Ever since I started smoking weed, hash has felt like an ancient, forbidden door. The first time I ever tried it, I felt like I was starting up the final challenge on Legends of the Hidden Temple and I upset Olmec.
More recently, I've taken a modern academic approach filled with podcasts. A recent takeaway from an episode revolved around the language used to describe hash and its numerous subgenres based on how the trichomes were extracted from the plant and then processed. When browsing a menu for a product to review, I found there were nine different categories of hash concentrates.
The last time I bought hash at a dispensary, there was something lost in translation and I wound up with a solvent extraction. I'm not trying to yuck anyone's yum, but BHO just ain't it for me. Instead I've been riding a newer wave of interest for solventless extractions — just the plant and water and pressure, baby, all you need.
I settled on some rosin, which uses a marijuana plant that is freshly harvested and then broken down to the buds and frozen. Then, the frozen plant material is "washed" in a cold water and ice bath, a solventless extraction, and the trichomes are separated from the plant material, then dried in a freeze dryer before being pressed between warmed metal plates. Voilà, that's rosin. If you didn't press the trichomes after they dried, you'd have yourself full-melt bubble hash. That's how I understand it, anyway, but I'm sure some would argue I'm wrong.
I scanned all my options on Proper Cannabis' site and placed an order of the Black Maple #22 live rosin for pickup. I went down to Proper's Crestwood location to pick up my order, and as usual, indecision began to immediately poke holes in my purchasing plan. Looking at the menu while I checked in, the Dark Rainbow live rosin caught my eye, and that interest was seconded by the front desk attendant. As a longtime faithful GMO smoker, a cross between GMO and Rainbow Belts F1 is right up my alley.
When I got buzzed to the back, I asked if I could change my order. Unfortunately they were sold out of Dark Rainbow, so I decided to stick to my guns and followed through on the Black Maple #22. I've enjoyed this strain/cultivar as flower, and I particularly like the gassy sweetness it brings. This batch of its rosin form clocked in at 89.5 percent total cannabinoids with 5.1 percent total terpenes. I double-checked with the budtender that I was indeed getting a solventless product, and she assured me that it was copacetic. While at the register, I cashed in a penny preroll coupon and also got a package of the Goodnight Dreamberry gummies, a low 2.5 milligram each dose of THC, CBD and CBN to aid sleep. All in, I was at $68.
I'm not sure if this was a snafu, but my first dab session with the Black Maple didn't finish great. I started with a dab in my Puffco Proxy on the green setting (the second to lowest temperature setting). The first hit was flavorful, with the familiar sweet gas profile I've enjoyed in the past. When I went to clean everything at the end of this smoking session, I saw a bit of residue in the freshly cleaned bowl that I had to clean out again with a Q-tip and isopropyl alcohol. I haven't experienced this with other solventless rosins I've tried at the same temperature setting, so I wanted to try again on the blue, or lowest, temp setting.
The blue temp dabs on the lower Puffco setting, and subsequent dabs on a rig between 520 and 555 degrees, didn't leave residue like the medium-temp vaporizer hits. So that was nice to see.
The effects I incurred over the course of smoking the one gram rosin jar were fairly clear headed, but with bouts of giggles and mellow relaxation. I enjoyed it during the daytime and felt that it didn't interfere too much with my ability to get off the couch after smoking. After one session with the Black Maple, I wandered around a grocery store and was mesmerized by some dragon fruit. I had to get it for a future snack.
Another session was my first smoke of the day. I had a dab of the Black Maple around 550 degrees on my glass rig and it smacked my face off pretty hard. I got a big rush of lemon-lime flavor on the inhale, with additional gas and candy notes in the same sphere of flavors and terpenes I had previously with the concentrate. The rosin also had a nice sheen after resting post-whip, accenting the rosin like butter on a biscuit. I didn't let a little coughing get in the way of indulging in the rosin again for a second dab closer to 525 degrees. I didn't get the pronounced citrus terps on the lower temp dab but it was a nice smooth smoke session to start off a day.
Proper's rosin checked a lot of boxes that I personally am looking for with a solventless rosin: great color, clean burn, nice flavor and a greased-up post-whip appearance indicating solid terpene content. If you're looking for a great place to start, Proper has a wide range of strains/cultivars available as rosin, so if there's a flavor profile you're comfortable with, they probably have it.
Give hash a chance, flower smokers. Or whatever you wanna call it.
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