Everything you need to know about Rosin and how to make it.

Rosin is a relatively recent trend that’s making waves in the marijuana world. It is the cost-effective DIY answer to a pure cannabis concentrate. In this article, we will explore the complete guide to rosin. This includes what it is, what it does, and how you can make it at home.

What Is Rosin?

Rosin is a cannabis concentrate created via a specific extraction technique that involves no solvents. The process involves the use of heat and pressure to squeeze resinous sap from cannabis flower. This often results in a very clean-tasting product. Rosin also has a high level of cannabinoids and terpenes, making it a highly sought-after product.

One of the great things about rosin is that you can create it from cannabis flower, kief, or hash. Apart from its versatility and quality, rosin is incredibly easy to make if you have the right equipment. Indeed, the entire process takes no more than 15 minutes.

Apart from its versatility and quality, rosin is incredibly easy to make.

A major issue with other DIY cannabis concentrates is the level of danger involved. There are many reports of serious accidents and even tragedies occurring when using butane or ethanol to extract THC. While CO2 extraction is safer, it requires extremely specialized and expensive tools.

Another problem with solvents is the fact that they remain in your product. It is quite clear that ingesting the likes of butane is bad for your health!

Rosin ensures you avoid all of the above issues. It is a full-spectrum product that offers dozens of cannabinoids, flavonoids, and terpenes. The other alluring aspect of rosin is its impressive potency. High-quality rosin can contain 70-80% THC.

Also, a lab test will show that premium-grade rosin contains absolutely no residual hydrocarbon.

How Do You Make Rosin?

Rosin uses an extremely quick, easy, and safe extraction process. The best bit is that you probably have everything you require at home! There are two distinct methods of making it. The first involves minimal equipment. It won’t create commercial-grade rosin, but it will provide you with a reasonably potent concentrate.

The second method involves purchasing a special heated press which can cost several hundred dollars. Let’s focus on the cheap and cheerful way to make rosin.

Here’s what you need:

1. A pair of hair straighteners
2. Parchment paper
3. A collection tool
4. Heat resistant gloves

You can complete the whole process in 15 minutes. Get it right, and you’re rewarded with a high-quality concentrate. It can even challenge the flavor, potency, and yield of old-school solvent-based extraction products.

Put your marijuana flower onto the parchment-lined straightener. Not only will the parchment protect the straighteners but collect the waxy substance as it melts. It’s important to ensure the temperature is no higher than 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Squeeze and apply pressure on your cannabis with the straighteners. You should see a wax-like substance appear, which will become more brittle once cooled.

By applying the pressure and heat from the straighteners, you isolate the concentrated cannabinoids from the flowers. The biggest element is the pressure you can put on the material; the greater the pressure, the better the results. Putting immense pressure on the plant matter will force the liquid concentrate to come out from the material, leading to a better product.

While the heat is necessary, it is important to ensure you’re not overheating the material. An excessively high temperature can damage some of the cannabinoids and terpenes in the bud.

You can apply this method of extraction to cannabis flowers, dried buds, and more.

Raw material: flower or hash?

There are some types of rosin, and here we will talk a little about them: Rosin after being pressed

• Flower rosin is the extraction done directly with the flowers in the press or flat iron. It can be made both from the most homemade methods and equipment as well as very professional (as we will show you in a minute), and its quality will depend almost entirely on the quality of the plant you use. The rest, of course, will vary depending on the temperature and pressure used – you must have the talent to combine ideal pressure, temperature, and moisture content of the plant material. –
• Hash rosin is the extraction of the extraction – using pressure, temperature and filter bags to make hash of great purity. It is a double refining that, when done well, generates a very high quality hash and that melts completely when smoked or vaporized, because it does not contain vegetable matter! As we already mentioned up there, it is a technique widely used to “reuse” hash leftovers from ice production, to transform it into something like rosin, without vegetable matter.
• There is also live rosin: a rosin made with fresh frozen – which means that the plant’s still alive and with fresh trichomes and terpenes! In fresh frozen, the plant is harvested, the excess leaves are removed and soon after this process it freezes for at least 24 hours.

How does its color vary in rosin?

Normally, the quality rosin has a golden-yellow color, with good transparency and brightness. Basically, there are three main factors that can change or affect the color of a rosin:

• Material quality;
• Freshness of the material;
• Pressing temperature.

Rosin in batter consistency. It’s like making whipped cream. The most important factor that affects rosin clarity and coloring is the quality of the raw material. We can argue that the quality depends a lot on what each one looks for in his cannabis and in the extractions, but there are some indicators: terpene profile, trichome density, material density and active cannabinoid content are some of them. With that said, to simplify things, it’s a scenario of input quality = output quality. Another important aspect is the way in which the material has been dried and cured, which also plays a major factor in the clarity of the rosin when it is being extracted.

Second, the fresher and more recent the material, the better the color of your rosin. As cannabis flowers, kief and hashish age, they oxidize, which also changes their cannabinoid profile. Based on our research and experience, the best time to press is immediately after the material is dried and cured. Thus, the material will not have undergone much oxidation and will still have its terpenes preserved. However, if you press a high quality material that is older and has undergone extensive curing (done correctly), the result will be darker – but it will taste amazing!

The third key factor is the temperature at which the material is pressed. Simply put, rosin exposed to high temperatures for a long time tends to darken considerably and is subject to loss of terpenes (but higher yield).

Temperatures can vary depending on the material you want to press, whether flower or hash. Many hash makers find good results in the range of 165 to 250 F. We believe that, above 250 F, the terpene profile of the material tends to degrade significantly. Here in California, Alice, who is our student of cultivation and hash making, recommends 170 F for ICE hash rosin.

How you can extract it at home

The rosin is a safe and affordable option for making hash at home – after all, Harm Reduction also covers strategies for not putting our bodies at risk when venturing into the universe of hash making! You just gotta have a very common device: the flat iron. That’s right: in addition to leaving your hair super cool, it can still help you extract a tasty hash in a simple way!

The ideal is a flat iron that you can control the temperature, but if you don’t have it, you can do it with the normal one – being very careful not to burn yourself or your material.

But there is a difference: if you are going to make hash rosin, in addition to the flat iron, you will need the filter bags. If you press a hash without the bags, the oil will come in contact with the plant material and can contaminate it. With flowers, you don’t necessarily need them – only if you want to.

How to make hash rosin #1:

In the case of hash, as we have already said, the material will need to be wrapped in a filter bag with different sizes (usually at 90 and 25u). They must be placed inside each other, to filter only the good part!

You will need:

• Parchment paper (preferably a specific paper);
• Hash;
• 90 and 25u filter bag;
• Flat iron.

Step by step

• First step: Seperate the hash into correct portions for your size of rosin bag.
• Second step: cut the parchment paper into pieces in whatever origami method you feel is best, however we suggest you allow the rosin to flow away from the plates quickly, but be careful to not let it flow off of the paper. Be sure to make a fold to catch the rosin after it flows away from the plates a bit or cut the paper large enough so it cools and stops flowing before it gets to the edge of the parchment paper. 
• Third step: put the material inside the bags. Gather your folded parchment paper, insert the bagged material, and with the hot iron, press for approximately five seconds, possibly up to 15 to 30 seconds if you are pressing larger amounts. Be careful to not add too much pressure too quickly as this can cause the rosin bag to slip out from between the hot plates, or cause a blowout because the hash has not gotten warm enough to flow the oil through the bag.
• Fourth step: when you open the paper, you will see a few golden rosin around what was crushed by the pressure. Lift the now squished rosin bag carefully out of the parchment paper while it is still warm, then gather the rosin with a dab tool and store in a jar or parchment paper. It is possible to repeat the same operation several times.

Tip to make it: if you are in a very hot place, place the folded paper with its material inside a ziplock and place in the freezer or refrigerator for a few minutes before doing the extraction, be careful when you remove the rosin however to not add moisture through condensation when you open the ziplock bag. You can also place a piece of metal or ceramic dish in the freezer for a time, take it out and use it as a cold table to help gather rosin that is too sticky and oily in the heat, this cold will help it act more like a solid and be easier to gather up into one piece. 

How to make hash rosin #2:

In the case of hash, as we have already said, the material will need to be wrapped in a filter bag with different sizes (usually at 90 and 25u). They must be placed inside each other, to filter only the good part!

You will need:

• Parchment paper (preferably a specific paper);
• Hash;
• 90 and 25u filter bag;
• Flat iron.

Step by step

• First step: Seperate the hash into correct portions for your size of rosin bag.
• Second step: cut the parchment paper into pieces in whatever origami method you feel is best, however we suggest you allow the rosin to flow away from the plates quickly, but be careful to not let it flow off of the paper. Be sure to make a fold to catch the rosin after it flows away from the plates a bit or cut the paper large enough so it cools and stops flowing before it gets to the edge of the parchment paper. 
• Third step: put the material inside the bags. Gather your folded parchment paper, insert the bagged material, and with the hot iron, press for approximately five seconds, possibly up to 15 to 30 seconds if you are pressing larger amounts. Be careful to not add too much pressure too quickly as this can cause the rosin bag to slip out from between the hot plates, or cause a blowout because the hash has not gotten warm enough to flow the oil through the bag.
• Fourth step: when you open the paper, you will see a few golden rosin around what was crushed by the pressure. Lift the now squished rosin bag carefully out of the parchment paper while it is still warm, then gather the rosin with a dab tool and store in a jar or parchment paper. It is possible to repeat the same operation several times.

Tip to make it: if you are in a very hot place, place the folded paper with its material inside a ziplock and place in the freezer or refrigerator for a few minutes before doing the extraction, be careful when you remove the rosin however to not add moisture through condensation when you open the ziplock bag. You can also place a piece of metal or ceramic dish in the freezer for a time, take it out and use it as a cold table to help gather rosin that is too sticky and oily in the heat, this cold will help it act more like a solid and be easier to gather up into one piece. 

What Are the Benefits of Rosin?

There are very few disadvantages to this industry-changing concentrate. Rosin is:

• Cheaper than many comparable concentrates.
• Extremely easy to create at home.
• A relatively safe form of extraction.
• Versatile
• Potent

Rosin is a fantastic way for less experienced users to experiment with a fairly safe extraction method. It is also a product that medical marijuana patients love. As it contains so many cannabinoids, it enables users to benefit from the entourage effect. Rosin has no solvents or other harmful by-products, and you can vaporize it. As a result, you don’t have to inhale any marijuana smoke.

The extremely high terpene level means you get to enjoy all the aromas and flavors of marijuana.

We recommend using a dab rig or a vaporizer when using rosin. Either way, you’ll need to expose it to temperatures of up to 480 degrees. This is how you’ll ensure every active chemical evaporates fully. Rosin requires a lower temperature than other concentrates for this process to occur. This is because it doesn’t go through the lipid and fat removal process.

Downsides of Rosin

Relatively speaking, there are few downsides. If you have the equipment, it is inexpensive to make at home. However, its popularity has driven the cost of commercial grade rosin up. Also, not every dispensary stocks it at present, despite the rise in demand.

After dabbing rosin, you might find that it leaves a residue. You’ll need to clean your vaping device or dab rig after use. Otherwise, the residue becomes sticky and difficult to remove.

At up to 80%, rosin isn’t the best option for novices or individuals with a low THC tolerance.

Regarding health risks, it is important to remember that rosin is extremely high in THC. At up to 80%, it isn’t the best option for novices or individuals with a low THC tolerance. Overuse could cause dizziness, headaches, paranoia, and anxiety.

Finally, be careful if you decide to make it at home. Once the straighteners reach the right temperature, you could get severely burned if you accidentally touch the heated part.

Overall, rosin is an exciting cannabis concentrate product. It has a long list of benefits that significantly outweigh the downsides.

It is a great-tasting way to enjoy extremely high levels of THC. Rosin is a full-spectrum product that is becoming highly popular amongst medical marijuana patients. With no solvents or other harmful by-products, it is arguably a healthier option than concentrates that use chemicals like butane.

If you can’t find it commercially, you can always try to make it at home. DIY rosin is easy to make and highly satisfying.