Marijuana Concentrates 101

Marijuana concentrates are products that pull the cannabinoids out of the plant, and they suit medical marijuana patients who do not want to smoke flower.

Not every patient wants to go through the hassle of

• rolling a joint or packing a bong
• exposing their lungs and skin to carcinogens
• dealing with tiny bits of bud lying around on their countertops and tables.

But these patients are willing to put up with it because they want what’s inside the marijuana: the cannabinoids.  Those are the compounds researchers study for medical use.

They can also be strong: NIDA notes that dispensary concentrates can top 40% THC, so they need more care.

You may already know some of them by name.

If not, the common types are kief, hash, tinctures, CO2 oil, shatter, wax and rosin, and the main ones are covered below.

The Claimed Benefits of Marijuana Concentrates

Concentrates carry more THC than flowers

NIDA reports that THC in cannabis seized by police rose from 3.96% in 1995 to 16.14% in 2022.

Concentrates sold in dispensaries can exceed 40% THC, NIDA says, and butane hash oil can reach about 90%, according to a 2015 study.

More THC does not necessarily make a product better medicine.

Marijuana is used as medicine in Florida under a physician’s certification.  Like any medicine, it should be used in the amount the certifying physician sets in the state registry, not more.

With any medicine, the strongest version is not automatically the right one, and the same is true of THC strength.

Similarly, stronger products are not automatically better for a condition; CDC ties highly concentrated THC to worse cannabis use disorder symptoms.

If flower is not controlling your symptoms, that is a question for your physician, who decides the forms and amounts in your certification.

Certain concentrates don’t produce smoke/odor.

The skunky smell of burning marijuana is an acquired taste.  Some people grow to love the smell, but they don’t necessarily love the fact that the smell lingers for hours or even days after you’ve smoked.

But if you use a vape pen with concentrated marijuana oil, your room won’t stink to high heaven.  You’ll get a little odor from the resulting vapor, but nothing that will stick around for too long.

What About Your Lungs?

Concentrates have a higher THC percentage than marijuana flowers, so when you smoke or vaporize concentrates you inhale less for the same THC, but that does not make them easy on the lungs: CDC tied THC vaping products, especially from informal sources, to most cases in the 2019 vaping lung injury outbreak.

Less mess

Whether you’re rolling a joint or packing a bowl, pieces of bud constantly break off.  You can clean them up easily if they land on a table, but when they land on sofa cushions or on the floor (especially carpet), forget about it.

You don’t have to handle troublesome plant material when you use marijuana concentrates.  Oil cartridges, tinctures, wax…they all come with a minimum of muss and a minimum of fuss.

Types of Marijuana Concentrates

Kief

You know those tiny crystals that you see on marijuana flowers?

That’s kief.

More specifically, kief refers to the resin glands that are found on the marijuana plant’s trichomes.  These trichomes are responsible for producing a large bulk of the marijuana plant’s cannabinoids.

You can’t get much kief from a single marijuana flower.  But if you use a three-chamber grinder, you can capture and collect pure kief while you’re grinding up your flower.

Depending on how much marijuana you consume, it may take a while to collect enough kief to actually consume. Once you do, it will be stronger than the flower it came from, because it is made of the resin glands where THC is concentrated.

Some people sprinkle kief on flower before smoking, which raises the THC in each smoke and with it the risk of side effects.

Hash

Hash is one of the oldest concentrates, made by hand long before modern extraction equipment existed.

Hash is kief that has been compressed, heated and pressurized into bricks or balls, which usually makes it stronger than flower.

Tinctures

Before marijuana was outlawed back in 1937, people were using marijuana tinctures for pharmaceutical purposes.

Tinctures are made using an alcohol-based extraction process, and they work sublingually, meaning you place a few drops under your tongue to achieve the desired effects.  Drops make the amount easy to measure, but NIDA warns that tinctures can deliver a lot of THC.

CO2 Oils

CO2 oils are made through a process called supercritical fluid extraction, which uses carbon dioxide and pressure to extract marijuana’s active ingredients.

Patients can use portable vape pens to consume CO2 oils.  The oil comes in a cartridge, which you screw onto the battery of the pen.  Once you use a cartridge up, you can simply replace it with another cartridge.

Butane Hash Oil (BHO)

BHO is among the most potent marijuana concentrates sold to medical marijuana patients.

It’s made with butane, a highly volatile solvent: a Colorado burn center admitted 29 people with burns from making BHO between 2008 and 2014. Buy it only from a licensed source; in Florida every batch must pass a certified lab test before it is sold.

BHO products can contain up to 90 percent THC, and NIDA warns that dabbing delivers large amounts of THC quickly, increasing the chance of side effects.

Shatter and wax are BHO concentrates that are commonly used for dabbing.  They’re roughly similar in potency, but they have different physical characteristics because of the different purification processes used:

Shatter

Shatter is thin and translucent like glass.  It can easily be broken into pieces, but it is somewhat difficult to handle.

Wax

This BHO product doesn’t have the translucent oils that give shatter its signature look.

Wax that is more runny and gooey is called “budder.”  Thicker, more crumbly wax goes by the name of “crumble” or “honeycomb.”

Rosin

Rosin is not a type of concentrate, per se, but refers to an extraction process which produces BHO-like results.

Whereas BHO products use butane to extract the cannabinoids, rosin uses a mechanical process that involves heat and pressure.  No solvents are necessary.

This appeals to patients who want a strong concentrate made without chemical solvents. When made well, rosin can be as potent as BHO, which means the same high-THC cautions apply.

Are Marijuana Concentrates Right For You?

If you are thinking about a concentrate, ask your physician whether one belongs in your certification; dispensary staff can explain products but cannot change your order.

In Florida, the dose and forms you use are set by your certifying physician in the state registry, so do not jump to BHO or rosin on your own. If a concentrate is added, the treatment center may fill only the amounts in that order.

And if you have a qualifying condition and do not yet have your Florida medical marijuana card, you can book an evaluation at one of our Florida offices.