Not to age myself too much but in my earliest recollections of buying weed I was, at best, presented with two choices. Do you want regs or kind bud? Ditch weed or Gainesville green? The choices were limited. You occasionally might’ve come across some edibles, but typically the choices came down to a bag of stems and seeds or the promise of this better looking bud which they swore was actually Northern Lights. Fast forward a couple of decades and it is clear that the cannabis industry and weed culture in general has exploded into an array of product offerings and language that can be dizzying to someone new to it all. Hard seltzers may be the only industry with more expansive offerings than cannabis.
On my first trip to a dispensary I was overwhelmed by all the choices. I felt like Augustus Gloop walking into Wonka’s factory and I was fully prepared to gorge myself on all those THC delights. Edibles, orals, flower, pre-rolls, my god when would it all end? As I moved through the menu I realized, “Oh no, I don’t even know what most of this stuff is.”
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Something had happened between my stopping recreational cannabis use and getting my medical card, and it wasn’t just that I had gotten old. An entire, legal industry was born and that industry was prepared to serve its customers a seemingly endless stream of cannabis products. So I found myself staring at terms that were totally foreign to me.
Shatter, wax, tinctures, vaporizers, gummies and on and on and on. I am not old enough to have ever bought a “lid of grass”, but I honestly I had no idea what the fuck some of these things were, but damn it. I was keen to find out. I had heard some of these terms before, but I was never that sure, or that interested in what they were. But after bathing my anxiety in a steady wash of indica I was ready to start pursuing some of the less traditional offerings from my local dispensary.
I don’t think that Emerson was referring to THC levels when he wrote, “Concentration is the secret of strength," but he certainly could have been. Concentrates pack a wallop that simply can not be overstated, they come on fast and will get you high enough to forget that time that as a young man you drunkenly told a woman you loved her after only two dates. Oh sure, I suppose I am the only person that has done that.
The world of concentrates and extracts is complex and incredibly scientific. Two things that this column is not. So if you are one of those “heady cats” that understand the difference between BHO (butane hash oil) and live water extraction and are hoping for a scientific breakdown of the exact process by which different concentrates are created you should head back to chemistry class you nerd. My job is to explain what concentrates are for those of us who only attended community college.
Alright gang, now that the smarty pants are gone, let me try to break this down for the rest of us. Remember those little containers of orange juice concentrate where citrus scientists (I am assuming that is who handled this) removed all the water, and then froze it into a can leaving you with a cylinder of potent, pure orange flavor? Well science recreated that idea but this time with weed. Cannabis concentrates extract the most effective cannabinoids and terpenes leaving you with only the compounds needed to get high. Real high. Between rapid vaccine development and cannabis concentrates I can not believe people still shit on science.
Concentrates are powerful and probably not the ideal starting point for someone just getting into cannabis. Marijuana bud THC concentration is typically around 15-25%. Concentrates are in the 50-80% range. So if you are trying to convince grandma to try marijuana for her arthritis, firing up a big fat dab might not be the best choice.
If I had to personify concentrates I would say they are Usain Bolt, fast, powerful and awe inspiring. On the other hand I would probably be a 5 mg gummy, sweet, squishy and leaving you wanting more.
Concentrates are not one thing, there are a variety of offerings within this family but are all equally effective to help relieve you of the crushing reality of existence.
Common forms of cannabis concentrates
- Shatter A translucent, glass-like substance that if you smoke enough of your loved ones will need to scrape you off the ceiling. The average THC levels in shatter is between 80-90%. So, you should definitely take these sloooow.
- Wax A much more malleable substance. Just like shatter, wax is very much a learn-to-walk-before you run situation. I once got so high on wax that Alex Jones started making sense to me. THC levels in wax can vary, but it tends to start at least 70% and can go all the way up to 90%.
- Live rosin Created from fresh flower (that is what us cool, card holders call bud) that has never been cured. Because of this freshness, live rosin tends to have a superior taste to the other concentrates. If you are reading this and thinking, “Actually I think that wax tastes better”, calm down. It's just an opinion. This is supposed to be fun right? What matters is that at 80-90% THC levels, live rosin will get you higher than someone who thinks qualified immunity for cops makes sense.
To be clear the above three tend to be among the more popular but this is by no means an exhaustive list. (I mean even among rosin there is flower rosin and hash rosin, but I have to cap it off somewhere, right?) Other members of the concentrate family include oil, crumble, distillate and more.
Wondering if concentrates might be right for you? Ask yourself, “Do I have something important to do in the next couple of hours?” If you do, I would stay away from the concentrates, unless all you will be doing is listening and nodding along. However, if you are looking for the highest levels of THC with the fastest onset of that sweet cannabis euphoria concentrates are your best option.
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