Know Your Herbs

There’s nothing better than opening the bottom chamber of your grinder and finding a small mountain of dust — otherwise known as kief. 

While it may not look like much, kief is actually the most potent part of the cannabis plant. It’s made by separating the trichomes, which contain the plant’s cannabinoids and terpenes, from the rest of your flower. Kief is often dubbed “nature’s concentrate,” but unlike other types of concentrates, it is both inexpensive and easy to make at home.

Collecting kief on a budget

Depending on your location, the price of a gram of flower fluctuates between under $7 and nearly $20. As my fellow dab lovers know, concentrated forms of cannabis offer a more intense and longer-lasting high than flower at a higher price point. According to WM News data, a gram of crumble has a median price of $37 and a gram of shatter has a median price of $40 Alternatively, kief is much cheaper with a median price of $15 per gram. 

Collecting kief requires essentially no effort on your part if you have the right tools. The easiest way to collect kief on your own is to invest in a quality grinder with a kief catcher. A 4-piece or 5-piece metal grinder is ideal as the teeth tend to be sharper and more durable than plastic grinders, which helps produce a finer grind and thus, more kief. 

Once there is enough fallout in your kief catcher, you can scrape the contents out and use it to add an extra kick to bowls, joints, or vapes. Because it is much more potent than flower alone, you only need a small amount to notice the benefits of kief. 

Should you invest in a kief box?

If you’re looking to score larger quantities of kief, a kief box may be a useful accessory for you to maximize the yield. A kief box is literally a box that contains two compartments situated on top of each other and separated by a series of metal screens and filters. To use it, all you have to do is put your buds in the top compartment, close the box, and shake. The shaking motion sifts the trichome crystals on the outside of the buds through the metal screens and filters it into the bottom compartment. 

You won’t see serious kief collecting right away, but through repeated use you’ll definitely get your money’s worth out of a kief box. 

How kief enhances your smoking experience

You may be wondering how much kief it really takes to enhance your next smoke sesh. The short answer is: it depends.

If you don’t typically use concentrates or you haven’t tried kief before, your best bet is to sprinkle a very, very little in your joint or blunt as you’re rolling. After you smoke it, you can see how you feel and add more kief to the mix if needed. 

Another option is the ever-popular twax joint, in which the outside of a joint is rolled in kief. You can do this by dipping it in a sticky concentrate first, such as budder or sauce, or just by licking the joint then dipping it in your kief. It should be noted that some believe adding so much concentrate onto one joint to be somewhat of a waste and expensive — the opposite of what we’re going for in this guide.

Keep in mind that a little goes a long way and start by dipping only the top third or fourth of the joint in kief before trying to coat it entirely. The same logic applies when adding kief to a bowl or vape — less is more until proven otherwise. 

If you’ve graduated from sprinkling kief on top of your weed, you can also use it to cut down on the amount of weed you’re smoking. Next time you pack your bowl or bong, try filling the bottom two-thirds of the bowl with regular bud and the top third with a nice dusting of kief. This ratio is subject to change, though we recommend always using bud as a vehicle for kief since it has such a fine and powdery consistency. No one wants to waste a precious kief bowl when it all falls into your piece on the first inhale. 

What About Vaping? 

You can also boost your vaping experience with a layer of kief on top of your bud or you can vape kief on its own. Vaping it on its own will offer a similar effect to vaping other concentrates, meaning you’ll experience a flavorful hit and a euphoric high. Just measure out your desired bud-to-kief ratio (or kief-to-kief ratio), load it into your vape’s chamber or oven, and you’re good to go. If you’re ready to take it to the next level, kief can also be used to make rosin, hash or edibles at home. 

No matter how you use it, kief was put on the planet to prove that an out-of-this-world high doesn’t have to come with an outrageous price tag. 

---

Featured image by Gina Coleman/Weedmaps

The post How to Save Money With Kief appeared first on Weedmaps News.

Source: wm

In the modern age of weed, few things are as exciting as making your own dabs, and the Rosinbomb Rocket gives the ever-growing concentrate community the opportunity to do just that. 

In 2014, Rosinbomb entered the cannabis space after Ryan Mayer, president and founder of Maverick Technologies, switched from pressing fruits and vegetables to pressing dabs. At the time that rosin started making waves, Mayer threw some heat plates on his juice press and Rosinbomb was born. 

What is the Rosinbomb Rocket?

Rosinbomb released the Rocket in November 2017. This tabletop press is still considered one of the best personal use rosin presses on the market. One standout selling point is that it can reach up to 1,500 pounds of pressure without a bulky and loud air compressor, which makes it fine to put on a coffee table or kitchen counter. Mayer wants people, whether medical or recreational, to have complete control over what they are putting into their bodies. “That’s where the Rocket was born,” Mayer said, “We just keep trying to nip at our own heels and create, and innovate.” An electric actuator, which controls the presses movement mechanism, allows the Rocket to operate smoothly without an air compressor

The Rocket is meant to feel like a home appliance.

Setup

For a surprising amount of innovation and structure, the Rosinbomb is extremely simple to set up. “There’s not a lot to do. When you take it out of the box, you plug it into the wall, wait five minutes for it to heat up and you’re pushing the “up” button to smash.” 

At full pressure, the Rocket will be pulling three amps of electricity. You’ll also have to take into account the ten inches of clearance it will need from the surface you’re putting it on to the top of the device, but the setup is minimal. 

How to use the Rosinbomb Rocket

Mayer explains that there are lots of little things you can do to increase the yield, as well as temperature adjustments to get the product exactly how you like. But the most important thing for the best end product is the quality of the material used. That can range from shake or trim material to best-case-scenario fresh frozen flowers.

If you’re handling flower and you want rosin that is a bit more buttery and tasty, Mayer recommends setting the temperature between 175°— 220°F. For flowers, you’ll want to be on the higher range of the heat setting. When pressing dry sift, the temperature should be below 190°F.

1. Set the Rocket to your preferred temperature.
2. Whether you’re using a micron screen bag or just a giant pretty bud, load it between two pieces of parchment paper and place it in the press. 
3. Press for 30 seconds and release the press. Note: If you continue to press after 30 seconds, the material will start moving around, and the rosin will be displaced as it’s coming out. 
4. Activate the press again and wait for 60 — 90 seconds for everything to squish out. 
5. Remove the parchment paper from the press and remove the micron bag or any spent material from the center of the sheet.

If you’re pressing flowers, the results should have a more butter-like consistency. When pressing high-end dry sift, the resulting rosin can have the appearance of yellow-stained sea glass. 

Cleaning

All you need for cleaning this device is 91% isotropic alcohol and cotton swabs. Mayer suggests doing the first cleaning when the plates are still lukewarm — it makes the process a lot easier since the rosin hasn’t hardened. You can also set the temperature to 120°F as it’s cooling and clean from there.  

“After that, just grab the paper towel, cotton swab, whatever you’d like, add the alcohol and just clean it like a normal appliance,” Mayer advised. 

What’s the appeal?

Using a personal press to create rosin and concentrates has many plus sides — especially for those who grow their own flower. Hate pesticides and unknown chemicals in your cannabis concentrate? The Rosinbomb offers a clean approach — simply use your own homegrown flower or dry sift and skip the butane or propane solvents commonly used in other extraction methods. You’ll know exactly what’s going into the end product and won’t have to worry about inorganic substances leaching into your fresh dabs. 

If you’re looking to save a little cash, the Rosinbomb also appeals to the frugal spender. Concentrates can be an expensive hobby, especially for dab enthusiasts. A gram of concentrate can cost anywhere between $30 to $50, give or take a few extra depending on your state and favorite brand. When you have your own press, the machine eventually pays for itself (and then some). 

And since a press only requires pressure and heat to deliver a delicious product, it’s one of the safest options — there’s zero risks of explosion or chemical leakage from the contraption itself. You also don’t have to worry about breathing in unwanted solvent chemicals when the extraction process is in full swing. 

If you’re curious about making your own dabs and cutting out the middleman, consider getting your own Rosinbomb and indulge in homemade, fresh concentrates.  

Photos courtesy of Maverick Technology Solutions

The post Everything You Should Know About The Rosinbomb Rocket appeared first on Weedmaps News.

Source: wm

If you’re like me, you typically clean your smoking accessories only when it’s absolutely necessary. Pipes and bongs are usually the first on the list — when your friend comes by for a smoke sesh and looks at your bong with disgust, you know it’s time to whip out the glass cleaning solution. Yet grinders tend to slip through the cracks despite weeks of gummy resin build-up which make them basically unusable. 

It takes true, admirable dedication to keep a grinder clean.

@ the girl dressed in a full suit cleaning out her grinder opposite me on the bus – go off sis

— dj delimeats (@gothsperm) December 12, 2019

But hey, new year new me, right? This is the year I stop mistreating my grinder (which has been nothing but kind to me and deserves way better). And if money is tight or you just prefer a good deal, no need to splurge on fancy cleaning supplies — sparkling accessories will never break the bank with our cheap and easy guide to a well-scrubbed grinder. 

Why clean your grinder? 

While cleaning your grinder might be low on your to-do list, you’d be surprised by how much it can improve your smoking experience. For starters, a clean grinder is a more efficient grinder, which can produce more usable weed and more kief. When a grinder is full of gunk, it’s much more difficult to achieve a fine grind and thus, very little magical fairy dust will accumulate at the bottom. 

cleaning your grinder pic.twitter.com/YPoVZrunt4

— You Know My Name (@LookAtDustin) June 25, 2016

You can also extend the life of your smoking accessories with a little TLC. If you’re guilty of never cleaning your grinder, you’ve probably had to throw one away because of damage caused by frequent use. Over time, too much stickiness will cause the teeth to become dull or snap off, or worse — you can end up with metal shavings mixed in with your flower. Too much strain on the teeth of a metal grinder can cause it to deteriorate without you noticing right away. 

Plus, keeping your grinder clean prevents the plant matter inside from breaking down and growing mold or bacteria. While I’ve never noticed anything funky happen to my grinder, this is a genuine fear of mine now that I’ve learned that it’s possible. So to help you help yourself, follow our step-by-step guide below on how to properly clean a grinder. 

How to clean your grinder 

Depending on whether you have a metal or plastic grinder, you’ll need some items to aid in the cleaning process. 

What you’ll need: 

• Hot water 
• Paper towels
• Small towel
• Toothbrush or paintbrush 
• Plastic bag or container
• Isopropyl alcohol (metal grinders)
• Dish soap (plastic grinders) 
• Cotton swabs (optional)

Step 1

Empty the bud and kief from your grinder before you begin cleaning. Place the pieces in the freezer for 30 minutes. Note: You don’t have to freeze the grinder, but this step is very helpful in loosening the remaining plant matter.

Then, separate all the pieces and stash the contents in a bag or jar.

Step 2

This next step will vary for metal and plastic grinders.

Metal grinders: Place the pieces of your grinder in a plastic bag and fill with isopropyl alcohol — enough to cover all pieces. Soak until the liquid turns muddy, usually about 20 minutes. A higher strength of isopropyl alcohol will typically work faster. 

Plastic grinders: Place the pieces of your grinder in a plastic container and fill completely with hot water and dish soap. Let soak for about 20 minutes until particles are floating in the water.

Step 3

Remove your grinder from the soaking solution and rinse with warm water to remove alcohol or soap residue. Scrub excess debris with a brush. Use a cotton swab to make sure to get every nook and cranny. If your grinder was really old and full of gunk, you may need to repeat steps 2 and 3 to achieve ultimate cleanliness. 

For grinders with a kief catcher, make sure to pay special attention to brushing the screen.

Step 4 

Once you’ve brushed all the debris and gunk, use your small towell to dry off each piece.

Step 5

Lay all pieces on a paper towel or dishtowel to dry. Once fully dry, put your grinder back together.

Now you can enjoy the fruits of your labor. Grind up some fresh bud and toke up because you deserve it. 

The post Our Cheap Step-by-Step Guide to Cleaning Your Grinder appeared first on Weedmaps News.

Source: wm