English
French
Cannabis concentrates are all the rage, but with so many types available, how do you know where to start? If you’d like to buy concentrates online in Canada, then here we discuss the different extraction methods available.
Butane Honey Oil (BHO) Extractions
BHO extractions were originally used in the food and perfume industries. When used in the cannabis industry, raw cannabis flower is packed into a tube before butane is introduced in a pressurized environment to perform the extraction.
When the initial extraction is performed, the resulting cannabinoid-rich solution must be left so as the residual solvent can evaporate to safe levels. Many producers use a vacuum oven to purge the butane further and meet the regulatory requirements.
One drawback of BHO extraction is that it can be dangerous, so it is always best left to trained experts due to its flammable nature.
BHO extractions are most commonly used in the production of concentrates like shatter, crumble, budder, wax, and sap. With their high capacity for preserving cannabinoid content, BHO extraction techniques often average at around 80% THC.
CO2 Oil Extraction
CO2 extraction is widely used in the cannabis industry. It is both non-toxic and environmentally friendly.
It involves passing supercritical CO2 through raw cannabis buds to strip the trichomes from the plant. A liquid is then passed through a separator to remove the CO2 gas from the extracted material.
CO2 extraction is particularly effective at preserving terpene content in cannabis flower and, as a result, is especially beneficial when making waxes and oils.
An additional advantage is that it’s environmentally friendly. The CO2 gas used in extractions is pushed through a condenser, meaning the gas can liquify again before being recycled for reuse in other extractions.
Ethanol Extraction
Ethanol is widely used as a food preservative and is considered by the FDA to be safe for use. To extract THC from the cannabis plant, the raw plant material is soaked in a bath of ethanol.
The resulting solution is then refined further, where unwanted compounds are removed. It’s this step that helps ensure that concentrates made from ethanol extractions are some of the purest and best-tasting available.
Solventless Extractions
While there are many high-tech extraction techniques available, it’s also worth mentioning that some age-old methods exist that don’t require the use of solvents at all. Many of these solventless techniques have existed for centuries, and they often preserve much of the valuable cannabinoid, terpene, and flavonoid content of the original plant material.
Whether it’s hashish, charas, bubble hash, or rosin, these solventless concentrates require minimal specialized equipment. With some manual labour, along with heat and pressure, it’s possible to create some of the cleanest and strongest concentrates on the market that preserve the entire plant profile of compounds.
Get Ready to Buy Concentrates Online in Canada
Whether produced from BHO, ethanol, CO2, or your very own manual labour as you press the resin out by hand, there are countless ways to make cannabis concentrates.
If you love concentrates, then it’s important to know that each has its own advantages and disadvantages. With so many solvents used in the production of cannabis concentrates, it’s important to remember to always buy them from a reputable source.
