Botanical (BDT) vs Cannabis derived terpenes (CDT) is a much debated topic, with pros and cons on each side.
Even within each archetype, there is seemingly great variability between batch, vendor, extraction method for CDT (CO2, Steam, “Secret IP”, ect) and a multitude of other factors.
Steam is cheaper/more readily available than CO2. Personally i find steam distilled to have several issues (although still better than average bdt currently).
I often find a green taste/grassiness to steam, as well as a distinct flatness to the profiles. Once botanicals advance a bit more, they will come really close to matching these IMO.
They tend to lack the richness and depth that CO2 have. I attribute this to the lack of additional phenols, alkaloids, trace pigments, ketones, ect, in addition to the heat/steam altering compounds.
The current issues re: CDT are unlikely to be solved any time soon. The required machinery is expensive, quality material is expensive, there are very few producers, availability is limited, they have to wrangle with compliance issues, ect.
In the interest of reducing costs and increasing overall quality, i started running some R@D about a year ago to attempt to mimic the format/layout of co2 terps.
The goal here was rather ambitious. I wanted a low complexity, low barrier for entry, scale-able method to strip the types of compounds found in co2 terps, and generally missing in steam.
I didn’t want to use traditional solvents (or heat) anywhere in the process. The process needed to work on the smallest and largest scale.
I did not care if the resulting output was hot for cannabinoids, as it would be used in-house. It didn’t have to be perfect, just better than plain bdt or perhaps even steam.
After much trial and error i decided on what we call LeachTek, a hybrid of CDT/BDT not totally unlike what several vendors are currently selling at an inflated price point(again, albeit hot for cannabinoids).
This tek is essentially an adaptation of LHO, but without evaporating the “solvent”. Think of this as Pseudo CO2, in the same way BDT attempts to replicate CDT.
Requirements -
Freezer
Glass Vessel
Filters
Source Materials (Flower)
Accurate COA w/ terpene profile for source material (Optional)
BDT Terpene Isolates
1A. Mix BDT blend. Match BDT blend compounds and ratios to COA profile as closely as possible.
1B. Mix BDT blend. Match BDT blend to industry standard recipe/mix for your strain.
1C. Mix complementary BDT to pair w/ source material. This can be done to mix profiles/flavors or when source material COA is unavailable.
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Chip (but not grind) source plant material. Place in sealed glass vessel. Place bdt mix from step 1 + flower in freezer for ~2H.
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After 2H has passed, combine bdt + flower. Add minimal amount of bdt, just enough to cover plant materials.
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Perform quick wash of materials, not unlike QWISO. You can soak for longer, but anything longer than a few minutes will start to leach undesirables at various levels. Same goes for agitation, keep it to a minimal.
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Strain/filter/seperate liquid from plant material as quickly and completely as possible. There is several ways to do this, you can press the liquid out of the material, utilize water to separate, use vac to pull through material into collection pot, ect. Ill let you work that part out.
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You can optionally clean up the resulting terpene output from step 5 with various methods (crc media, water flush, dewax, crash out, ect). Depending on the quality of the starting material, how much it was agitated,
how long it soaked, water content in flower, how it was separated, what terpenes where in the mixture from step 1, ect you may get more or less undesirables (wax, excessive pigments, ect).
The color, clarity, taste, and smell of the output terpene from step 5 should determine if you clean them, and if so how heavy/what methods to employ. This part is very much trial and error.
Different remediation methods come with different pros and cons, and sometimes work better/worse depending on your source material.
After everything including terpenes, source materials, processing costs, ect we still wind up far short of even the cheapest commercial steam stuff (or CDT/BDT hybrid for that matter).
Depending on a multitude of variables, the output terpene pre/post remediation comes out anywhere from a very light electric yellow to a darker tan (like CO2).
It’s more or less a supersaturated LHO, pre evaporation. If your starting material is complaint (hemp), your output terp should be as well (i suggest you run panels anyway).
Criticize, suggest, and discuss!