You may have heard about cannabis distillate before, or seen it on the shelf at your local Columbia marijuana dispensary. But as a relatively new phenomenon (becoming popular around 2017 or so), there are still plenty of questions surrounding cannabis distillate; questions like what is it, is it strong, and what makes it different from other extracts?
Buckle up—we’re going to answer these questions in this post.
What Is Cannabis Distillate?
In simple terms, cannabis distillate is the purest form of THC available. It’s a colorless, odorless translucent goo with all plant matter, terpenes, and non-THC cannabinoids purged from it. As a result, high-grade distillate can measure up to 99 percent THC content, giving rise to another name for this extract: THC distillate.
THC distillate has all the properties you’d expect from THC. First and foremost, it has highly potent psychoactive effects. The high from distillate and the high from flower aren’t even in the same ballpark—distillate wins by a mile.
However, a high isn’t based on THC content alone. A variety of non-THC components, including other cannabinoids and terpenes, also play a part in how a strain or extract make you feel.
For example, CBD (the second-most common cannabinoid after THC) may reduce inflammation, while the myrcene (the most abundant terpene in cannabis) could have sedative effects. Since THC distillate doesn’t contain CBD or myrcene, these properties may be muted.
How Is Cannabis Distillate Made?
Extractors must follow a multi-step process, called molecular distillation, to make cannabis distillate.
First, they create a traditional cannabis concentrate like a BHO, alcohol, or CO2 extract, with a total THC concentration somewhere between 75 and 80 percent. Then, they “winterize” these extracts. This process involves lowering the extract’s temperature while increasing pressure, boiling impurities away while keeping the extract cold. Finally, extractors purge any remaining solvents, cannabinoids, terpenes, or plant matter from this extract.
How Can I Use Cannabis Distillate?
Cannabis distillate has a myriad of uses. It appears most often as vape juice or in vaporizer carts. Some companies sell pure THC distillate, while other extractors use it as an ingredient in their carts, recombining pure THC with terpenes or other cannabinoids.
The resulting concentrate, known as “broad spectrum oil,” is extremely polarizing – smokers either like it or hate it.
Detractors note that this type of oil is essentially synthetically made. Instead, they support traditionally-made hash oil with terpenes and cannabinoids that developed naturally in the plant. Proponents of distillate insist that this difference is just a technicality and that broad-spectrum extracts will get you just as high as their full-spectrum cousins.
Regardless of any smoker’s opinions, one thing is certain: cannabis distillate is here to stay. With its high purity, incredible potency, and wide array of uses, distillate has carved a niche for itself in the cannabis space. Try some for yourself before forming an opinion. Just make sure it’s a manageable dose! Shop your nearest Columbia marijuana dispensary to purchase some today.