We figured we would start where the interest is highest in demand. After nearly two hundred years of false information, inaccurate rumors, unfounded beliefs, and downright lies about this miraculous plant, today's brands have an enormous education-hole to dig out of. Early on, brands capitalized on post-Prohibition's misinformed consumer, taking advantage of the many falsities to line their pockets. Cannabis and harsh chemicals give serious agency to those simply looking to make a buck, and the outcome has been anything but ideal. Thankfully the solventless revolution is well underway, with live rosin being today’s elite product category.
So Then, What is Live Rosin You Ask?
Live Rosin is the answer to a several thousand year hunt for the best the plant has to offer. Live Rosin has been referred to as, "The Acid Test" in terms of finding and proving the highest quality of cannabis. Unlike Live Resin and other BHO (Butane Hash Oil) products that have guaranteed outcomes, basically regardless of the starting material, Live Rosin is very much an artisan style product, requiring only the highest grades of cannabis, with genetics carefully, painstakingly, hunted and sought-after for their ability to produce a solventless product. Live Rosin is the antithesis to low quality cannabis and chemical extracts. It's the future of the plant, realized in the here and now.
The Process: Ice Water Hash
Simply stated, Live Rosin uses cannabis that was frozen immediately after it was harvested. The frozen cannabis is then mixed gently in a bucket of ice and water. The cannabis material is removed, and the water is then strained through a series of increasingly finer mesh bags. Each screen or bag is measured by microns that refer to the size of the holes in each mesh screen or bag. The water is run through this series of bags or screens, with the top bags removing the plant materials, debris, and even the trichome gland stems, and the finer bags retaining nothing but the perfectly preserved trichome glands that naturally break free from the plant during agitation. The dense trichome gland heads are apt to sink in the water, while all other plant materials are apt to float. This process is known as Ice Water Hash and is the required first step for the many rosin styles that will follow.
A Word on Bubble Hash vs. Ice Water Hash
Before moving on, the Ice Water Hash process has been around for some time. Bubble Hash uses the same process outlined above since its inception decades ago. The major difference is the use of freshly frozen cannabis materials, ice cold water, and sublimation for freeze drying. These added advances, frozen harvests, and specific genetics proven to yield, along with today's overall improvement in quality, are what took traditional bubble hash from a highly affordable product to today's finest style of refinement.
When the stars and planets align, and a Six Star quality of Ice Water Hash is achieved, the process can end in triumph and the rosin press is unnecessary. Five to Six star hash can be dabbed just like rosin, without the need for further refinement (see hash flags). For all other grades of ice water hash, the rosin press is what ties everything together creating a perfectly melt-able texture.
The Process: Live Rosin
The hash is scooped from the mesh screens, placed on sheet-trays and dried using sublimation. Once dry, these perfectly preserved trichome gland heads are packaged into small mesh envelopes and placed in the rosin press.
Years ago the rosin press made its first appearance and was used to press whole cannabis flowers into a melting and dabbable consistency referred to today as Flower Rosin. Rather than pressing whole cannabis flowers, we now press Ice Water Hash into Live Rosin. The recovered trichomes are packaged in small mesh bags before being inserted between the steel plates of the rosin press. Once the pressure is applied, nothing but pure and unadulterated cannabinoids and terpenes pour from the press for our collection. The small micron bags that the hash is pressed in work to filter out the trichome membranes or "cuticles" and any additional debris.
The Process: Fresh Press Rosin
At this stage in the process, what we have is referred to as Fresh Press Live Hash Rosin. It's a semi-translucent golden-rosin, which can be dabbed as is, or undergo additional curing processes such as "cold curing" the fresh press rosin, into a cold-cure style of live rosin badder. Due to the volatile nature of Fresh Press Rosin, which requires constant refrigeration to prevent it from hardening, many elect to turn the fresh press into a more stable consistency.
The Process: Cold Curing the Rosin
Having achieved fresh press rosin, there are a plethora of methods, techniques, insights, and ideas about the best way to cure the product. We use techniques tried and true, to create a dripping-wet style of Rosin badder, with a thin coat of translucent terpenes gleaming on the surface. Now as a homogeneous and stable product, our Cold-Cures often deliver the loudest flavors of terps. These cold-cures make the most sense for a deliverable product, however we plan to release fresh press rosin in the weeks and months to come. Stay tuned.
What is Live Rosin?
Only the most desirable parts of the plant, refined with ice and water, and finalized with pressure. Live Rosin is quite simply, "the juice of the peach," bringing the fullest spectrum of cannabinoids and terpenes to the cannabis experience. With cannabis losing nearly 70 to 80 percent of its original terpene spectrum during the drying and curing phase, fresh frozen harvests, ice water hash, and live rosin provide the clearest, fullest, and most accurate picture of the plant. Prepare to taste the cultivars of lore like never before.
Rosin Pens
For the select flavors showing the proper logistics, we can elect to put our cold-cured rosin into disposable vape devices for quick, convenient access to our sun-grown rosins. Stay tuned for future articles detailing our hardware, methods, and other vape related insights.
Concluding
There has never been a better way to experience, explore, and indulge in the plant. With around six to seven years of breeding intentional hash plants, the rosin arena is primed for fresh and unique flavors. Subscribe below for updates and new offers, and enjoy the solventless side of this miraculous plant.
yalls cold cure terps blow me away, great info here!