Cannabis is a complex plant. Despite our advances in terpene science and understanding the endo-cannabinoid system, we have really only figured a fraction of how this plant interacts with our bodies and why. Combine that multilayered power plant with the vast array of modern technological capabilities-and add in an adventurous consumer base-and you’ve got one elaborate, confusing world of cannabis concentrates. A world that every cannabis and hemp enthusiast is a part of, whether they dab or not.
That’s because shatter, bubble hash, rosin, CO2, sauce-these varieties of concentrates are what fill vape pens and infuse topicals, tinctures, and edibles, too. This realm is a tricky, sticky mess of categories, largely because of the method of processing, the source material, and colloquial slang. So we’ve written out the ultimate guide to all of it, breaking down each type of concentrate, what sets it apart, where you can find it, and any pertinent current nicknames. You’ll be shopping those honey-coloured shelves confidently in no time.
Canna-butter First off, please don’t ever try to dab canna-butter. This is not typically considered a part of the category of concentrates, but technically, it is, and it’s a helpful foundation for understanding what happens when cannabis is processed.
Canna-butter refers to the classic method of slow cooking weed and butter in order to pull the cannabinoids and other plant compounds from the leaves. Those fatty compounds bind with the fats of the butter, so that once you remove the excess plant material, the remaining butter is ready to be prepared in a batch of very special brownies or infused chai tea. The ways edible companies are regulated have resulted in processed cannabis oil being a more convenient ingredient than time-consuming canna-butter, which can also be harder to keep consistent. But many crave the nostalgic, full-bodied high that it brings, and there are companies out there still doing things the old school way.
What to try: Elbe’s Edibles in Oregon have made canna-butter recipes a pillar of its beloved baked good brand.
Hash Now we’re stretching further back than college-era brownies, as in thousands of years. Hashish is the OG concentrate, traditionally made by rubbing buds together in your hands and rolling the residual resin into a sticky little wad. Hash in 2021 looks very different, made much more efficiently via a mechanized sieve or a pressurized process using ice. Traditional methods of hash making involve packing the plant’s resin to create compressed, smokable chunks that typically sport THC contents between 40-60%. For comparison, cannabis flowers generally express 15-25% THC.
Technological advancements have largely changed how hash is produced today. There are mechanized dry sieves that separate the good stuff from the plant and filter it through a fine mesh screen, creating what we know as “kief” or “dry sift.” (It’s also what gathers at the bottom of your grinder.) That can be sprinkled atop a bowl, rolled in with flower in an “infused joint.” Or it can be pressed to create rosin, which we’ll get to later.
What to try: Another hash making method involves ice water and mechanical pressure, creating “ice water hash” aka “bubble hash,” which is often pressed into rosin, vaporised in cartridges like Nevada brand CAMP‘s ice water hash offerings, or used inside infusions. High grade, premium ice water hash often goes by names like “full melt” or “ice wax,” and it’s a potent, sought after form for many daily dabbers.
Rosin If we think of hash like the results of hand-squeezing an orange, rosin is what you get with a precise, mechanized juice press. Hash is made from gathering the outer compounds clinging to leaves and buds, but the combination of heat and pressure further breaks down compounds that are further sieved one more time, resulting in a more pure, potent, botanically-rich concentrate.
What to try: One can press whole flower to create flower rosin, like what’s inside Rose Delights or use hash to create hash rosin like the delicious Oregon-based rosin grams made with Nelson & Co. Organics flower.
Everything we just went through can fall under the category of “solventless” concentrates. Nothing other than gravity, heat, pressure, water or elbow grease is required to produce the consumable concentrate. But that’s only the tip of this iceberg.
CO2 Oil The most common concentrate used in vape cartridges is CO2 oil. This is cannabis that has been run through an industrial extraction machine that uses pressure and carbon dioxide to separate and isolate cannabinoids and other essential compounds. Carbon dioxide is a common solvent used for pharmaceutical extraction and other processes like decaffeinating coffee.
CO2 machines are also used to make concentrates like “live resin.” Resin is made with fresh, whole flower via CO2 extraction or using a solvent like butane. No stems and stalks-real buds and fan leaves only, often flash-frozen to retain the original moisture (freshness of flower is key here-hence the “living” part.)
What to try: CO2 oil can be further refined and then referred to as “distillate,” like what’s inside Leune All-in-One Vaporisers. High quality distillate can test up to 90% or higher in total cannabinoids and is virtually flavourless, making it a common base ingredient in edibles and topicals as well.
RSO Oil RSO stands for Rick Simpson Oil, named after the Canadian hospital engineer who successfully treated his skin cancer using a homemade cannabis concoction. Simpson figured out that by soaking the cannabis in pure naphtha or isopropyl alcohol, the therapeutic compounds are drawn out of the plant, leaving behind a dark, viscous liquid after the alcohol fully evaporates. Also known as Phoenix Tears, RSO can be applied directly to the skin or orally ingested for effective treatment of an array of chronic issues.
What to try: Last year I provided a multi-month supply of high-CBD RSO from Siskiyou Sungrown to a friend with a degenerative nerve issue. He’d begun to lose some feeling in his thumb and experienced chronic discomfort, but after a couple doses a day for two weeks, the sensation returned and the discomfort waned by the day. RSO is a great choice for those seeking serious, smoke-free cannabis medicine.
Tinctures A tincture is a liquid concentrate procured through steam alcohol extraction, which pulls out the plant’s beneficial cannabinoids and is concentrated down to a very herbal-flavoured liquid. Ethanol extraction can also be used to create certain types of dabbable shatter and pure, isolated cannabinoids like powdery THCA crystals. To be clear-tinctures aren’t the same as every bottle of “CBD oil” online (though they all may come in very similar looking glass dropper bottles). That is a very, very vague term that can mean a variety of formulations and processes.
What to try: Xula sells CBD tinctures, while Dazey sells CBD oil made of CO2 extract and coconut-derived MCT oil.
BHO Extracts BHO, or “butane hash oil,” is a concentrate made using pressurized chemical solvents like butane and propane to strip the essential oils of cannabis from plant matter within a closed-loop system. It sounds gnarly, but dabbers love this stuff because of the flavour. The chemical process is more delicate on the plant material, preserving the cannabinoids and terpenes in more sturdy states. THC-heavy BHO extracts can hit 70-90% total cannabinoids.
“Sauce” is another term you’ll hear in this region of solvent-based concentrates. This sticky, goopy extraction (also known as “sugar”) is made up of cannabinoid-rich crystals suspended in terpene-rich oil. There’s also “terp sauce,” which is defined as containing more than 50% terpenes-plus all the other minor compounds from the plant. Terp sauce is sometimes packaged in vape cartridges, making it a little easier to enjoy without an entire dab setup.
Other important terms to know: “live” as in “live resin” means the concentrate is made from fresh, often flash-frozen whole flower. It’ll be richer in flavor, as opposed to “trim runs” which are made with less potent flower bits that are long cured.
What to try: These are the concentrates that go by a variety of names depending on look and feel, from the hardened candy-like appearance of “shatter” to the wetter-looking “wax” (aka budder, badder, frosting-processors like Illinois’s Bedford Grow make a variety) and the chunkier “honeycomb” or “crumble.” Grassroots in Maryland makes a sauce with 83.59% THC. You can actually find those isolated THC crystals on the market as well, referred to as “diamonds,” like Biko‘s Juseyo Diamond-filled joints.
The concentrate world may be a dizzying flowchart of science and flavour, but it’s a worthwhile exploration. This is where you’ll find the most interesting parts of cannabis, spotlighted and elevated, amplifying effects and flavour in a way that introduces you to new experiences with familiar strains. Here is where the possibilities of cannabis highs and benefits are being pushed to new limits.
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Lauren Yoshiko is a freelance writer and editor based in Portland, Oregon. She writes The Broccoli Report, a bi-weekly newsletter for creative cannabis entrepreneurs.
If you’re a fan of the royal family (because “fan” is the more socially acceptable way of saying obsessive internet stalker), this is your year. Netflix’s The Crown has returned for its second season, the Duchess of Cambridge is pregnant with her third child, Prince George and Princess Charlotte continue to be the cutest heirs to ever walk the face of the earth, and Prince Harry has finally been wrangled from his former wild ways to marry Meghan Markle this spring. All of this royal family news has us in a tizzy, and we need a stiff drink to calm our excitement back down to inside voices. Thankfully, the royal family are drinking icons. Here are the favorite drinks of all the main figures of the new Elizabethan era, so you can properly drink along with all the upcoming royal festivities.
Much has been written about the Queen’s legendary drinking habits , with many articles claiming she drinks as many as six glasses of booze a day. Insiders have disputed this rumor, saying that she “would be pickled” if she drank that much, but we all know that the queen is a creature of habit, and probably does enjoy these drinks fairly regularly. Her all-time favorite cocktail is the Dubonnet Cocktail with a lemon twist, which is gin mixed with the sweet French fortified wine the drink is named for. Her staff always carries the two bottles and lemons wherever the queen goes in case she gets thirsty. Additionally, Queen Elizabeth II is said to drink wine with lunch, the occasional Dry Martini in the afternoon, a glass or two of Champagne with dinner, and some port wine after dinner. For someone that looks 91 years young, this monarch seems to know a thing or two about the secret to a long life .
While his wife loves her gin tipples and wine, the Duke of Edinburgh just fancies beer-and none of that fancy craft stuff. His lifelong favorite brand was Boddington, a regional brewery in Manchester. Unfortunately, the brewery ceased operations in 2005, forcing Prince Philip to drink other, still unassuming, beers. He is even said to have muttered, “Get me a beer. I don’t care what kind it is. Just get me a beer!” when he was offered fine wine by former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato while dining in Rome.
The long awaiting king-to-be enjoys a wide variety of stiff drinks. His favorite whisky is a peaty Islay single malt, Laphroaig 15-year. Prince Charles also helped produce his own whisky, Barrogill ; HRH personally selected the single malts for the blend, which was distilled by Inver House Distillers and North Highland Products. The bottle features a watercolor of Barrogill Castle that was painted by Prince Charles himself. Additionally, Prince Charles is said to enjoy plenty of wine with his wife Camilla, along with his go-to cocktail, a 50/50 Martini made with equal parts gin and dry vermouth .
Prince William seems to take after his grandfather when it comes to drink preferences, opting for straightforward beers over cocktails or rare wines; His two favorite beer brands are said to be Stella Artois and Guinness, but he occasionally also enjoys shots of Sambuca. He didn’t always have such simple tastes, though. In his youth, the Duke of Cambridge was said to have ordered (on more than one occasion) the “Treasure Chest” from Piccadilly club Mahiki, which is a $180 cocktail consisting of brandy , peach liqueur and a bottle of Champagne, served in a smoking treasure chest with tons of extra-long straws, flowers and ignited sparklers.
Nowadays, you’ll find the Duchess of Cambridge publically drinking whatever is served at the many events she attends with her husband (when she’s not pregnant, of course), from Guinness at the St. Patrick’s Day parade in London to wine at a vineyard in New Zealand-where she exclaimed she was “really enjoying being able to drink again” after the birth of Prince George. But in her pre-duchess days, according to sources, Kate enjoyed fruity cocktails like Piña Coladas and the “Crack Baby,” which was served at Prince Harry’s favorite (now-defunct) nightclub, Boujis, and consisted of vodka , raspberry liqueur, passion fruit and Champagne. Rumor has it the future queen also still enjoys her go-to whiskey, Jack Daniel’s, from time to time.
The once infamous party boy may be settling into married life soon, but we reckon he’ll still enjoy his favorite drink, Cîroc Ultra-Premium Vodka , from time to time. Hopefully his bride-to-be Meghan will curb his questionable cocktail of choice, a Red Bull Vodka , and encourage him to try her far more interesting drinks of choice.
The name on the tip of everyone’s tongue this year is Meghan Markle, Prince Harry’s beautiful betrothed and an American former-actress to boot. Because Markle was famous prior to her engagement, she gave decidedly down-to-earth interviews, including one with The New Potato where she said, “God, do I love wine-a beautiful full red or a crisp white. But if it’s cocktails, I love a spicy tequila cocktail, Negroni or good scotch (neat).” Markle also named her former lifestyle website, The Tig , after Tignanello red wine. If that wasn’t enough to make her your new drinking hero, Markle also once told Delish , “French fries and vino are my vices,” going on to say that she’d “forgo a gooey, chocolate dessert for a ‘big, beautiful red’ just about any day. … In the summer, though, when I’m out with my friends, it’s rosé all day.” A future duchess after our own hearts.
The Duchess of Cornwall is said to be a big fan of wine, having once said she was “brought up as a child drinking wine like the French.” But Camilla was also rumored to have exasperatedly said, “I really need a Gin & Tonic ” after exiting a conversation with Prince William over the nature of her relationship with his father, Prince Charles, back in 1998.
Queen Elizabeth II gets her proclivity for Dubonnet from her mum. The late Queen Mother was much heavier a drinker than her husband King George VI, who didn’t imbibe much during wartime due to nationwide rations and his unfortunate love for cigarettes instead. Elizabeth would allegedly start at noon with a cocktail that was one part gin and two parts Dubonnet, garnished with a lemon or orange twist (some people actually refer to the Dubonnet Cocktail as the Queen Mother Cocktail). Then at lunch, she would drink red wine and a glass of port after the meal. A biographer wrote that if people asked for water, Elizabeth would ask, “How can you not have wine with your meal?” At around 6 p.m., the Queen Mother would enjoy a Martini , and at dinner she would have some Veuve Clicquot. Other drinking-related quotes attributed to her include: “I couldn’t get through all my engagements without a little something,” and, after being told by a host that they heard she liked gin, “I hadn’t realized I enjoyed that reputation. But as I do, perhaps you could make it a large one.”
Princess Margaret is enjoying a posthumous fan obsession, thanks to her fiery, scene-stealing portrayal in The Crown. The show never depicts Margaret without a cigarette in hand, but the princess loved scotch almost as dearly. Her favorite drinks were neat scotch with a drop of water and a Scotch & Soda , both made with The Famous Grouse and Highland Spring mineral water. Her staff instructed those within her circles to always keep bottles of both on hand, in case she stopped by for an informal visit. A staff member claimed that “if you didn’t serve Famous Grouse, she could identify exactly what was in its place.” Allegedly Princess Margaret even asked for the scotch while visiting The Macallan distillery in the 1980s. A decanter of The Famous Grouse was always present at Margaret’s apartment, and though she was “always a delight,” according to a friend , “there could be unpleasantness with staff if her glass wasn’t kept full or if the ice melted. That was one of her tiny weaknesses.” Today, the royal family continues to support the whisky brand; the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge opened The Famous Grouse Experience at the Glenturret distillery in 2014.
The late, beloved Princess of Wales wasn’t much for imbibing; she opted to skip the booze in favor of maintaining her iconic radiant skin. But when she did drink, she preferred something light, like chilled white wine, Champagne or a peachy Bellini. She is said to have ordered a Bellini on her infamous night out on the town with Freddie Mercury when she disguised herself as a man.