Hash has become popular all over the world in the last few decades, but its origins aren’t international. What is hashish? Much like cannabis, hash was first used socially as a smoking ritual and a relaxant in Middle Eastern countries for thousands of years. It wasn’t until relatively recently that hash was brought to and enjoyed in other parts of the world.
Most people just know hash as something that gets you stoned, and something that’s more powerful than marijuana but hash is a lot more interesting than that. There are also different ways of making hash and the results produce different hashish products.
In this article, we’re going to answer the question of what is hashish? We’ll also explain some of the best ways to use hash and explain a bit about the different types of hash you can make.
What is Hashish?
Hash is an almost ancient cannabis concentrate. It’s made by compressing the active compounds found on the cannabis flowers, known as trichomes, into dense balls, pucks, or bricks.
The trichomes are the little sparkly bits that you see on cannabis nugs. Most of the time, people refer to these crystals as “kief,” or the fine, powdery dust that collects at the bottom of your grinder. If your bud’s covered in crystals, that really means that it’s fresh, potent and has a lot of trichomes.
Hash can come in a number of different consistencies. It can be soft, or it can be hard and brittle, or somewhere in between. Depending on the type of cannabis used, it can also vary in colour, ranging from red to black to green or even blonde.
Hash is also becoming the most popular way for people to consume cannabis legally.
What’s The Best Way to Use Hash?
There are lots of different ways that you can smoke hashish. You can use pretty much any method that you would use to smoke regular cannabis flower, but your technique might need to be adjusted a little bit.
- Smoke it in a pipe. The oldest method of using hash, by far, is to smoke it in a pipe. The best way to do this is to break the hash up as finely as possible before putting it in the pipe. If possible, pulverise it so it becomes a powder. This increases its surface area makes it way easier to burn.
- Put it in a joint. If you have finely powdered hash, you can sprinkle it into a joint. Some hash also has a stringier consistency, kind of like plasticine. These types of hash can be added to a joint easily but may not burn as well.
- Smoke it in a bong. Just like using a pipe bowl, you will want to powder or break up your hash before putting it into a bong bowl.
- Vape it. You can put hash in any other sort of vaping device, like a pen or an old-school tabletop vaporizer. Just make sure that you clean your vape more often when using hash because it can leave a lot of residue.
- Eat it. Hash is great for cooking with, as long as you make sure to decarboxylate it during the cooking process.
How Can You Make Hash?
There are nearly as many ways of making hash as there are of smoking it. These are some of the most common ways of making hashish.
- Making finger hash. Anyone who was worked with a large amount of cannabis by trimming plants or hand-moving buds has – on purpose or otherwise – made some amount of finger hash. Finger hash is just composed of the trichomes that get stuck to your fingers when you’re working with cannabis flower.
When you trim large amounts of cannabis (at least a full plant’s worth) you can get a pretty decent amount of finger hash. Once it starts to collect on your fingers in a significant amount, you can scrape it off, press it into balls, and consume it. - Making silk screen / kief hash. This can be done by using a silkscreen, or by simply scraping your grinder and collecting the kief from inside of it. If you use a silkscreen, just cool down your trimmings first by sticking it in the freezer so the trichomes become more brittle and break off easier.
Rub the trimmings around on the silkscreen and you’ll see a fine golden particulate matter drop down beneath it. This is your hash! You can press it into blocks or use it as is. - Make bubble hash. Bubble hash requires special equipment known as bubble bags. These can be purchased at many dispensaries and headshops. Making bubble hash takes a bit longer, but produces a very nice, fine product of high quality.
- Make drum hash. If you want to produce your hash professionally, you can use the mechanical drum machine. This is only for people who want to take the time to buy the equipment and perfect the method though.
Concluding Thoughts on Hashish
Hash is a very important part of marijuana history and culture. As the original form of cannabis concentrate, hash is quite potent and can come in a number of different shapes and sizes.
Hash can be smoked in many of the same ways that marijuana can. It can also be produced in a variety of different ways. If you want to make your hash at home, try your luck with finger hash, silk screening, or perhaps making bubble hash.
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