CULTIVATORS CORNER ►
Ever Wonder What
Live Resin Is and
How It ’ s Made ?
by Spencer Pernikoff , contributing writer
All photos courtesy Proper Cannabis Brands
We asked Larry Decristofaro , the Director of Processing at Proper Cannabis , to help guide our readers through the process of making “ Live Resin ” and provide a deeper explanation of the process . Proper Cannabis is a vertically integrated cannabis company — it is licensed to operate in all phases of the Missouri Medical Cannabis industry , from cultivation to manufacturing and retail dispensaries . It ’ s based in St . Louis . Defarocristo began homegrowing in 2009 before moving to Colorado in 2014 , where he won multiple Cannabis Cups for both hash and flower . He moved back to Missouri to work with Proper Cannabis and share his vast knowledge of the cannabis industry . Here ’ s is what Defarocristo had to say when asked questions about the process of making Live Resin for patients .
Q : First , What is Live Resin ?
Q : What ’ s your process for producing live resin products ?
A : Our [ Proper Cannabis ] process for live resin starts with strain selection . We go through our next-to-be-harvested room , make a report based on what ’ s available and what we want to see in hash form , and then decide what to freeze .
For example , if we ’ re going to pull down Alien Rock Candy for live resin , we have the cultivators harvest those plants , then our processing team freezes them in our cryogenic freezer or directly on dry ice .
We maintain those low temperatures throughout our extraction process ; we achieve those same low temperatures with our chiller and dry ice . This allows us to have all the volatile terpenes and flavonoids that typically boil off in the drying process in our final live resin product .
Q : How long has live resin been in the market ?
A : Live resin is an accurate representation of the living plant in a concentrated , smokeable form . A great way to think about it is to compare a living and dried plant . Their smell is drastically different
Terpenes are incredibly volatile — you can lose up to 70 % of them during the drying process . That means the living plant has a much more complex smell and flavor ; in turn , that complexity comes through in live resin form .
A : Since around 2008 , though it wasn ’ t really a marketable term until Kind Bill made it so in 2014 .
Billy ’ s keeping an eye on some upcoming Cookies + Cream at the Proper cultivation facility .