. The color of the sauce can range from a rich amber to a vivid mustard yellow. Sauce has a similar consistency to sugar and a comparable color, although it has a more consistent crystalline structure.
THCa and CBD are both single crystallized compounds. JUST AS THE NAME IMPLIES, THCa AND CBD are white crystals that range in density and size from small pebbles to fine powder.
Smoking methods
Cannabis concentrates may be taken in a variety of ways, such as sprinkling them on a bowl or adding them to a joint for extra strength, vaporizing them with a dab rig or portable vape pen, or simply smoking them. The most effective way to consume depends on the concentrate’s type and texture, as well as the user’s personal preferences. Consider your equipment and the concentrate’s texture before deciding which method is best. Perhaps you’ve come across words like shatter and worse, and wondered how to smoke them effectively? These extracts are malleable, making them easy to use in a dab rig. Powdery concentrates, such as kief and crumble, can be simply added to flower for improved stability. Here are some of the most popular ways to smoke or vaporize concentrates.
Topping your flower
The most cost-effective methods to utilizing cannabis concentrates are to add powdered kief to your bowl or wrap wax around a joint. These approaches do not require any of the pricey equipment used for dabbing oil, yet they do increase the concentration and add extra taste from the concentrate.
Dabbing
The most common technique to consume cannabis concentrates is by using a “dab rig,” which is a device that vaporizes the concentrate. Heating a “nail” (made from either glass, ceramic, or titanium) and then putting the concentrate straight on top heat it up rapidly into a vapor for consumption.
Vaporizers
Pre-filled vape pen
Vaping cannabis concentrates is the most discreet and transportable method to consume them. The most popular sort of vaping is a pre-filled cartridge that fits on a battery. When activated, the cartridge has a heating element that comes into touch with the battery, heating the concentrate. Vape pens are composed of two components: a battery and a cartridge. Vape pens are powered by pressing a button or, in the case of a buttonless pen, simply drawing from the cartridge’s mouthpiece. These prefilled cartridges aren’t refillable and must be thrown away once the concentrate has run out, but the battery may still be reused many times.
Handheld vaporizer
Look into using a handheld vaporizer if you want to know how to use cannabis oil in a more discreet and portable way. Fill a chamber with any sort of concentrate using a vaporizer. When the user activates the button, the chamber usually has a heating coil that transforms the substance into vapor. This method does not require any additional gear, but it does allow you to pre-fill the chamber with any type of concentrate and utilize it on demand.
Badder and budder
The textures budder and badder are the consequence of agitating terpene-rich shatter into a more creamy consistency. To generate this frosting-like texture, technicians whip the shatter under low and even temperatures to introduce and redistribute air molecules. The amount of these air molecules determines the density of the end product’s texture.
The texture of budder and badder is the result of agitating terpene-rich shatter into a more creamlike consistency.
Crumble
The process of shattering gives a harsher taste, much like badder and budder. It is subsequently purged in a vacuum oven at low temperatures to “dry” the concentrate while retaining its cannabinoid and terpene content, similar to crumble.
The texture of crumbled ice is similar to that of flash frozen ice. This type of shatter is made by whipping and then purging it in a vacuum oven at low temperatures.
Crystalline
The word “crystalline” can refer to a transparent or semi-transparent cannabis concentrate that looks like coarse ornamental sparkling sugar or kosher salt. Multiple techniques may be used to create crystalline, but they all rely on similar principles of crystallization.
The plant’s sugar leaves produce a translucent or semi-transparent crystalline that may be confused with coarse ornamental sparkling sugar or kosher salt.
Making rock candy is an example of crystallization. Rock candy is a delicious sweet that’s created when sugar (a chemical solid) is slowly added to boiling water (a liquid). The cooled solution was then flavored and colored. A prepared stick was lowered into the solution. Crystals develop over time on the prepared stick, eventually producing the intended product.
A chemical solid is combined with a liquid to form an initial solution during crystallization. The initial solution is cleansed of any foreign particles and then combined with another solvent under different conditions in order to start the formation of pure crystals.
Distillate
The distillation of extract is done by heating and vacuuming a winterized and decarboxylated extract, which promotes the separation of cannabinoids based on their differing boiling points.