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

  • @polyrhythmEnglish
    7•1 year ago

    A lot of great responses here already. I wanted to offer a few thoughts.

    What does quality mean to you when it comes to concentrates? For me, I search for solventless rosins that try to capture the flavor and essence of the strain/plant being used.

    Concentrate quality is typically determined by:

    1. Input material - What did they use to make the concentrate? Cured nugs, trim, whole plants? As they say, “Fire in = fire out”
    2. Extraction method - Do they use some type of solvent (e.g. butane) to create the concentrate? Or is it solventless, and maybe created via ice water hash or press methods.

    Comparing outputs:

    • Distillate: While typically the most potent and used in vape carts, I’d generally say anything with distillate will be the least representative of the original material used (no taste), and something I try to avoid. Distillate = headaches, for me.
    • Live / Cured Resin: Resin is extracted with solvents, and retains more of the plant’s profile of terpenes and flavonoids. A great budget concentrate option. This is typically where you’ll find shatters, waxes, budders/badders, crumble, sugar, etc.
    • Live / Cured Rosin: Then we have Live Rosin which is extracted in a solventless method, and to me, is the best concentrate available. Full of flavor and character that is representative of the original plant/strain used. I’ve seen rosin come in shatter (fresh press), sauce, and badder-y variants.

    EDIT: Also if texture can be an issue, I know people who swear by the Hot Knife by Puffco: https://www.puffco.com/products/the-puffco-hot-knife

      • @polyrhythmEnglish
        2•1 year ago

        Glad it was helpful. From what I understand, yep, most diamonds are live resin and made with solvents. Solventless diamonds do exist though.

    • @[email protected]English
      2•1 year ago

      This is great information. I’d also like to add that marketing is very misleading in the cannabis space. Lots of brands might market as live resin, but then use an extraction method where they re-introduce terps (Botanical or Cannabis derived). It can be hard sometimes to find a brand with a quality product.

      Regarding diamonds - there are live rosin diamonds and jams, which are made via heat curing. You’re not likely to find that in a dispensary as much though. I like cold cure as it’s like a ‘cookie dough’ or ‘cake badder’ material - sometimes I’ll just use a second dab tool to help me drop it in, but I’ve heard good things about the Hot Knife as well.