Table Of Content– MARIJUANA EXTRACTS –
Hash, Vaping, Dabbing, Edibles & Medicines
BEYOND BUDS
by Ed Rosenthal
with David Downs
BEYOND BUDS
Beyond Buds: Marijuana Extracts—Hash, Vaping, Dabbing, Edibles & Medicines
by Ed Rosenthal with David Downs
Copyright © 2014 Ed Rosenthal
Published by Quick American
A Division of Quick Trading Co.
Piedmont, CA, USA
ISBN: 978-1-936807-23-9
eISBN: 978-1-936807-24-6
Printed in the U.S.A.
Second Printing
Editor and Project Director: Elizabeth Fitzer
Contributors: David Downs, William Dolphin
Cover Design: Jennifer Touli Voss
Photo Editors: Jennifer Touli Voss, Darcy Thompson
Cover Photography
Top: Mel Frank
Bottom left: Ed Rosenthal
Bottom right: Saucey Santos
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014909265
The material offered in this book is presented as information that should be available to the public.
The Publisher does not advocate breaking the law. We urge readers to support secure passage of
fair marijuana legislation.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without the specific written permission of the Publisher, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical articles or reviews.
– MARIJUANA EXTRACTS –
Hash, Vaping, Dabbing,
Edibles & Medicines
BEYOND BUDS
by Ed Rosenthal
with David Downs
Dedicated to the Shulgins—
Pioneers in mind exploration
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank the following individuals for their contributions, help,
and support: Addison DeMoura and Steep Hill Halent Lab; Rick Pfrommer and
Harborside Health Center; Bubbleman; Elemental Wellness; @fobextractions;
Will F.; Dave Hodges of A2C2; HopeNet’s Steve and Cathy; James and Holly
of West Valley Tinctures; Mila Jansen; Jesse of A-Bear Concentrates; JonPaul
and Scott from Bhang Chocolate; Jane Klein; Kenny M.; Marisa Lagos; Mark
G.; Mel Frank; Jon Mendoza; Nikka T of Essential Extracts; John Oram, PhD,
Cofounder/Senior Scientist of CW Analytical Laboratories; POP Naturals;
Ramona Rubin of docGreen’s; Rumpelstiltskin Extracts (i.e., RumpWax); Keith
Woody; Josh Wurzer, President of SC Laboratories; Jennifer Carson; Shelli
Newhart, PhD; Nadim Sabella; and Jason Schulz.
Franklin’s Tower
Some come to laugh their past away
Some come to make it just one more day
Whichever way your pleasure tends
If you plant ice you’re gonna harvest wind
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew!!!!
—Robert Hunter
Courtesy of the Grateful Dead
Contents
.
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
The History of This Book
2
Chapter 1.
Breaking Bud—Selecting and Collecting Material
.
.
.
5
Selecting and Collecting Material
7
Storing the Green
9
Tips and Tricks—The Alchemy Of Marijuana Processing
9
Chapter 2.
Kief/Dry Sift—Manual, Machine, Dry Ice . . . . . . 13
How Kief Screening Works
16
Preparing for Screening
18
Manual Screening
19
Machine Screening
23
Dry Ice Kief
24
A Pressing Issue: Kief and Hash
29
Chapter 3.
Water Hash—How It All Works .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. 31
Water Hash Basics
34
Ready-Made Bags
34
Homemade Bags
37
The Methods: Bucket, Coffee Filter, Jar Shaker
38
Pressing and Storage
47
Chapter 4.
Advanced Hash—Beyond the Basics . . . . . . . 49
What Is Hashish?
51
The Machine Method
52
Preparing Kief or Water Hash for Hash Making
58
Collecting by Hand: Rubbing for Hash
58
Pressing and Storing Hashish
60
Decarboxylation Explained
61
Chapter 5.
Vaporizers—Handheld, Desktop, Portable, Vape Pens . . 65
How Vaporizers Work
67
Preparing Herb for Vaporizing
70
The Vaporizers
72
Chapter 6.
Dabbing—The Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Chapter 7.
Butane Extracts—Making BHO Budder, Shatter, Wax .
.
113
How Blasting Works
114
Dangers and Environmental Ethics
115
Butane Extracts: Closed-Loop and Open-Ended Methods
116
Chapter 8.
CO2 Extracts—Making Concentrates . . . . . .
135
Overview
136
A CO2 Extraction Method
138
Chapter 9.
Tinctures—Alcohol and Glycerin
.
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.
.
147
Choosing the Alcohol
148
Straining
150
Ask Ed’s Fast-Track Tincture
151
Bottling and Storage
154
Reducing Tinctures to Oil
154
Distilling
156
Glycerin Tinctures
157
The Effects and Effectiveness of Tincture
158
Kief Tincture
160
Chapter 10.
Capsules—Making and Using Canna Caps .
.
.
.
.
163
How to Make Canna Caps
166
Using Kief
171
Dosage
171
Chapter 11.
Edibles—Preparation, Recipes, Usage .
.
.
.
.
.
173
Assimilation and Dosage
177
Using Hash, Kief, or Hash Oil in Food
181
Juicing
182
Canna Oil Preparation and Recipes
184
Canna Butter, Milk, Tea, and Flour
187
Adding Directly to Food
195
Storage
198
Chapter 12.
Topical Uses of Marijuana 199
Marijuana Root Applications
202
Poultices
202
Salves and Oils
204
Topical Tinctures
205
Rick Simpson Oil
206
Appendix 1. Cannabinoids and Terpenes . . . . .
207
Appendix 2. Equivalents and Conversions .
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.
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219
Appendix 3. Glossary .
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221
Appendix 4. References .
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227
Chem 91 Shatter.
Photo: Nadim Sabella Photography
INTRODUCTION 1
Introduction
This book is about the world of marijuana beyond the bud.
The smoked bud can be helpful medically or a pleasant event. But it is only
one way to experience the wonders that cannabis offers. This book is a guide
to the many ways to prepare and use cannabis, beyond buds.
The quest for concentrates and their growing popularity is a return in
part to pre-prohibition tradition, when cannabis was mostly ingested rather
than smoked. Smoking is largely an artifact of prohibition. Before marijuana
became illegal it was available in tinctures, pills, salves, and drinks, and one
of its concentrates, hashish, was eaten. Without processed marijuana, users
moved to inhalation only when other means of ingestion were unavailable. Now
that prohibition is ending, aficionados and patients are returning to traditional
methods of use and finding new ways of ingesting it.
For gardeners and farmers concentrates offer a solution to a conundrum
they face. Parts of the plant contain THC but are not suitable for smoking. It
makes sense to salvage these cannabinoids from the leaf and trim and tiny
nugs, which comprise one-quarter to one-eighth the weight of the yield. To
use, it just has to be collected. The collection and processing of this material
is the subject of this book.
2
BEYOND BUDS
This is a great book if you are interested in alternatives to smoking bud,
whether for medical or recreational use. It is a guide to both making and using
these new marijuana products. It will provide you with some of the easiest and
safest ways to make concentrates such as oils, waxes, budders, and shatter, as
well as edibles, tinctures, and external preparations.
THE HISTORY OF THIS BOOK
Leaf products used to be called “trash” and were given away to cannabis-poor
friends for baking or smoking. The moniker was not the result of low potency.
Mexican marijuana often contains similar THC levels. The problem is the
taste and harshness of the smoke, which is rough and acrid, with a high level
of burning vegetation that hides aroma and taste. No one has a method of
converting leaf into sweet bud; instead, the techniques described in this book
separate cannabinoid-bearing glands from the rest of the vegetation. Glands
are the only potent part of the plant, so after they are removed, the vegetation
can be discarded.
The idea for my first book on using marijuana leaf/trim/small nugs, Ask
Ed: Marijuana Gold—Trash to Stash, sifted through my mind for many years.
In 1979 the “Tilt Pipe,” a sophisticated globe-type vaporizer, a precursor
to the “Volcano,” was released. With this device, you could use the low-quality
pot generally available at the time and just inhale the essence. It made quite a
difference. Unfortunately, the venture was doomed to failure because the War
on Drugs was ramping up. Paraphernalia was outlawed, and since the Tilt had
no other use than vaporizing pot, and because it had no “redemptive value”
such as for use with tobacco, it became illegal.
In 1987 the late John Gallardi released his “Master Sifter.” This device
used vibration to knock the glands from grass. It was the first commercial unit
available for the purpose. He also made a rolling tray/sifter with a stainless
steel mesh surface and a sliding glass gland collector. I still use one of these
as a rolling tray.
About the same time John was working on his trays, Nevil Schumacher
of the Seed Bank showed me a piece of “water hash” he had made with Rob
Clarke. It was an amazingly hard ball. Nevil chipped a piece off of the brittle
material. When he lit it in a pipe, it melted and bubbled. He told me they had
made the amazingly potent ball from leaf and trim using a water process.
Then, in the nineties, Mila Jansen, located in Holland, invented the Pollina-
tor, and the bags for making water hash. These two devices and their imitators
INTRODUCTION 3
changed the way quantities of leaf and trim could be processed. The other
development was the ongoing legalization of medical marijuana and devices
for its use in states all over the country.
In 2002 I finally got around to writing Ask Ed: Marijuana Gold—Trash to
Stash. This book helped to change peoples’ attitude toward leaf/trim/small
nugs and paved the way for the revolution that is still taking place regarding
concentrates in the industry today.
Beyond Buds updates the techniques described in Trash to Stash, and details
techniques for the new concentrates that have become popular.
4
BEYOND BUDS
Tahoe OG Kush.
Photo: Steep Hill Halent
BREAKING BUD 5
Chapter 1.
Breaking
Bud—
Selecting and
Collecting Material
Leaves and trim, by-products of bud production, present an interesting paradox.
At 5% to 20% THC, the bud is the plant’s crown jewel, the gardener’s reward
for attentive caretaking. But cannabis produces THC on the leaves as well as
the buds.
Small, bulbous, droplet-shaped,
THC-containing resin glands coat
the leaves and bracts, creating a
natural protective barrier against
insects, disease, herbivores, and
the sun’s UV rays. These glands
contain one-quarter to one-eighth
of the THC found in the buds. Fan
leaves have a THC content of only
1% to 3%, so they are a poor smok-
ing material. Trim, with a modest
2% to 6% THC content, commands
only a little more respect than the
leaves.
Original Grand Daddy Purple.
Photo: Steep HIll Halent
6
BEYOND BUDS
Buds typically weigh three to four times that of the leaf/trim/nugs with
tremendous variation depending on variety and gardening technique. Still, the
trim and fan leaves contain 10% to 20% of the plant’s total THC production. In
the past gardeners were often content to toss this material or give it to grass-
poor friends rather than trying to extract the THC.
Today processing the leaf and trim for use as kief, hash, tincture, or other
concentrates, or using it to make butter or other edibles, is part of the weed
economy. Collecting leaves and trim doesn’t add complexity to the harvest.
Leaves are already being trimmed and bagged; trim from manicuring must
already be managed. Being prepared to dry and store this material in advance
makes the collection almost as simple as bagging it for the trash can. Once the
leaf is saved for use, it only needs to be stored properly before transforming
the material.
New inventions and techniques make it easy to process this secondary
material. Beyond Buds offers traditional methods and recent innovations for
THE HIERARCHY OF BY-PRODUCT
Starting material is categorized
according to its THC content:
1.
Bud bits and pieces, or
cosmetically challenged
“popcorn bud”
2.
Bag shake—the residue at the
bottom of the bag
3.
Primary trim—the small leaves
near the bud sites
4.
Mature fan leaves—the large sun
leaves
5.
Immature buds—these vary in
THC content depending on stage
of maturity
6.
Immature trim/immature leaf—
also variable depending on stage
of development
7.
Vegetative leaf—leaf from a plant
that has not entered the flowering
phase of growth; has the lowest
THC content
