“ THE BEST possible concentrates would be badder , sugar , and sauce .”
Concentrates may have been first created on the west coast of the United States , but the global cannabis market at large is starting to awaken to the purity , tastes , and benefits of dabbing and concentrate consumption . Concentrates make up nearly 10 percent of total cannabis sales in the U . S . and since Canada legalized cannabis 2.0 , sales of concentrates are steadily growing and are expected to surpass the current 2.9 percent market share to be in line with U . S . percentage sales within the next three years . Even South America is seeing the early concentrate entrants and it is only a matter of time before Europe and others develop legal frameworks for manufacturers to offer this significant sector of cannabis products .
Quality Genetics
Concentrate success is highly coordinated with the actual genetics of the cultivar . The reason is when concentrating the essential oils of the plant with many methods of extraction , the ratio of cannabinoids and terpenes is being retained . Traditionally , cannabis concentrates are made using dried and cured flower but over the last decade there has been a growing trend of using freshly harvested frozen cannabis to further preserve the highly volatile aromatic terpenes . No country has more tasty genetics than the U . S . for concentrates . Canada is advancing in the genetics race , the Netherlands is making a comeback , and Israel has been on the cutting edge . Europe at large still has a way to go in the legal markets for genetics and concentrates because most growers have two or three varietals at this stage and concentrates are not considered medical , despite having medical characteristics .
Defining ‘ The Best ’
There are many different methods of extracting cannabis to produce a concentrate and even more subcategories of those concentrates . Generally , concentrates fall under these categories of extraction : ethanol , carbon dioxide , light hydrocarbon , and solventless . There are arguments to be made that any of these methods can produce the best concentrate , but it depends on your definition of the ‘ best .’ The definition we are going to use is a concentrate that preserves the integrity of the cannabinoids and terpenes as presented by the plant during its flowering cycle , and that can be reproduced scientifically and methodically at a scale that can consistently service a global market . With our term ‘ best ’ defined , we eliminate ethanol extraction and CO 2 extraction for the solvents ’ inability to preserve the terpenes . This leaves us with solventless extraction and light hydrocarbon extraction , both of which can make incredible concentrates that will make your mouth water . Looking deeper at our definition , however , we eliminate solventless extraction because there are difficulties scaling the methods beyond small-batch processing . This leaves us with light hydrocarbon extractions that typically utilize a combination of butane and propane .
Badder is a whipped concentrate with a creamy consistency , similar to cake batter . It should have a paleyellow to golden color and usually looks wet to the touch due to the high concentration of terpenes .
Sugar has a wet , grainy consistency and contains small crystals of THCA suspended in terpenes . It looks similar to applesauce . It will have an above-average terpene profile and very high cannabinoid content . This less-viscous chunky consistency is very popular because it is easy to get onto a dab tool and it has a very loud profile . This product is also referred to as high-cannabinoid full-spectrum extract as it is the precursor to sauce .
Sauce is a super sticker concentrate that usually includes one or two large THCA crystals in a pool of terpenes . This is made by further processing of sugar so the terpenes have further separated from the THCA , allowing the THCA to nucleate to larger facets . This product is one of , if not the most , flavorful concentrate you can produce .
photos by : Daren Miller @ dmilldigital2
Light hydrocarbons have been the bread and butter of both the illicit market and commercial extractors for many years . It is a method that provides the potential for high yields and great flavor . The basic principle is that gas is turned into a liquid , which is used as a solvent to separate the desirable compounds in your biomass from undesirable plant material like chlorophyll , waxes , and fats . Hydrocarbons are extremely volatile organic chemical compounds that contain only two types of atoms : hydrogen and carbon . The two most commonly used hydrocarbons in cannabis extraction are propane and n-butane .
Maximum Yield 85