Imagine being able to enjoy your shatter without the side of solvent. Now you can, thanks to an emerging solventless technique called “rosin” technology.
Rosin refers to an extraction process that utilizes a combination of heat and pressure to nearly instantaneously squeeze resinous sap from your initial starting material. The term “rosin” originated as a method of making a product used to create friction with violin bows.
What is rosin made of?
This cannabis product is extremely versatile, as rosin is made of marijuana flower, hash, or kief and transformed into a full-melt hash oil. The result is a translucent, sappy, and sometimes shatter-like product that can be consumed as rosin dabs. If executed correctly, rosin can rival the flavor, potency, and yield of other solvent-based extraction products.
Rosin can be made of cannabis flower, kief, or hash. These starting materials can be easily transformed into rosin wax.
Aesthetically, rosin is almost impossible to distinguish from shatter or sap. However, the difference between the two is that rosin is completely free of the residual solvents often left behind by hydrocarbon extraction processes (e.g. butane, propane, etc.). You can also be making dabs at home in minutes without the dangers associated with using butane.
Is rosin full-spectrum?
Also known as whole-plant extracts, full-spectrum extracts are known by that name because they retain the cannabis plant’s full profile and typically contain a variety of cannabinoids, terpenes, and other compounds. They’re quite difficult to produce because many extraction methods filter out some components during their refinement process.
Depending on how it’s extracted, rosin (especially flower rosin) can be considered full-spectrum. Hash rosin, however, is more commonly a select-spectrum extract.
Rosin & resin
How is rosin different from resin? Broadly speaking, resin refers to a viscous substance derived from plants. Live resin can be made from cannabis concentrate by taking fresh cannabis and freezing it to subcritical temperatures both before and during the extraction process. This allows the live resin to retain the plant’s terpene profile, whereas with rosin, certain extraction processes may result in a loss of some terpenes.
How Does Rosin Compare to Hydrocarbon Extracts?
Rosin is debatably the only product on the market that is a direct reflection of the starting material used. In other words, there’s no workaround to making excellent rosin, and there’s no way to manipulate its chemical structure. Because there are no chemicals or solvents introduced during rosin extraction – like hydrocarbon extractions – the integrity of the plant is maintained throughout the process.
This chemical homeostasis in rosin creates a cleaner high and a reliable product that rivals the potency of hydrocarbon products like live resin and HCFSE or HTFSE sauce. However, unlike BHO (debatably the most popular hydrocarbon extraction method) there is no way to hide impurities within the starting material.
For example, when some companies experience issues with their grows (powdery mildew, mold, bud rot, etc.) they unfortunately mask them by extracting hydrocarbon concentrates from that flower. Pretty shady, right? With rosin, there is no workaround. Simply put, if you start with subpar product, you will get subpar rosin. That’s why – if the rosin is quality – you can rest assured knowing that the starting product was quality as well. As they say in the industry, quality in, quality out.
Additionally, rosin transcends the conception of traditional concentrates in that all forms and types are capable of superior levels of potency, terpene content and purity. For instance, wax and budder are generally considered lower-end, or bargain-bin, hydrocarbon concentrates, however, rosin budder and wax can rival even the strongest hydrocarbon live resin or sauce. This is because of the superb-quality starting material that must be used to make superior rosin.
What to Look For When Buying Rosin
When pressing rosin, the starting material must meet quality control standards, otherwise the resulting product will be less than ideal. That means that starting material with mold, powdery mildew or any other affliction is not suitable for making rosin. This is great from a consumer standpoint because it is easy to identify subpar products and be sure you are only dabbing products that came from high-quality flower.
If you’re looking to purchase rosin at a dispensary, you’re in luck. More and more dispensaries are starting to carry high-quality rosin at their stores, which is good news for consumers. While the majority of rosin sold is very good, always keep an eye out for quality control.
Why is rosin so popular?
One reason for rosin’s newfound popularity is that it’s a solventless technique, meaning the process does not require use of any foreign substances. Instead, rosin uses a mechanical process involving heat and pressure to extract the resin from the plant. Other extraction methods utilize light hydrocarbons such as butane and/or propane. Often, these complex and mechanical systems require a lengthy purge to safely remove most, if not all of the residual solvents from the final product.
Rosin, on the other hand, simply uses heat and pressure and does not require any additional cleaning, so your final product is clean and ready in just minutes. When compared to BHO (butane hash oil), the two are aesthetically indistinguishable. Rosin, when made properly, retains just as many valuable terpenes that account for aroma and flavor. However, in a lab test, rosin will never contain a single parts per million (PPM) of residual hydrocarbon. In other words, you are essentially getting shatter without any solvents when using this process.
Perhaps the most important reason why rosin has been so widely adopted is the sheer simplicity of this technology, allowing enthusiasts with no background in chemistry or botanical extractions to try it out for themselves with minimal risk. You can make rosin at home with just a few household items—check out our step-by-step guide on how to make rosin dabs.
Compared to the days it takes to safely make BHO products, you can see why rosin is a popular trend in cannabis culture. Never before has there been an arguably more versatile, efficient, and safer method of achieving a high-grade solventless hash oil than rosin. Innovators are already creating industrial-sized presses that are capable of processing large amounts of hash oil within seconds. These machines scale up to multiple tons of pressure to extract at extremely low temperatures, thus preserving valuable terpenes.
Many dispensaries are now utilizing this technology and stocking their shelves with rosin. Today you can find it in almost every legal market. The horizon is bright for rosin, and this product will surely continue to make waves in the cannabis industry.
How to make rosin dabs
Dabbing enthusiasts everywhere, rejoice! Rosin is here, and it’s making some big waves in the extract community. This emerging solventless extraction technique allows anybody to make their own high quality hash oil from the comfort of their home.
The best part about making rosin is that it can be done safely and inexpensively in just minutes by using ordinary household tools. This method utilizes heat and pressure to squeeze the cannabinoid-rich resin from your flowers, bubble hash, or kief. Your average hair straightener, some parchment paper, and a collection tool are all you need to produce a hash oil that rivals hydrocarbon extraction methods in flavor, potency, and effect.
How to make rosin dabs
Dabbing enthusiasts everywhere, rejoice! Rosin is here, and it’s making some big waves in the extract community. This emerging solventless extraction technique allows anybody to make their own high quality hash oil from the comfort of their home.
The best part about making rosin is that it can be done safely and inexpensively in just minutes by using ordinary household tools. This method utilizes heat and pressure to squeeze the cannabinoid-rich resin from your flowers, bubble hash, or kief. Your average hair straightener, some parchment paper, and a collection tool are all you need to produce a hash oil that rivals hydrocarbon extraction methods in flavor, potency, and effect.
What is rosin made of?
Rosin can be made of cannabis flower, kief, or hash. These starting materials can be easily transformed into rosin wax.
Aesthetically, rosin is almost impossible to distinguish from shatter or sap. However, the difference between the two is that rosin is completely free of the residual solvents often left behind by hydrocarbon extraction processes (e.g. butane, propane, etc.). You can also be making dabs at home in minutes without the dangers associated with using butane.
Materials for rosin dabs*
Learn how to make rosin wax with a DIY rosin press. First, you’ll need to gather a few materials. You may already have most of these items at home, but if not, you should be able easily acquire them quickly and cheaply.
- Hair straightener (try to find one with a low setting of around 300°F or lower—any higher and valuable terpenes will evaporate off)
- Starting material (this can be cannabis flowers, bubble hash, or kief)
- Parchment paper (unbleached, if possible)
- Collection tool (many dabber tools work well here, although you can get creative!)
- Heat-resistant gloves for safety
*Homemade rosin press safety tip: Please exercise caution when handling the hair straightener and use heat-resistant gloves as an added safety measure—we don’t want you to burn yourself!
How to make rosin dabs
Dabbing enthusiasts everywhere, rejoice! Rosin is here, and it’s making some big waves in the extract community. This emerging solventless extraction technique allows anybody to make their own high quality hash oil from the comfort of their home.
The best part about making rosin is that it can be done safely and inexpensively in just minutes by using ordinary household tools. This method utilizes heat and pressure to squeeze the cannabinoid-rich resin from your flowers, bubble hash, or kief. Your average hair straightener, some parchment paper, and a collection tool are all you need to produce a hash oil that rivals hydrocarbon extraction methods in flavor, potency, and effect.
What is rosin made of?
Rosin can be made of cannabis flower, kief, or hash. These starting materials can be easily transformed into rosin wax.
Aesthetically, rosin is almost impossible to distinguish from shatter or sap. However, the difference between the two is that rosin is completely free of the residual solvents often left behind by hydrocarbon extraction processes (e.g. butane, propane, etc.). You can also be making dabs at home in minutes without the dangers associated with using butane.
Materials for rosin dabs*
Learn how to make rosin wax with a DIY rosin press. First, you’ll need to gather a few materials. You may already have most of these items at home, but if not, you should be able easily acquire them quickly and cheaply.
- Hair straightener (try to find one with a low setting of around 300°F or lower—any higher and valuable terpenes will evaporate off)
- Starting material (this can be cannabis flowers, bubble hash, or kief)
- Parchment paper (unbleached, if possible)
- Collection tool (many dabber tools work well here, although you can get creative!)
- Heat-resistant gloves for safety
*Homemade rosin press safety tip: Please exercise caution when handling the hair straightener and use heat-resistant gloves as an added safety measure—we don’t want you to burn yourself!
How to make rosin
- Turn on your hair straightener to the lowest setting (280-330°F)
- Cut yourself a small 4×4” piece of parchment paper
- Fold the parchment paper in half
- Place your material in between the folded parchment paper
- Lightly press the folded parchment paper with your fingers
- Carefully line the buds inside of the paper together with your hair straightener and apply a very firm pressure for about 3-7 seconds. You will want to hear a sizzle before you remove the pressure—it indicates that the resin has melted from the plant material.
- Remove your sample from the hot surface
- Unfold the parchment paper
- Pluck the flattened nug away and grab your collection tool. This is a very sticky process so be patient and careful. For larger batches, use different clean sheets of parchment and collect your samples together at the end.
- Remove any visible plant material if you wish
- Fold the finished product between the parchment and flatten it to your preference
- Use a clean tool to pick out any plant particulates. You may place the substance on a cold surface for a few seconds if you desire a more stable material to work with.
Who knew you’d be making dabs with your very own homemade rosin press? Now load a nice fat dab of your fresh new rosin and celebrate—you just became an extract artist who knows how to make dabs!
This works insanely well, lol. My buddy got a hair straightener, and poof, in about 10 minutes, we had a pile of rosin, its awesome, but has a tiny bit of plant here and there, you can remove the particles during a washing process if you want to dewax it at the same time, if you dewax anyway, then good to do, no solvents.
I have tried this with top grade bud as well as golden fine hash. It has yet to work even once for me. I end up with a smashed bud or a sheet of dried out hash but NO rosin or golden stuff what so ever. Used several hair straighteners on all settings, pressing hard etc . Even tried a iron. it has never worked and I wasted a lot of good bud. Good thing I can get it with no problems here in Canada.
Rosin = pressed with heat, starting with flower or dry sift or bubble hash (can be fresh frozen, aka Live)
Resin = hydrocarbon extraction, commonly butane propane CO2 l (can also use fresh frozen material to start)
I prefer resin, but that’s harder to make at home. Rosin is easy to make, and if you start with bubble hash and press that into Rosin, makes quite a fine extract that is attainable at home or small scale. I press whole flowers , cured, into Rosin at the moment but am going to upgrade to pressing Live, aka Whole Plant Fresh Frozen Bubble Hash on future grows. I do this because, since dabbing I do not like smoking and want to make my own extracts from personal grows. Easy to do as Rosin.