The Ultimate Rosin Pressing Resource

Freeze dryers have grown in popularity in recent years, as solventless extraction artists are constantly improving on the quest to produce the world’s best bubble hash. For commercial and craft producers alike, freeze dryers present the most optimum solution to quickly and thoroughly dry fresh ice water hash. For decades, other methods have been successfully used to dry wet bubble hash, but in terms of overall quality and terpene preservation freeze dryers offer a better solution than the other approaches.

There’s more to cannabis cultivation than simply growing high quality flowers from premium genetics. After plants are grown to full maturity and the flowers are carefully harvested, drying remains a key piece of the puzzle that allows the buds to reach their full potential. Drying is a make or break process that can raise your cannabis to trophy-level status or actually diminish its therapeutic value. Without proper drying techniques, the best flowers from the best genetics will fall short of delivering the optimum effects.

The transformations in bubble hash that take place over time seem magical, in part because a scientific understanding of what’s happening, and why, still isn’t clear. Texture, taste, and smell of hash change as the product ages, and there are certain things that a hashishin can do to allow the passage of time to enhance instead of degrade. The goal of aging bubble hash is comparable to aging wine or whiskey. An 18 year old scotch is more desirable than a 2-year. It becomes smoother and more mellow over time, yet also more complex and intriguing to the senses.

Curing is the process of slowly reducing moisture content in cannabis flowers within a controlled environment over multiple weeks or months. Although curing involves the evaporation of water content from cannabis, it’s not the same thing as the initial drying process which takes place immediately after harvest. First cannabis is harvested, then it’s hung to dry, then it’s cured. But what are the benefits to curing cannabis flowers, and is it always necessary?

Washing hash involves mixing ice water and cannabis material together in order to separate trichome heads and isolate them through a series of mesh filter bags. The same material can be washed multiple times, and for varying lengths of time with each round of washing. The length of washing time impacts the number of trichomes released from the material, as well as the amount of plant contaminant that may end up in your hash.

In order to enjoy the fullest potential of what the cannabis plant has to offer, it’s important to harvest when its flowers are producing the maximum amount of therapeutic compounds. If the flowers are harvested too early, many of the beneficial compounds exist only in their precursor forms or in underwhelming amounts. If harvested too late, the cannabinoid content may begin to decrease or convert into compounds with less desirable effects. Therefore, harvesting at peak ripeness is key

Light color is a positive indicator of quality in the world of solventless cannabis extracts. Off white with a slightly golden hue, like a very light honey, conveys the purity of a concentrate made up almost entirely of fresh resin heads. A light color demonstrates a lack of plant contaminants, which is always the goal in creating solventless extracts. What else can color differences tell us about rosin? There are multiple variables that can impact the color of rosin.

Whipping rosin is a common practice, yet it’s also a point of contention in the solventless community. Some extractors whip rosin to stabilize an otherwise unstable product, willingly sacrificing some terpene content for an unchanging consistency. Others refuse to intentionally modify fresh rosin, opting instead to preserve rosin in its natural and potentially shape-shifting form. What does it mean to whip rosin?