Different Types of Cannabis Concentrates, Extracts and How are They Made

Cannabis concentrates and extracts are rapidly growing topics that seem to get more and more complicated as time passes, especially for beginners. There are so many kinds of extracts and extraction methods, with each one requiring various steps and instructions. Still, we can give you the basics where you can build a respectable knowledge base for yourself. Read on to learn about the different kinds of marijuana concentrates and extracts and how they are made.

Types of Cannabis Extracts

• Cannabis Oils. Generally made from the natural oils of the cannabis plant, cannabis oils can be extract from the seeds, buds or leaves. These oils are obtained by pressing or by using solvents. The most common type of oil sold in dispensaries are meant for vaporizing and dabbing. There are also topical oils for external use.
• Wax or budder. This is a runny cannabis oil extract that is gooey and opaque, rather than hard and clear. Wax or budder can easily be rolled onto a pin and dab and conveniently stick to their container.
• Pie crust or honeycomb. This is a kind of wax or budder that is crumbly and more brittle than wax or budder. Consequently, it is softer than shatter. It is easy to get out of the jar, although it can easily scatter and crumble.
• Shatter. A very pure cannabis concentrate, shatter is translucent, very brittle, and looks like amber. It roughly has the same potency as other concentrates, although it lacks other terpenes and cannabinoids. This makes shatter the best kind of concentrate for dabbing.
• Caviar or jelly hash. Otherwise known as moonrocks, caviar are made by coating marijuana buds with resin before rolling them in kief. Meanwhile, jelly hash is made by missing eight parts bubble hard with one part cannabis oil, although there are other techniques on the market today.
• Butane hash oil. BHO is a highly potent cannabis extract made with butane as a solvent. It can come in various forms like budder, wax and honeycomb.

Types of Cannabis Concentrates

• Kief. This is a collection of trichomes and resins seen crystallized on the buds and leaves of the cannabis plant. It has the highest amount of THC and other cannabinoids and is where all cannabis concentrates come from. Kief can be used in its natural form or sprinkled onto flower, pressed into rosin or rolled into moonrocks. Processing kief usually involves pressing it into hash.
• Hash. Hash is made by applying light heat to kief and then followed by high pressure to form a solid mass. This method of production preserves the most terpenes and cannabinoids. Its color can range from light amber to dark black, and can have a grainy or smooth texture.
• Bubble hash. Bubble hash is pressed from kief extracted using water bath. The trim or flowers are immersed in iced water which is then agitated to allow the ice to knock the trichomes off the plant. After a series of filters, the ice water bath is drained and the trichomes are dried before they are pressed into pure hash.
• Rosin. Rosin is an in demand concentrate because of its high potency trichomes without any changes on its chemical profile. Also, it is fast and leaves no added chemical residue.

The concentrates and extracts and extracts listed above have only touched the surface, as there are many other subtypes of these products. All these depend on the what you start with, the equipment used in the refining process and how they are finished. At the end of it all, the choice of the right kind of concentrate or extract is up to you.