Harvest - Different ways to harvest, process and store. (Feel free to showcase your artisan methods!!!)

[acespicoli]

Mature flowers are characterized by apparent lack of unstalked glandular trichomes, as glandular trichomes have matured to the stalked stage (Livingston et al., 2019), and with more than 80% of pistils turning from white/green to brown.

• DOI: 10.1111/tpj.14516

Using correct spectrum light to check for mature stalked gland harvest time as outlined in DOI link above

 

[acespicoli]

Microbiological hazards in spices and dried aromatic herbs: ...​

books.google.com › books

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, ‎World Health Organization · 2022
A number of different pathogens have been found in spices on the market, especially Salmonella spp., B. cereus and C. perfringens. There have also been several disease outbreaks associated with spices and dried aromatic herbs.
Full view

​

The Marketing and Processing of Tea: Areas for International ...​

books.google.com › books

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Secretariat · 1984
FOUND INSIDE – PAGE 18
... tea - producing countries . · 51. Chart 1 shows the various actors engaged in the production and distribution of tea . The most common pattern involves five people the producer , the broker , the blender , the wholesaler and the ...

Culinary Herbs: Their Cultivation Harvesting Curing and Uses​

books.google.com › books

Maurice Grenville Kains · 1920
Table of Contents; A Dinner of Herbs Culinary Herbs Defined History Production of New Varieties Status and Uses Notable Instance of Uses Methods of Curing Drying and Storing Herbs as Garnishes Propagation, Seeds Cuttings Layers Division ...

Readers I challenge you to find excellent resources related to harvesting and curing
post your findings, in humid climates this is most challenging


two above pdf books scanned in full copy to google books free to use
simple jar curing over dessicant has been a go to... the real cost is dessicant metal or glass containers
and of course the oven energy to regenerate the desiccant.

Best Practices in Postharvest Management of Leafy Vegetables in Greater Mekong Subregion Countries Proceedings of a GMS workshop 25-27 October 2007 Hanoi, Vietnam Antonio L. Acedo Jr. Katinka

Solar heated cabinet may be the most green option available ?

 

[acespicoli]

https://avrdc.org/seed/seeds/

I have not used a drying cabinet maybe someone else has?

 

[acespicoli]

Drying, Curing, & Storage​

• Flower Storage: Your Guide To Harvest Preservation​

  
  
  As harvest quickly approaches, we want to share our complete guide on flower storage and harvest preservation.
  If you are a hobbyist, preserving buds and storing them properly is important. If you are harvesting 3-4 plants just for personal use, it’s likely you won’t touch some of your flower for 4-6 months after harvesting.
  From a commercial growers standpoint, preservation is equally important. Using the right packaging for your flower will ensure that the product can sit on the shelves for 3-4 months without loss of potency or quality.
  We’ll share our advice on best practices for storing your flower. We have the products and the knowledge you need to nail this final step in the growing process!
  First, let’s talk about why proper flower storage is so important, and what’ll happen if you get it wrong.
  Continue reading →
  
  
  

• Bud Rot - What It Is and How To Prevent It​

  
  
  One of the most dreaded conditions you can run into with your hemp plants is bud rot.
  This is a fungus that attacks your flowers, and can ruin an entire harvest seemingly overnight.
  Knowing what to look for is key, as early detection can be the difference between salvaging your harvest or chopping down and scrapping your entire grow.
  Its also important that you know what causes bud rot so you can take steps to prevent it from happening altogether!
  Continue reading →
  
  
  

• How To Increase Terpenes and Terpenoids​

  
  As you become a more serious grower, you’ll wonder how to increase terpenes and terpenoids in your plants. We have 7 tips to get you started!
  
  

• Drying and Curing Flower - The Definitive Guide​

  
  
  Once you’ve chopped your plants down, you are ready for the drying and curing process.
  We know the sight of your huge flowers covered in trichomes has you eager to start consuming them, but the most important steps of growing are yet to come.
  There are a few different ways you can go about drying and curing your flower.
  Which one is right for you will depend on how you want to trim.
  We will teach you everything you need to know about drying and curing, but first, let’s talk about why these steps are so important.
  Continue reading →
  
  
  

• Freeze Dryers and Curing Machine: Everything You Need To Know​

  
  
  Freeze Dryers and Curing Machines are some of the best ways to dry and cure your harvest fast. Drying and curing is a process that typically should be handled slowly and carefully, but a freeze dryer can get you to the point where you can produce a top-shelf end product in under 36 hours!
  After many months of perfecting your grow through harvest, it could come apart at the seams because of that one final step - drying and curing. A freeze dryer takes care of this step. This can be devastating regardless of of whether you are a hobby grower disappointed in your results, or a commercial grower losing money.
  Continue reading →
  
  
  
• 
  

• Beginner's Guide to Harvest, Drying, and Curing​

  
  
  After all the hard work through veg and flower, the time has finally come - harvest.
  After 3-4 months of hard work growing your plants, you are ready to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
  While most of the hard work is over, it is crucial to execute your harvest, dry, and cure to perfection. If you make mistakes now, all your time, energy, and money spent over the plants life cycle will be for not.
  There are many intricacies to consider, such as the right time to harvest, how you will trim, and drying and curing strategies. Keep reading to ensure your first harvest is a successful one!
  
  hydrobuilder.com has really been pushing out some great blogs lately if id found this sooner it would have saved all this time ...
  
  
  
  Continue reading →
  
  

 

[acespicoli]

Id like to see a DIY of this or same sorts
in the previous post of google free book references the parameters are humidity, air flow and temp

https://hydrobuilder.com/eztrim-ez-cure-automated-dry-and-curing-machine.html

if you have some of this type tag me or post a link

Looks like the build could be DIY'ed for less than $100USD


The Ez Cure is a versatile, simple, and affordable product that allows you to remotely and automatically cure, burp or dry your product.

The Ez Cure elevates your product above where humidity and CO2 settle, allowing airflow to pass through all of the product, eliminating uneven dryness and humidity levels inside the tote.

Available options:

• Single Tote: Pre-assembled Single Tote with Humidity Controller, Fan, Dry Rack
• 8 Pack: Pre-assembled 8 pack with a prewired rolling shelf that fits through standard size doorways

The Ez cure provides adjustable airflow with high cfm capabilities, allowing you to fully dry your product in the totes, quickly equalize dryness in preparation for trimming or control the air exchange speed when curing and burping.

The Ez Cure is app controlled and can be remotely programmed based on time or humidity levels. The totes can be controlled by groups, the control can be shared amongst your team, the app provides real time data and graphs of humidity levels and power over time, and additionally sends you alerts and notifications wherever you are.

The Ez Cure is durable, ez to use, ez to clean and allows you to buck, trim and sort directly in and out of the totes.

Material exposed to plants:

• Polypropolene
• Silicone
• Stainless Steel

UL Certified Components:

• 4" Square fan
• Speed Controller
• Humidity Controller
• Power Strip w/ 8 x Outlets (8 pack only)

---

Specifications for the EZ Cure

Single Tote

Weight	10 lbs.
Ship Weight	12 lbs.
Assembled Dimensions	28" x 20" x 15"
Ship Dimensions	30" x 24" x 18"
Amps	.132 Amps
Watts	8.5 Watts
Volts	120 VAC
CFM	100 – 180CFM
RPM	2000 – 3000 RPM

8 Pack with shelf

Weight	120 lbs.
Ship Weight	170 lbs.
Assembled Dimensions	48" x 28" x 71"
Ship Dimensions	42" x 96" x 48"
Amps	2.4 Amps
Watts	68 Watts
Volts	120 VAC
CFM	100 – 180CFM
RPM	2000 – 3000 RPM

 

[acespicoli]

Perfecting the Art of the Cure - Brought to you by Twister Technologies

The Cure Puck helps ensure perfect curing every time by measuring key indicators in the headspace, the environment in the curing room and automatically burping containers when required. Vent gases in a precise and controlled way to maximize the benefits of curing.

How is the Cure Puck installed?

Simply drill a 2.5” hole in the lid or sidewall of the container of your choice. The Cure Puck will be installed in that hole and secured in place with a large nut.

Benefits of the Cure Puck

• Stabilize water activity
• Improve flower quality and consistency
• Improve burn, taste, aroma and shelf life
• Preserve terpene profile
• Automate the process
• Peace of mind - ensures your flower is taken care of 24hrs a day
• Remote monitoring and control
• Key insights with data to dial in your curing process

Features of the Cure Puck

• Real time monitoring of container headspace
• Real time monitoring of room environment
• High Accuracy Replaceable Sensors
• Automatic Burping
• User defined recipes
• Notification System
• WiFi Enabled
• Battery Backup
• Web App (Coming Soon)

---

Stabilize Water Activity
Experience the ideal balance in your product with Cure Puck’s advanced IoT technology that stabilizes water activity, allowing for a perfectly cured and preserved product. By maintaining the optimal water activity, Cure Puck ensures that your product stays fresh and sticky.
Improve Flower Quality and Consistency
Cure Puck enhances flower quality and consistency by precisely controlling the curing process. Create premium grade flower with an improved burn, taste, aroma and shelf life resulting in an elevated user experience.
Peace of Mind
The Cure Puck ensures your flower is taken care of 24hrs a day. And with a backup battery, the flower will get properly burped during transport or power failure.
Remote Monitoring
Stay informed and worry-free with Cure Puck’s real-time notifications, alerting you if your flower is at risk of microbial growth due to excess temperature or moisture. Take immediate action and protect the quality of your product.
Reduce Labor Costs
Cut down on labor expenses by automating the process of burping large volumes of containers with Cure Puck. Focus on other aspects of your production while Cure Puck takes care of the curing process, saving you both time and money.
Gain Key Insights
Leverage valuable data insights provided by Cure Puck to optimize your curing process further. By understanding the precise conditions that yield the best results, you can fine-tune your methods and consistently produce top-quality flower.

Automate the Process
Streamline your curing process with automation. Eliminate guesswork and manual adjustments by allowing the Cure Puck to automatically burp containers when necessary, ensuring a consistent and precise cure every time.

---

Specifications

Product Number	02-10131A
Input Voltage	15V DC
Length	7in (178mm)
Width	5in (127mm)
Height	6in (152mm)
Weight	1lb (.45kg)
Shipping Weight	3lbs (1.36kg)
Package Includes	Cure Puck, Hose, Diffuser, AC Power Adapter, Manua
Certifications	ETL, CE, FCC, RoHS

Relative Humidity	Accuracy 1% RH Operating Range 0 - 100 RH Factory Calibrated
Temperature	Accuracy 1°C Factory Calibrated
CO2	Accuracy 5% Range 400ppm – 10,000ppm
Patent	Pending
Warranty	1 Year

these prices are about twice the amount id be happy paying but if $$$ isnt a concern
looks like a nice idea...

this product is bolted to your existing tote...

or maybe youd rather use a 55 gallon steel drum ?

Consider the low price of sensors even on amazon and DIY is a no brainer if you have time

 

[acespicoli]

dehumidifier in a closet ....

closet dehumidifiers ... Possibilities ...

 

[acespicoli]

Processing and extraction methods of medicinal cannabis: a narrative review.pdf

drive.google.com

Lazarjani, M.P., Young, O., Kebede, L. et al. Processing and extraction methods of medicinal cannabis: a narrative review. J Cannabis Res 3, 32 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42238-021-00087-9

Drying

For many applications, the dried version of the canna-
bis herb is required; however, like many plants, cannabis

contains approximately 80% water. For this reason, dry-
ing is considered an essential step for product develop-
ment (Hawes and Cohen 2015). Drying the plant not

only prevents the growth of microorganisms that would
otherwise rot plant tissue (based on ASTM D8196-18
which is a standard practice for determination of water
activity (aw) in cannabis fower), it would also enable long
term storage while maintaining potency, taste, medicinal
properties, and efcacy (Hawes and Cohen 2015).

THis is done by maintaining the water activity level between 0.55

and 0.65 aw, minimizing the risk of mold or fungal infec-
tion while preserving the quality of the fower
(ASTMD8196-18).
Air‐drying, also known as hang‐drying
Hang-drying or air-drying is considered the oldest way of
drying cannabis plants after harvest

(Fig. 1)

that requiresno dedicated equipment (Ross and ElSohly 1996).
Slow-
drying includes placing whole plants or separated info-
rescence in a cool dark room with a temperature between

18 and 25 °C and humidity between 45 and 55%, either
hung from a string or laid out on drying screens (Hawes
and Cohen 2015). Ross and ElSohly (1996) applied four
treatments for air-drying to evaluate the efcacy of each
condition in producing the highest yield of cannabis
products. Te treatments were extracted immediately,

 

[acespicoli]

4. Conclusions​

This study explored the impact of varying fast drying conditions on the chemical composition of cannabis inflorescences. The drying environment notably affected the chemical composition of cannabis inflorescences. Compared to traditional methods, controlled atmosphere chambers reduced the drying and curing time by at least 60%, without reducing the total volatile terpene content and without encouraging mold growth. On the other hand, inflorescences from the 240 chemovar subjected to traditional drying condition were highly infested by Alternaria alternata and also revealed low infestation of Botrytis cinerea; consequently, they are less ideal for routine commercial use. The different drying conditions employed in the present study affected the cannabinoid composition in both chemovars differently. In the 240 chemovar, controlled N2 and atm drying conditions were able to preserve THCA levels comparable to t0, while in the Gen12 chemovar all of the employed drying conditions preserved THCA and CBDA content. On the other hand, in both chemovars, open-air drying conditions resulted in a larger extent of decarboxylation of the major cannabinoids as compared to the controlled atmosphere drying conditions, resulting in 3–8-fold higher THC and CBD concentrations compared to t0. A decrease in CBGA concentration was observed in both chemovars, and the lowest CBGA concentration after the drying process was observed under open-air drying conditions.
Regarding the aroma components, C5O5 drying conditions were optimal for preserving monoterpenes. On the other hand, N2 drying conditions were the only drying conditions yielding a statistically significant increase in sesquiterpene content in both chemovars.

In Pursuit of Optimal Quality: Cultivar-Specific Drying Approaches for Medicinal Cannabis

A limited number of studies have examined how drying conditions affect the cannabinoid and terpene content in cannabis inflorescences. In the present study, we evaluated the potential of controlled atmosphere drying chambers for drying medicinal cannabis inflorescence. Controlled atmosphere...

www.mdpi.com

Figure 5. Mean sesquiterpene concentrations (in DW%, y-axis, for each drying procedure and t0; n = 5) of the 240 chemovar determined under four different drying conditions by GC/MS: controlled atmospheric conditions (atm), controlled N2 ≥ 99% conditions (N2), controlled CO2 5%/O2 5%/N2 90% conditions (C5O5), and open-air drying process used as a reference system (air). (a) β-caryophyllene, (b) α-humulene, (c) (−)-guaiol, (d) nerolidol, (e) eudesma-3,7(11)-diene, (f) γ-eudesmol, (g) β-eudesmol, (h) bulnesol, (i) γ-elemene and (j) α-bulnesene. Statistical significance between the different drying conditions and t0 for each compound was calculated using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test (p value < 0.0332 (*), p < 0.0021 (**), p < 0.0002 (***), p < 0.0001 (****)).

Frontiers | Comprehensive comparison of industrial cannabinoid extraction techniques: Evaluation of the most relevant patents and studies at pilot scale

Cannabinoids are gaining attention in many sectors, including the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and cosmetic sectors. To date, several conventional and alte...

www.frontiersin.org

 

[acespicoli]

Harini_2022_IOP_Conf._Ser.__Earth_Environ._Sci._1100_012007.pdf

drive.google.com

https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/1f/74/4e/d0fe5c43816cc8/US20150096189A1.pdf

Google Patents

Search and read the full text of patents from around the world with Google Patents, and find prior art in our index of non-patent literature.

patents.google.com

 

[acespicoli]

Show us your extracts!

I've seen lots of threads on frosty buds or free your buds ect. So I figured I would start a thread for extracts. My intentions in starting this thread is to have a spot where ALL extracts can be shown off. Lots of you have them and make them so lets see all the gooey shardy crystaly...

www.icmag.com

WOULD POST A TEASE PIC BUT YOU REALLY NEED TO SEE IT YOURSELF

 

[acespicoli]

Show us your extracts!

I've seen lots of threads on frosty buds or free your buds ect. So I figured I would start a thread for extracts. My intentions in starting this thread is to have a spot where ALL extracts can be shown off. Lots of you have them and make them so lets see all the gooey shardy crystaly...

www.icmag.com

You really have to see this thread to appreciate it pic uploaded by Thulle

 

[acespicoli]

African Strains

Fascinating collection at the East African Genes Blog website for sure. This bud's fer you sir

www.icmag.com

Lolo94 posted some nice pressed "tea" pucks/cobs

 

[acespicoli]

• 
  4 min22 February, 2024Kief: What It Is And How To Make ItKief is easy to collect and great to smoke. Perhaps the simplest of all cannabis concentrates, all you need to collect it is the right grinder! Read on to find out how to secure a steady supply of...

• 7 min31 March, 2022How To Make Bubble Hash (3 Methods)Bubble hash is a potent cannabis concentrate. Luckily, there are some easy methods you can use to make it at home with supplies you can find in most kitchens. Now you can enjoy hash without...

• 5 min31 December, 2021Step-By-Step Guide To Making Dry Sift Hash At HomeThere are various types of hash, and numerous ways to make it. Dry sifting is a particularly easy method for making potent, high-quality hash at home. Read on to learn how to do it in our...

• 3 min7 May, 2019Rosin Hash: Easy, Safe and PotentRosin Hash is one of the newest cannabis concentrate to hit the community, and there is a lot to like about it. Rosin Hash is can be seen as the new BHO, except unlike BHO, it is easy, safe, and...

HARBOR FREIGHT CLEARANCE $49.97
JUST THINKING OF THE WAYS I COULD USE THIS JUST LIKE IT IS
YET ALONE BUT MODDED TO A LARGER CAPACITY !

https://manuals.harborfreight.com/manuals/67000-67999/67632.pdf

Pollinator Company - Ice-o-lator ®, Bubbleator ®, and Pollinator ®

The original dry-sift and water-ice trichome separation systems! Home of the Pollinator ® Ice-o-lator ®, and Bubbleator ® extraction methods!

pollinator.nl

 

[acespicoli]

P150 DRUMS​

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Screen printing - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Our stainless steel wire mesh screens are perfect for industrial projects. Durable, long lasting, and affordable, you'll get everything you need. Get a quote from our team today.

www.twpinc.com

https://www.twpinc.com/media/catalog/category/TWP_Stainless-Steel-Mesh.pdf

 

[farmerlion]

I am loving this thread, definitely going back for a thorough read. Thank you all who have contributed, Truly Appreciated!

I'm going to share a Smoke report/Cure oversight?..

I was checking on some Lebanese plants that I've intentionally left hanging in the Drying /Hash room since October 8th of 2023.

It's my hope to make a specially cured Lebanese Hash this winter. While checking in on those plants I found a Blue Thai plant accidentally mixed in with the Lebanese from Ace Seeds, Such amazing plants!

The Blue Thai from Dinafem that is no longer available and these were my last seeds of her.

She is my favorite stash smoke ...while Blue Hemp Baglung Nepalese and Vermontman's Highland Nepalese Grape are stacked at number 2 respectively.

My two current Blue Thai plants have successfully been crossed to my new f1P1 of a Q- (SpaceQueen x Blueberry Bx to the SpaceQueen IBL) 70%SpaceQueen.

A female was chosen from my last pack of CBG CANNABIOGEN Destroyer genetics Circa 2009. Immediately crossed to the Q male. I used clones from the mother plants on both sides of this hybrid and am Bx'ing the male to both mothers and a random f1 female of the new Qtopia line I'm working with in my greenhouse.

12:30 PM I vaped a medium sized whip of Blue Thai straight from my drying room, without any Mason jar, curing.
The Blue Thai ground bud now smells of Menthol at the nose and Cat Piss on the exhale.

Doing 7 full lung pulls on my Vapor Brothers vaporizer with a light blowing exhale. I was high before I stopped vaping.

The High comes in waves; I'm pretty frickin ripped; Am I coming down already?

Kablam; nope I am still pretty frickin ripped? Hmmm It's a fun high for sure.
Slightly Anxious, Giddy, Active, Creative Thought Inspiring. Able to solve very complex Social Issues in brilliant clarity.

Moments later the Ancient Of Ages, Seals the thought for a later time. And now you know a Secret that you can't remember

Definitely loading up another whip when I'm done with this post. It's 2:40PM my time. I'm in the second stage of clarity. I will get trimming the sugar leaves that I leave on to act like shock absorbers during the preparation for Jars.

There is definitely a difference in type of high, the waves of euphoria are a great!

The Qtopia Male is the most amazing (Berth, Berry Earth, Sangria) phenotypic expression. He had capitated and uncapitated trichomes in a very impressive display. Very similar to the Destroyer Mother selection.

This male's f1 sister has dense trichome coverage and the same Sangria aromatics...Both Blue Thai females are set with an abundance of seed pods; we'll see how they develop?
Peace farmerlion

 

[acespicoli]

I am loving this thread, definitely going back for a thorough read. Thank you all who have contributed, Truly Appreciated!

I'm going to share a Smoke report/Cure oversight?..

I was checking on some Lebanese plants that I've intentionally left hanging in the Drying /Hash room since October 8th of 2023.

It's my hope to make a specially cured Lebanese Hash this winter. While checking in on those plants I found a Blue Thai plant accidentally mixed in with the Lebanese from Ace Seeds, Such amazing plants!

The Blue Thai from Dinafem that is no longer available and these were my last seeds of her.

She is my favorite stash smoke ...while Blue Hemp Baglung Nepalese and Vermontman's Highland Nepalese Grape are stacked at number 2 respectively.

My two current Blue Thai plants have successfully been crossed to my new f1P1 of a Q- (SpaceQueen x Blueberry Bx to the SpaceQueen IBL) 70%SpaceQueen.

A female was chosen from my last pack of CBG CANNABIOGEN Destroyer genetics Circa 2009. Immediately crossed to the Q male. I used clones from the mother plants on both sides of this hybrid and am Bx'ing the male to both mothers and a random f1 female of the new Qtopia line I'm working with in my greenhouse.

12:30 PM I vaped a medium sized whip of Blue Thai straight from my drying room, without any Mason jar, curing.
The Blue Thai ground bud now smells of Menthol at the nose and Cat Piss on the exhale.

Doing 7 full lung pulls on my Vapor Brothers vaporizer with a light blowing exhale. I was high before I stopped vaping.

The High comes in waves; I'm pretty frickin ripped; Am I coming down already?

Kablam; nope I am still pretty frickin ripped? Hmmm It's a fun high for sure.
Slightly Anxious, Giddy, Active, Creative Thought Inspiring. Able to solve very complex Social Issues in brilliant clarity.

Moments later the Ancient Of Ages, Seals the thought for a later time. And now you know a Secret that you can't remember

Definitely loading up another whip when I'm done with this post. It's 2:40PM my time. I'm in the second stage of clarity. I will get trimming the sugar leaves that I leave on to act like shock absorbers during the preparation for Jars.

There is definitely a difference in type of high, the waves of euphoria are a great!

The Qtopia Male is the most amazing (Berth, Berry Earth, Sangria) phenotypic expression. He had capitated and uncapitated trichomes in a very impressive display. Very similar to the Destroyer Mother selection.

This male's f1 sister has dense trichome coverage and the same Sangria aromatics...Both Blue Thai females are set with an abundance of seed pods; we'll see how they develop?
Peace farmerlion

Really enjoyed reading your post feels like im smoking it myself such vivid description,
great photos really enyoyed them too*. Absolutely welcome to the thread, its good to see you friend
Thanks to you for everything you do, Jah Bless

 

[acespicoli]

The Lost Art of the Hashishin The Workshop Part 1​

You are here:

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2. Cannabis news
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Never miss a copy of Weed World magazine, get it sent direct to your door or your smartphone. Subscribe here!​

DEC24
Cannabis newsHashish

Today, I consider myself a craftsman, and as such there are two elements that rule my life​

Science & Traditions​

I have had a lot of experience with various sieving devices and methodologies to collect Cannabis resin from dried and cured material. I have also acquired extensive knowledge on collecting live resin from plants at the peak of their flowering cycle. I have worked alongside local Hashishins for months at a time in a few producing regions of the world which gave me the opportunity to see and consume a large sampling of diverse and varied qualities of resin from country to country. I have experienced the benefits of pressing resin into hashish for far too many years, I have seen resin transform for the better over time too often, and I have smoked enough aged Hashish and Charas to come to deeply respect the traditional knowledge and methodology of people in these producing countries.

Traditional knowledge is intrinsic, and questions were answered with the most basic explanation – to give you an example the process of drying and curing plants over months is considered vital to the enhancement of the resin, and pressing the resin with a source of heat in the full sun is believed to create stronger Hashish. Such vital elements to resin quality born from generations of expertise are simply stated as facts, and that is all there is to it.

I never had the chance to study Cannabis and its resin during my travel in producing countries. There was a total lack of available science at that time, and there was no source of information outside the traditional knowledge local Hashishins would share in the most rudimentary form. I did not even have the proper name for the resin I was collecting; trichomes were called pollen in producing countries. I had an extensive knowledge of dry sieving and hand-rubbing live resin, but I was totally ignorant of the most important element of the trade I had practiced for over 20 years in multiple countries. I never thought much about making Hash during my travels outside the necessity to go to extremes to be able to access the highest quality in the best regions of the world, enjoying the process and the culture as I lived among them. I definitely did not consider it a craft at the time. I was young, adventurous, clueless and while I was totally dedicated to the collection of the purest form of Cannabis resin I had not acquired the wisdom and knowledge necessary to understand and appreciate the depth of what was then a most cherished pastime.
Today, I consider myself a craftsman, and as such there are two elements that rule my life, (not counting Madame Cannoli), the Cannabis resin I work with and the tools I use to collect and press the resin. The material you work with defines the tools you use, and as such a deep knowledge of trichome formation, development and function is mandatory to mastery, but more importantly, it will unveil the magic of this unique gift from Mother Nature.
The resin within the trichomes we collect is the bibliography of the plant’s life: the Book of the Hashishin.

The Trichomes​

Trichomes are an epidermal protuberance covering the leaves, bracts, and stems of plants, the vast diversity of trichomes expressed by the plant kingdom can be loosely classified in two types: the non-glandular trichomes and the glandular trichomes. The non-glandular trichomes can best be described as the plant’s hair while the glandular trichomes are made of a spherical roundish structure supported by a stalk which produces and stores around 200,000 organic compounds, the secondary metabolite. The formation of these compounds is not related to the growth, development or reproduction of the plant, like the cannabinoids and terpenes in Cannabis, they are the chemical defense and survival tools of the plant kingdom adapting to an ever-changing environment. The plant kingdom has been producing glandular trichomes for over 300 million yearshttps://www.weedworldmagazine.org/2...t-of-the-hashishin-the-workshop-part-1/#_edn1 and has been studied since the birth of the microscope in the mid 17th century; nonetheless, we are still mostly guessing when it comes to their functions and role today.
The Cannabis plant has two types of non-glandular trichomes and three types of glandular-trichomes.
The non-glandular simple unicellular and cystolythic trichomes can be seen soon after germination, and develop mostly on the underside of leaves during the plant life cycle. These trichomes protect the plant from extreme temperatures and help retain moisture but they also are abrasive and as such act as a potential deterrent to herbivores.
The Bulbous trichomes are the smallest; they are made of a two-celled stalk and a small glandular head with a diameter of only 10 to 20 microns. They do not produce cannabinoids, and their function is not known.
The Capitate Sessille trichomes are made of a stalk so small it is hard to discern and a glandular head with a diameter of 50 microns and over. These trichomes produce cannabinoids, and their function is thought to be a protection against herbivores.
The Capitate Stalked trichomes are made of a multi-cellular stalk at full maturity surmounted by a glandular head similar to the Capitate Sessille but twice the diameter and height times the volume. They are mostly produced on the floral bracts of the female plant. The Capitate Stalked trichomes produce more cannabinoids than the Capitate Sessille mostly due to their larger containment capacity.
The Capitate Stalked trichomes are abundant on the floral bracts of the Cannabis plant since the Cannabis plant relies on wind pollination for reproduction, one of the primary functions of these trichomes is posited to maximize the capture of pollen blown by the wind. The size and density of Capitate Stalked trichomes must also have a strong influence on the leaf’s function and ability to cope with harsh climatic conditions. Densely spaced Capitate Stalked trichome heads form a protective canopy which creates an air space the height of the trichomes stalks; this buffer zone protects the leaves from excessively severe climatic conditions. The Capitate Stalked are also believed to be very influential in filtering sunlight, reflecting infrared light and absorbing UV light.[ii] The Capitate Stalked trichomes are most certainly the principal defense weapon of the plant against predators and pathogens; Capitate Stalked trichomes trap insects and produce phytochemical compounds that are toxic to invading organisms[iii] or attractive to their predatory counterpart.
Note: Capitate Stalked trichomes are produced as a defensive response to un-hospitable climatic conditions which implies that optimal growing conditions for the production of flowers will not promote trichome production, an important issue for small farmers facing a ridiculously underpriced flower market and a booming concentrate market.

The endocannabinoid system in our body is as ancient as life itself, “the ability of cells to synthesize molecules that are categorized as “endocannabinoids” in mammals is an evolutionarily ancient phenomenon that may date back to the unicellular common ancestor of animals and plants” which are approximately one billion years old[iv]. It took another 700 million years of evolution for the one plant in over 400,000 known species[v] to come into existence with the ability to produce the compounds specifically tailored for the endocannabinoid system receptors of mammals that would appear 300 million years later, the cannabinoids.

The Cannabinoids​

Cannabinoids are terpenophenolics secondary metabolites, composed of terpenoid and phenolic compounds[vi] biosynthesized through separate synthases within the resin head[vii]. Cannabis sativa L. biosynthesizes the two most common single molecules available in the plant kingdom, terpenoid and phenolic compounds into a hundred plus cannabinoids. This unique secondary metabolic transformation is so complex that we have not yet discovered all the elements of the process. “The cannabigerolic acid (CBGA) is the first cannabinoid formed through the condensation of a phenolic moiety, the olivetolic acid, with the terpenoid component geranyl pyrophosphate[viii]. CBGA and its alkyl homolog are considered the common precursors of all the main cannabinoids produced through an enzyme activity by the plant.”[ix]
The Cannabigerol (CBG) and all other cannabinoids are synthesized by the plant with a carboxylic acid group[x] attached, symbolized by the letter “A” ending in all cannabinoid acronyms. The carboxylic acid groups detach naturally from the cannabinoid compounds as CO2 gas when heat is applied. The process is known as decarboxylation, and the higher the temperature, the faster the response. Drying and curing cannabis plants in appropriate conditions will only create a minimal loss of the carboxylic acid.
The biosynthesis of CBGA into THCA, CBDA, and CBCA are triggered by different enzymes: the THCA and CBDA synthases are very similar in their biochemical properties, an 84% match while the formation of CBCA and THCA from CBGA share an inheritance relationship between the oxidase[xi].
The concept that the CBDA synthase may be the original expression of the plant is being studied, and if the evolution of the enzymes creating the CBDA synthase is actually older than the evolution of the enzymes forming the THCA synthase, the Cannabis plant may have not been born psychoactive after all[xii].
The Cannabis plant produces an amazing diversity of cannabinoids – over a hundred have been discovered, yet most are found at such infinitesimal small quantities that they are hardly detectable, and only a handful have been studied.
Cannabinoids are not solely created through different synthases and diverse enzymes into CBGA, CBDA, THCA, THCV, CBCA, and their decarboxylated versions, natural elements like light, heat and atmospheric conditions may also affect the biosynthesis of the cannabinoids to a degree.

The Terpenes/Terpenoids (Isoprenoids)[xiii]​

The terpenes are the largest and most diversified chemical compounds produced by the plant kingdom. Terpenes are active in the primary metabolism function of plants and are the main elements of the secondary metabolites as well. Terpenes are the plant kingdom’s main communication and defense mechanisms with powerful medicinal properties. Michael Wink notes in his book, Modes of Action of Herbal Medicines and Plant Secondary Metabolites; terpenes have anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, anti-fungal, anti-parasitic, anti-viral, anti-hyperglycemic, anti-hypoglycemic, anti-inflammatory and immuno-modulatory properties.

The biosynthesis of terpenes occurs through different synthases of the five-carbon compound isoprene, the building block of all terpenoids. Terpenes are classified according to the number of isoprene units forming their molecule: monoterpenes contain two isoprene units, sesquiterpenes have three, diterpenes have four, triterpenes number six, and tetraterpenes contain eight.

Cannabis Terpenes:​

There are no terpenes that are unique to the Cannabis plant. Cannabis produces, nonetheless, unique terpene profiles.
Terpenoids and cannabinoids are the most influential and the dominant compounds of Cannabis’ secondary metabolite expression, and, as such, Cannabis plants will express their genetic heritage while also offering a very unique interaction of cannabinoid and terpene compounds defined by the land, the climate and the life it supports.
Cannabis terpenes were not studied until recently when the U.S. Government, as part of their prohibition activities, realized that the origins of seized cannabis could be traced by studying their terpene phytochemical compositions. I should rephrase this sentence actually to give some perspective, breeders have had an interest in the terpene expressions of the plant since the mid-to-late 1960s. Their approach wasn’t scientific, but the soundness of breeding programs based on terpenes is apparent in the vast diversity of terpene profiles available today.
Terpenes have the potential to facilitate the absorption of cannabinoids and of modulating cannabinoid’s effects.
“Lipophilicity is a physicochemical property of crucial importance in medicinal chemistry. On the molecular level, it encodes information on the network of inter and intramolecular forces affecting drug transport through lipid structures as well as drug’s interactions with the target protein. In result, on the organism level, lipophilicity is an important factor defining pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of a drug substance.”[xiv]
Monoterpenes and sesquiterpene’s lipophilicity property allows a binding of the terpenes compounds to the inner core of cells which affect the cell’s membrane fluidity and increase permeability and absorption.[xv] This amazing terpene’s property may also facilitate the passage of terpenes across the blood-brain barrier when smoking.
Cannabis terpenes modulate the psychoactive properties of THC by acting on their receptors,[xvi] and they have the ability to “improve THC pharmacokinetics by increasing vasodilatation of alveolar capillaries which permits more absorption of THC by the lungs.” [xvii]
There is even a terpene that transcends categorization – β-caryophyllene is the prevalent terpene in many spices and food products and also such a major element in the Cannabis terpene profile that police dogs were trained to recognize the smell. β-caryophyllene can selectively bind to the THC binding sites in the CB2 receptors of our body and, as such, can be classified as a phytocannabinoid while being molecularly different. The sesquiterpene β-caryophyllene binding to the CB2 receptor of the plant promotes cellular activation and anti-inflammatory properties[xviii][xix].
Considering that terpenes are an inherent part of the structure of cannabinoids, that they facilitate the absorption of cannabinoids and modulate their interaction, it is safe to say that if a Cannabis flower or Cannabis resin does not smell and taste good, the quality will be doubtful at best.
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of learning all you can about the trichomes and the unique biosynthesis that creates 100 plus cannabinoids and over 200 terpenes. Knowledge is power and, in our case, it is also the key to maximizing quality and production.

In Part 2 we will explore the difference between an extraction and a sieving process, and the implications of using ice water as a medium to collect Cannabis trichomes.

By Frenchy Cannoli

Originally published in Weed World Magazine issue 137
Frenchy Cannoli is a consultant, educator, and writer in the Cannabis industry with special focus on hash making using traditional methods. Frenchy can be reached through his website at: www.frenchycannoli.com or seen on Instagram @frenchycannoli.

https://www.weedworldmagazine.org/2...f-the-hashishin-the-workshop-part-1/#_ednref1 Trichomes of the seed fern Blanzyopteris praedentata: implications for plant–insect interactions in the Late Carboniferous By Michael Krings, Derek W. Kellogg, Hans Kerp and Thomas N. Taylor
[ii] Handbook of Cannabis, Cannabis Horticulture p 71
[iii] (New Approaches for Studying and Exploiting an Old Protuberance, the Plant Trichome

1. J. WAGNER, E. WANG, R. W. SHEPHERD)

[iv] The phylogenetic distribution and evolutionary origins of endocannabinoid signaling By Maurice R. Elphick* and Michaela Egertová, School of Biological Sciences, Queen Mary, University of London, London, E1 4NS, U.K. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16596778
[v] Botanic Garden Conservation International http://www.bgci.org/ourwork/1521/
[vi] Phenolic compounds including simple phenols and phenolic acids, hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives and flavonoids are bioactive substances occurring widely in food plants. Phenolic compounds are closely associated with the sensory and nutritional quality of fresh and processed plant foods. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/bk-1992-0506.ch001
[vii] https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/files/22996493/Chapter_3.pdf
[viii] Geranyl diphosphate is the precursor of monoterpenes, a large family of natural occurring C10 compounds predominately found in plants and animals. Geranyl diphosphate is regarded as a key intermediate in the steroid, isoprene and terpene biosynthesis pathways and is used by organisms in the biosynthesis of farnesyl pyrophosphate, geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate, cholesterol, terpenes and terpenoids. (wikipedia).
[ix] Sequence heterogeneity of cannabidiolic- and tetrahydrocannabinolic acid-synthase in Cannabis sativa L. and its relationship with chemical phenotype By Chiara Onofri , Etienne P.M. de Meijer , Giuseppe Mandolino (http://www.medicinalgenomics.com/wp...th-Chemical-Phenotype-Phytochemistry-2015.pdf)
[x] A carboxylic acid is an organic compound that contains a carboxyl group. The general formula of a carboxylic acid is R–COOH, with R referring to the rest of the molecule. Carboxylic acids occur widely and include the amino acids and acetic acid. Wikipedia
[xi] Phytocannabinoids: a unified critical inventory By Lumír Ondřej Hanuš , Stefan Martin Meyer b, Eduardo Muñoz c, Orazio Taglialatela-Scafati d and Giovanni Appendino
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2016/np/c6np00074f
[xii] Sequence heterogeneity of cannabidiolic and tetrahydrocannabinolic acid-synthase in Cannabis sativa L. and its relationship with chemical phenotype By Chiara Onofri, Etienne P.M. de Meijer, Giuseppe Mandolino (http://www.medicinalgenomics.com/wp...th-Chemical-Phenotype-Phytochemistry-2015.pdf)
[xiii] The name terpene specifically refers to naturally occurring compounds that are derivatives of a single isoprene unit, but modern usage has become less precise, and the terms terpenes and isoprenoids are used interchangeably. The word terpene comes from an older spelling of turpentine (terpentine), a cleaner that is a mixture of isoprenoids (originally the resin of the terebinth plant). . https://www.britannica.com/science/isoprenoid#ref1002598
[xiv] Lipophilicity–methods of determination and its role in medicinal chemistry By Rutkowska E, Pajak K, Jóźwiak K https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23610954
[xv] Modes of Action of Herbal Medicines and Plant Secondary Metabolites By Michael Wink. 2.1.3. Interactions of SM with Biomembranes http://www.mdpi.com/2305-6320/2/3/251/htm)
[xvi] Potential Health Benefits of Cannabis Extracts: A Review by Maria Rosana Ramirez
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7acd/b1386c0c446592535ea334ea8fb2fa5676c2.pdf
[xvii] Handbook of Cannabis, Non Phytocannabinoid Constituents of Cannabis Herbal Synergy By John M. Partland & Ethan B. Russo
[xviii] Gertsch J., Leonti M., Raduner S., Racz I., Chen J.-Z., Xie X.-Q. (2008). Beta-caryophyllene is a dietary cannabinoid. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105 9099–9104. 10.1073/pnas.0803601105
rf
[xix] Beta-caryophyllene is a dietary cannabinoid By Ju ̈rg Gertsch, Marco Leonti, Stefan s, Ildiko Racz, Jian-Zhong Chen, Xiang-Qun Xie, Karl-Heinz Altmann, Meliha Karsak, and Andreas Zimmer
http://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/105/26/9099.full.pdf

The Lost Art of the Hashishin The Workshop Part 2 – Science & Traditions​

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It is relatively easy to collect fresh resin from live plants but a totally different challenge to harvest trichome heads when the flowers are dry and broken up.​

The trichomes we work with define the methodology and the tools we use. Now that we have covered a synopsis of trichome formation, development, and functions in Part 1 of this workshop, it is now time to study the techniques of collecting Cannabis glandular trichomes and the instruments necessary to do so.
The oldest concentration ever made was the live resin collected on the fingers of our distant ancestor while she was harvesting cannabis seeds for the first time since it is pretty much impossible to touch cannabis flowers without collecting resin on fingers and hands. Hand rubbing resin directly on the plant at the peak of flowering is surely the most ancient resin collection technique and is still practiced at the feet of the Himalayas due mostly to climatic conditions.
It is relatively easy to collect fresh resin from live plants but a totally different challenge to harvest trichome heads when the flowers are dry and broken up.
The methodology used to separate plant matter from the resin glands and to collect the separated trichome heads depends on a customized tool made of perforations and a tightly woven fiber receptacle to catch and contain the fallen resin – the sieve. This traditional methodology of collecting Cannabis resin is called “Dry Sieving” and may be as old as agriculture (13,000 B.C.). The dry plant matter is agitated, and the fallen resin heads are separated from contaminants through the perforations of the tool. The process uses effort or force to separate the resin heads from the stalks, but this does not make it an extraction. The Capitate Stalked and Capitate Sessile trichomes are epidermal protuberances covering the leaves, bracts, and stems of plants and as such not part of the plant structural mass. An extraction uses a mechanical force or a solvent to isolate an element held in the mass of a medium as the following definition of the word clearly indicates.
“Extract, extracted; extracting; extracts (transitive verb)
• to draw forth (as by research) extract data
• to pull or take out forcibly extracting a wisdom tooth
• to withdraw (something, such as a juice or a constituent element) by physical or chemical process
• to treat with a solvent to remove a soluble substance
• to separate (a metal) from an ore”
Source: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/extract
The action of agitating Cannabis material forcefully with or without mechanical assistance to collect falling trichomes heads cannot be defined as an extraction from the plant matter. The methodology of detaching the resin heads from their stalks and separating the fallen trichomes heads from plant contaminants is named after the tool used to separate the material: The Sieve.
The following definition of the word has unspoken implications that are vital to the comprehension and optimization of the process:
“A sieve is a device with meshes or perforations through of various sizes may be passed to separate them from coarser ones, through which the liquid may be drained from liquid containing material, or through which soft materials may be forced for reduction to fine particles”
Source: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sieve

Implication #1 – Size:​

The size of the trichome heads defines the optimal size of the sieve’s perforations, and, as such, the final cleanliness of the resin collected. Cleanliness is the defining factor in quality when working with dry and brittle Cannabis material.
Cannabis glandular trichome heads ranges in size from approximately 10 microns up to 500 microns. The recognized size of mature, ripe trichomes range from 45 up to 120 microns depending on the cultivar, growing habitat (sun-grown, greenhouse or indoor) and climatic conditions. Tropical thin leaved landraces from Africa and South America have smaller trichomes than broad-leafed cultivars from the Hindu Kush mountains and Central Asia. The past fifty years of hybridization has vastly broadened the diversity in trichome characteristics and size.
There are limitations to sieving when working with a screen above 160-microns, or below 45-microns. Many contaminants and trichomes heads are a similar size which makes the process of separating them from each other problematic.
Sieving bags are available in the following sizes:
220-micron,190-micron, 160-micron, 120-micron, 90-micron,73-micron, 45-micron, and 25-micron.
This wide range of bags was created to separate resin heads by size to facilitate the isolation and collection of the ripest trichomes. However, as mentioned above, Cannabis diversity makes it very difficult to rely on size selection alone when seeking resin maturity.
The trichome size may define the optimal size of the sieve perforations but limiting the collected resin heads to a restrained size range has its drawbacks. There are important differences in cannabinoid and terpene content and the spectrum between the 45-micron, 73-micron, 90-micron, and 120-micron bags, they are only parts of a whole. Furthermore, such separation would also logically weaken the full expression of the plant’s “entourage effect.”1

Implication #2 – Cleanliness:​

A sieve is a device with meshes or perforations through which finer particles of a mixture of various sizes are passed to separate them; the absolute cleanliness of these perforations is essential to the process of separation and to the final quantity and purity. The 220-micron and 19-micron bags are vital to the optimization of the process. These are known as catch bags. All the resin that will be collected in the lower sized micron bags will have to go through the catch bags first. When perforations are blocked, fewer resin heads can pass through and fall into the lower collecting bags. Since all trichomes must pass through these bags to be separated and collected, the need to keep the bags absolute clean cannot be emphasized enough.

Implication #3 – Workspace:​

Less is more and bigger is better when dry sieving Cannabis plants.
A thick layer of biomass material on a small work surface is counterproductive to the process. Many resin heads will detach from their stalks during agitation, but part will remain confined in the mass of the material and never be sieved effectively.
The thinner the layer of biomass material processed and the larger the work surface, the more effective the agitation process and the higher the probability that detached trichomes heads will fall directly onto the meshes of the tool and pass through the perforations.

DRY SIEVING​

The dry sieving is made of two inseparable processes, the agitation of the plant material to detach the resin heads from their stalks and the separation of the contaminants and resin heads through the perforations of the sieve.
The main obstacle when dry sieving Cannabis is the brittleness and the fragility of the plant material, the smallest touch creates contaminants. Quality is therefore defined by the final cleanliness of the resin heads collected. The maturity of the trichomes are a given in producing countries; the genetics are landraces grown for hundreds of generations in the same region. The planting and harvesting cycles have been fine-tuned to perfection season after season, generation after generation for thousands of years.
Each Hashish producing country has a distinct sieving technique and tools adapted to their methodology. However, the core principles of the sieving process are the same.





LEBANON
Lebanon has most certainly the oldest Hashish culture on the Mediterranean Sea; it is at the end of the oldest trading route on the Euro-Asian continent, the Silk Road. The Silk Road starts in China, goes through India, Afghanistan and Central Asia, passing through the three potential birthplaces of Cannabis, to end on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, in Lebanon.
The sieving technique used in Lebanon is different from other producing countries; it is done in a closed room and more akin to separating the chaff from grains or sieving flour. Using a traditional sieving tool, a circular wood frame two inches wide covered with a tightly stretched sieving material, different size of sieves are used to separate the plant material from the trichomes by stage. With each successive sieving of the material, the resin is separated from the contaminants step-bystep defining quantity. Gentle handling of the material added to the use of the appropriately sized sieves have maintained Lebanese hashish excellence over time.
AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan was the Mecca of Hashish with a long reputation for the highest quality, with traditions possibly going back to the mysterious and secretive origins of Hashish.
The main sieving equipment in Afghanistan is made of a large rectangular wood frame over which silk material is tightly stretched. A worker on each end shakes the frame, and a third handles the threshed material so that no material piles up in the sieving space. Dry sieving is done in the winter, in dry and cold conditions and usually in an open sheltered courtyard. The material is first lightly agitated side-to-side by the two handlers and hardly touched by the third so that as little contaminants as possible are created during this first light agitation. The resin from the first light sieving of the material is collected before a second handling of the material. This high level of purity is the First Grade. The material is agitated a second time, a little more forcefully by the two handlers as the flowers are gently broken down by the third person which starts to create contaminants and is therefore classified as Second Grade. The material is agitated a third time with an up-and-down motion and sideto- side movements to facilitate separation as the material is broken up further for the Third Grade. The agitation at that level remains the same going forward. However, the handling of the material becomes step-by-step a little stronger each time, from a light caressing pressure to a more forceful hand spreading of the material over the perforations of the sieve. The harder the touch, the higher the potential contaminants will be created.
A wide bowl with a silk or nylon material tightly stretched over it to contain the collected resin and minimize impurities is also used in Afghanistan. It is more adapted to processing smaller quantities of flowers for their seeds while collecting the resin or processing imperfectly sieved resin to enhance the level of purity. The principle remains nonetheless the same, the bowl with the sieve material stretched over it is held at the slight angle with a receptacle under it to receive the falling material. The flowers are placed on the higher part of the bowl, and by tapping with one hand on the stretched sieve like a drum, the flowers bounce gently over the perforations detaching trichomes heads from their stalks before separating and falling through the perforations to the receiving container below; the resin is collected before further processing. The drumming remains the same, but on the second pass, the flowers are starting to be broken up. On the third pass, the flowers are fully broken. On the fourth, the broken material is gently caressed over the meshes. On the fifth, a little harder and so on until no trichomes are left. The harder the touch, the higher the percentage of contaminants created.
The technique is slightly different when working with sieved resin, only one or two passes and just one-handed drumming are necessary with loose trichomes heads. Anything that does not pass through the meshes of the sieve will not be processed further.
MOROCCO
The history of Hashish in Morocco is relatively recent, the export of Hashish started in the late 1960s. The smallest producing region of the world with the shortest history of Cannabis resin processing has become the largest exporter of Hashish in the world in a little over half a century. The techniques used in Morocco are a fusion of different sieving techniques imported possibly by foreign Hashishin and hippies in the late 60s.
The Moroccan technique also favors the use of a wide bowl, however the sieve material forms a large pocket securely strapped to the bowl instead of being stretched like a drum skin. The flowers are cleaned of stems and branches prior to processing, the prepared material is placed on the sieve and covered with a solid sheet of thick plastic stretched tightly. Moroccan Hashishins use two sticks to beat on the plastic and bounce the flowers up and down between the sieve pocket and the stretched plastic cover to detach the resin heads from their stalks. The sticks are of the same length but of different thickness which gives a level of control on the force of the agitation. The first pass is short and done by gentle drumming on the outer edge of the bowl to create a light bouncing of the flowers; the second pass is a little stronger and longer and so on until the material bounces back hard between the sieve pocket, acting like a trampoline, and the plastic cover. The harder the beating, the higher the percentage of contaminants.
The lightest agitation of dry and brittle Cannabis plant material creates contaminants. This is the major obstacle in dry-sieving and the defining criteria of quality in producing countries.

ICE WATER SIEVING​

The use of water when sieving Cannabis resin is the only evolution in this thousand-yearold methodology. The sieve and sieving material have evolved, but the methodology had not seen any change until water was added to the process.

REHYDRATION​

The first and obvious evolution over dry sieving is the ability to work with rehydrated plant material which eliminates brittleness and the formation of contaminants during agitation. It is almost impossible to create contaminants once the plant matter is thoroughly rehydrated. Only ice cubes used to keep the water cold, have the potential to crush the material during agitation and create contaminants.

PROCESSING EVOLUTION​

The dry sieving methodology is made of two inseparable processes, the agitation of the plant material to detach the resin heads from their stalks and the separation of contaminants and resin heads through the perforations in the sieve.
The use of water changes the very foundation of the sieving methodology. The processes of agitating the plant material and separating the trichomes heads from their stalks can now be divided into two separate stages.
The plant matter can be manually or mechanically agitated in ice cold water to detach the trichome heads optimally from their stalks, then the water holding the resin heads can be poured through the different sized sieving bags to maximize the separation process.
Water gives the ability to shake the plant matter thoroughly to detach the trichome heads without creating contaminants. The quality of the resin collected is no longer defined by cleanliness but by the maturity of the trichome heads, by the amount of resin formed inside the heads, aka the melt.

DEFINING TRICHOME MATURITY​

The optimum maturity of trichomes is difficult to judge accurately by size alone and to complicate matters further, the coloring of the trichome heads is not a reliable indicator either. The general assumption says that transparent resin heads are immature, milky white indicates ripeness, and amber implies a degradation of the resin. The truth is a little more complicated, as noted by David J. Potter in the chapter entitled Cannabis Horticulture in the Handbook of Cannabis (Oxford University Press, 2014, pg. 71) “However, a study of over 300 dry cannabis samples indicated minimal correlation between trichomes color and potency, except in relation to darker brown samples, clearly past the peak of potency.”
The rate of transparency loss appears to be a genotype-dependent characteristic of Cannabis resin. Genetic makeup and growing conditions are deciding factors in trichome head development and final coloring at maturity. As trichomes age, the resin heads first turn milky white and then transitions from a light to a dark amber. This amber color spectrum is wide, and only the darker colored trichomes will show a degradation of THC into CBN but not as a rule.2
An accurate evaluation of optimal trichome head maturity based solely on coloration or size is pretty much impossible; however, the ability to determine and separate levels of ripeness in resin heads is vital to perfecting hash making methodology and optimizing the different levels of quality of the collected.
In Part 3, I will share the scientific evidence that gave me the ability to define and separate precisely the different dimensions of ripeness and maturity of trichome heads. We will also cover the tools, the medium, live plants fresh and frozen, cured material and the implications Cannabis diversity has on ice water sieving methodology.

References
1. Entourage Effect: “Many of these compounds interact synergistically to create what scientists refer to as an “entourage effect” that magnifies the therapeutic benefits of the plant’s individual components—so that the medicinal impact of the whole plant is greater than the sum of its parts.” www.projectcbd.org/science/terpenes/terpenes-and-entourage-effect
2. (The Propagation, Characterization And Optimisation Of Cannabis Sativa L As A Phytopharmaceutical A thesis submitted by David Potter JP MIBiol CBiol FLS CMIOSH. In fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Pharmaceutical Sciences Department of Pharmaceutical Science Research King’s College London March 2009. https://archive.org/stream/ ANNABISSATIVAASAPHYTOPHARMACEUTICAL/THE+PROPAGATION%2C+CHARACTERISATION+AND+OPTIMISATION+OF+CANNABIS+SATIVA+AS+A+PHYTOPHARMACEUTICAL_djvu.txt),

Frenchy Cannoli is a consultant, educator, and writer in the Cannabis industry with special focus on hash making using traditional methods. Frenchy can be reached through his website at: www.frenchycannoli.com or seen on Instagram @frenchycannoli.

Words by Frenchy Cannoli
Images by IG @trichomeartstudio
Originally published in Weed World Magazine issue 138

The Lost Art of the Hashishin The Workshop Part 3 Ice Water Sieving​

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I agitate Cannabis material in a vortex of ice cold water to detach trichome heads from their stalks as I would shake a tree to collect fruit​

We covered a synopsis of cannabis trichome head formation, development, and functions in Part 1 of this workshop; in Part 2 we focused on traditional dry sieving techniques, the evolutionary advantages of using water and the limitations of defining ripeness, aka the melt, by the size or coloration of the trichome heads.
I have been seeking the highest resin quality since I started to smoke Hashish. Most of my life quality was defined by the cleanliness of the resin until I started to use water in my process half a dozen years ago. From that point on cleanliness wasn’t difficult to obtain any longer. The use of water brought me to a new dimension of Cannabis resin quality. The maturity of the trichomes, which is a given in producing countries, was the new challenge working in the U.S. where most farmers harvest over a shorter growing timeframe for flower consumption, not hash making.
It was a rewarding experience to be able to hunt quality at a deeper level, but it was frustrating to be unable to definitively define the many levels of ripeness of the trichome heads within the extensive cultivar diversity of Northern California.
The frustration lasted until I stumbled on a study done by the U.S. government with the information I desperately needed.

“A resin head is made by nature like a fruit or a leaf, and as such falls at the end of its life cycle; an abscission zone develops at the base of the head where the stripe cells attach to the disc cells resulting in abscission of glands upon attaining maturity”[ii]

Since a trichome head is made by nature to fall at maturity like a fruit, I could change my frame of reference and look at a cannabis plant like a fruit tree. I would have to touch and smell fruit on a tree to judge ripeness; I would most certainly not judge the ripeness of fruit by their size or coloration from a distance. I wish I could judge the ripeness of trichome heads like I would fruit on a tree, but since individual trichome head inspection is not possible with the naked eye, I adopted a straightforward approach to precisely select and collect fruit on a tree by the level of maturity.

When harvesting fruit from a tree, the ripest fruit litters the ground at the foot of the tree and are easy to collect. Whereas with cannabis, the ripest trichome are largely lost during the harvest, the drying, the curing, and trimming of Cannabis flowers; freezing the material after a light trimming of the fan leaves or processing live plants onsite plants will minimize this loss.
The most straightforward approach to collecting fruit from a tree is to shake the tree. The force applied will define the level of maturity of the fallen fruit collected. A light shake will dislodge the ripest fruits, a second agitation a little stronger will detach fruit not as perfectly ripe, the second dimension of ripeness; a third shaking slightly more powerful will sever fruit offering a lower level of maturity and so on until no fruit remains on the tree.
I agitate Cannabis material in a vortex of ice cold water to detach trichome heads from their stalks as I would shake a tree to collect fruit, selectively by their level or dimension of ripeness. A first light agitation detaches the ripest trichomes, a second slightly stronger cycle dislodges the second level of resin maturity, a third more powerful agitation dislodges resin heads slightly less mature and so on until no resin head is left on the plant matter.
Each of these washes represents a dimension of the plant’s overall ripeness ranging in size from 45-microns to 160-microns. This simplistic approach can be fine-tuned to a very selective level which has given me the ability to estimate accurately if a plant has been harvested too early or too late.
– THE TOOLS –
Sieving Bags and Set Up:
As noted in Part 2 of this series, a large work surface is beneficial to the sieving process. The bags are the sieving space, so it is imperative to have full-mesh tools to optimize the flow of water through the bags, and the sieving process through the perforations of the material.
Full-mesh bags are also lighter, stay cleaner, they are designed to facilitate water flow, and maximize resin and contaminant separation. The sieving bags should be made from scientifically engineered material to ensure perfect mesh size accuracy and integrity over time.
I generally use three bags stacked together: the 190-micron, which is my catch bag, the 160-micron, which harvests the larger resin heads but is harder to clean to perfection because contaminants are often the same size as the trichome heads. The third bag is my main collecting bag, the 45-micron.
I also recommend the use of a 220-micron bag when working with certain cultivars, offering large trichome heads on inspection of the material before processing. I use the 220-micron as my catch bag to check if any larger sized resin heads have collected in the 190-micron bag. If there are none, I go back to using the 190-micron as my catch bag. If trichome heads are collecting in the 190-micron, I keep my 220-micron throughout the full process.
I use the 25-micron bag as well, but separately. All the water used in processing is filtered through it. Nothing is lost this way. The smaller and most unripe resin heads may not contain much THC or CBD, but they hold CBGA, the precursor of all cannabinoids and a valuable medicinal compound when extracted.
I use food-grade plastic buckets with the bottoms cut off for each of my bags as a support to facilitate manipulation; the bottoms are cut off at a 2” to 3” length difference to allow a gap between the bags once stretched individually on the stacked buckets. The buckets are a frame that holds the bags perfectly, and the space between each bag allows the water to flow easily and forcefully from one bag to the next which optimizes the natural separation through the meshes of the sieve brought by gravity and the weight of the water.
Agitation:
Ice cold water is the medium holding in its mass the material to be agitated, and as such the movement of the water is the critical factor. A powerful current in a contained work chamber is mandatory for the agitation process. A vortex of water has no equal; it is the most effective, forceful and gentle agitation technique available.





The Plastic Mini-Washer:
Mini-washers are available on Amazon and E-Bay for $50 to $70. Do not buy a model with a pump. You want the most basic version using gravity to empty the machine.
These machines are not designed for cannabis resin collection; this is most apparent in the structure of the exhaust hose, which is made of groves that collect resin and contaminants. This can be easily fixed by opening the bottom of the washer and replacing the accordion hosing with a 3/4-inch diameter vinyl waterline and two elbows, one with a stopper. Cut one 2” piece of hosing and a second piece 10” to 12” long. Connect them to the elbow pieces. Use metal clamps to secure the hose to the original washer connection point.
There is also a plastic cover over the exhaust point inside the washer which needs to be removed entirely so that the flow of the water is not hampered when emptying the machine.
The vortex created by this mini-washing machine is simply the most effective and inexpensive agitation tool available. It is powerful but gentle and goes well beyond “shaking” the material forcefully, the strong water current brushes and detaches the resin heads from their stalks, optimizing the process to a new level of perfection.
The loose trim, nugs, or flowers are sucked down to the bottom of the machine and into the eye of the vortex, which spins the material in an ever-widening circle toward the surface where the material is then pushed towards the sides of the machine and sucked down to the bottom for another revolution.
Stainless Steel Agitator:
While the conventional plastic mini-washing machine uses a vortex and works fine, it is designed to wash clothes and not engineered to agitate Cannabis plant material and collect resin in a sanitary environment; only food-grade stainless steel can offer a sterile and perfectly adapted work structure.
A streamlined tub with a smooth, curved surface to protect the integrity of the material spinning is essential to the process. Sharp-edged protuberances on the walls of the tub will shred the plant material and create contaminants. The structural adaptation of the tub by Delta Separations also added a new element to the formation of the countercurrent vortex flow. The design of the agitation chamber creates a continuous crisscrossing of the water which optimizes further the removal of the resin heads from their stalks.
The ability to maintain a stable temperature in the low 30°F is also imperative to exploit the process of water agitation fully. Resin is sticky and as such cold is mandatory to maximize separation and collection. However, ice is the nemesis; too many ice cubes will crush and shred material creating contaminants. We opted for a jacketed basin that can be used as an “insulation jacket” to reduce heat transfer and reduce the use of ice to a bare minimum; the jacketed agitation chamber stabilizes the temperature optimally so that even live resin will not stick to the washer’s parts.
A conventional washing machine is limited by its wash cycle which applies a constant force, and so the strength of the agitation is defined by the length of the wash cycle and not by the force applied by the current of water because the force of the vortex is weakened depending on the amount of material and ice added to the water. The Agitator can process from a half-a-pound of material in 6 gallons of water to seven pounds in twenty-five gallons of water and anything in between due to the full user control over these important processing variables with a self-regulating “smart drive” that measures the weight load to ensure long lasting performances, and a speed (RPM) controller going up to 1700 rpm, a speed monitor and a digital system timer to set the length of the cycle.
Working with loose material in the washer exploits fully the agitation process however loose material often plugs the draining outlet of the conventional mini-washer mixing detached trichome heads and plant material which leaves many resin heads trapped in the mass. The Agitator has been designed with a large Venturi style drain engineered to give an optimal outflow pressure eliminating the potential for obstructions by plant matter completely. The water holds the heavier resin in its mass while the lighter plant matter floats on the surface, a powerful outflow of water will keep the material and the trichome separated until the machine is emptied.
Using a Workbag:
For many concentrate processors, the standard practice is to put the dry or fresh material into a 220-micron workbag that is zipped shut and put into the washer.
This bag is the most critical factor in production because every resin head to be collected must pass through its meshes or will be lost.
First and foremost, when the workbag is put directly into the washer, the agitation and sieving process are combined, forsaking the advantage of splitting and fine-tuning the two processes separately.
Losing such an advantage is regrettable but using a 220-micron workbag also goes against all the basic principles of sieving covered in Part 2.
#1: Cleanliness – The workbag cannot be cleaned during the process which plugs perforations wash-after-wash, especially with live resin, hampering the passage of trichome.
#2: Workspace – The principle mentioned in Part 2, “The larger the work surface, the higher the probability of maximizing the methodology,” doesn’t apply when you have a pile of material at the bottom of a work bag twisted by a powerful vortex of water compressing the plant matter.
Material packed into a ball at the bottom of a twisted and often plugged work bag cannot be agitated and separated optimally.
Water:
Water is the perfect medium for sieving. While being classified as the universal solvent it does not act as one with Cannabis glandular trichomes; beyond rehydration and optimal agitation potential, water is also an effective containment medium for a product that is very hard and awkward to handle when dry. However, water too often contains sediments and many chemicals that are not only dangerous to consume but could potentially weaken the integrity of the trichome head membranes.
A high-end water filtering system is mandatory while a Reverse Osmosis (RO) systems is recommended but not necessary.
The purity and integrity of the collected resin is dependent, to a degree, on the quality and characteristics of the water source.
Water pH
The pH of pure water is 7 which is considered acidic. The normal range for pH in surface and groundwater systems is between 6 to 8.5.
An acidic water with pH under 6 is corrosive which damages all types of metal piping and is the reason behind the high levels of toxic metals found in acidic water.https://www.weedworldmagazine.org/2...-the-workshop-part-3-ice-water-sieving/#_edn1 On the other hand, water with a pH superior to 8.5 carries an unappealing alkaline taste and furthermore leaves deposits of calcium and magnesium after drying.
We want neither corrosive water that would weaken the integrity of the trichome head membranes or water that could compromise the quality of the terpene profile and leave a residue on the resin once evaporated. A pH ranging from 6.5 to 7.5 is recommended.
Ice:
I classify ice with water because it is part of the medium that agitates and receives the trichome, and for that reason, the ice cubes should be made with pure water only. Ice is your nemesis. It is the only variable that has the potential to crush and damage the rehydrated material. Roundish ice cubes are recommended for this reason. It is essential to understand that ice is only necessary to create a cold environment that will facilitate the separation and handling of a product that is sticky by nature. Ice is not the tool to break the resin heads from their stalks, the vortex of water does that job.
Part 4 will be dedicated to the material, live plants, fresh and frozen, cured material and the implications Cannabis diversity has on the fine-tuning of the ice water sieving methodology. I will also cover the implications of the points we covered in Part 1, 2 and 3 have on my approach to the ice water sieving methodology.

Frenchy Cannoli is a consultant, educator, and writer in the Cannabis industry with special focus on hash making using traditional methods. Frenchy can be reached through his website at: www.frenchycannoli.com or seen on Instagram @frenchycannoli.

Abscission: the natural separation of flowers, fruit, or leaves from plants at a special separation layer (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abscission)
[ii] THC (TETRAHYDROCANNABINOL) ACCUMULATION IN GLANDS OF CANNABIS (CANNABACEAE) Paul G. Mahlberg and Eun Soo Kim, Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN USA; and Department of Biology, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea

THC (TETRAHYDROCANNABINOL) ACCUMULATION IN GLANDS OF CANNABIS (CANNABACEAE)

https://www.weedworldmagazine.org/2...e-workshop-part-3-ice-water-sieving/#_ednref1 www.water-research.net/index.php/ph

Originally published in Weed World Magazine issue 139

The Lost Art of the Hashishin The Workshop Part 4 Ice Water Sieving​

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The main limitations of working with live material is getting direct access to the plants and an extremely small window of opportunity.​

In part 1 of this workshop, we covered trichome formation, development, and function; in Part 2 we focused on traditional dry sieving techniques and the evolutionary advantages of using water. In Part 3, I shared the scientific evidence that gave me the ability to define and precisely separate the different dimensions of trichome head ripeness.
We will now cover the different plant material available – live plants, fresh or frozen, dried and cured, and the implications the forms of cannabis biomass used has on the ice water sieving.

The Material
A Hashishin does not make quality; the land, the climate, the genetics and the dedication and knowledge of the farmers, the “terroir” does.

The Cannabis plant offers two pinnacles of quality; the first one is at harvest, at the peak of the flowering cycle, and the second is attainable only once the plants have been slowly dried over a two-week period before curing 3 to 9 months. The hand-rolled live resin collected at the feet of the Himalayas called Charas, and the dried and cured resin called Hashish produced in countries from Morocco to Afghanistan are the traditional concentrates expressing these two states of quality.
There are no terpenes that are unique to the Cannabis plant; Cannabis nonetheless produces unique terpene profiles. These aromas are made of hundreds of terpenes, many of them in such minute quantities that they are impossible to measure accurately. Cannabis terpene profiles are unique and inimitable and vital to the overall psychoactive and medicinal properties of the resin.

Live and Fresh Frozen Material
The predominant characteristic of terpenes is their extreme volatility. This creates an obstacle the Hashishin must deal with from the moment of harvest until the resin is pressed into Hashish and packaged.
If there is smell emanating from the plants, there is a loss of terpenes, a morphological activity of plants which starts at dawn and stop only at night, and so I favor harvesting Cannabis in the depth of the night until first light to minimize terpene loss.

Live material
The main limitations of working with live material is getting direct access to the plants and an extremely small window of opportunity. The processing of the plants must be done onsite and at the peak of the flowering cycle which limits the number of plants that can be washed and the number of farms one can visit at harvest time. Furthermore, a nocturnal harvest done to collect live resin entails immediate processing which while further limiting the work hours nonetheless has the advantage of offering the cold conditions mandatory to optimal handling of live resin.
A plant freshly cut will bleed chlorophyll when washed in a vortex of water. It will be slight at first but will increase with each successive wash. The separation of chlorophyll contaminants and resin over the mesh of the bags with a spray of water is a simple matter, a problem easy to remedy at first but it becomes harder, takes longer and uses more water the more you wash the material.
The focus of collecting resin in living plants is about maximizing the full terpene profile of the plant at the peak of its expression. Dried trichome heads will hold the same amount and quality of formed resin as live resin heads but not the same amount of terpenes. This difference in terpene content is so influential that the end results will be two very different types of Cannabis concentrate.

Fresh Frozen Material
Freezing plants at harvest is the perfect solution to the main limitation that working live material engenders.
While the pre-freezing processing must be done at night on site only a light trimming of the flowers is necessary before storing filled containers in a refrigerated mobile unit, the number of plants harvested per night is only limited by the workforce available and the freezer capacity.
There is an important factor to consider when freezing live plant material, a natural process known as ice nucleation.
Life plants are made up of 80% water. Ice has a volume 10% superior to water. The transformation of water into the crystalline form of ice literally explodes the plant material from the inside out at the cellular level. The cell walls of the plant are pierced by the formation of the denser mass of sharp crystals; the chloroplast’s (the chlorophyll vein-like network of the plant), ability to contain the plant material in the trichome head is compromised. The chlorophyll will become a major problem as soon as the inside of the plant material starts melting.
The simplest solution to the problem is to work as fast as possible in very cold conditions to collect the resin heads before the inside of the plant starts melting. The temperature of the washing room should to be in the mid-40º F; the washer should be filled with water and ice prior to use to avoid resin sticking to the walls of the machine and the spinning element during processing. All water used should be in the low-30º F and as such well water, or spring water will do fine in the winter in mountainous regions but a water chiller unit is highly recommended, pumping water out of a large container filled with ice is a simple and economical way to approach the problem as well.
Ice nucleation was a major obstacle to my approach to ice water sieving when I was using a plastic washer; a dozen washes, each one with an increasing length of agitation time to dislodge the resin heads by their level of maturity was not a viable option. The plant material would start melting by the third or fourth wash and the leaked chlorophyll was impossible to separate from the resin unlike live plant material that has not been frozen.
After a few negative experiences, I was a pretty virulent detractor of fresh frozen material until last year when I brought my stainless-steel machines to a farm in Humboldt and worked with live and fresh frozen material in very cold conditions.
Ice water sieving live and fresh frozen material both require speed, cold temperatures and the same fine tuning to the process of harvesting the different level of resin maturity. A longer/harder agitation of the plant material to collect half a dozen wider dimensions of ripeness instead of the dozen-plus I usually seek when working with dried and cured material.
The specific and optimal processing conditions being similar it became quickly apparent that live material bleeds chlorophyll like a fresh wound would blood and that frozen material does not, the wound being cauterized by the ice formation.
While ice nucleation is a serious handicap to take into consideration when processing frozen material, it is only necessary to work within specific conditions and with efficiently adapted tools to transform the only handicap to freezing cannabis plants into a solid advantage, no chlorophyll until the inside of the plants melt.

Dried/Cured Material
Curing is technically drying the moisture out of plant material as is done with lavender, thyme, rosemary, sage, bay leaves, tea, tobacco, etc. The extreme volatility of terpenes makes drying and curing spices and other aromatic plants a problematic process. With Cannabis and the amount of terpenoids inherent in each of its terpenes profiles it becomes an art form.
The drying/curing should be a slow process spanning a three-to-nine-month period for 80% of the plant’s water content to not only evaporate to 8% to 10% humidity content recommended for smoking but more importantly to allow for the longer transformation of the plant’s chlorophyll into sugar which offers a smoother smoke without any “green” undertone flavor.
There is an inevitable huge loss of terpenes happening in the first week of drying before stabilization occurs and the polymerization process takes place. The “chemical reaction in which two or more molecules combine to form larger molecules that contain repeating structural units”. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/polymerization) The polymerization literally creates a new terpene profile which is vastly different from the profile of live plants or the flowers dried for just a few days.
It could be assumed that a severe loss of terpenes would diminish the psychoactive and medicinal values of dried and cured flowers/resin and while it may well be the case for certain cultivars, there are too many exceptions to make it a rule. The live resin of the unreleased Pinot Noir from Aficionado Seeds, for example, is like a field of wildflowers with a hint of lavender, and while it is a very appealing floral profile the strong chocolate flavor of the cured resin was an intense love at first smell, powerful and addictive.
Live and cured are two pinnacles of a different expression of the psychoactive and medicinal potential of the Cannabis plant, the terpenes are crucial to the overall quality of the resin, but the quantity of terpenes is not the sole factor to consider, the uniqueness and attractiveness of the terpene profile is the ultimate attribute to quality.

Reading the Material
The more knowledgeable one is about the material to be processed, the better the methodology can be fine-tuned to the specific characteristics of the plant, live, frozen, dried, trim, nugs, flowers, type of cultivar, etc.
Please note: we are not judging quality but material physiognomy (outward appearance) in order to optimize our process.
A flower, for instance, will take longer to rehydrate than sugar trims, an Indica dominant hybrid like Girl Scout Cookies with a strong leaf structure can be agitated more forcefully than a fragile Haze without being damaged, a live plant will require a colder working environment and being structurally stronger than rehydrated material will endure a stronger agitation., etc.





Optimizing agitation for a mini washing machine:
The ratio of water, ice, leaf material and the length of the wash cycle are the deciding factors in the agitation process with a mini-washer.

• Water is the receptacle and the power that detaches the resin heads from their stalks. As a principle, the more water and the less material and ice there is, the more powerful and effective the courant of the water vortex will be.
• Ice gives the ability to work in a cold environment but it the nemesis of the methodology and should be used sparingly. Too much ice will grind the leaf matter creating contaminants and weaken the power of the vortex.
• The material requires space for agitation, the more space, the more effective the process, the less material, the more powerful the water courant and the less likelihood that the resin will remain in a mass of floating material that is too dense for an effective sieving process to occur.
• I recommend working with approximately 200 to 300 grams at a time, less when doing live resin.

“Less is more and bigger is better” as it is with dry sieving.
Stainless Steel Agitator:
A conventional washing machine is constrained by a cycle that uses a constant force, and so the strength of the agitation is defined by the length of the wash cycle and not by the force applied by the current of water. Furthermore, the force of the vortex is weakened the more material and ice is added to the water. The Agitator gives me the option to circumvent this limitation and fine-tune the power of the vortex and separate with greater accuracy the different dimensions of ripeness. The ratio of plant material in the machine is no longer constrained by the potential loss of puissance of the vortex, I can work with half a pound of material in 6 gallons of water, with six-to-seven pounds in twenty-five gallons of water and anything in between.
I work with a constant 5-to-7-minute-long wash cycle and start with a revolution of 200-to-250 rpm depending on the structure of the material, and work the force of my agitation by increments of 30-to-50 rpm per wash.
There are otherwise minimal variations in the actual methodology between the mini-washer and the Agitator; the difference lays in the capacity, efficiency and total mastery of the process. These alterations to the process will be mentioned.

The Ice Water Sieving Process
The Ice Sandwich:
Complete rehydration of the plant material is required at the beginning of the process to avoid leaf matter breakage and contamination. I initially make an ice “sandwich” to create a cold working environment, and to keep all my material submerged underwater to absorb the water evenly. I place a little ice first to avoid resin sticking to the bottom of the machine and jamming the turning plate. It is not pleasant to have to release the plate manually, in ice water, even with a gloved hand.
The top layer of ice keeps the trim submerged. However, this requires a disproportionate amount of ice, for that reason the first cycle of the machine will constantly have the potential to grind the material and create contaminants.
Different materials will rehydrate at different rates. The time necessary will be defined by the specific characteristics of the plant matter – trim, nugs (small bottom flowers), flowers, and genetics. The rehydration process takes approximately ten-to-twenty minutes; the best way to assess if the material has been completely rehydrated is by manually checking the suppleness of the material. When the material is sufficiently hydrated, it will bend like a fresh leaf without any breakage, tearing or crunchiness.
Note: The Agitator is loaded the same way however a disproportionate top layer of ice is not necessary, I use a custom-made grill to weigh the material down under water and start working in perfect conditions, with as little ice as possible.

The First Wash:
The ratio of water, to ice and material, is disproportionate during the first run. The excess ice will grind the leaf matter. To avoid this challenge a very short cycle is required which essentially fits into our approach of collecting the different dimensions of ripeness – only a small shake is necessary for the ripest fruits to fall.
I stop my first cycle after only a few seconds, as soon as the upper layer of ice cubes is sucked into the vortex with the material. The sound of the ice is the best guide. The grinding sound is unmistakable, a deep and unpleasant “grrrrr” noise that indicates, “Stop the cycle!” as soon as you hear it.

Sieving/Cleaning the Resin Collected in the Bags:
The stacked buckets holding my sieving bags are supported by a metal grille placed over a large plastic storage container that allows gravity and water to flow freely through the bags and into the storage container, offering the first natural separation in the sieving process.
The color of the water varies from fluorescent green to a dark shade of red and purple depending on the coloration of the plant. The water should be cloudy with resin heads but not muddy green from ground leaf matter.
Rinse the 190-bag lightly with the sprayer set on “Shower”
There is often a lot of leaf matter in the bag which happens most frequently with small leaf material (sugar trim) and is due to the need to maximize the exhaust flow; merely put the collected leaf matter back into the machine and clean the bag thoroughly with alcohol if there is any stickiness. The cleanliness of the meshes defines the amount of trichomes that can pass through the sieve into the Collection Bags.
Put the bucket frame holding the 190-micron bag on a clean surface. If dirt or other contaminants stick to the bottom of the bag, it will end up later in the 160-micron bag that is stacked under it.
Rinse the 160-micron bag thoroughly by moving the resin around as widely as possible across your sieving surface to maximize the separation. It is crucial to avoid cleaning the resin of the 160-micron bag over the 45-micron bag to prevent unnecessary contamination.
I do not collect the resin from the 160-micron at every wash for the simple reason that there is often little enough of it. I simply rinse and clean the 160-micron at every wash until the last. Otherwise, l collect the resin from the 160-micron solely if there is just too much of it, and it hampers the flow of water and by doing so captures too much of the smaller micron resin heads in its mass.
Put the bucket holding the bag on a clean surface and top it with bucket holding the catch bag so that any airborne contaminants will not land in the 160-micron bag.
The 45-micron bag is obviously the most important. The first wash will not be the cleanest or offer the most return, as we have hardly shaken the material/tree, and at this stage are collecting only the ripest trichomes, which will have the darkest coloration.
Rinse the resin thoroughly, moving it across the sieving surface pointing the spray under the mass of resin. When powerfully rinsing the 45-micron bag, a foam will form over the resin. The bubbles hold all the contaminants and can easily be pushed through the sieving surface of the bag.
Rinse until the color of the foam is exactly the same color as the resin and gently push the resin towards the middle of the bag in as small a puddle as possible to facilitate collecting.

Gathering the Sieved Resin to Dry
Drying is the most delicate and challenging part of the ice water sieving process. It has to be perfectly executed so that there is a minimum loss of terpenes and no humidity left that could later degrade the resin stability and quality.
Part 5 of this workshop will be dedicated to drying in a room, with a freeze dryer and a vac oven.

Preparing the Resin for Drying in a Room
The drying room needs a stable humidity level of 35% and temperature at 55°F. It is not recommended to keep entering the drying room after every wash, the stability of the room will be compromised. I recommend the use of a fridge to store the patties until all the washes have been completed, and then moving all the washed resin in one visit to the drying room.

• Squeeze water very lightly out of the sieving bag with your hands before placing the bag between two clean towels to absorb as much of the remaining excess water as possible without any pressure applied. It is important to absorb as much water as possible prior to drying to shorten the process.
• Stretch the bag carefully across a Frisbee or round plate to work over a large Pyrex dish with a 25-micron sieve sheet inside. There are always jumpers.
• Scrape the resin with a very dull butter knife from the 45-micron bag onto the 25-micron sieve sheet in the Pyrex dish. Place the folded 25-micron pad holding the resin loosely in a small towel and store in a fridge.

Drying with a Freeze Dryer
The collected resin has to be shaped into equally thin patties, each one, while being a different size, needs to hold approximately the same amount of water in its mass to dry evenly.

• Do not squeeze water out of the sieving bag before stretching the bag carefully across a Frisbee/plate and over a large Pyrex dish containing a silicone pad covered by a 25-micron sieve sheet. A small silicone mold can also be used.
• Scrape the resin with a very dull butter knife from the 45-micron bag onto the 25-micron sieve sheet in the Pyrex dish. Shape the resin into thin patties applying as little force as possible, place the silicone and 25-micron sheet on the grill shelving in a freezer. Once the patties are frozen, place them in order sieved into a larger 25-micron sheet for easier storage until there are enough patties to fill the freeze dryer.

The Second Wash:
The excess ice from the first wash will have melted to a large degree by the time you have filled the machine with water for the second wash; the water ratio, ice, and trim will not yet be perfect, but the grinding power of the ice will be significantly diminished. The sound of the ice will be your guide again; the sound should be more musical but still a little menacing. The second wash should be approximately 2 minutes long.
The color of the water will be slightly lighter; the water should be cloudy with resin heads but not muddy green from ground leaf matter.
Note: The Agitator will need to be filled with ice before adding water with each wash.
Follow the step described in the First Wash for cleaning and collecting the resin of the different bags.
Gathering the sieved resin to dry will be similar every time, please note that keeping the washes separated and in order is important, everyone is a different dimension of ripeness, unique in itself.

The Third Wash:
The machine will have almost no ice left by the third wash. It is recommended to add a small amount of ice before filling the machine with water for a 3rd time, so that little ice remains once the machine is full. The sound of the ice will be a gentle clinking against the wall of the machine by now. As long as a few ice cubes are floating, the water is ice cold, from that point forward add only a handful of ice cubes at a time.
The third wash should be approximately 3-to-4 minutes long.
Follow the step described in the First Wash for cleaning and collecting the resin from the different bags.
Gathering the sieved resin to dry will be the same process each time.

The Fourth to the Last Wash:
Add the ice before filling the machine, so that little ice remains once the machine is filled as was done previously.
Every wash should be longer than the preceding one by a minute or two.
Follow the steps described in the first wash for cleaning and collecting the resin of the different bags.
Gathering the sieved resin to dry will be similar each time. Keep the washes separated and in order.
Collect the resin from the 160-micron bag on the last wash. It is not necessary to collect the 160-micron at every wash; there is usually too little resin to easily clean to waste time collecting. Collect the resin in the 160 solely if there is enough to hamper the flow of the water passing through the sieving bags.

Cleaning the Machine:
Empty the machine by hand, take the moving parts off and rinse with water.
Clean all your bags and tools thoroughly using ethanol alcohol.
Run the machine through a short cycle using a mixture of water and isopropyl alcohol to sanitize.
Recycle the used trim to be processed with ethanol or used as compost in a local garden.
Part 5 will be dedicated to the different drying process and tools available.
Full videos of the washing process can be found in the DIY section of my YouTube page at www.youtube.com/c/frenchycannoli.
Frenchy Cannoli is a consultant, educator, and writer in the Cannabis industry with special focus on hash making using traditional methods. Frenchy can be reached through his website at: www.frenchycannoli.com or seen on Instagram @frenchycannoli.

Originally published in Weed World Magazine issue 140

Will never forget brother RIP Frenchy

 

[acespicoli]

bubble bag wash ?

 

[Old Piney]

I like things simple and cheap and I'm lazy so this is how I do it. I snip the branches , give them a rough trim and hang on a string line in a dark room. I'll run air conditioning if needed and a dehumidifier. when they are close to dry ill place them in plastic sterilite bins with lids slid on loosely to catch the right moisture content. Once dry ill seal the lids and start my cure. I'll burp or open a few times a week and cure from 3 to 6 months. I take my time (lazy ) and remove the sticks and trim any time the whole time. I use the bins with the clamps and the foam gasket