Hello Professor
When I make hash with bubble bags or with solvents for extraction, do I still get the terpenes and terpenoids from the weed? Or does that make them disappear? What are the benefits of terpenes anyways?
Jack Hairier
Hello Jack,
Good question. There are about 20,000 different terpenoid molecules in nature and more are being discovered every day. Most people experience them when they enjoy the aroma and taste experience of foods, but some have medicinal qualities. For instance Linalool has an anti-anxiety effect. In cannabis there are a ton of different terpenes that vary in type and intensity from strain to strain.
Different terpenes have different evaporation temperatures so as a rule the lower the temperature you use the more terpenes you can potentially preserve. The best methods to use, in order, are dry sift, supercritical CO2 extraction, dry ice method, bubble bags, butane, and lastly alcohol. Dry sift works best because it has the least steps of production. Each additional step added to an extraction method, no matter how carefully done, is another chance to lose terpenes. Supercritical CO2 extraction is the realm of larger production labs because the cost of the equipment and production is outside the finances of the homemade hash maker. Using dry ice and a sift bag is a quick and straightforward method that preserves a lot of terpenes, and the bubble bag method is a bit messier than dry ice and some terpenes will be washed away but, I really like a good bubble hash. With butanes and alcohols heat is used to evaporate the solvent. With this style of hash making some terpenes will also evaporate. Butane evaporates at a much lower temperature than alcohol-based solvents which makes it a better choice for terpene preservation.
I hope this helps.
Professor Lee