There are lots of different ways to make THC-rich cannabis extract. Heck, you can do it reliably from home without even blowing yourself up.
For cannabis producers, however, making cannabis extract is a sacred art and a pissing contest all in one. Always seeking to outdo each other and make the best extracts ever, THC concentrate engineering advancement among cannabis producers is bound to occur.
One of the more recent advancements is a live resin cannabis extract. What is live resin, why is it dank, and what are the best live resin products?
What is live resin?
Live resin is a terpene-rich type of cannabis extract that is produced using a technique that skips the drying and curing process. The end result is a cannabis concentrate that smells and tastes better than any other extract type.
How is live resin made?
Have you ever been in a room of female cannabis plants in bloom? If nature ever devised a better smell, I’d like to sniff it.
Dried and cured cannabis buds, however, never seem to smell quite as good as they did when they were still on the plant. No one knows how many growers have lamented this fact.
Live resin preserves the moment of harvest forever through flash-freezing. Instead of hanging to dry and stifling inside curing containers, cannabis buds are lowered to subcritical temperatures immediately after harvest and throughout the extraction process.
As a result, the extracted buds’ terpenes, which are prone to being damaged via oxidation, arrive in extract form entirely unharmed. Taking a hit of live resin is like floating into a fragrant flower room and gobbling up all the sticky buds.
What to look for in live resin cannabis extract
Live resin is:
- Terpene-rich
- Difficult to make
As a result, it’s usually only made by brands that really love cannabis and care about producing high-quality products. Regardless, live resin still varies significantly when it comes to quality.
Brand reputation
Is your live resin made by an unheard-of producer out in the sticks? Or, is it made by a transparent, conscientious producer with a large following on social media?
Popularity isn’t everything, but it’s important. Popular products usually offer at least some of that real value consumers love to sniff out.
Compliance
Cannabis products must have lab reports. Beyond that, however, there are optional labeling steps brands can take to provide additional product information. Brands that take compliance seriously are also more likely to be serious about safety and quality.
Resin type
Does your live resin extract contain added terpenes? You should know before you buy. Just like ABX sneakily labels its 50% full-spectrum extract as “live resin,” other manufacturers might throw extra ingredients into the equation for a range of weak to semi-solid reasons.
Want the purest live resin experience? Then pick an extract that doesn’t have any additives whatsoever — no matter how safe or swanky.
Price
Some cannabis brands seem to think that “live resin” is a pair of words you slap on a cannabis concentrate to automatically increase its price by 20%. Make sure the high prices a live resin brand charges translate into genuine value.
Best 3 live resin THC extracts
We’ve tried quite a few live resin products at Best Dosage. You might want to get acquainted with three of our favorites:
ABX Cherry Pie Live Resin Extract 1g
ABX is the unquestioned top dog of the California cannabis vape cartridge and dab industry. While some of this brand’s products might be a little rough around the edges, we’ve always found ABX live resin to be high-quality and effective.
The strength of the cherry flavor these vape carts deliver is almost impossible to properly articulate in words. Purists will argue, however, that ABX Cherry Pie Live Resin Extract isn’t real live resin since it consists of 50% full-spectrum distillate and 50% live resin sauce.
Raw Garden Lemonberry Live Resin Pax ERA Pod 0.5g
As a brand, Raw Garden makes you sit back and go, “Woah, there.” Not only does this popular California live resin producer specialize in live resin, they also offer live sauce and even make a product called Refined Live Resin™ Diamonds.
We haven’t tried these precious THC gems yet. Apparently, they contain lots of minor cannabinoids and terpenes even though they’re in a crystalline form.
We have reviewed, however, one of Raw Garden’s Lemonberry live resin Pax ERA vape pods. In addition to finding the Sativa terpenes in this cartridge to be delicious, we also found that the Raw Garden Lemonberry Live Resin Pax ERA Pod 0.5g was offered at a price that’s comparable with even far lower-quality California Pax pods.
Burnwell Candy Jack Live Resin Vape Cartridge 1g
I recently tried a Candy Jack Sativa live resin vape cartridge by Burnwell in Spokane, WA. You can read more about it in this product’s full review, but this cartridge, along with the other four Burnwell cartridges I tried, reaffirmed my belief that live resin is truly the superior path when it comes to cannabis extracts.
Top live resin FAQs
Get ready to deepen your knowledge of live resin lore:
1. Is live resin the same as dabs?
Not necessarily. Some live resin products are dabs, but not all dabs are live resin.
The term “dab” refers to any type of loosely packaged cannabis concentrate. Dabs are usually inhaled using bong-like devices called dab rigs.
Lots of different kinds of cannabis concentrate can be made into dabs. Live resin is, by far, the highest-quality type of cannabis concentrate, but there are lots of dabs that feature BHO, CO2 distillate, or other types of cannabis extract.
In addition to being packaged loosely in silicone or acrylic containers, live resin cannabis concentrate can also be loaded into vape cartridges. Not technically dabs since they’re encased in disposable cartridges, live resin vape carts are simple, delicious, and convenient.
2. Is live resin stronger than dabs?
Usually not. Full-spectrum extracts like live resin contain high concentrations of minor cannabinoids and terpenes, leaving less room for THC.
Raw THC potency aside, live resin might be stronger than dabs in other ways. Due to its high terpene content, for instance, live resin smells and tastes better than other cannabis extracts, and it may even be more beneficial.
3. What is better — rosin or live resin?
Rosin is a type of cannabis extract that’s produced without any solvents whatsoever. Live resin, on the other hand, is produced with CO2, which experts regard as a harmless and essentially solventless extraction medium.
While perhaps superior to live resin in terms of taste, rosin is time-intensive and expensive to produce, leading to higher prices at the dispensary. Rosin isn’t any more potent than live resin, and as long as it’s CO2-extracted, the live resin shouldn’t contain any harmful residual solvents.
4. Can I put live resin in a vape pen?
In our experience, it’s best to leave that one to the experts. It’s fine if you vape live resin cartridges that were pre-filled at the factory, but you’re in for an awful mess if you try to use a live resin gram with anything other than a bona fide dab rig.
5. Does live resin make you high?
That all depends on the cannabinoids it contains. Instead of THC, some live resin products contain high concentrations of CBD, and it’s even possible to produce cannabis concentrates with live resin components that have CBG, CBN, or CBC as their dominant cannabinoids.
If your live resin contains ample THC, it’s offered in a product form you’re able to use easily, and you remember how to inhale with your lungs today, then yes, absolutely, the live resin will make you high. It will also taste great and offer other enhanced benefits along the way.
