MAKING DRY-SIFT HASH WITH CANNABIS BUDS AND/OR TRIMMINGS

Almost every smoker has smoked hash at some point. Some like it very much, others prefer weed. Also, more than enough smokers smoke both, mixed together or not. In the vast majority of cases, this hash has been bought at the coffeeshop. Many cannabis smokers and growers do not know how to make hash themselves. This blog discusses the fastest and easiest way to make your own hash, also known as the dry method.

What do you need to know to make hash? 

First, it is important to know that you want to collect the trichomes from your cannabis for making hash. Trichomes are the tiny resin droplets, also known as resin crystals, that sit on your weed. They are usually abundant on good cannabis buds. However, (sugar) leaves, branches, clippings (trim) and actually almost all plant material contain (to a certain extent) trichomes. These trichomes contain all the active substances, as well as the smell and flavours of your cannabis. Simply put, hashish consists of resin crystals that are well pressed together. Are your crystals not pressed? Then it is not yet hash, but we speak of kief or keef. It is also very nice to smoke these crystals (kief). Most of you know kief as 'THC powder' or pollen, which can often be found at the bottom of a grinder.

If you want to take it one step further and make your own hash, you will love the trichomes too. Have to separate from the weed. This can be done with a sieve or with several sieves for an even better result. In this blog, the focus is mainly on the dry way of making hash, the dry method mentioned above. This is also the oldest method of making hash and has been used successfully for centuries.

A newer method of making hash, which will be discussed another time, is the dry ice hash method, also known as 'Bubble called Hash'. This hash has been made using ice and/or water. The (ice) cold water causes the crystals to harden and so release easily. However, according to many, this method of making hash does not fall under the dry method. Only the dry method will be discussed in this blog, namely the sieve method. 

If you want to produce hash of the highest quality, you have to sieve the plant material very finely and several times. However, if you are satisfied with hash of lesser quality and if you mainly want to produce a larger amount (quantity over quality), you can sift/filter the cannabis a little more coarsely. You can see trichomes on your cannabis plant as sparkles on your cannabis buds. It is useful if you want to make hash to think carefully about which cannabis strain you want to use for this. Some cannabis strains contain much more trichomes and are therefore more suitable for making good and larger quantities of hash than other strains.

What do you need?

To make dry hash, you need a few sieves, also called sea frames, with different mesh sizes required. You will also need a pollen press if you actually want to make hash and not just collect kief. Of course, you also need (frozen) plant material. Each sieve has a different mesh size and as a result, different sizes of crystals fall through the different sieve frames. Keep in mind that the better the quality of the cannabis, the more hash you can produce from it. Before sieving the cannabis, first put the buds or clippings in a plastic bag or container in the freezer. You do this 24 to 48 hours before sieving them. This will make it much easier for the trichomes to release during sieving.

You can already start sieving the cannabis if you have three different sieving frames. The first sieve frame you use has a mesh size of about 140 to 150 microns. For the second round of sieving, you can use a sieve with a mesh size of 100 microns. You use the third and last sieve to remove the stems from the trichomes. This sieve is therefore the finest of all, namely 70 microns. You can buy these screen frames ready-made, but you can also make them yourself. When making the screen frames yourself, however, pay attention to the correct mesh size(s)!

How do you proceed?

If you want dry hash, you need to make the cannabis smaller first. With the help of a (bank) card, for example, it is easy to pass the powder through the first sieve. Don't worry if plant residues come along with the first 'sieve round'. These will disappear with the second and third sieve. The more you keep rubbing, the more plant material will come with it. So try to avoid (too much) plant material. In the second round of sieving, you get the material that you have left held from the first round of sieve over the second sieve of about 100 microns back and forth. A lot of the material will go through it, but that doesn't really matter right now. In this round, you are sifting the trichomes from their trichome stems so that you can separate them in the last step.

During the third round, you will separate the trichomes from their stems using the third and finest sieve: the sieve with a mesh size of 70 microns. The longer you sieve, the better the end result. The stems of your trichomes will come through the mesh and your finished product will remain on the sieve. That is, if you are careful when moving the trichomes (kief) back and forth over the sieve. You can also gently tap the sieve frame with your fingers. After about 10 minutes of sieving, it is already a lot cleaner, but if you really want (almost) pure trichomes, you will have to sieve for up to half an hour. Then smoke it neat or turn it into hash in the last step!

How do you make your own hash?

Of course, you wonder how you can use this delicious collected trichomes, kief or pollen into dry and solid hash. Fortunately, this can be done easily, cheaply and relatively quickly with a pollen press. So the next step is to compress the trichomes using a pollen press. The larger the size of the pollen press, the more hash you can make in a shorter time. 

Open the pollen press and place a funnel on it. You can also make a funnel out of paper. Then you take the kief with a THC scoop, spoon or with the help of playing cards and fill the pollen press with it. Do not overload the pollen press! Fill it up to three quarters, otherwise there is a risk of damage.

Now screw the top and bottom parts back onto the pollen press. Tighten both parts securely. Some pollen presses have a handle. Tighten the handle (or top) until it stops turning and press the powder together well. For the best results, leave the pollen press for a while and then tighten it a little more later until it stops working or until you think the hash is firm enough.

Open the pollen press at the bottom by removing the bottom part. If you have a pollen press with a handle, flip it open and a tightly compressed block of hash will come out. However, if you are using a pollen press without a handle, squeeze out the cube of compressed hash yourself. Avoid overfilling your pollen press (maximum three-quarters full) and never use tools to avoid damaging the pollen press.

Good luck with trying the dry method and wish you lots of smoking pleasure from all collected pollen and/or from your own hash! Do you want more info about growing cannabis? Click here: OUTDOOR CANNABIS BREEDING REPORT

This blog has been written by: TheStonedGrower on Instagram