Bubble Hash

Ice-water hash is the other name for the style Bubble Hash is sold under: a solventless hash made by stirring chilled cannabis in iced water until the resin glands break loose, then catching them on a stack of graded mesh bags. Leafly and Sensi Seeds use the two names interchangeably.

Ice, water and a little agitation

Wikipedia’s Hashish article counts ice-water separation among the mechanical ways to isolate trichomes, alongside dry sifting. It needs no solvent, only ice, water, agitation, plant material and filter bags with screens of different sizes. The cold turns the plant material brittle so the trichomes come loose, and after a stir in icy slush the denser trichomes sink while lighter leaf and stem pieces float.

Working down the stack of bags

Leafly describes the bags nested in a bucket, finest screen at the bottom; the top bag is lifted out, the material on the next screen is scraped off, and the dunking continues down the stack. In Sensi Seeds’ home method, the material is frozen overnight, stirred for about 10 to 15 minutes, poured through the bags and left to settle for 10 to 15 more, and the bottom bag gives the best material.

Fresh-frozen flower and a slow, cool dry

Sensi Seeds’ hash guide says most modern makers now start from live, fresh-frozen flower, which preserves more terpenes for a more aromatic hash. The washed resin is a light brown, sandy powder that pressing or rolling turns denser and fudge-like. Sensi Seeds says it must be dried completely, spread thin on baking paper in a room held at 12 °C and 35% humidity for 5 to 15 days, while Leafly describes pressing it dry under a micron screen or cotton muslin.

Six stars and full melt

On Leafly’s scale, bubble hash may carry one to six stars, six the most refined, and the best grades come from extremely fine mesh that passes only small trichome heads; Sensi Seeds puts most hash screens at 25 to 200 microns. Leafly’s top grade is full melt, which mostly bubbles away when smoked or dabbed, leaving almost no residue, while Sensi Seeds counts hash that catches fire as low quality, since leaf, seed or stalk burns and resin alone melts. Health Canada rates hash a high-THC extract, best left alone by new or occasional users.

A 1988 recipe and the bubble bags

Sensi Seeds dates bubble hash, often credited to the Dutch seedsman Nevil Schoenmakers, to the late 1980s, and says Sam the Skunkman published a how-to in High Times in November 1988: 20 parts ice water to 1 part ground cannabis, stirred gently for a few minutes until the heavy trichome heads sink. Sensi Seeds also credits Marcus “Bubble Man” Richardson with perfecting the method by adding more bags with screens of various opening sizes, now often called bubble bags. Our bubble hash guide covers using it.