Contents
What is Hash?
Hashish is often known as “hash.” Hash is a smokable and edible drug originating from Asia made from Cannabis. It is the compressed and purified preparations of Resin glands called Trichomes collected from the buds of the female cannabis plants. Hash contains the same active ingredients such as THC and other Cannabinoids but in higher concentrations than regular weed.
Pot plants have these trichomes growing all over their buds and leaves. They look like microscopic crystals. When these trichomes are removed from the plant mechanically and compressed with pressure, they create the hash.
There are two main groups of hash, solid and liquid. Solid hash is relatively straightforward, but liquid hash can get a little more complicated. Solid hash is very common because it is effortless to make. It only involves compressing trichomes through some simple techniques. The quality of solid hash depends on the making process and the quality of the Cannabis strain used to prepare hash. These days growers explicitly bred strains for hash production. Since the solid hash is made of only weed and pressure, it gets you high in a similar way to weed.
What is The Difference Between Hash and Regular Weed?
Hash is more potent per gram than regular cannabis that has street potency of 10%-30% THC on average, whereas solid hash can have a potency anywhere from 20% to 65% THC. When you get into the world of the liquid hash, also known as hash oil, the potency climbs as high as 90% THC. If you take things to the next level and have what’s called honey oil, the potency can reach very close to 100% THC.
Why Hash is So Popular?
Some people say that hash is more intense in terms of the high in cannabis, which can be true, but other people like the flavor or the smell of it. In some countries, the price can be pretty good for very high-quality hash. When it comes to the hash, it really comes down to consumers’ preferences.
How To Make Hash?
There are several methods and techniques when it comes to making hash. In this article, we will talk about five simple and easy ways to make hash at your home.
Making Hash With Ice and Water
This is a great way to make hash at home using some simple household stuff. For this technique you will need:
- Ice
- Water
- A wooden spoon
- 2 buckets
- A set of bubble bags
- A press screen
- Cannabis trimmings
Step # 1
First, place a 220-micron bubble bag in the bucket. Put your cannabis trims and ice in the bucket and add water until its just visible. Let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes until the temperature comes down, and the ice starts melting.
Step # 2
Now grab the wooden spoon and start stirring in a circular motion gently. Stir it clockwise and anti-clockwise to create a current in the bucket. The current will pull the trichomes off the trims. It is crucial to change the direction every ten seconds to expose the materials evenly to the current.
Step # 3
Prepare the second bucket by placing the rest of the bubble bags. The bags come in different sizes. Each bag has different microns—the larger the numbers, the bigger the holes of the bags for the materials to fall through. Place the bags with the finest mesh in the bucket in ascending order.
Step # 4
Pour all the water from the first bucket into the second bucket. Make sure there is no residue left in the first bucket. Allow the mixture to sit and drain for 10-15 minutes.
Step # 5
Your top two bags in the second bucket should be 190 and 160 microns. Pull these bags out gently and squeezing them out as you do so. Most people usually discard what is in these bags. Repeat this for the rest of the bags and collect the residues from each bag. Put them on the press screen separately to dry.
Making Hash From Kief
Making hash from kief is very simple and easy. If you want to make hash from kief, then you will need to collect the kief first. There are a few ways to do that. Usually, all the three-part weed grinders have kief screens that trap the kief in the bottom layer. To make hash from kief you will need:
- An oven bag
- Kitchen mitts or Silicone coasters
- An Empty bottle
- Hot water
- Kief
Step # 1
Open up an oven bag and place all the kief right in the middle of the bag.
Step # 2
Fill the bottle with hot boiling water. The goal is to have it about 180 degrees Celsius.
Step # 3
Now use the kitchen mitts or the silicone coasters to grab the hot water bottle and put it right on top of the oven bag. Then roll the bottle back and forth like a rolling pin and keep pressing the kief down till they look flat.
Step # 4
Fold the hash a few times and put it back in the oven bag. Press it again with the hot water bottle.
Make sure to check the temperature of the water. You will need to press the kief many many times. When they are flattened, fold them and press them over and over again. After 20/30 times repeating this process, you will see a nice consistency. You may need to replace the water a few times to keep the temperature hot. You can tell the quality of the hash by how sticky it gets on your fingers.
How To Make Dry Sift Hash
This is probably the easiest way of making hash. It is a simple method of extracting hash by sifting cannabis trimmings through a fine sieve. For this method, you will need:
- 2 silkscreens (110 & 90 mesh count screens)
- Parchment paper
- A plastic card
- Cannabis trimmings
Dry sifting is just using gravity, and you will use the press screens with different mesh counts to separate the hash from the cannabis buds. The trichomes fall from the screen while pistils, hair, and leaves from the trimmings remain above. That is the pure basics of this process.
For dry sifting, you will need your materials to be dry. The cold temperature increases the yields and the overall effectiveness of the process. The colder the temperature, the more brittle the trichomes heads, and they will fall off easily for you to collect. For the best result, you should store the trimmings in your freezer sealed in a ziploc bag.
Step # 1
Stack the press screens on top of each other. Put the 110 press screen on top of the 90 and place the parchment paper at the very bottom to collect the trichomes.
Step # 2
Grab your cannabis trimmings and toss them on the screen, then remove them all and replace them with fresh materials. This is called the quick bounce technique. In this way, you collect the top quality hash at the bottom of the screen. Use this sift technique as a first-run.
Step # 3
On the second run, lay your materials again on the screen for longer. Gently rub them against the screen. Try not to push your materials too hard on the screen. You will get a lot more contaminants, but the stocks and the hair will go right through the screen, and you won’t want that. Keep spreading them around on the screen for a couple of minutes, and you will notice most of the frost is gone.
Step # 4
Use the plastic card to scrape the trichomes off the parchment paper. Now you can press the trichomes to make hash blocks.
Making Hash With Dry Ice
You can do it in several ways. Some people prefer to use a bubble bag. For this, you will need at least a 90 or a 120-micron bag. But I find this process a bit messy so that we will go with the press screen instead of the bubble bags. Make sure to always wear gloves when you are handling dry ice. For this method, you will need:
- A large container
- Clean surface
- Large press screen
- Dry ice
- Cannabis trimmings
Step # 1
Mix the dry ice with the cannabis trimmings in the container. The more you mix it, the weed gets frozen. Our goal is to make the material frozen and dry.
Step # 2
Now place the large screen on a clean surface, or you can also set a parchment paper at the bottom to collect the trichomes. For the best result use a 73 micron screen to collect only the good stuff.
Step # 3
Place the mix on to the screen. Don’t put all the materials. Only put as much that you can handle. Start rubbing the materials against the screen gently. You can also slap them against the screen. Either technique does the job. Do this for a couple of minutes. Repeat the process with the second batch.
Step # 4
Collect the trichomes from the below to press them into hash.
Making Hash by Hand Rolling
Hand rolling is the oldest method of making hash only using hands. You can either use cannabis buds or kiefs. You will need:
- Very clean hands
- Non dried cannabis buds
Step # 1
Remove the stems and leaves from the bud first.
Step # 2
Take the bud between your two palms and start rubbing very gently. Do not put any pressure.
Step # 3
Slowly you will start seeing a thick, dark green resin forming on your palms and fingers. This is essentially hash or charas. Scrape the hash onto a clean surface and then press it together with your fingers to create a small block or ball.
How To Store Hash
Once your hash is pressed, you can keep it for months or possibly years with little deterioration to its potency and flavor, with proper storage. A frost-free freezer is the best place for storing hash.
You can also use metal, glass, or silicone containers for storage. Because of its terpenes compound, plastics and rubber containers are not suitable for storing hash. Terpenes are responsible for the flavor and aroma of hash. It interacts chemically with rubber and plastic and regrades the hash.
Over time, the outer layer of hashish oxidizes and loses potency. The inside remains potent as it is not exposed to higher levels of light and oxygen. Mild light, heat, moisture, and oxygen oxidizes the outside of the hash, destroying its potency, so keep it away from direct light keep it potent for longer.