The Clean Concentrates Movement Heats Up

Patients in
advanced medical cannabis economies don’t know how good they have it. Go try a
dab in New York, or some other prohibition state, says expert Rick Pfrommer, a
longtime hash buyer for collectives in California. “It’s horrific. Some stuff I
just saw back east reeked of sulfur and other contaminants, and it’s being sold
for expensive amounts. People are smoking this stuff.”

The rapid
rise of America’s dab culture—with its love of high-potency extracts of
cannabis—faces an ongoing crisis of quality control. Virtually anyone can
attempt an extraction with highly flammable, toxic gas like butane and propane.
Very few understand how to do it safely, or make a clean product. Dabbers are
engaging in history’s largest uncontrolled trial of inhaled petro-solvents,
experts say. But, with the end of prohibition and the rise of legalization, the
first glimmers of a cleaner, safer Dab Nation are emerging.

The states of
Colorado and Washington’s mandatory solvent testing systems are coming online.
In unregulated California, about one in five Bay Area collectives now
voluntarily test their hash. Elite brands like Rump Wax, POP Naturals, and
Magnolia Wellness grab marketshares by advertising the lab-tested cleanliness
of their shatters and oils.

Testing hash
isn’t rocket science, but up until now it’s been prohibited by the “drug war.”
Humans have been concentrating cannabis for millennia, first by hand and using
screens. Nowadays, the same industrial processes that yield vegetable oil and
decaffeinated coffee are used. Butane is very popular as a cheap, quick way to
dissolve the psychoactive resin of cannabis into a liquid solution. Low heat
and vacuum pressure is then used to purge the butane out.

Any leftover
butane is called “residual solvent” and federal agencies have set limits for
exposure to solvents in the workplace and in foods. Cannabis is a new frontier.
Three years ago, Bay Area labs began selling solvent testing, and what they
found remains startling. Stinking slabs of hash oil made from diesel gasoline would
come in.

“In egregious
cases, stuff had 10,000 parts per million of butane,” said David Lampach, Co-Founder
of Steep Hill Labs, which is now in five states. “When people start testing for
the first time, they’re almost certain to have a lot of residual solvent.”

Voluntary
testing in the Bay Area was a prelude to the first statewide industry standards
in Colorado and Washington.

Colorado
has an ultra-low, 50 parts per million threshold for clean hash. The state’s
Marijuana Enforcement Division ramped up its residual solvent testing program
this summer. Four Colorado labs have new state certifications to test for
solvents. Mandatory testing could begin by fall.

Washington’s
system is still in its infancy. Washington solvents must be at least 99 percent
pure, and processors must have their systems
certified by a licensed engineer. Very few concentrates are in Washington’s
recreational stores, compared to the stocked shelves of hash at unregulated
dispensaries.

Oregon began
crafting solvent regulations this summer. Alaska is even further behind.
California regulations are pending in the Senate and would create two
unprecedented state licenses for extractors, and put testing under the state’s
Department of Public Health.

These rules
cannot come sooner, Pfrommer said, “Any club that’s worth its salt is doing
residual solvent testing now, but considering how much people are smoking, the
level of testing is nowhere near enough.”

HOW TO MAKE
CLEANER EXTRACTS

— Test!
Without testing, extract artists are flying blind.

— Get purer
solvents. Clean hash makers use medical-grade, hyper-pure solvents, not truck
stop canisters of lighter fluid.

— Use fresh,
potent buds—not old, weak trim. Otherwise, it’s ‘garbage in, garbage out’.

— Winterize.
Winterization removes plant waxes from butane extracts, making them more pure.

— Purge
longer and slower. It costs more, but award-winning artisans will purge a slab
for two days.

—
Systematize. Pure propane purges easier than butane or pentane. Sometimes a mix
of solvents best suits a strain. Award-winning artisans constantly document,
test, and refine each step of the process.