Tips When Buying Weed Concentrates Online

Concentrates are substances in which the more desirable properties of cannabis, namely cannabinoids and terpenes, have been isolated. There are many cannabis concentrates in a variety of formats and textures. Buying weed concentrates online is not as easy as it seems. Non-active forms of concentrate need to be heated to experience their effects. Concentrates with active cannabinoids, usually distillate, are infused into edibles, tinctures, and topicals to provide effects without the application of heat.

You’ve probably noticed the tiny hairs that cover the cannabis plant, giving it a crystal-like sheen and sticky feel. These glandular hairs, or trichomes, produce and hold the plant’s cannabinoids and terpenes. Cannabis concentrates isolate and accumulate these compounds from the plant’s trichome glands. In other words, concentrates are packed with everything users love about cannabis. They’re guaranteed to be more potent than flower, thus accounting for their rapid rise in popularity.

You may have heard the terms concentrate and extract used interchangeably, but there is a subtle difference between the two. Extracts are a specific type of concentrate made using a solvent. All extracts are concentrates, but not all concentrates are extracts.

The History of Concentrates

Solvent-based cannabis extracts, often referred to as hash oils or dabs, have completely dominated cannabis concentrate markets over the last several years. With advancements in both solvent and solventless extraction technologies and methodologies, new products are constantly circulating the shelves of dispensaries.

Budders and shatters, once prized as the holy grail of hash oils, are now sharing retail space with new flavor-enhanced distillates and high terpene full spectrum extracts (HTFSE’s), products that were virtually unheard of just five years ago.

These processes, now being hailed as the future of concentrate manufacturing, owe credit to decades of botanical extraction advancements that preceded them.

Cannabis concentrates are said to have been around (in some form) since the 1940s, adapting from the pre-20th century botanical extraction technologies that are responsible for bringing cannabis to the US pharmacopeia throughout the 1800s.

However, the revival and adaptation of solvent-based extraction practices as we know it today is somewhat new, taking shape only over the last several decades. Needless to say, the story of how hash oil came to popularity is a bit hazy and shrouded in anecdotes, but there are a few major players in the movement that are worth mentioning.

Types of Concentrates

• Hashish. The oldest and arguably most prolific method of making concentrates is in the form of hashish, or hash. The exact origin of hashish is difficult to pin down, but we can safely say that the oldest recorded method of making concentrates, found in 8th and 6th century CE Assyrian texts, was hashish. The exact route through which hashish spread from its origin point is unknown, but it’s most likely that it spread from Central to Southwest Asia through Persia or India. Hashish from this era would have started off as kief, or cannabis sifted through a sieve to remove trichome glands. Kief is turned into hashish by applying heat and pressure, and typically pressed into bricks or rolled into balls. Charas, which also spread from Southern Asia, is made by hand-rubbing hashish into small resin balls. 
• Tinctures. A tincture is a concentrated extract contained in a liquid, most commonly alcohol or glycerin. Cannabis tinctures came to prominence as a medicine in the mid-to-late 19th century, when western medicine adopted the use of medical cannabis. During the 1890s in particular, medical cannabis reached its peak in Europe, the U.K., and the U.S., largely in the form of extracts and tinctures.
• First Isolations. Today, cannabinoid and terpene isolation is not only possible, but it’s also the name of the game when it comes to using cannabis concentrates as a medicine. The first cannabinoid to be isolated was cannabinol (CBN), the cannabinoid into which tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) breaks down after prolonged periods of storage.
• Extracts. Extracts are concentrates made with the use of a solvent. The first public-facing explanation of how to make extracts is found in D. Gold’s 1973 book, “Cannabis Alchemy: The Art of Modern Hashmaking.” Gold entered the world of underground cannabis chemistry in San Francisco, at the height of the Haight-Ashbury drug scene. He became interested in developing extract techniques after learning about cannabis tinctures from the late-19th and early-20th centuries. A more detailed explanation of cannabis extraction came from Michael Starks’ “Marijuana Chemistry: Genetics Processing and Potency” in 1977.

How Strong Are Dabs Compared To Smoking Flower?

Marijuana flower generally contains about 15% to 25% THC. In can be smoked or vaporized and results in a mild high that usually lasts around 90 minutes to 3 hours. Dabs are concentrated marijuana extracts that can come in many forms, including:

• Shatter,
• Crumble,
• Wax, or
• Oil.

Dabs are generally about 70% to 90% THC, and not recommended for the novice user at all. They produce a very potent high that comes on strong and fast and peaks over the course of a half hour to 45 minutes. People have been known to pass out or get “couch lock” when they dab the first few times.

How Cannabis Extracts are Made

Cannabis concentrates come in a range of product types, forms, and consistencies. These products may vary in purity or chemical composition (i.e., THC, CBD, terpenes), which generally comes down to how the concentrate is extracted and refined as well as the source material from which the final extract is derived.

There are many different extraction techniques that can result in concentrates exhibiting a range of potencies, textures, and consistencies. These various forms are often named according to how they were made or their appearance—for example, butane hash oil (BHO) refers to extracts created using the solvent butane, and shatter describes a concentrate that appears glasslike in texture.

In this section, you’ll learn more about the different types of concentrates that are popularly vaporized or dabbed by consumers looking for a potent and refined cannabis product. We’ll also explain how they’re made through a variety of extraction processes.

When it comes to concentrating the cannabinoids and terpenes from cannabis, methods can generally be broken into two primary types: solvent-based and solventless extractions.

The Basic Principles of Concentrates

To understand concentrates, we need to know some basics about the psychoactive elements in cannabis. Concentrates take these and separate them from the rest of the plant.

• Cannabinoids

Cannabinoids are chemical compounds which act on the endocannabinoid system of the human body and brain. Scientists have succeeded in isolating 113 different cannabinoids in the cannabis plant. Notable cannabinoids include THC, which is the dominant force responsible for cannabis’ famous high, and CBD, which is responsible for many of cannabis’ remarkable health properties. The profile of any particular cannabis plant is in large part determined by its composition of cannabinoids.

• Terpenes

Terpenes are a class of organic compounds which occur naturally in insects and plants. They produce a strong odor, which likely helps protect plants by deterring herbivores and attracting the predators of herbivores. Over 120 terpenes have been found in cannabis. Terpenes give particular cannabis strains their flavour, and can enhance and modify their medicinal and psychoactive effects. An ideal concentrate will succeed in isolating and preserving both a plant’s cannabinoids and its terpenes.

• Trichomes

The cannabis plant’s cannabinoids and terpenes are found and produced in its trichomes. Trichomes are the white crystalline “fuzz” found on the surface of the plant’s buds. They’re also what makes cannabis sticky to the touch. The word “trichome” comes from the Greek for “growth of hair.” On cannabis plants, trichomes likely play a defensive role, helping the plant ward off the elements, and helping to defend it against insects. Trichomes are crystalline in appearance, but when manipulated, their inner resin is released and they become sticky. They’re the most abundant on the calyx of the cannabis plant.