Since the inception of Pot Talk back in May, 2015, I’ve primarily written about collectives with an established brand, people that want to get their names out there. But weed is still illegal, and some people choose to farm and distribute cannabis anonymously.
For this edition of Pot Talk, I acquired four varieties of “rosin” from two such anonymous folks in the Southern Humboldt County community. Their aliases: “Don Benito” and “Marco Esquandolas.” Their extract crew: Fully Awesome Rosin Tech.
And since this is the Emerald Magazine’s Glass Issue, our friends at Trim Scene Solutions provided me with a Hard Times Glass rig to sample the rosin with. Trim Scene Solutions is the Emerald Triangle’s premier Harvest Headquarters, Smoke Shop and Glass Gallery. They host regular extraction safety demo events at their location in Southern Humboldt. (More info @trimscene.)
Back to the rosin: Have you tried rosin yet? It’s solventless hash, made by pressing cannabis flowers between two heated plates to squeeze out the resin. The resin is now collectible hash, or “rosin,” ready for consumption. Now, there’s the old school, low tech approach to making rosin — using a hot hair straightener to squeeze a cannabis flower between two pieces of parchment paper — the flower gets flattened and the resin squeezes out onto the parchment paper. To smoke, scrape the rosin off the paper.
The rosin featured in this article, on the other hand, was made with a Dab Daddy Rosin Press. Their line of six and 12-ton hydraulic presses is manufactured right here in Humboldt County. Each press has a digital temperature control interface, and the larger version is designed so you don’t even need parchment paper — it has “through plates,” so the rosin gets squeezed out through the plates onto a silicone collection tray. You can use that big press to squeeze rosin from flowers, and also from water hash and kief.
According to Benito, warming and pressing the material to move the resin out is a really gentle process with the Dab Daddy. They mostly run their press at 200 degrees Fahrenheit, though Benito says anywhere between 150-200 degrees is viable. They find that the warmer the press, the higher the volume of rosin produced. And the lower the temperature, “the better the flavor.” And at either end of the temperature spectrum, the consistency of the rosin stays about the same.
Benito and Esquandolas have pressed lots of different types of dried and cured flowers, plus water hash and kief (which Benito says “seems to settle more like shatter”). With each different strain and type of input material, they get a different output from the press. For example, they pressed 120 grams of cured DJ Short’s Blueberry bud flowers and only got six grams of rosin. “But I used the same amount of flower for the Chem D and I got 20 grams,” Benito says. “So every strain is different.”
At room temperature, the rosin from Fully Awesome Rosin Tech is pretty darn gooey. Benito advised me to put the rosin in the freezer to make it workable, more snappy, if you will. And Benito also told me to let it “air off” a bit, let it sit for out for a couple days because “there’s a smoothness that comes about and a more rounded flavor.”
Another interesting thing they told me is that people are getting into freeze drying fresh harvested cannabis and putting that in the press. “And I hear the quicker from alive to press,” Benito tells me, “the better the flavor.” Live rosin, yo… “It’s endless. There’s a lot of different ideas.”
Alright, so they provided me with four different flavors of rosin, all made from organic cannabis grown in the outskirts of Garberville, that’s in Southern Humboldt County. Two samples were pressed from fresh cannabis flowers, one from kief and the last from ice water hash.
Here’s the breakdown:
- DJ Short’s Blueberry rosin, pressed at 200 degrees from bud flowers grown outdoors and harvested in 2016. It smells mildly fruity, and the rosin glob is a nice golden brown. A dab off the Hard Times rig came on quickly and powerfully, clearing my sinuses and stopping me in my tracks. I succumbed to relaxation, the Blueberry left me no other cho
ice.
- Chem Dog rosin, pressed at 200 degrees from bud flowers grown this season using the light deprivation method. It’s got a bit of a green tint on the parchment paper, but it’s mostly yellow. And it smells earthy and acidic too. The rosin dab is smooth. The smell upon exhale is real clean, like a freshly harvested plant (as opposed to dried and burned flower). The high is heady, relaxing and mellow.
- Sour Diesel rosin, pressed at 200 degrees from kief collected from outdoor flowers grown in 2015. The Diesel rosin smells nice and clean, like iced tea with lemon. It’s got an iced tea color too — golden brown goo. The high was a jolly one for me, a pleasant experience with lots of laughs and a carefree feeling. That’s the ticket!
- OG Kush rosin, pressed at 200 degrees from water hash made from outdoor flowers grown in 2015. Yup, I tried them all, and the OG roz was my fave of the bunch. It’s all dark and goopy, then a beautiful golden glowing color when pulled thin. The smell is sweet, without a totally overpowering OG-ness. The high — divine.
The rosin trend gains momentum as cannabis users seek healthier and more natural products. Thank you to Benito and Esquandolas for letting the world in on their quest to squish the best.
Written by Emily Hobelmann
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