Hash oil is just one of the many cannabis products that we as modern-day cannabis consumers can enjoy today.
Although the traditional methods of consumption still reign supreme in many cannabis consumers’ hearts, the door is opening up to a myriad of alternate consumption and medication methods.
We all love and appreciate dried flower, but we now have so many more ways to use this plant. With all the growing interest in edibles, concentrates, infused-beverages, and more, one type of cannabis product has consistently satisfied the cannabis connoisseur.
And the answer is hash oil.
What is Hash Oil?
Hash oil is a product that goes by many names and has many forms. We’ll dispel some of this mystery so you know exactly what product you are getting. The term hash or hashish describes physically compressed kief moulded into bricks. This product is arguably the oldest cannabis concentrate, made using heat and pressure.
Historically, hash has stayed the same for generations.
Newer technologies introduced the use of solvents to enhance the extraction of cannabinoids and terpenes. These solvent-based concentrates completely changed the cannabis landscape.
Cannabis concentrates include products like butter, wax, shatter, and BHO. While they vary in consistency, texture, and potency, they all take advantage of solvent-based extraction. Each cannabis extract product is considered a concentrate. Such as those products listed earlier in this paragraph. But, not all concentrates are extracts, with hash being the best example.
Now, when it comes to hash oil, this term can describe any extract or concentrate that is liquid or at least semi-viscous. As you can see, this is a rather inclusive definition and that is why so many products fall under the hash oil category.
Is hash oil a wax?
The process for making cannabis oil and hash oil tend to be similar but create different products. The process of making cannabis wax often involves butane hash oil or other starting concentrates. It would be more appropriate to call wax a type of hash oil than the other way around. That said, this depends on whether that wax is semi-viscous or not.
Is hash oil legal in Canada?
Yes, hash oil is legal in Canada.
There are now numerous hash oil options available from licensed producers in Canada, but not as many as most of us would like. Since these products became legal during cannabis legalization 2.0, we have slowly seen increasing product offerings for medical marijuana patients and recreational consumers.
How is Hash Oil Made?
Hash oil can be made in numerous different ways. What they all have in common is the separation of trichomes from the rest of the plant matter. These external glands contain the valuable cannabis resin, filled with terpenes and cannabinoids. Depending on the methods used, the products vary in consistency and potency. Here are some of the primary ways that Hash oil is made.
Alcohol Extraction
The use of alcohol (or ethanol) is one of the simplest solvent options. It involves soaking cannabis buds in alcohol, which helps to strip the trichomes from the dried flower. The alcohol is often removed through evaporation to leave none of it behind. The result is a cannabis tincture that can be consumed or rendered into a THC oil.
CO² Extraction
Under this category, the solvent used in CO², or carbon dioxide. The use of intense pressure and heat creates what is called supercritical CO² for extraction. Basically, this means that the CO² moves through the bud like a gas but absorbs the trichomes like a liquid. This method is more pricey than the others listed here, but the products created are spectacular. Furthermore, this technique has the advantage of being use to separate cannabinoids like THC or CBD and terpenes from one another. This is how certain distillate products are made, containing just THC or CBD, for example.
Butane/Propane Extraction
Used both in labs and at-home, butane and propane are alternative solvent options. You may know this by the term BHO (butane hash oil). Generally a heated, sealed, and pressurized environment is used to push these gases through the cannabis buds. The result is the same as the others, the drawing out of trichomes and the amazing compounds they contain. The resulting product, BHO, can also be further processed into shatter.
There are many forms of products made from this baseline product, including butane honey oil. Often these oil BHO products do not contain any carrier oil, despite the name. If you want to make hash oil at home from your cannabis plant, this option is popular. That said, the extraction process to make this hash oil may be dangerous so ensure you do your research.
Other methods:
The most common concentrate out there in the cannabis world is kief. This powder is created through the use of grinders and breaking up your buds and is basically pure trichomes.
You can add this powder to your bong, pipe, or joint, or roll it into balls of hash and create what some call charas.
All of these methods create highly potent cannabis concentrates. Ensure you exercise caution and stay within your tolerance levels when consuming any of these. They can pack a much larger punch than dried flower alone, so take care to practice good consumption habits.
How to Smoke Hash oil
Now we have made it to the part everyone is waiting for, how to smoke hash oil. We know that when it comes to cannabis, getting high is often the focus. That said, a distillate made using CO² may only contain CBD, so it does not always have to be about getting high.
Can you use hash oil in vape pens?
The easiest way to consume hash oils is by heading to a Canada online dispensary and picking up a vape pen. These come in various forms, including disposable, cartridge-based, or with refillable chambers. All of these devices heat up the hash oil options into a vapor without producing combustion or smoke.
Consider these options and the differences in prices. Some people do not want to fill up chambers themselves, instead preferring to buy cartridges.
Others want to vape their favourite concentrate and for them, the use of devices with fillable chambers may be the way to go. Whichever you pick, they tend to all be good choices economically.
Dabs and Dabbing
One of the fastest-growing consumption methods for cannabis concentrates and hash oil is called dabbing. This process is actually more similar to vaporizing than it is to smoking weed. Basically, a dab rig is used (like a modified bong). Instead of a bowl, these rigs use a banger, often made from quartz.
Using a heat source, this banger is made to be nice and hot. From there, you simply drop in your hash oil or concentrate and inhale. The heat from the banger vaporizes the concentrate allowing you to inhale the vapour.
As this is a potent way to vape marijuana and get high, exercise caution when dabbing. The amount of THC you consume very quickly can get you incredibly high. For those wanting this much THC, you can’t quite beat dabs. But, if you are new to marijuana, you may want to start with the smallest amount possible.
Hash Oil – Right for You?
When it comes to the semi-viscous options of butane hash oil and other concentrates, you can also smoke them easily. This could involve adding some hash marijuana to your joint, sprinkling some kief or shatter onto a bowl, or putting some wax with your marijuana-filled pipe. For medical marijuana patients seeking potent products with less plant matter, you can’t find much better than hash oil.
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