It’s time to talk about bubble hash.
The rise of legal dispensaries has led to a plethora of high-quality cannabis extracts. The shelves are stocked with shining slivers of shatter and crumbly bits of budder. So much attention is being focused on the laboratory-created extracts that some people may have forgotten about old-school bubble hash.
Some people believe that they can safely create butane hash oil (BHO) at home. However, this is too optimistic. Nearly all of the disasters involving cannabis started because someone tried to manipulate butane in an unsafe environment.
Bubble hash, however, can actually be made safely at home, provided you’ve got a proven method in hand. You’ll need to use a lot of cannabis but it’s worth it if you want to make your own extracts. The process is not only simple, it’s solvent-free, which means no worries of residual solvents left behind from the extraction. Solvents like butane or propane can still be present in cannabis extracts, making it critical that manufacturers provide clean cannabis concentrates that have been properly lab tested for safety.
What can’t be denied is that bubble hash is one of the safest ways to make an extract at home. Rosin, perhaps, is the only concentrate that compares. The process is fairly simple. Ice water and agitation shake off the trichomes clinging to the buds. Trichomes are oily and sticky and don’t mix well with water. The “bubble” part of the name refers to the bubbles that form when the extract is smoked.
Place a large amount of cannabis in ice water and agitate for about half an hour. Agitation can be performed using machine-driven tools like cake mixers or drill bit attachments; however, these tools can also provide too much force, disrupting or even pulverizing the fragile trichomes, whose acquisition is the point behind creating the hash in the first place! Some people choose to use modified washing machines to agitate, or merely get their hands dirty and control that agitation by hand. The trichomes are collected in special filtration bags that you can easily find online. The material should then be dried at a temperature between 40-68°F (4-20°C) to best preserve the terpenes that characterize the variety. While the process is fairly easy, it is important to adequately dry the hash to prevent microbial growth, before pressing. Hash containing mold should be discarded, as it presents a health hazard. Experiment and consult with the experts until you learn their methods.
Cannabis connoisseurs are always looking for the next great thing. Often this includes talk of errl, snap n’ pull, or another term of the week. And yet, a tried and tested cannabis concentrate like hash can provide higher levels of cannabinoids needed for certain ailments, while retaining precious terpenes to really showcase the bouquet of the plant.
