Techniques for making the very best dry sifted hash

Many dry sifters aiming for the very best quality possible use very potent strains expertly grown that are perfectly dried, cured, well aged and stored for months. They gently work the material through multiple sized screen meshes, sometimes using 6 or 7 different sized meshes ranging from 220 micron down to 25 micron, in a low humidity room and yet are not totally satisfied with the end result. The high is good, the hash is pliable and bubbles, but is not the stuff "legends" are made of.

Here's how you take your dry sift to the next level and produce the hardest hitting, meltiest dry sifted hash that will impress even most hardcore hash snobs.

Basically there's few main things to keep in mind.

1) it's better to not allow the contaminants in, rather than try to remove it later, so use a gentle action for a short duration.

2) Find out, isolate your ideal range of resin head sizes, then purify it.

3) For the initial quality run, use only two screen meshes within a selected and narrow size range, not 4, 5, 6 or 7 meshes.

Do two runs, one for the "quality" (or the "Pure") and a second run for "quantity" (using multiple meshes) to reap the remaining resin heads.
The following will mainly deal with this initial quality run.

Aim to remove just 5%, 10% or a maximum 20% of the starting material's resin heads during this "quality" run.

As most know of us here know, cannabis plants at maturity contain resin heads of varying sizes. What most of us don't realize is that the very best dry sifted hash is never a mix of all these sizes, instead it is selected and isolated within narrow diameter size range, then purified.

This ideal size range might be, for example, within 75 micron and 100 micron, 80 micron and 90 micron, or an even narrower range, eg 82 and 88 micron or 96 and 101 micron?...it all depends on the starting material, your type of high preference and the available mesh sizes you have to work with.

Firstly, work out what your ideal range of resin heads is by running a few handfulls of the material through several pairs of screens, for example, 110 and 95 micron, 95 and 85 micron and 85 and 75 micron, 75 and 65 etc ...then card the resin heads back and forth repeatedly to force the contaminants (and smaller sized resin heads) through the mesh, use a magnifying glass to monitor your progress and then smoke test your results to select your ideal resin head size range.

Once you have worked out the ideal (high/low) narrow range of resin heads for that strain, sift small amounts of that material at a time over the first screen with second mesh underneath using a gentle side to side or circular sifting action for just a short duration...or use vibration

This duration may vary from 20 seconds to a minute or more (or whatever works for you). Then once the material has been sifted, repeatedly card the resin heads that has collected between these two screens back and forth over the finer, bottom mesh using a credit type card, this will break up and force the contaminants and smaller sized trichomes (resin heads) through the finer mesh while the selected resin heads remain above the screen,

Monitor your progress with a 20X ~ 30X magnifying glass. This cleaning process may take 5, 10 or more minutes, make sure the ambient humidity in the room is low, You can also freeze/chill the material (again) before this cleansing/carding process.

Do not run the material initially through 220, 160 or 125 micron mesh as this will only help break up and allow much more contaminants in with resin heads (though, for the quantity run, use these larger sized mesh and work the material more aggressively to get all the plant's remaining resin heads)

Run bud or very high quality trimmed leaves that are very resiny, do not run fan leaves or other plant material that contain just a few resin heads.

The Bud or trim leaf can be broken up, but not ground into a fine powder. Ideally, any finer than joint rolling consistancy is probably too fine and will only help introduce more broken up leaf matter in with the resin heads.

The above method will produce a much purer hash than techniques previously posted anywhere to my knowledge, also the kif is alot easier to clean too ...I also suspect that this is how Sam Skunkman produces his legendary dry sift using his "secret method" (as well as by using the very best clone selected from 40 years of breeding and growing, well aged plant material and by sifting it between a very narrow select size range of meshes..probably within a 3 ~ 5 micron range. I also suspect he uses a vaccuum underneath while carding above and so runs all the fall through to waste!....and what a waste it would be!..damn, it must be nice to have such an excess of bud to work with that you could throw away 97% of the resin on it!)

And of course, resift all of the remaining material, including what was left above and below the first run pair of meshes to reap the remaining heads and then clean it up using multiple meshes, agitating, carding and or vaccuuming etc etc)

I suggest you use this very pure hash sparingly, if you are able that is! lol. Smoke it just once a day at most or you will tend to build up such a high tolerance to it that you not appreciate it as much at all..ideally, smoke it once or twice a week and it will last much longer and hit you hard everytime! and in between, smoke bud and the lesser hash you make from the quantity run.

Happy dry sifting!

(btw I recently wrote a similar description of this technique on another site under another "name"..so it's not copied, just rewritten for readers here on icmag.com)

good read chamba, another thing to take into note is strain, some strains make crappy hash(at least to the Connoisseur). even though they smoke awesome in powder or nug, the hash just doesn't come out like some others. also knowing that strain and a good long dry and cure like said. at the very least i think all you need to do is take your time, dont rush to just make hash, take your time to make amazing hash. didnt we grow the plant to perfection with all the care in the world? do the same to the hash and it will be one in a million.

i like the last paragraph as well, good hash skyrockets your tolerance! makes good bud seem like mediocre weed.

now if you had you're average every day kief not super extract or pro extract just some guy a kief box he bought and doesn't know the size of and some shaking action.

then somehow acquired the mad expensive legendary bubblebox and put that kief on the top screen then worked it thru either shaking or carding

would you're shit finaly melt or is it best to just give up making this kief into a nice melty product?

nice one chamba!

would you're shit finaly melt or is it best to just give up making this kief into a nice melty product?

maybe yes, maybe no...it depends on many factors

but one thing is for sure, simply by shaking or vibrating your plant material through 1 screen, you are not going to achieve the same level of purity as you would by using resifting techniques, dual or triple screen boxes or by isolating a narrow diameter size range of trichomes (resin heads)

but then again, 95% of kiffers are extremely happy with the kif they get from a single screen kif box.....while others enjoy the more purer dry sift they get from a dual screen box ( check out Gypsy Nirvana's dual screen stash boxes on www.seedbay.com and www.seedboutique.com ..they are on special right now)..an even smaller percentage of dry sifters use Bubbleman's 3 screen Bubble box and get a very clean blonde hash...but there is another higher level of purity you can achieve : the narrow size range isolation technique as described above.

Happy Dry Sifting

"another thing to take into note is strain, some strains make crappy hash(at least to the Connoisseur). even though they smoke awesome in powder or nug, the hash just doesn't come out like some others."

I don't totally agree, I reckon if the bud smokes good, then the dry sift from that bud will smoke up great....I think the problem is with some of these strains is the technique used. Many strains are not "hash" plants and produce a relatively small amount of resin, many landrace sativas fall into this catagory, the mistake many kiffers make is trying for a high resin to bud ratio instead of using magnification to let them know when to stop.

Happy Hashing!!

I don't totally agree, I reckon if the bud smokes good, then the dry sift from that bud will smoke up great....I think the problem is with some of these strains is the technique used. Many strains are not "hash" plants and produce a relatively small amount of resin, many landrace sativas fall into this catagory, the mistake many kiffers make is trying for a high resin to bud ratio instead of using magnification to let them know when to stop.

Click to expand...

thats not exactly what i meant, good bud will produce good drysift no doubt, it is concentrated after all. but im talking the stuff your talking about. the stuff that blows all else away. not every strain can meet these needs imo. ive tried and tested a lot, resifting with multiple screens and the such. but like you said each strain has a technique that works best for it. i hear you on the sativas, making some amazing thai hash has been one thing i havent been able to perfect....yet.

jaykush"...ive tried and tested a lot, resifting with multiple screens..."

re-read the first post

the technique described there is the next level up from multi screen dry sifting...it will take you and your kif to a higher level

mainly because...

1) it does not allow as many contaminants in, in the first place,

2) it's a whole lot easier to clean up your trichomes over eg a 80 micron mesh than it is over a 25 or 35 micron mesh screen (that's for sure).

3) the narrow range of ideal size of purer resin heads you isolate will give you a much cleaner end product with a harder hitting rush and a higher high than the same strain sifted through multi screens.

having said all that, I, like most dry sifters are very happy with the kif I get from working it through a 150 micron and then a 125 micron mesh..but it's nice to know that you can achieve a purer kif than you can with just multiple screens with a few advanced techniques.

single screen sifting is like achieving a green or brown belt in karate, multiple screen sifting is the black belt, but the narrow range isolation technique is up there with a 5th dan black belt.

Happy narrow trichome size range isolation technique dry sifting!

i didn't just sift with multiple screens ive done that more than enough to know theres a next level( and ive reached there a few times WOW what good stuff), ive attempted to "isolate" certain resin heads before i read this thread, just not in the way you describe. but there are some new techniques i will try(except the vacuum lol ) but thats not the problem. some hash comes out F'n amazing. im just saying not all strains will produce that "super killer hash" even with the best techniques because most of it is genetic imo. like you im just looking for the best dry sift hash, like the stuff family used to give me way back. the stuff that blew you away after 1 rip, but you couldn't help to take another.

this tokes for you

I like to just cut my buds over my kif box each time before vaporizing. I cut it over the spot in the middle of the box. Then after a week or so, I scrape up the kif in the middle of the box (directly under where I cut the buds). I scrape up the kif around the edges separately.

Now, with my guerilla gold buds grown outdoors, the stuff I scrape up in the middle will be full melt madness that is just super potent and tasty. The same goes for some other strains I've tried. Kif I made with some other indoor strains will only bubble a little and some will not bubble at all.

the stuff I scrape up in the middle will be full melt madness that is just super potent and tasty

no one is disputing that passive single screen dry sift can be great..but check out that kif under magnification.....probably 50% or more of it is non-active stuff (stalks, broken leaves etc).

if you remove most of this debris, the high will be much more potent

one simple way to improve the quality with a single screen is to resift the kif through the same screen by tapping the side of screen frame or by gently carding the kif, stopping when about 80% has fallen through..then resift this 80% stopping when most has passed through...this will improve the purity, the high and taste

Happy Hashing!

chamba....what size screen is the best for a single dry sifting screen?

I have around 150 grams of weed from the dam....I want to dry sift....since smoking a big joint gets me too wasted.....and I thought if I sift those crystals off I can make big joints...enjoy smoking them....and at least be able to do something besides stare into space...lol

I was thinking about making this kief....and once in a while smoke it from my glass steamroller....that I bought in amsterdam

perhaps smoke smaller joints if big ones blitz you out?..with good grass and a low tolerance, you only need several lungfulls to feel the effects....too much and you get dulled or spaced..or simply build a bigger tolerance to it

it's a good idea to lightly sieve your buds, the resin you'll get from very lightly sifting buds will be blonde and sticky with a strong sudden cerebral hit/rush

mesh size is just one factor....approximately 125 lpi or 135 micron is what the experts recommend

I suggest to anyone interested in inhaling a purer smoke to do a search through dry sifting posts in this forum.....in an hour or two of reading, you will have all the answers you need and more.

btw I just did some reading on hash making on other sites....damn! there's lots of mis-information around and lots of cut and pastes from old OG posts (some of which is biased towards tumblers or petro-chemical extractions..while others are half wrong!)

Chamba....I smoked big joints for many years.....in fact 14 years straight....but then I lived in South Florida....in 1993 I left and came back to where I was born....an eastern europe country to do business....and didnt smoke till last summer in holland

this year I bought amnesia haze in haarlem.....and when smoked a big joint it rips me really apart bad....I love it though....it is such a mental trip for me...think of the neatest ideas to make money....just can't move...lmfao


this is a small sample I tried on my first day there...after that I bought in bulk...lol

hope u don't mind a pick in here...if you do i'll take it off

Correct me if im wrong but do you mean that trichs come in differant sizes and its best to somke the same sized glands as apposed to small and big mixed?
Isolate them in order of size,its important to note the size of the trichs effects the buzz.
While one can be strong with no ceiling the other can knock you out.
Is this what you mean?

Correct me if im wrong but do you mean that trichs come in differant sizes

yes, I do....seedlings start producing resin heads or trichomes at a very young age..these trichs start off small and slowly increase their diameter size....trichome production accelerates during flowering and then slows down as the plant's life comes to an end..so at harvest time you will still find small/immature, (just right) mature and old degraded trichomes on the same tree..the technique described above is all about isolating a narrow range of mature trichomes (while the immature and old trichs are not selected/isolated on the first run) and then purifying them to higher degree than you usually can or do when dry sifting all of the material at once

and its best to smoke the same sized glands as apposed to small and big mixed?

the emphasis is on purity and also the ideal size range of resin heads that offers you the high you like with the maximum concentrated effects ... because it's alot easier to purify trichomes over a eg 75 micron mesh than it is over a 25 or 40 micron mesh that most sifters use when using multiple meshes as the contaminants are more easily broken up and pass through larger holes..and as there are differences in the high you get from smoking old, just right and small/young trichomes, a narrow size range of mature resin heads will give you a better high, a more harder hitting cerebral rush, that's unencumbered with the dulling effects of old degraded trichs that are past it and without the small immature trichs that add an unsettling, caffiene type edge to the high


Isolate them in order of size,its important to note the size of the trichs effects the buzz.

yes, groups of different sized resin heads from the same tree have a slightly different high...this has been shown by Bubbleman and his multi size mesh Bubble bags last century on Overgrow..the same applies to dry sifting, though the techniques are vastly different

While one can be strong with no ceiling the other can knock you out.
Is this what you mean?

hmmm, sort of....but it's alot more subtle than that, it depends on the strain, how narrow the selected size range is etc..you end up with a much higher % of resin heads (and much less non-active rubbish) combined with the narrow range of resinheads you have isolated...the greater rush, harder hitting high comes from being much purer than normal methods of dry sifting and as mentioned above, from the narrow range of perfect size/age trichomes.

this technique is ideal for medical cannabis users with lots of material to work with and for hash conniossuers who are seeking the next level of purity, taste and high without resorting to using petro-chemicals for extraction that sometimes give a foggy, druggy effect or by washing away alot of the taste and to some extent the complexity of the high as with ice hashing.

I think dry sifting is by far the best method......it's fast, simple, safe and you are left with the true essence that is not broken down chemically or leached away...if cannabis was legal and much lower in cost, we would all be smoking tiny hits of loose, very pure, dry sifted trichomes, ..some of us would also be smoking a very narrow size range of these trichs too!

hope u don't mind a pick in here...if you do i'll take it off

of course not.... I'd hit that!

that's one of Soma's strains isn't it?.....in the 90's I vaguely remember growing a pack of one of Soma's hazes, but I grew them in unprepared ground in the bush and they weren't well looked after very well, they got dry a few times, insects attacked them, had less sun than they should of etc etc..so I didn't get the best out of them, but I've heard good things about AH!

Chamba....amnesia haze is one of the few strains that everyone says they liked...like SSH, Neville's haze, etc......but from what I read on it.....Soma has changed it a few times...no one knows what he changed.....but the thing is....everyone who smoked amnesia haze (in this forum and who i talked to in the netherlands) says they are impresed with it

the bud on my photo I bought in Haarlem...Willie Wortel's Indica coffeeshop...on the first day in Holland this May....I have never seen such a crystal covered bud....and I have seen many in my life

considering that it is a 80% sativa and 20% indica...it is impressive....but from what I read almost all of Soma's gear is really good

Sannie (of sanniesshop.nl) has a jack herrer x amnesia haze seeds.....and as soon as I finish growing my four packs of feminized seeds (5 seed packs) from greenhouse...ww, wr, el nino and arjan's haze #3......that is what I will grow next

i bought those seeds last year in Amsterdam after smoking Kali Mist in greenhouse coffeeshop and bought these in their gift store....the idea was to learn growing using less expensive and only feminized seeds SOG in my DR120 grow tent with a 600 watt digital ballast and adjust-a-wing reflector

This autumn I will grow them all in one go (only recently found a safe location)......and make hash with most of the buds and trim

first I was thinking to make ice hash...using the gummy method...without ice bags...but now I changed my mind and will make mostly sift

Anyway, I love smoking kief in my glass steam roller and the *grey area crystals* work really well when I smoke them....two hits and I'm flattened....on another wonderful *mind* trip

anyway.....great thread....I hope many people (including me) will learn how to dry sift....and will in the end come to the conclusion that smoking the best crystals from their herb is the way to go....high wise and health wise...it is the best choice...imo

also I wanted to tell you I read many of your posts here and there.....and they always stuck in my mind as posts written by someone with a certain wisdom...which is very rare in here....and actually rare....in general

peace Chamba....will continue to enjoy your posts.....sf

Quote:chamba:I think dry sifting is by far the best method......it's fast, simple, safe and you are left with the true essence that is not broken down chemically or leached away...if cannabis was legal and much lower in cost, we would all be smoking tiny hits of loose, very pure, dry sifted trichomes, ..some of us would also be smoking a very narrow size range of these trichs too!

totally agreing in this !! and lot of thx for this nice thread !