What Is Dry Sift?
Todde Philips
🇺🇸 Retired veteran, father, rock-climbing expert & rosin connoisseur
✅ Updated 9/21/21
Dry sift is a form of hash that requires minimal processing to separate trichome heads from the stalks, thereby capturing the highest-potency aspects of the cannabis plant. The high concentrations of cannabinoids and terpenes make dry sift hash a premium source material to use for pressing rosin.
By itself, the highest quality dry sift hash is able to melt or vaporize completely, which is an indication of it’s purity and potency.
The name reflects the specific action required to produce this type of hash, which is essentially sifting, or passing dry cannabis material over a fine screen, in order to separate the trichome heads from the rest of the material. While trichome heads are small enough to pass through the fine screen, the stalks and other plant material cannot.
Dried and cured buds or sugar leaf (trim that is covered in trichomes) should be used for the starting material. If using larger buds, it’s best to break the buds into smaller “popcorn” sizes, while being careful during handling not to allow too many trichomes to fall off the buds before they’re placed over the screen.
Also consider the room temperature where you’ll be making the dry sift. Cooler temperatures are better, as warmer temperatures lead to a waxier or more oily sift that is a bit harder to work with. Cooler temperatures will make a more stable hash, and also help the trichomes stay brittle and more easily break away from the rest of the plant.
The tools you need are basic and include quality cannabis material with high trichome content, a pair of gloves, a fine silk screen, and a collection tray.
To make things easier consider purchasing a sifter box, from Green Goddess for example.
The technique to creating the dry sift involves friction and agitation through manually rubbing the cannabis over the screen. As the cannabis is gently rolled across the screen, the trichomes are separated from the rest of the plant and the trichome heads pull away from the stalks and fall through the tiny holes in the screen.
After the cannabis has been meticulously rolled and tumbled across the screen for several minutes, it’s time to collect the dry sift that’s fallen below. Collecting on a piece of glass is ideal, since the dry sift will be a powdery substance that would stick to rougher surfaces.
Static Tech is the final step to removing impurities, i.e. plant material from the trichome heads.
Once the dry sift is collected, it should be stored in a glass container away from heat and light.
For pressing dry sift, rosin filter bags between 25 and 75 microns are best. And use our funnels to make filling the bags funnels easier and quicker.
Conclusion
Dry sift is an ancient form of solventless cannabis concentrate. When sourced from quality starting material and made with proper techniques, it can produce an exceptional starting material for rosin production. Dry sift is a bit less complicated to produce than bubble hash, although a high level of skill is still required to produce excellent sift. Having the right touch with Static Tech is also a key part of the equation.
Read more in our Ultimate Guide To Dry Sift.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is dry sift?
Dry sift is a form of hash that's made by running dried cannabis flowers or trim over a set of mesh sieves, or screens, to filter out trichome heads from the rest of the plant material.
How do you make dry sift?
To make dry sift, work cannabis material over a set of mesh filters, back and forth with a sweeping motion. Each layer of screen will catch a different size of particles, and the screen that most closely matches the size of full trichome heads will contain the highest grade of dry sift hash.
What is static tech?
Static tech is a technique that uses static to separate the fine plant particles from a batch of dry sift, leaving only trichome heads behind. There are variations of this method, one of the most common being to wrap parchment paper around a DVD case and sweep the sift in one direction with the edge of the case.
What can you do with dry sift?
Dry sift can be consumed on its own, but if you dab it there will likely be some residue left in the bowl. Sift is generally not as pure as ice water hash, and it contains higher amounts of plant contaminants. Dry sift makes great starting material for hash rosin, or it can be added to joints or mixed with dried flowers for smoking.
Is dry sift better than ice water (bubble hash)?
Both dry sift and ice water extracts are considered forms of hash, and are proper solventless products. However, bubble hash is generally purer, as the ice water extraction process allows for more thorough extraction and separation of trichome heads from plant material. If made correctly using quality material, dry sift can still be a premium hash, but it's more difficult to achieve.
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