Some people choose to raise their temperatures under vacuum (from 90°-110° or even 120°+) once they have achieved clean translucent oil. Agitating the oil makes this into a wax, and agitation can come in a few different ways. Once the extract is purged of the butane, you’ll generally have a shatter-like oil. When light passes between two mediums of different densities, it gets refracted multiphasic, amorphous solids are generally not transparent. If you can’t see through it, that means the THCA and other solids have separated from the other components that are liquid, like terpenes. One way to mitigate moisture content in fresh frozen runs would be to do them under sub-zero conditions.Īn extract that you can’t see through is different on a microscopic level than a transparent one. Water can get picked up during a butane run, so extracts on fresh plant material will contain residual amounts of water, making it sappier. Since the plant has not been dried or cured prior to extraction, less terpenes have had the chance to evaporate, and therefore the end product has an overall higher terpene content versus the same material that had been dried and cured. This is best exemplified in fresh frozen or live-resin runs, which tend to come out on the sappy side. Because terpenes act as solvents, the higher the percentage of terpenes present, the more liquid-like the end product will turn out. Terpenes also play a role in the relative stability of an end product. An extract with decarboxylated THC will be sappier and the same goes for extracts with high CBD. This is because THC, unlike THCA, is an oil at room temperature, not a solid. Have you ever tried decarboxylating your oil to put in edibles? If you have, you are aware that after all the heat, your once rock-hard shatter is now permanently sappy no matter what you do to it. What temperatures your product has been exposed to before and during extraction will affect the consistency. The different components will dictate whether the extract is hard, moldable or sappy. As long as all the components of an extract are still in a single, homogeneous phase, the extract will be transparent. Hash oil is a solution of various compounds found in the cannabis plant and many things can affect how its extract will turn out. This mixture of phases does not allow light to pass through and can have anything from a dry crumbly texture to a peanut butter consistency Shatter, Pull-and-Snap, and Sap When it becomes wax or budder, the cannabinoids crystallize around each other and separate from the terpenes and waxes. In shatter, the cannabinoids (in their natural acid forms), terpenes and waxes are all mixed together in one phase and in a way that allows light to pass through the molecular structure, just like hard candy. This process is analogous to the transformation of shatter into wax. The sugar than crystallizes outwardly from there and from any nucleation point. A bubble, a notch in the container or any irregularity can cause nucleation of the sugar molecules around a nucleation point. Why do the crystals form? If you stir the solution while it is cooking or setting, some of the sugar molecules will bump into each other and crystallize, becoming a half gooey, half crunchy mess, instead of a clean translucent hard candy. It becomes opaque, has a weak, irregular structure and goes bad more quickly. Once crystals form, the candy isn’t hard candy anymore. If the process is disturbed or the candy gets affected during transport and storage, crystals can form in the hard candy. If done correctly, the sugar will dry as it cools and turn into what’s technically a glass. The Hard Candy AnalogyĪ great analogy for the process of making hash oil is making hard candy. So, we’ll break it down for you to understand the difference. This is some pretty hefty materials science jargon. The change from translucent to opaque is the hash oil changing from a single-phase substance (transparent extracts) to a multiphasic, amorphous substance (wax and budder). While wax and budder don’t contain perfect THCA crystals, the analogy applies. The agitation causes the THCA, which is a solid, to precipitate from the rest of the oil and crystallize. Physical agitation, temperature changes and moisture can all cause a translucent oil to change into an opaque wax. There are a number of variables one can manipulate that will affect the texture of hash oil. Extract artist Reme Kilam and High Times Cannabis Science Editor Sirius J teamed up to bridge the gap between wax and shatter. While the potency of wax and shatter is similar (it depends on the starting material), the physical difference between the two has remained a mystery… until now. What is the difference between wax and shatter? Is one or the other more potent? Is either better?
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