I’m a senior chemistry major at University of Missouri St.Louis. I’m creating a presentation on methods of cannabinoid extractions (hydrocarbon, ethanol, supercritical CO2, and solvent less) for my seminar class.
In an effort to narrow the scope of my presentation, I started looking at consumer trends and came across a report from the cannabis compliance board in the state of Nevada. “Quality” was listed as the most important characteristic to consumers.
Quality is kind of an ambiguous term. One person might think of something as a quality product while another person might think of that product as shit. What attributes make something of quality?
So, I pose this question to everyone that sees this. What attributes make a quality concentrate?
For me a quality concentrate would be something that is not harsh and an good representation of the flower strain that it was extracted from, with lots of flavor.
Also, if anyone has advice on pre processing, extraction and, post processing steps to produce a quality concentrate it would be greatly appreciated. As most of the journal articles I have read on extraction methods, focus on extraction efficiency, and concentration of cannabinoids in the final products.
Also, also, If this is the wrong place for this discussion let me know and i’ll delete or move it. I’ve lurked on this forum in the past, but i’m not familiar with posting yet.
Terpene Profiles, How it was extracted, What biomass was used to create said concentrate, Lab Testing, I’d say are the biggest variables in my head for believing if a concentrate or even just a product is “quality”.
For Terpenes profiles - does it matter to you if they are synthetic, cannabis derived, or botanical derived?
For extractions - I feel each process can yield good or bad products. I’ve hit some distillates vape pens and I don’t want to hit them again, others i’ll try and think it’s pretty impressive for distillate. And from what i’ve seen different processes can give similar end products, just with different steps to get there. Do you look for a certain extraction type when choosing a concentrate; rosin, BHO, ethanol, or CO2?
For the biomass i’ve always heard “quality in quality out”, I guess the expression “you can’t polish a turd” applies here too. Do you prefer flower extracts as the biomass over fan leaves and stems or shake?
BHO live resin is almost always better than rosin to me, the only exception is chem/gmo type flavors to me
@OP quality is mostly determined in how the plant was grown and handled IMO. Even stuff that was once good is gonna be shitty after sitting at room temp for a few months. Trim that was handled correctly can be better than FF that got thawed out or had problems to begin with
I pretty much just stick to using flower out of my pax vape. occasionally i’ll get some rosin or a rosin cart. The distillate carts don’t provide the same high. i’m guessing that comes from the preference to isolate THC over other cannabinoids.
But if its an edible it doesn’t really matter to me. I can’t tell a difference between a rosin infused edible VS any other concentrate.
BHO can be fire, it seems like BHO provides a great amplification to what ever the terpene profile of the flower stain was.
For the quality going down with time?
I’m guessing that comes from decarboxylation of cannabinoids over time, then them degrading too other cannabinoids? Also the loss of volatile terpenes, and oxidation of terpenes. As well as the weakening of the cell wall which causes increased extraction of unwanted compounds, requiring more media filtering clean up and isolation of desired compounds post extraction?
What makes butane extraction so much better to create good products for inhalation?
Does it come down to the hydrophobic nature and selectivity of the solvent to dissolve non-polar and semi polar compounds, leaving the unwanted compounds behind. Which would require less clean up and isolation post extraction?
The market at large sees live rosin as the most expensive extract.
Live resin makes my lungs feel wheezy. Thought it might be the bullshit I get via the hemp world cuz I didn’t used to have this when I was younger. But nope, even great live resin from proper sources just scorches my lungs. Live rosin is my preference for lung feel and effect. Since each method of extraction picks up different volatiles the taste to me could go either way depending.
Why do you like live resin more, genuine curious. To me it sounds like you are saying it’s a Terp thing?
I’m also just super jaded about anything that’s undergoing extra chemical processes at this point, again due to my experience. I’m passionate about access as you know but truly their is so much garbage out there for live resin because of the farm bill. Harder to make rosin that’s going to be “unsafe.”
That being said, if any of you offer me a dab of nicely produced live resin, hopefully by your own love and care, I’ll gladly accept.
in the world of black-market cannabis , quality is skill-based imo. you will only find quality products that check every box / factor of quality when paying a high retail price, or if you are associated with a “need-to-know”/ “invite-only” basis consumer group/ team. Often times that are not willing/attracted to selling/marketing their products/knowledge to people/ in places that will not aid the natural growth of the company without steering away from quality.. These kind of products are hard to source but sell themselves…
In the legal cannabis market, quality means something completely different. often times quality just means the COA tested clean, high THC% and is priced accordingly. for this reason, it is difficult to find products that meet the standard of the veteran cannabis smoker in most common legal dispensaries. There are not many true “small-batch”/ quality cultivators that run a microbusiness style shop. But the ones that do still exist, may be a better point of study for your project as the general quality standard for common rec/med dispensaries is too low for the experienced consumer in 80% of situations.
For the most part quality cannabis products are attributed to : and not in any specific order
I’m sure cost of solvent is a factor. Also loss of volatile terpenes in the solvent recovery process and purging of residual solvents in vacuum ovens is probably a factor.
longer hydrocarbon length chains have stronger intermolecular forces between molecules. Needing either higher temperature or greater reduced pressures, to recover and purge the solvent.
Cool project! Quality, as you pointed out is in the eye of the beholder so it can be difficult to define. With that, I think you may be going too broad with the scope of your project. There are a few things that I look for to judge quality of my or others extracts that apply across the board. However, a majority of the characteristics I would be analyzing are “extract type” dependent. Judging things such as the terpene/aromatic profile or taste and effect are pretty universal to judge across all extracts. You as a consumer have an idea of what smells and taste good to you and what does not, and it is as simple as smoking the product to make this determination yourself.
But visually, the characteristics you are looking for can be pretty different from extract type to extract type. The things that make a crumble look like a quality extract do not really apply to what visually makes diamonds or a live resin vape cartridge look like a quality extract. Not to assign you more work, but I think first realizing that different extracts are categorically different will result in a better and more useful presentation.
Some General Extract Type Categories:
Shatter
Crumble
Badder/Budder
Diamonds
Sauce
Cartridges
Hash
Rosin
Cannabis extracts come in many forms, each with different properties based on the extraction method, solvents used, and the desired final consistency. It seems like you are a pretty seasoned smoker from thumbing through the comments. Think about what visually separates good looking diamonds from not so great looking diamonds. Clarity, turbidity, well defined facets, etc.
I am excited to see the final project! Good luck, share your work once you have completed.
It definitely is still too broad of a subject. I think i’m going to pivot slightly with the scope and look more at the extraction techniques mainly what solvent types or “solventless” are best suited for producing certain products. And focus on the conditions at each step of the process that maximize terpene concentration and minimizes the degradation of cannabinoids. With an emphasis on certain extraction technique factors like ; energy cost, reliance on the quality of the starting biomass, processing steps and time, solvent cost, extraction efficiency, and safety.
I’m working on an outline now, ill post it in the forms before I submit it. I welcome any advice negative or positive.
