Sooo back in the hills
Lots of folks are making high end hash
Here in marocco and talking things treu
I stumbled on a dilemma
It claimed that when making a highly refined hash at 72 micron screen
Once done the hasj needs to cure for approx 5 days and after stored refrigerated
But if not refrigerated the consistency changes after a few days at Room temp 30 C the hasj becomes paliable and looses it s dry sift sandy/crumbly structure becoming more of a gum
Probably well known to those involved in the art but I was unable to give an answer as to why
Thc-a is predominantly present and a crystal at RT
So what s happening
Decarboxilation ?
Terpenes becoming a solvent ?
What’s the reason you brilliant minds think that this changes once stored at RT for more than 72 hours
Since it doesn t seem possible to revurse the process.
What is the humidity of the room you’re storing the hash?
IMO it’s a combination of terpenes dissolving the trichome membrane and atmospheric moisture
terpenes dissolving the membranes is the main culprit. work cold and store cold. I’ve seen it happen from working the material warm and then storing it cold. the entire batch bricks up on itself and become very difficult to work with.
Membrane is shrinking over the course of a year during a trichomes post dry lifetime. Eventually it tears. Piling up pure trichomes exacerbates the process. Terpenes build up, solute things from other trichomes, saturate, evaporate and things congeal. The hash is not decarbing.
A little past this stage, thca will start nucleating within this mass.
The kief / dry sift I made last summer is doing the same thing. I had assumed it was drawing moisture from the air, but the other explanations presented here seem plausible as well.
I don’t have an answer to your question as to why it’s becomes more “chikli”, I do have some theories.
But perhaps I have the answer to the question behind the question. Yes the process can be done faster. I have done it in matter of hours instead of days
The process is irreversible, however, by incentivizing further nucleation, you can get back to a some what granular state. Essentially piatella. At the right state of nucleated hash, you can have a very stable, handleable and also aromatic/flavorful product.
To avoid this, you want to select for a strain that will produce 3-5% of cbga at the time of harvest. It provides insane stability to a trichome. Very small amounts of cbda will reduce stability in the trichome.
Storing below freezing is the only actual solution to maintaining individual, un affected heads over time.
Static tech seems to also force some nucleation within the individual trichome. Charging the mass could also provide some stability
Thca nucleation/crystallizing and subsequent seperation from terpenes if its high grade. Fermentation of plant matter and moisture will make it go rancid .
This is a interesting find @moronnabis if this is treu then what would the driving force be ?
Cbg-a is very prone to decarboxilation so would the ph pka
Change and this be a reason for
Protection ?
A small bench top test seems to indicate some treuth in your find
A lot of hash is produced in Europe based on cbg kief
So I have taken some samples and mixed them up with terps
As well as on cbd kief and normal thc kief
Under the microscope it does seem that the trichromatic of cbg are least effected ( melted ) by beeing in contact with near pure terpenes
I ll need to get some more data involved to be sure that circumstances are the same
Like humidity of biomass etc etc
Interesting question…indeed. Can we get a definition here.
What is % water of this “dry sift Kief”…does anyone have a rule about how dry the material is prior to sifting. AND…is the product that which is retained by a 70u screen or is it the material that passed through?
this is opposite to the CBGA statement. But working with THCA trichomes vs CBDA trichomes is a different experience.
This note is certainly on the mark as well. With 3000 plus organics , RNA, Enzymes , terpenes and water phases and cell wall polymers, the concept of trichomes “ripping and going rancid” has some merit. The interior should be sterile and cannabinoics are antibacterial, but the isolation process is not sterile and bacteria are certainly covering the exterior cuticle…eating their way in.
There is recent research showing SEM of trichomes…showing both intact and exploded capitate heads. The latter leaving dried cannabinoids sort of covering the apical stem cells. So I am wondering for in Morocco and field drying , what percent of the Kief is actually this material? So is it like 45u small stuff? I’ll find the photos and post them.
Can kief or electrostatic separated trichomes be centrifuged at like 20K rpm. If you purchase some pure sand , you can put it in the bottom of a test tube, and then put your Kief/Heads into a 10u nylon bag, put bag in test tube and spin for an hour. I am still wondering how much of the material is water, how much is terpene , how much is cannabinoids. Rogue, then I can think about the state of the cannabinoic acids , pKa and pH. Also we have to consider the possibility the THCA is a nano-dispersion of crystals in the water phase, and a solution of Cannabinoics and Cannabinoates (RCOOH and RCOO-) in the terpene phase. Both phases could be mixed to form homogeneous Eutectic solvent. High speed centrifuging may well sort all of this out.
But the latter situations will certainly give rise ripening as terpenes evaporate and ambient water from the atmosphere penetrates in.
O brother
As you know figuring out the Marocan flavor is my latest quest
So this passed season I have collected pollen from every singel abundant plant in the same area and
Blossoming in the same time frame
Ceder pine is claimed to be one of the responsible pollens that stick to maroccan outdoor flowers
Wich could be the source of the distinct Marocan taste
( not convinced )
And now I am investigating the possibility s of fermentation that take place while beeing stored
You see plants are harvested and dried either in direct sunlight or shade
With little to no ventilation
And then stacked once “dry”
They stay in this stack until mid December when temperatures drop to almost freezing
And when beating the crap out of them starts
I am able to extract this flavor so it s not really a problem but I would like to know what it s made from
A Jamaican can tell right away if what he smokes is real Jamaican
He tastes the earth as they call it
Maui waoui is known for it s specific taste deu to pollen that’s sticks to the resiounous flower when cultivated outside in Hawaï
All I all it s quiet a quest to figure out what’s going on
I am shipping the grace chroma unit to marocco to do some croma on these extracts hopping to pinpoint the responsible compounds but doubt it s one specific compound rather a cocktail of several
I realized to late in the process the
R and d that I could have done on the drying and curing under different circumstances to check for their impact on taste so that s for next season
It s a interesting if one realizes that marocco want s to achieve gacp and gmp status in their
Cannabis/hemp program
And it turn s out that fermentation and
Storage conditions are the culprit for their specific taste
Because the traditional way s are NOT
That’s really interesting about the non cannabis pollen affecting flavor.
Similarly, and no one wants to think about it too much, but insect excrement could also play a role, I think. Aphid poop is so sweet that bees will make honey out of it.
Exactly
Right before harvest I scavenged the crops and aphids where a serious inhabitant and honeydew was wildly present makes you think
As I write this I was looking into
Natural predators of aphids
At first thinking to cultivate some ladybugs to realize that’s not the right way for outdoor so
Now looking into other native options
O if it turns out to be neccesary to get the flavor I and no harm is done I am sure it can be implemented in gacp
But again the reason of the distinct taste must be pinpointed first
The pines have a very specific time when they shed, it is over in a day or two. It covers your wind shields , so some one near by should be able to tell you …the nearly correct date …time of year…
You can easily just scrape that pollen off your car with a credit card…and eat it…see if it is what you are looking for. I would think that the majority of “taste” experience by human would be controlled by genetics of plants.
Get a dog with a good nose, teach him to scent track.
Then have him learn to distinquish only your Moroccan marijuana-hash from all other strains. then use him in the search for which chemical(s) give rise to your specific hash taste.
Do you combust this material as in fire, burning joint, or vape it at a specific temp like 160-220 C. Or do you chew a fresh (or dried ) bud at RT for your taste.
There are unknown concepts …but the dog could work for the ambient sniff test. “Does that dog hunt.”=question??
I did scrape it of
And extracted it reason I doubt it s it
It defenatly has a ceder taste and yes there are some fields ( tidrin) near the rif mountains highest peak that deffenatly get a pollen shower
But yet it s not it
You see it s a taste that is present in all Marocan cultivated hasj
Landrace or foreign
And present in all area s
Some more prevalent than others
Tidrin is the cream of the crop thou
Wich is also the most elevated fields
And then the Nepalese terps taken at different altitudes comes to mind where
The altitude of the cultivar made a noticeable difrance in taste of the same strain
to realize that’s not the right way for outdoor so