If you’re hoping to smoke, vape, or eat the materials, the bud needs to be turned into hash first. Without this concentration method, you’ll be left with a weaker dose and using more materials than you originally needed.
Turning buds into hash is the best way to consume the plant. Learning how to make hash is easy, but some methods need special equipment to create a pure hash, while others only need household items.
Method 1 – Hand Rolling – For Buds
This method requires no equipment apart from your fingers and a container to rub the buds over.
Ideally, you should only perform this method on dried and cured buds.
Step 1 – First wash and dry your hands. Then roll the buds between your palms. As you rub you’ll notice a sticky and black resin form – keep rubbing. Soon the resin will pull the materials into small balls of hash.
This is a simple method, but you’ll waste some materials in the process. Your content will also contain impurities from your hands.
Method 2 – Use A Shoe – For Kief
You’ll need a small collection of equipment for this method – a pin, a shoe, parchment paper, tape, and kief.
Start with 5 grams of kief before going again.
Step 1 – Lay your parchment paper flat, then place the kief in the middle. Fold the paper tightly, and use the tape to prevent the paper from unfolding.
Step 2 – Using your pin, create a hole in the paper to allow air to enter, but make sure the paper is still secure.
Step 3 – Place the paper into your shoe (hard soles are the best for this), and then walk with your shoes as normal. Ideally, you should walk around for about an hour.
This process is designed to press your kief into a flat rectangle.
Method 3 – Traditional Kief Pressing – For Kief
This 3rd method is very similar to the hand-rolling method, however, we are focusing on kief instead of buds. It doesn’t require unusual materials, but it can be taxing labor if you have a lot of kief to go through.
You will need kief, cellophane, paper towels, and a skillet.
Step 1 – Take a few grams of kief. Just enough to place in the palm of your hand. Then roll it together until it begins to bind.
Step 2 – Continue rubbing the kief for around 10 minutes or until the density becomes heavy.
Step 3 – Put the mixture into some cellophane, and tightly seal the contents inside. Make sure there are no air bubbles.
Step 4 – Wrap the cellophane package into a few layers of damp paper towels. Then place this damp package onto a warmed (low heat) skillet.
Step 5 – Turn the package over frequently, pushing it slightly as you do so. Once the package becomes solid (no more than 2 minutes), remove it from the heat.
Step 6 – When the package is easy to handle, remove the layering and you’ll have a hash! Keep it wrapped in cellophane until you need it.
Method 4 – Dry Sifting – For Buds
Dry sifting is also known as flat screening. It’s the best method to get pure hash and it requires the least amount of labor. However, it also requires buying specialist equipment.
That equipment is a silkscreen, and they are worth the small investment.
Because some silkscreens are expensive, you should be aware of the differences. The smaller the holes in the silkscreen, the purer the hash will be. Use that knowledge to judge the prices.
Step 1 – Freeze your buds for at least 2 hours. This makes removing the trichomes easier.
Step 2 – Place a bud on top of a screen with either a second screen below or a tray below. Then gently rub the bud against the material in a circular motion. The trichomes should begin to fall onto the platform underneath.
Step 3 – Remove the first screen, and start rubbing the dropped trichomes on the second screen. If you only have 1 screen, pour the contents out of the tray and back onto the screen, then try again.
Ideally, you should have 3 or 4 screens so you only need to remove one and start going again each time. However, you can complete the task with just one screen, it will simply be more fiddly.
Step 4 – Keep going until the bud has been reduced to around 10% of its weight. At that point, all of the trichomes should have been removed, and you can use one of the kief methods above to turn it into hash.
Method 5 – Use A Blender – For Buds
This 5th method has the same effect as the 4th, but with additional steps. You’ll need a blender, a silkscreen, water, ice, a bowl, and a coffee filter.
Step 1 – Put your buds into the blender, and add enough water to cover the plant. Then add just a few ice cubes and blend the mixture.
Step 2 – Place the silkscreen over your bowl, then pour the mixture onto the silkscreen. The screen will act like a sieve, and strain away the water and the trichomes.
Step 3 – Looking at the bowl mixture, empty around ⅔ of the water, making sure to leave all the trichomes in the bowl. Then refill the bowl with iced water, and leave it to settle.
Step 4 – After around 5 minutes, head back to the bowl and re-do step 3. Do this 4 or 5 times.
Step 5 – Once the 5th time is complete, remove as much water as you can without losing the trichomes. Then get the coffee filter, and pour the bowl’s mixture over it. This should separate the remaining water from the trichomes.
Step 6 – With the trichomes captured, you can remove any excess water by squeezing the coffee filter paper. Then allow the kief to dry.
This method turns the buds into kief and presses it (through the cooling and squeezing method) to create the end block shape. Although it seems like a complex method, it is a completed process.
How To Dry Your Hash
Here is an additional method to help you dry your hash. Wet or damp hash can become moldy very quickly, so you should ideally follow this step whenever the mixtures touch water.
Spread out the kief or bud on some cardboard. Ideally, the cardboard should also be lined with parchment paper. These absorbent materials will draw out the water.
Once dried, store the hash using a new sheet of parchment paper, and place it in a humidity-controlled room in a glass jar. This will help the aroma and flavors stay strong without making them sweat.
Final Thoughts
Each of these methods is designed for small quantities. For larger quantities simply keep your favorite method in mind and enlarge it.
For example, you may need multiple helpers if you use the hand method, or you could require an industrial-sized blender for the blending method.
Try out every method and pick the one which best suits your needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is The Key Ingredient In Hash?
Hash is made from cannabis, nothing else. However the key part of this flower is the trichomes, these are the little hairs that grow on the buds and down the stems of the plant.
Some strains will contain more trichomes than others. The more trichomes there are, the better the plant is at catching pollen. There should be no other ingredients in your hash.
How Much Bud Do You Need To Make Hash?
To make 1 gram of hash, you’ll need between 5 and 10 grams of cannabis. This is because the majority of the cannabis plant contains foliage which can reduce the drug’s intensity. Removing these is what turns the bud into hash.
Some methods are more effective than others, which is why there is such a big discrepancy.
Above you’ll see the methods in question. The first requires no tools but your fingers. It’s the simplest method but also the clumsiest. You’ll need 10 grams of cannabis to make a single gram of hash.
But if you use the dry sifting method, you’ll be left with puree quality and a larger yield
Do You Need A Press To Make Hash?
No, you don’t need a press. However, you should press your hash at some point. This can be by hand or by another method, like the shoe method above.
Pressed hash will last longer due to the preservation process. This is true of both bud form and kief form.
The bud is the most natural form, as though you have plucked the flower from its stem. A kief is cannabis in its dust form. Buds need to be turned into kief, to be pressed into a block.
If you don’t want to press your cannabis, skim through our methods below to find your preferred method.
Hi, I’m Zack Finch and I work as a Budtender for a Health & Wellness center here, in sunny California. I have been using marijuana recreationally for around 6 years now, and have many a time enjoyed the benefit that weed has to offer.
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