I started my exploration with concentrates about a year ago. I got myself a puffco peak pro. I’ve tried all kinds of different concentrates, but not all of them. I’m wondering if concentrates are concentrates or are there some that are better than others or is it purely personal?
I like sugar wax as its easy to handle and isn’t messy. I like wet diamonds. Again easy to handle and might have felt more potent. Dry diamonds were weird and hard to handle, not sure I was a fan. Lastly, budder or batter type, I hate this one. Its so hard to handle and gets way too messy. Have been wanting to try crumble, never had much interest in shatter, idk if I’m missing any.
Would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks
So, it’s complicated. A lot of differences in concentrates ultimately can be rooted in 2 things which are style of extraction (which often dictates consistency) and how much remains when the dab is “done” i.e. chazz (which often denotes how much byproduct there was), but realistically the difference between dabbing 85-95% diamonds or full spectrum rosin (generally ~$50/g) is pretty minimal. However the difference between 60-75% $5/g live resin is a step down, and below that is old school BHO shit (30-50%) which is literally over half plant matter.
Length of high? Maybe a little extended, maybe less is more if you manage that with tolerance and desire. Level of high? I mean, how high can high be… How quickly you get tired/couchlocked? How heady/spaced out?
For me personally, the difference between the %5/g live resin and anything higher quality is simply whether or not I get a headache. Other than that, like I said it pretty much comes down to how much chazz is left behind and how long the dab itself lasts (for cold start full evaporation).
You can actually test this fairly easy with the PuffCo :) I use the Focus V Carta, but all you do is get your dab and time the full session. That means turn it on, let it heat up, melt the dab in as it reaches temp (noting how long it takes for the oil to stop boiling - that means when the oil goes flat/settles down from sizzling), and then how long/how many hits are produced.
You’ll likely notice that something like diamonds may last a little longer even with relatively similar sized dabs of something lower quality, maybe as many as 6 sizeable hits. However whether that gets you higher for how high it can be priced is another story.
My general rule of thumb is trying to average the price/g and the percentage ratios. Live resin may only be a little over 70% but 10-15% of that is terpenes. For $5/g compared to the $35/g rosin? I’ll take the $5 dabs.
Comparatively, if all they were to have were BHO or $50+ actual quality dabs, I’d take literally anything over BHO because I value my health lol.
P.S. crumble is kind of like dry diamonds in the style of a mix of sugar/batter. Totally dry so not sticky but very dry and it crumbles. It’s ok, sometimes there’s a decent amount of leftover wax. Shatter can be quality but also like its name it needs to be shattered from its little sheet. This can cause pieces to go flying. I also find that shatter evaporates quickly compared to other dabs. Worth trying once in a while if they look nice and clear.
Wow thank you for this very informational reply. So far it seems like folks on Lemmy are overall friendlier and more willing to engage in the question or convo. But anyway…so which types are the non bho? Just rosin and diamonds? And when you say chaz, do you mean just gunk leftover after its done? If so, yes that’s definitely badder in my experience. Just not a fan of that at all. And for some reason I always assumed shatter was like the lowest of the low, so I always avoided it, but interesting to hear you say there’s good shatter out there. Honestly man, I don’t really ever feel high anymore. Likely tolerance, but wondering if my effexor dulls THC effects? Anyway, a happy medium? Would that be like sugar wax and crumble you think? Aka most band for you buck?
I was a big user on vaporents and all my hobby subreddits and I love sharing what I can when I can :D I’m always happy to share! BHO isn’t too prevalent anymore thankfully, but some places to have it. BHO is almost always black or dark brown so not many places have it anymore, but it’s basically extracting by freezing with butane… lol yeah.
Yeah, chazz is the dark gunk that’s leftover, it’s unavoidable it’ll always be there but it’s primarily plant matter so technically the more pure the less there will be, but I feel like there’s a line between $50 and $5 and some are more or less worth it than others but it’s always pretty vendor/brand dependent. But you’re pretty set with sugars and diamonds, but don’t be afraid to try lower priced roughly equal percentage concentrates to get a sense of what works for you.
Here’s just a quick google for the med: you may have comes across it
Dabbing and managing tolerance can be a bit harder but my general rule of thumb is try to wait as long as you can in the day before you start. Otherwise, just trying to stretch the most out of small amounts by doing cold starts.
Wow thanks again! So I’ve found sources with what I think to be good quality diamonds and sugar, there is almost never any left behind. Right now I’m on the badder and as expressed, I’m not a fan lol. But the discrepancies in some of the prices are insane. I usually find stuff in the $50-$75 range for 5 grams even up to half oz sometimes. I outta try some crumble and shatter I think. Those might be the only ones ive not tried
Oh for sure they produce way less chazz, just after a week you’ll inevitably still have some. Compared to most other concentrates though where it’ll be a day or few.
Yeah badder is ok but nothing special. If you’re used to higher quality stuff then it’ll definitely feel like crap in comparison haha! Crumble is around the same level, tiny bit higher quality but not necessarily always the case. It’s mostly just drier and true to the name.
Shatter can be nicer than both but it doesn’t mean it will be lol. Also all shatter kinda tastes similar IMO but it’s still a nice flavor. Worth trying at least ;)
Just to throw this out there - I’ve actually found the best concentrates to be in batters/butters & saucier consistencies. They can be more of a pain to deal with if they’re too saucy but in general the best flavors tend to follow this rule. For me, shatter and crumble are a pain in the ass to work with (for a few reasons) and rarely have much flavor by comparison.
Also on the topic of chaz - I’ve never experienced more chaz between any of the consistencies, only between higher and lower quality dabs. But I also dab fairly low temp so maybe that’s why? The only exception I’ve found to that is cheap rosin - I’m guessing because the process of pressing lower grade hash leaves behind more actual plant material, lipids, etc.