What kief is made of
Cannabis buds are covered in tiny, mushroom-shaped glands called trichomes. The stalked glandular trichomes on female flowers produce the plant's resin, which carries cannabinoids such as THCA and CBDA, and they store terpenes too, according to a 2021 review in Frontiers in Plant Science. Kief is what collects when the heads of those glands break off: a powder that Leafly describes as ranging from light gold to brown, with a high concentration of cannabinoids.
It is also sold as sift, dry sift or dry sieve. Wikipedia notes that kief contains a much higher concentration of THC than the flower it came from, which is why people add it to a bowl or joint, and also why it can bring on more intoxication than they bargained for.
How to collect kief
Kief is collected mechanically, with screens instead of solvents. There are 2 common ways:
- With a grinder. A 4-piece grinder has a mesh screen and an extra bottom chamber. Grind as usual and the loose trichomes fall through the screen into the catch below. Some grinders include a small scraper (Leafly); use it or another clean tool instead of your fingers, which add oils and moisture.
- With sifting screens. Pass dried flower over a series of increasingly fine screens and collect what falls through. It takes patience, because the particles are tiny. Hash makers use brushes to work the material across the screens, and some commercial producers chill the cannabis with ice or dry ice first so the trichomes break off more easily.
Checking the colour
Colour is a rough purity check: Leafly notes that kief with plant matter mixed in looks darker or greener, while well-cleaned kief is lighter, often pale yellow or off-white. For pressed versions of sifted kief, see what dry sift hash is and how it is made.
How strong is kief?
Kief is highly concentrated: Health Canada lists it with hash, wax and shatter as cannabis extracts that contain a high concentration of THC, so check the THC figure on the label when you buy it. Begin with a pinch, less than the size of a dime, and go slowly; Health Canada recommends starting low and going slow to minimize health risks and the risk of overconsumption.
Canada's Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines link higher-THC products with more mental health problems, cannabis use disorder and injuries. For medical questions, talk to a doctor or pharmacist.
How to use kief
These are the main options:
- Crown a bowl. Pack a pipe or bong bowl with flower and sprinkle kief on top, repeating until the bowl is full. Use a bowl with a screen so fine particles don't end up in your mouth.
- Add it to a joint. Sprinkle kief over the flower before rolling. A twaxed joint goes further: the finished joint is coated in hash oil and rolled in kief.
- Vaporize it. Use a concentrate vaporizer or a flower vaporizer with a concentrate attachment, and layer kief with the flower instead of putting it on the bottom, where it can melt and leave residue.
- Cook with it. Kief has to be heated, a process called decarboxylation, to activate its cannabinoids, and it can be infused into butter or oil for recipes. Edibles take longer to kick in than smoking: effects can take 30 minutes to 2 hours to start, and up to 4 hours to be fully felt (Health Canada).
- Press it into hash. Heat and pressure rupture the resin glands and turn loose powder into a solid; at its simplest, you can roll collected kief into a ball by hand (Leafly). Kief can also be processed into rosin.
Kief vs hash vs bubble hash
All 3 start from the same trichomes, collected and handled differently. Step-by-step smoking methods for all of them are in how to smoke hash.
- Kief is the loose powder, collected dry with screens or a grinder.
- Hash is kief pressed with heat and pressure into a brick, ball or strip; Wikipedia puts its THC content anywhere from almost none to 65%.
- Bubble hash is trichomes washed off the plant in ice water and filtered through screens, then dried and often pressed. The bubble hash guide covers how it is made and graded.
How to store kief
Store kief much like flower, with a bit of extra care because it is fine and concentrated. Use an airtight container, ideally glass with a sealable lid, kept in a cool, dark, dry place such as a cupboard or drawer, with a clean spoon or scoop for handling. Avoid plastic, which can carry a static charge that attracts trichomes, and keep it locked away from children and pets. Stored this way, kief can keep its potency and aroma for several months.
Buying kief and hash
If you'd rather not sift your own, check the type and the THC figure on the label before you buy. GasDank delivers same-day across Toronto and the GTA, usually within 1 to 2 hours, and ships mail order across Canada. Browse the hash menu or the accessories page; the menu carries lab-tested products. Outer GTA orders have a $60 minimum, with free delivery from $160 ($20 below that), and customers must be 19 or older (21 in Quebec), with ID checked at the door.
