THC distillate is a cannabis extract that has been distilled to increase the percentage of THC in it. The cannabis product usually starts around 60 to 70% THC before it’s distilled and when you’re done it comes out around 85 to 90%! You can make and consume vape cartridges, edibles, and you can dab it. 

How should I consume THC distillate?

To consume cannabis concentrates, you can use a vape cartridge, which is probably the most common method of consuming. There’s also devices like nectar collectors, which are convenient and discreet. You can also put your concentrate over your flower and smoke it out of a bong. Electronic vaporizers are a good option, and you can also use the traditional dab rig. 

Deciding what method is best for you really depends on your lifestyle, and how much time you’d like to put towards consuming your concentrates. 

What is the difference between a live resin cartridge and a distillate cartridge? 

To make live resin the plant material has to be immediately frozen after it’s harvested and kept frozen until it’s processed. Normally, if you’re going to harvest some flower, you would cure it and dry it out for a couple of weeks. And in doing so, you actually lose over 50% of the terpene concentration. Terpenes are going to be what dictates the smell of the flower as well as whether that flower will be classified as an indica, sativa or hybrid will all be determined by the terpenes that are in that flour. Keeping the plant material frozen allows the extractors to obtain a much higher level of terpenes in that final product. Keeping it frozen also means a higher storage cost which can make live resin more expensive than distillate. 

When you’re making distillate it really doesn’t matter if the plant material is cured or live. Your main goal is to really extract just the THC from that plant material. So you’ll typically find that distillate cartridges will test a little higher in THC compared to live resin cartridges, but they won’t have a full spectrum of cannabinoids like the CBD CBN and CBG that you might find in a live resin cartridge. Having that entourage effect of all the cannabinoids does make a difference in the overall effect and the overall experience. 

Are there terpenes in THC distillate?

With distillate the terpenes are actually separated at some point in the extraction process and then reintroduced later in the extraction process. Some people actually introduce botanical terpenes, like apricot or pineapple flavor or something like that. Those flavors would be botanical terpenes, which aren’t terpenes that you’ll find naturally in the cannabis plant. 

Is THC distillate made from Indica or Sativa strains?

A pure distillate actually wouldn’t really be classified as an indica, sativa, or hybrid. It’s just going to be distilled THC. That classification would come from the terpenes that are reintroduced into that distillate. This is another way that distillate is different from live resin because with live resin the terpenes all come from the original start material and are kept with the extract throughout the entire extraction process. 

What is the difference between live resin and live rosin?

The main difference is going to come down to the extraction process and the use of solvents. Resin is going to use a solvent based extraction process compared to rosin using a solventless extraction process. 

What solvents are used in cannabis extraction methods?

A solvent is a substance that’s able to dissolve another substance within itself. In cannabis production, the most common solvent you’ll probably hear referred to would be butane. But other solvents would include things like ethanol, co2, alcohol, things like that. Live resin uses a solvent based extraction process and which is most often butane hash oil, the end product of a butane based extraction method. BHO can take many forms and go by many different names like shatter, honeycomb, live resin, and things like that. 

Rosin, on the other hand, refers to a solventless product that is only created using natural elements like water heat, ice and pressure. Because of this extraction method, some people consider rosin to be a more natural product. 

Can I use THC distillate to make edibles?

THC distillate is basically cannabis that has removed all other compounds, and is already decarbed, so it’s perfect for making edibles at home because it won’t smell as much of cannabis and will also take a shorter period of time than if you were cooking with flower. If you’re going to use some to make edibles, you should place the container of the THC distillate into some warm water first to make it easier to handle.

Whether you want to add the THC distillate into fat or not depends on your person preference. Some people like to use MCT coconut oil or butter, but you can just put it directly into the recipe as well.