When your significant other or sister or roommate (or mom or grandma) confronts you and asks, “Why does my hair smell like popcorn and kush?!?” you’re going to look her straight in the eye and say, “I’m sorry. It’s called rosin. I’ll buy you another straightening iron.” Then, leave and go buy her another straightening iron.
Rosin Tech – it’s what the Kool Kidz are smoking as we turn the corner to 2016. Last week, we looked at some longstanding methods of creating concentrated marijuana. As another year dawns, we’re going to look forward into the lens of never-ending stoner ingenuity.
Marijuana smokers are eternally pushing the envelope to create a better product; just look at the progression of THC levels over the past couple of decades. Through crossbreeding and scientifically-guided growing methods, we have gone from average levels under 10 percent to having access to strains of more than 20 percent regularly available at your local pot shop. You probably remember having the following conversation at least twice in your life:
“Do you have a bong?”
“Nah.”
“A pipe?”
“Nope.”
“Papers.”
“Uhhhhhhhhh …”
“Dang. An apple?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“All right, we’re good to go.”
Rosin Tech aligns perfectly in the tradition of apple bowls, gravity bongs, gas mask delivery systems, vaporizers, wax pens and caviar joints. It’s a cheap, simple way to create an incredibly concentrated, clean and pure smokeable product on par with BHO (butane hash oil) – measuring out in the neighborhood of 80 percent THC – without the risk of blowing up your house or potentially exposing yourself to harsh chemical solvents.
All you need is a hair straightener, some parchment paper, a few buds, an oven mitt to save your hand from burns and a dabber to collect the sticky goodness that you will produce in just a few minutes. There are dozens of videos available online, which I recommend watching for both informational and entertainment purposes. But the basic process goes as follows: Turn on straightener, fold bud into parchment paper, align bud between heated irons, squeeze, collect, smoke.
There are a few details to creating your best product. Temperature matters. The 275 to 300-degree range seems to produce the optimal oil with the best range of terpenes and THC. A two-inch iron will make things easier for work-handling purposes. Buds can be squeezed two or three times to maximize yields. Certain strains will produce more rosin (most RosTechers report yields in the 10 to 15 percent range with occasional reports of strains delivering more than 20 percent). There are specialty products like micron strainers and modified T-shirt presses that will make the potential output greater and cleaner.
All in all, rosin is an excellent process for both getting high, because of its potency and simplicity, and delivery of the wonderful medicine contained in the cannabis plant, because of its cleanliness.
On a side note, even though we sit nearly as far as possible from summer, I would urge you to consider thoughts of sun, fun and growing some of your own plants. It won’t be long until it’s time to put your plants in the ground, so now is the time to consider what strains you might want to work with. In a month or two, it will be the time to acquire your seeds or clones for preparation and the strongest plants for the fall harvest will benefit from indoor care to develop the best root and stalk systems for the outdoor growing season. In the meantime, enjoy the application of your new knowledge and be well until we meet again.
Christopher Gallagher lives with his wife and their four dogs and two horses. Life is pretty darn good.
