When it comes to cannabis concentrates, we are spoiled for choice. Nowadays you can easily get your hands on some quality cannabis oils, shatter, crumble, live resin, wax, and a number of other concentrates.
In the good old days, there was one concentrate to rule them all - hash.
What is hash?
Hash, short for hashish, is the oldest form of cannabis concentrate. It has a rich tradition in various cultures and has been produced for many centuries. Hash is celebrated in all parts of the world and is, in fact, the concentrate of choice for OG connoisseurs.
It’s made by rubbing the cannabis resin glands (known as trichomes) and then molding the remains into a solid brick or a slab.
Sounds familiar? Whether you know it or not, you start the process every time you collect kief from your grinder. You know-- that dry-powder that gets stored in the bottom chamber after it’s been sifted through a screen. What's that? You've been using it cat litter?
What differentiates hash from kief is color, consistency, and above all-- density.
How do you make hash?
There’s a ridiculous number of methods for making hash. And basically all of them are pretty low-tech, at least compared to concentrate-making methods we see today. You won’t need any fancy procedures or solvents - but there are methods that utilize those if that’s your thing. All of the methods boil down to the same principle - simplicity and great results. The good news is that hash can be easily made at home. We’ll cover some of the most popular and idiot-proof methods of making hash at home.
The Original Form of Hash
Finger Hash
The oldest way to make hashish. It’s fairly simple, but a bit time consuming. Oh - and it’s messy! But it will get you the results each and every time. All you need to do is grab your mature cannabis buds and then rub them in your fingers. The heat and the friction will transfer the sticky resin on your skin.
Scrape the resin off your skin and then mold it any way you like. It can be stored for later use, vaped immediately, smoked in a pipe or rolled into a ‘hash worm’ and added to a joint to spice it up.
Bubble Hash
One of the most popular methods of making hash at home. The idea here is to get the trichomes to freeze and break off the plant and then they’re sifted through multiple screens. The water and ice mixture is prepared in a large container and you then put your hash bags inside that container. These hash bags are probably available for purchase in your vicinity or you can look online. They contain mesh nets in specific sizes to facilitate making bubble hash. You’ll need to go from the largest to the smallest net sizes until you’re left with nothing but excellent hash.
Once you have this set up, you’ll need a large wooden spoon to agitate the mixture. Just use the spoon and gently stir for at least 5 minutes. Take your time and don’t rush it. Once you’re done stirring, wait about 10 minutes or until the trichomes have reached the bottom of the hash bag. You should then lift the bag and let the water run out into the container.
And then you just repeat this process over and over going from the largest bag to the smallest until you get the purest hash you can.
Hand-Rolled Hash
This is also one of the oldest methods of making hash. Even to this day you’ll find Indian growers take pride in their Charas and hear amazing stories from tourists who have participated in making it. And trust us, it can get crazy.
The idea here is to take buds and intentionally roll them in your palms until your palms are fully covered in sticky resin. Sounds similar to finger hash? Yes, and this method takes to a whole new level. Hand-rolled hash is usually made from fresh (not dry) buds or even those that aren’t fully mature yet.
This method probably originated thousands of years ago and it’s still alive and well in India, Nepal, and neighbouring countries. Charas, as it is known over there, is the source of pride of many local growers.
Speaking of whole new levels - there are growers that collect trichomes by running half-naked with their arms wide open through a cannabis field. And tourists pay to help them out! What they’re essentially doing is getting a lot of sticky resin all over their bodies and then scraping that sticky deliciousness (along with dirt, sweat, and other ‘nasties’) into extremely fine hashish. Sounds ridiculous? It’s batshit crazy and probably a metric ton of fun.
Kief Hash
Although we said earlier that hash and kief are two different beasts, there is a way to make genuine hash from your patiently collected kief. And it’s as simple as utilizing the finger method - squash the kief between your fingers and then scrape the sticky resin. This will of course take time so you’ll see people investing in pollen presses to make the process shorter and more efficient.
Rosin Hash
Personal rosin presses are, thankfully, available to us consumers.
This means that we can easily squeeze live rosin out of our beloved buds.
With the miracle of industrial-grade quality, these little devices can help you turn your cannabis flowers into juicy rosin concentrate in a matter of minutes. You’ll need some parchment paper and place your flowers in it. Then it’s just a matter of physical effort and your rosin press will do the rest.
It’s a completely safe method as there are no solvents used and there is zero risk of any kind of explosion. Similar to pollen press methods that exploded in popularity in recent years.
Here's our guide to some of the best and most affordable at-home rosin presses.
![[BLACK]](http://www.smokecartel.com/cdn/shop/products/DabPadz-Dab-Mat-10x16-Dabman-Rosin_media-1_fae29c14-24e0-4551-8862-daf41e333819_210x.jpg?v=1580576527)
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![[FIMG]](http://www.smokecartel.com/cdn/shop/products/IMG_3233_210x.jpg?v=1590588697)
![[BLACK]](http://www.smokecartel.com/cdn/shop/products/Dabman-Rosin-Sticker-5_media-1_20copy_210x.jpg?v=1591797280)
![[BLACK]](http://www.smokecartel.com/cdn/shop/products/GEMSTX-Solventless-Rosin-Extractor_A-1_bc3aaa61-2058-4940-9aff-079c2e36e97f_210x.jpg?v=1607953601)
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Silk-Screening Hash
Screen printers will be quite at home with this method. The idea behind it is to spread your buds all over a silk screen and then shake it so the trichomes fall through and land onto a clean, flat surface below. This is a great method if you have the necessary equipment and you’ll get the best results if you put your buds in a freezer for a couple of hours. Like we’ve discussed in the iced water method, sub-zero temperatures help the trichomes to naturally become brittle and they’ll easily fall off from the rest of the bud. This is basically the same as a sifting screen in your grinder, except you can place a seriously huge amount of weed on a silk screen.
Scissor Hash
If you’re cutting your flower with scissors, you will always have resin sticking to them. Instead of washing the scissors and destroying that goodness, simply scrape it off and store it or smoke it. You’ll get fantastically fresh hash right there and then - if your flowers are of high quality, of course. This is probably the most overlooked method of making hash and one that delivers premium results every single time.
Hot Water Hash
This is actually quite similar to the hair straightener method delved into earlier. You’ll need some parchment paper and some resin that’s already been scraped. Place the resin into the parchment paper and fold it in half.
Once you’ve done that, bring water to a boil and fill a glass bottle (wine, preferably) with the burning-hot liquid. Let the bottle cool down a bit - 5 minutes should do it. Once it’s cooled down, place the bottle on the parchment paper holding your resin. Do not use excess force here - an elegant press of your palm will do wonders. Do this for about 30 seconds or a minute. You should look through the bottle and hopefully see the resin rapidly changing color. That’s what you want! Now flip the parchment paper over and repeat the process on the other size.
You’ll then remove the glass bottle and open the parchment paper with a swift flip of the wrist. You should be looking at a beautiful, sticky, shiny mass of resin. Give it some love with your hands and mold it any way you like.
Why Make Hash at Home?
Making hash at home is a great way to utilize the entirety of your cannabis plant. You can also utilize male plants and hermies - instead of throwing them away out of fear that they’ll pollinate your beautiful female, THC-rich plants.
Waste leaves and waste trimmings turn from waste to paste. Delicious, natural, shiny paste that’s a fantastic addition to any vape, pipe, joint or dab rig.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to hash making. There are numerous other methods you can utilize and truly achieve a ‘no-waste’ policy at home. Hash is a beautiful gift that just keeps on giving and is a favorite of many cultures for thousands of years.
They aren't the only dabs you can safety and easily make at home. Check out our dab making guide for more methods across a wide variety of types.
Consider gifting yourself some old school concentrate goodness - you deserve it!
