Rosin is an alternative means of consuming cannabis. Judging by the number of presses being purchased it appears to have become a more popular method amongst aficionados in recent years. So, how do you consume and how do you make it?
Let’s look at the ways to enjoy it first:
Dabbing
No better way to start a list about the uses of rosin without mentioning dabbing? Yes, you’ll need some equipment like a dab rig, nail, and blow torch, but dabbing rosin is a classic for a very good reason! It’s the best way to enjoy this favorite solventless extract. Plus, you can’t beat that superior terp taste, making it totally worthwhile the effort involved.
Rolled in a Joint
If you are looking for something simpler then why not just put some rosin in a joint for an extra kick. You can sprinkle it on top of your bud and just roll it up as normal. As an alternative, if heated a little, rosin will revert to a semi-liquid state and can be rolled around the outside of your spliff. You can even roll it again in kief to make a joint with a real kick!
Portable Vape
Vapes have become increasingly popular as a friendly and convenient way to enjoy cannabis. You don’t need a room full of equipment to dab rosin, because portable electronic vaporizers like the Yocan Evolve Plus XL Vaporizer are designed specifically for dabbing concentrates. Just load the container, close the vaporizer and allow the battery to heat up the rosin to that perfect dabbing temperature. And there you are! You can dab (almost) anywhere, anytime.
Sprinkle on a Bowl
For bong lovers out there, you can simply drop some rosin on top of the bowl of your favorite flower. While combustion isn’t the best way to consume rosin, it will still light up like any normal bong hit. So, even if you don’t have a dab rig, you can still enjoy the superior potency of rosin with your trusty, old bong.
Make Edibles
No need to spend hours decarboxylating cannabis flower and infusing it into butter. With rosin, you can add it directly to food while you’re cooking, or easily combine it with butter or oil. You can even make tea with it, or add it to smoothies if you like. Best of all, there’s absolutely no plant material in rosin to ruin the flavor of your favorite foods.
Ok, that’s how you can use it. Now let’s see how to obtain it in the first place:
Pressing from the flower is one of the simplest ways to make rosin, but despite that simplicity, it is still not easy to get a good yield out of your presses. In fact, one of the most frequently asked questions surrounding flower rosin is, “How can I improve my yield?”
Novice rosin makers can usually produce a solventless concentrate that is 10 to 15 percent of the weight of their starting material easily, but improving beyond that requires some extra effort and knowledge. Look to aim for 25% using the following guides:
Base Materials
Old bud simply produces less oil than fresh flower, that’s a fact. If you’re looking to improve your yields, then it’s worth going the extra mile to only use the freshest bud you can get your hands on. If you grow your own, so much the better. You can use it as soon as it is ready.
Secondly, the quality of your bud will make a big difference. Flower that has been cultivated to its full potential will perform better than poorly grown bud. Additionally, the strain of flower you press will also make a difference. Some strains work better than others because they contain more oil-producing trichomes to begin with. Here are three of the recommended strains OG Kush, GG4, commonly known as Gorilla Glue #4, and White Widow. You can order seeds here.
Humidity
Another critical factor affecting yield is the relative humidity of your flower. If your bud is too dry, the plant material will act like a sponge, sucking oil back into itself. This will obviously reduce your yield, so in order to remedy this problem, it’s recommended to ensure your bud has a relative humidity of 55 to 62 percent before you press it.
Filter Bag Size
If you’re using filter bags for pressing buds, and you should, then the micron rating of the bag you use will also affect your returns. Generally speaking, the larger the size of the filter, the more material it will allow to pass through it, which will increase your yield.
However, this comes at the expense of quality as particles will make it into your end product. Ultimately, choosing a micron filter size is a tradeoff between quality and yield. Around 115 microns is seen as a good medium. However, trying to use slightly larger filters is well worth experimenting with because you’ll probably squeeze out a bit more rosin without reducing the quality to a noticeable level.
Pressure and Temperature
Getting the right levels of temperature and pressure are all important to maximize yields. Too high a temperature will burn the buds and too much pressure will force unwanted plant material into the rosin.
There is no real guide to these two items as both will depend to a large extent on the strains being pressed.
When your rosin press is up to optimal pressure, oil will begin to seep out quite quickly at first. After a short time, this flow will begin to slow, and at this point, you can begin to incrementally increase the pressure 5 to 10 psi at a time. Doing this will allow a little extra rosin with each bump in pressure. If your press has guides look to these to obtain the best results but even so some trial and error will ultimately enable you to know the best settings for optimum results.
Rosin Presses
Look around on YouTube, forums, and on social media and you’ll soon see why NugSmasher is highly regarded in the community despite being somewhat new to the game. They’re definitely a crowd favorite known for being affordable, well put together, and very easy to use— In short, all the workings of a good rosin press.
NugSmasher Rosin Presses are products of innovative craftsmanship and next-level technology from a fast-growing international company out of Corona, California.
The NugSmasher Mini is the entry point of the NugSmasher lineup. It’s low-cost, extremely powerful and packs a big punch (2 tons of pressure to be exact). Because of the small size and footprint, it’s great for travel and makes a great counter-top unit that doubles as a conversation starter when you have your friends over. The Mini is operated manually through a hand crank and offers either a 2.5″ round heated plates or 2.5” x 2.5” square pressing area which can accommodate up to 5g of material with ease.
The original and the press that started it all—you can think of the NugSmasher Original is the bigger version of the Mini. There are two main differences between the two units: the Original has 6x the pressure the Mini can do, 12 tons to be exact. Along with that, the Original features a 4″ x 4″ pressing area, allowing you to press up to 20g of material at a time.
The newest addition to the NugSmasher lineup is the NugSmasher X. This NugSmasher offers a simple way to extract quality rosin out of your cannabis material. With its easy to use one-touch operation, get a precise automatic-controlled pressure to process up to 14 grams of materials in one go thanks to its 4″ x 4″ plates..
Going up a notch further, we have the NugSmasher XP—XP being short for eXPert’s choice. The NugSmasher XP boasts a larger 4” x 6” dual heated plates and it also features a hydraulic pressure gauge along with the capability of putting down 12 tons of pressure. Through its bigger plates and 12-tons of pressure, pressing up to 1 oz should be a piece of cake for this hulk of a machine.
Last but not the least, we’ve got the NugSmasher Pro. The NugSmasher Pro is ideal for those who want a workhorse of a rosin press and those who demand the most out of their rosin presses—the question is, will you be able to keep up with it? The NugSmasher Pro features one of the largest plate sizes in the industry at 7″ x 10″. An engineering feat in itself, you can choose to squish pneumatically using an air compressor or manually using the hand-operated jack. It features 20 Tons of pressure which should allow you to squeeze over 100 grams or so without any problems at all.
