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A Little Dab’ll Do Ya

Patients flock to new forms of concentrated cannabis and ways to ingest them
 

Medical cannabis patients from Southern California and beyond have begun embracing forms of concentrates in record numbers this year, watchers say. A historic rollback of prohibition is all

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Patients flock to new forms of concentrated cannabis and ways to ingest them

 

Medical cannabis patients from Southern California and beyond have begun embracing forms of concentrates in record numbers this year, watchers say. A historic rollback of prohibition is allowing the once-stifled product category to flourish, leading to dozens of options on dispensary shelves and a myriad number of ways to consume them that only promises to grow.

According to dispensary operator Igor Khavin, concentrates are a centuries-old form of medicine that more and more mainstream patients are turning to. “It’s become something of a trend as consciousness around concentrates rises,” he says.

Cannabis concentrates are exactly what they sound like. The active therapeutic molecules in cannabis are concentrated using one of various techniques, which also removes inactive ingredients.

Mainstream Americans could buy cannabis concentrates as a tincture at pharmacies until the ’30s. Then, prohibition cut off legal production and research. Medical cannabis patients began bringing concentrates back legally in 1996. But they’ve really returned to the mainstream over the last one to two years, watchers say.

“Demand for concentrates is on the rise and bigger than ever,” says Liz McDuffie, a California patient educator and founder of the Medical Cannabis Caregivers Directory.

Concentrates are in demand because they are stronger, and last longer than cannabis flowers. Others note concentrates can be cheaper, cleaner and more precise as well.

While a cannabis flower might have up to 20 percent THC in it, concentrates routinely contain double, triple or even quadruple that amount. The effects last up to four or five hours instead of 90 minutes. “It lasts a hell of a long time,” McDuffie says.

Concentrates’ purity, and the precision of their production make them especially useful in healthcare settings. “What you see in healthcare facilities is they don’t want to have them smoking it. The plant matter has tars and carcinogens, and when you fire it up that’s what you’re inhaling. When you use tinctures, ointments and non-smoked items with identifying dosage, it lends itself more credibility,” she says.

  

The Types

The simplest concentrates require just a fine screen to make. When cannabis is ground and sieved through the screen, the tiny, pollen-like trichomes fall through. It looks like a brown-green dust.

Other methods of making concentrates are more complex. For example, liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide is used to strip cannabinoids from the plant. When the material evaporates—the residue can look like glassy chunks, opaque wafers or dark, oily goop ranging in viscosity from runny to thick.

Some patients add concentrates atop a bowl of flowers, but their applications are vast. McDuffie and Khavin note that patients undergoing chemotherapy will eat super-potent edibles made from concentrates that require just a bite. “You’re dealing with real medicine now,” she says.

Concentrates made using, for example, liquid nitrogen, are also “absolutely free of any mold, bacteria and spores,” McDuffie says. “That’s why the efficacy on it is so crystal clear. It’s totally pure.”

 

  

The Tools

Four-year-old San Mateo boutique The Cave carries functional glass art—some of it used by medical cannabis patients. Specialist salesperson Keith says concentrates will often liquefy and suck through a regular pipe. A “health stone” is a simple fix—looking much like a regular pipe with a man-made pumice stone fitted into the bowl.

More and more patients are turning to special adapters for their water filtration pipes, Keith says. The most popular is the “globe” and “nail” system—which attaches to the downstem of a water device.

Patients heat the nail to a red hot temperature, and then place the globe over it. Then they dab concentrates onto the nail, and inhale the resulting vapor.

More complex to use: “skillets,” “birdcages,” and “hot hit wands”.

Prices start at $40 for a basic globe and nail set-up, and go up to $400 for the most intricate utensils, Keith says.

After 80 years of repression, concentrate research and production has a lot of catching up to do, and it’s doing it fast.

 

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