With the rise of legal cannabis offerings around the country, and even the world, we’ve all been a bit spoiled by having easy access to many of our favorite products. But as lockdown life forces many of us to get creative with our buying purchases alongside a growing resurgence in good old DIY culture, it’s important to know that you can make some quality cannabis creations right from home.
Homemade rosin is one such possibility and all you need to get started is some of your favorite flower, kief, or hash and a few household accoutrements (which will be explained in detail below). So, the next time you feel like getting creative with cannabis, give this quick experiment a try. You’ll learn a thing or two and end up with some fine solventless rosin as a result.
Before diving into the details, let’s take a quick look at what rosin is from an objective perspective. Oftentimes called SHO (solventless hash oil), rosin is the end result of using heat and pressure to exude an extract from cannabis plant material that can be consumed via smoking, vaporizing, or other means. When heat and pressure are applied to plant matter, the result is a resin of melded terpenes and cannabinoids.
Materials Needed
- Cannabis plant matter (could be flower, kief, or hash)
- A hair straightener (ideally one with a temperature setting that gets lower than 300°F, otherwise you can risk burning terpenes away and affecting THC content)
- Parchment paper
- Some sort of collection apparatus (dabbing tools, small dull knife, etc.)
- Work gloves and goggles (you should play it safe and you’ll look like a chemist as well)
Steps for Making Homemade Hair Straightener Rosin
- Plug in the hair straightener and turn it on to a setting at or below 300°F. Let it fully preheat for a few minutes before beginning to press any materials.
- Place plant matter into a piece of parchment paper and fold the paper over. You can cut the paper into smaller, more manageable pieces for this. Better to do several batches than have a large envelope of plant matter.
- Place the folded parchment paper with plant matter between the two hot portions of the flat iron.
- Press iron together and hold firmly for about 3-10 seconds (longer for lower temperatures). You will know when the rosin has been created when you hear a sizzle.
- Remove hot iron from the paper envelope.
- Unfold and remove plant matter from the rosin.
- Shape or flatten warm rosin to your desired shape or form.
- Scrape rosin off of parchment paper.
- Enjoy!
So, there you have it. The hair straightener experiment is an easy and effective method for creating a SHO extract at home. Give it a try the next time you have some extra flower or time on your hands, and you’ll be surprised at how simple it really is. Plus, you can always ditch the hair straightener and upgrade to a rosin press.
Image source: little birdie/Shutterstock.com
