Flavor in Hash

[PDX Dopesmoker]

Part of the results of the legal strife in Oregons extract & concentrate laws is that nice bubble hash is for sale at the dispensary I work at for the first time in a while. I picked up half a gram of it today. Its over 58% THC on the lab result and melts and bubbles pretty fantastically, just to give you an idea of the quality of it. So I have that and I have the hash I made at home my putting a half ounce in the deep freeze (about -25ºF) overnight then blasting it in the cuisinart before freezing it for several more hours and sifting it in a 250 micron perforated steel plate sifter. My stuff is not melty of course, but its much more flavorful. The professional hash on the other hand is noticeably more potent.
And I correct in assuming that the difference in flavor is because I used a dry separation technique and the bubble hash was water separated?
The hash I purchased was definitely water separated, here is a photo of it:

I'm not saying that the full melt stuff isn't tasty, its actually fantastic and might be the best solventless stuff I ever hit, which why the flavor comparison confuses me. The other difference is that I separated my stuff very recently and I can only assume that a freshness advantage makes a significant difference.

 

[Jellyfish]

Send me some samples, I'll do a little research and get back to you.

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

OK I got some free time tonight and plan to do little else but smoke hash so call me and we can hang out.

 

[99%]

When comparing dry sift and Bubblehash made from the same plant, the dry sift will have a stronger flavor as some of the flavors (terpenes) are washed away in the ice water process.

Potency of hash is related to purity (and the starting material etc), the Bubblehash you bought was stronger because it was purer because they probably would of used 4 ~ 7 different mesh bags for the process.

You mentioned using a 250 micron mesh and a cuisinart to sift with, no wonder the bought ice water hash was stronger. I would recommend not freezing the material and not grinding it first, make sure the starting material has been dried in a cool dark place for a month or two and then placed in low humidity and low temp room for dry sifting. Then just break it up if it's bud and don't if it's only trim, definitely don't grind it down to a powder which will only add way more contaminant.

I'd also suggest you buy some finer screens to sift with if quality, not quantity is your aim. Start sifting with the 250 micron mesh, as that's what you have, then work the resulting rough sift over a 125 ~ 150 micron. If that re-sifted resin was then sifted through a finer mesh(es) you would end up with melty dry sift that would be better than most bought hashes in terms of flavor and high.

Technique is important too...the more gentle the starting material is worked, the purer the end result as less contaminant is produced.

Use the search feature on this site to learn lots of different ways to make hash. Icmag has been the place where innovations and improved techniques are first shown or discussed ever since overgrow.com went down, DSWs two screen method and rosin among others were first posted here, this is the best site on the web for hash making....but nowadays you have to credit to you tube too as there are lots of great vids to watch and learn from, but there's a shit load with poor instruction and worse techniques too.

Always use magnification when sifting, a 20x ~ 30x handheld battery operated magnifier will tell you how much resin is on the starting material, when to stop sifting and how much contaminant has passed through the meshes with the resin heads etc etc. I've been dry sifting for personal medicinal use for decades and I still use a magnifier.

The first step in producing ear warming, drain tingling, levitating inducing, great flavored dry sifted resin is the starting material (especially if it's tropical grown sativas!), from the time the plant begins to flower never touch the buds, when harvesting, never let the buds press against other buds or a surface, never wet trim, never bag or box, allow a gentle air flow through the hanging buds at cool temps and mid humidity levels, two + months is the best for drying and very gently handle the plant matter (iow don't squash, smudge, smear, brush, bash, and waste your trichomes from day one until your pack it in your pipe) with as much care as possible...this will make a huge difference in the quality of the high, yield and purity (edit : and also potency!) of your dry sift.

Happy Hashing!

 

[stoned-trout]

dry sift retains the stuff water hash does not...some of the terps must be water soluable and are lost in the bubble process....I prefer dry sift over bubble.....yeehaw...having done shitloads of bubble runs I always preferred my dry sift...I don't know anyone that dries their weed for 2 months...!!!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[99%]

Dry for a few weeks then ideally store for another few months in a cool and dry place, just like Sam Skunkman does, but you certainly can sift buds that were harvested 3 weeks ago too, but the yield will be better if you wait and with most sifting methods, so will the ease of producing purity. Plant material will dry in weeks, but the resin heads are best slow dried for months prior to dry sifting as they will be harder and kept cool and dark to help preserve the terpenes.

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

dry sift retains the stuff water hash does not...some of the terps must be water soluable and are lost in the bubble process....I prefer dry sift over bubble.....yeehaw...having done shitloads of bubble runs I always preferred my dry sift...I don't know anyone that dries their weed for 2 months...!!!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

There is definitely something left in the bubble hash water.
I've evaporated down my bubble water into a sort of horrid goo that somewhat resembles hash oil in odor and flavor, but behaves horribly and might be able to get a high school kid high on a Thursday. The shit bubbles in your pipe, but then it forms a crust on the outside that insulates the disgusting innards from further smoking. You could crack open the crust and smoke some more if you were stupid enough to want to (learned by self experimentation of course)

 

[Mikell]

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jts/40/6/40_797/_pdf

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

I was doing a batch of ice water hash a week ago and didn't realize until it was time to filter the water that I didn't have a coffee filter, so I poured some of the water through a tea bag and left the rest to warm up to room temp while I went out to get coffee filters. I left the room temp water to sit for a day so I could get the full effect of the experiment (comparing warm water hash to cold water hash for flavor & effect) and then I filtered the warm water stuff.
Results: The warm water stuff is noticeably less tasty & makes me cough less. I used the brown hash water on my plants

 

[99%]

.I don't know anyone that dries their weed for 2 months...!!!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Just about all commercial dry sifted hash producers (and those who win hashish competitions) dry then store their plant material for months, not weeks......because it is better, the resin heads are harder and the yield will be greater. The plant material that the trichomes are attached to will dry in days or a week or two at most, but resin doesn't, it's still semi-gooey after a month and so is unsuited to most dry sifting methods..so wait if you can or you can artificially change conditions with freezers, dehumidifiers and air conditioners to make sure the resin doesn't smear when sifted.

Or dry the material for a few weeks and sift it lightly, then use a solvent extraction or Bubble bags/ice water on the plant material left over from the sifting.

and when I'm talking about "plant material", I mean the whole plants or branches with the non-resin encrusted leaves removed

Happy sifting!