What Are Cannabis Extracts?

There are crucial distinctions between cannabis extracts, concentrates, and oils.

Many people love concentrates and extracts for a few reasons. First, you don’t have to smoke an extract. You simply inhale via vapor or use the oil however you need. Concentrates are heated and vaporized for a smooth puff. Secondly, they are refined. We don’t use additives in our extracts, and we keep the inefficient parts out of our product. This leads to a silky inhale and a tasteful one at that, due to the terpenes being more concentrated. Finally, people love extracts because it takes less wax to achieve more of a “high.” This makes it easier on the wallet and smoother on the senses. Less is more.

Is There a Difference Between Concentrate and Extract?

The simple answer is yes. While both concentrates and extracts require processing in order to reduce them to wax or rosin, the technique used determines what moniker it falls under.

A concentrate uses a solvent-free refining method like CO2 extraction. C02 requires less heat, therefore preserving the terpenes and other cannabinoids that make flower strains distinct in their profile.

C02-extracted concentrates include live rosin, diamonds, and distillate.

Extracts utilize solvents, using butane or other chemical processes along with heat to create the concentrate. While extracts are still widely used and appreciated, the high heat can lessen the terpene profile.

Wax

Wax is a bright yellow, substance that people use either to dab, top their flower, or infuse a joint with. It needs to be heated with a torch in order to melt, so make sure to have a torch available and a dab tool. The name comes from Wax’s consistency—it feels like it sounds.

Crumble

Crumble is a drier version of badder/budder. It’s drier, more matte, and crumbly in texture.

Shatter

Shatter is named for its glassy texture and the way it breaks when people break it like glass. It is thin and brittle.

Budder/Badder

With an orange or yellow hue, budder or badder is malleable and resembles cake batter.

How to Use Extracts

Given the variety of concentrates and extracts, there are more than a few ways to partake. Usually people dab, top their flower, or vape it through a pen or vaporizer.

Dabbing

Dabbing is not the most portable method, but it is one of the most effective ways to use concentrates. A dab rig is similar to a bong; except built specifically for dabbing. The rig requires a torch to heat the nail, a dab tool to put the wax into, and cleaning supplies for after you use it. This ensures a clean session every time. Dab rigs come in all sizes and colors, and are fun to use with your friends!

Topping Flower

Having a pipe packed with ground flower is a wonderful way to end the day or power your morning. However, some folks love to include an extra boost of THC: Adding a concentrate on top of your bowl or infusing your pre-roll will ensure you smoke at a higher level.

Vaporizers

Vaporizers are perhaps the top way people enjoy their cannabis concentrates. Vaporizers are devices that use a battery to heat the concentrate or flower into a vapor you inhale. There are table top apparatuses like a volcano, portable vaporizers, and vape pens (portable vaporizers are similar to vape pens, but they have a detachable chamber to fill with flower instead of rosin or wax).

Vape pens are the most widely known. The cartridges are filled with oil, live rosin, or wax, and all you need to do is press a button and inhale. A light on the pen will tell you when a full hit is achieved. Vaporizers are discreet, odorless, and a great on-the-go companion.

Shop Garden Remedies Dispensary in Massachusetts

Garden Remedies’ mission is to expand access to safe, legal, and organic cannabis products that provide clear cut effects and improve quality of life. Established in 2013 by Dr. Karen Munkacy, M.D., Garden Remedies is the first physician- and woman-founded dispensary brand in Massachusetts. It grows, creates, tests and packages cannabis products at its cultivation center in Fitchburg, then distributes to adult-use and medical dispensaries in Marlborough, Melrose, and Newton (as well as at dispensary partners across the Commonwealth). Launching innovative new releases every month to join its regular menu of established classics, Garden Remedies is quickly taking a lead role in the development of Massachusetts’ evolving cannabis market.