To press kief into hash, clean it on a fine screen, warm it slightly, and press it hard: screw it into a pollen press for a few hours, knead it between warm hands, or fold it inside parchment, warm it and press it flat. Clean kief binds into a solid piece; dusty kief crumbles however hard you press.
What is pressed kief?
Pressed kief is kief squeezed into a solid piece, a coin, a puck or a ball, so it handles, keeps and smokes like hash. Pressing kief doesn’t change what the resin is; it packs the heads together until their oils bind. Much of the world’s traditional hash has been made this way: sifted resin, worked with warmth and pressure into balls and bricks.
What you need to press kief
To press kief you need clean kief, a little warmth and steady pressure.
- Clean kief. The more resin heads and the less leaf dust, the better it binds.
- A pollen press for coins and pucks, or parchment and something heavy and smooth for a slab. Your hands will do for a ball.
- Gentle warmth: your hands, a little warm water around the press, or a warm surface.
- Time. Hours under pressure, then a few days to rest.
How to make kief for pressing
To make kief for pressing, catch it in a grinder or sift it off dried trim and buds over a fine screen, then clean it on the screen until it is mostly resin heads. Grinder kief usually needs that cleaning pass before it will bind.
How to make hash from kief with a pollen press
How to make hash from kief with a pollen press, the most common way:
- Clean the kief first.
Sift grinder kief over a fine screen to drop the dust. Clean heads stick together; dusty kief crumbles no matter how hard you press it.
- Warm the press a little.
Hold the press in your hands or stand it in warm water for a few minutes. Warm resin softens and binds; cold resin stays a powder.
- Load it.
Line the cylinder with a small piece of parchment if you like, then fill it with kief.
- Screw it down tight.
Turn the handle until it won’t go any further, then leave it under pressure for a few hours or overnight.
- Pop out the puck.
Unscrew the end and push the puck out. It should come out solid, a shade darker on the outside.
- Let it rest.
Wrap it in parchment and keep it in a jar somewhere cool and dark for a few days. Pressed hash settles, and the outside darkens while the inside stays fresh.
How to press kief by hand
To press kief by hand, work a pinch between warm fingers and palms, pressing and rolling until it starts to hold, then keep adding more and kneading it in. This is how temple balls are made, and it only works with resinous kief. Bubbleman’s point on Hash Church: rolling clean full melt into a ball is easy, while getting farmer’s grade sift to stick together in your fingers is the real skill.
How to press kief with parchment and warmth
To press kief with parchment and warmth, fold the kief inside a sheet of parchment, warm it gently, and press it flat with something heavy and smooth. Warm, not hot: you want the resin soft enough to bind, not melting into oil. Press, let it cool, fold and press again until it holds as a slab. Push the heat and pressure much further and you are making rosin instead, which is covered in how to make hash rosin.
Kief coin, kief puck or temple ball
A kief coin, a kief puck and a temple ball are the same idea in different shapes. Coins and pucks come out of a pollen press; balls and bricks are worked by hand or pressed in molds. The shape doesn’t change the hash, but a solid piece keeps better than loose powder, because less of the resin meets the air.
Bubbleman’s traditional style hash
Bubbleman’s traditional style hash shows how far pressed sift can go. The brick hash and temple balls he makes for the Colorado market start as dry sift, with no binding agent added. On Hash Church he has shown pieces months old: one he put at just under 40 percent after eight months of curing, and a temple ball that slowly flattened in its bag at room temperature over eight months while staying soft and gummy.
From the archive: Bubbleman on traditional hash
From the archive, Bubbleman on traditional hash in his own words, recorded live on Season 12, Episode 17. Tap a time to hear that moment.
This is about nine or 10 months old right now. Very sticky… And you would not ever believe that that’s a 30% THC… There’s no oil in this.
On his traditional style hashI’m not like in the lab manipulating it. I rolled it up into a temple ball eight months. It flattened into this just at room temperature.
On a temple ball, eight months onTraditional hash is the opposite… Rolling up a full melt bubble and making it look like a ball like this is not hard.
On rolling hash into a ballBut taking a farmer’s grade dry sift and turning it into a ball of hash… Try to even get it to stick together in your fingers.
On why low grade sift is hard to pressI’m not adding any binding agent to this… I’m just following traditional techniques.
On binders
Kief pressing questions
Kief pressing questions, answered short:
How do you press kief?
You press kief by packing it into a pollen press and screwing it down tight for a few hours, by kneading it with warm hands, or by warming it inside parchment and pressing it flat. Clean kief binds; dusty kief crumbles.
How do you make hash from kief?
You make hash from kief by pressing it: warmth softens the resin and pressure binds the heads into a solid piece. Kief coins, pucks, temple balls and traditional bricks are all made that way.
Why won’t my kief stick together?
Kief won’t stick together when it has too much plant matter in it or when it’s too cold. Clean it on a fine screen, warm it a little and press it longer.
Is pressed kief stronger than loose kief?
No, pressed kief isn’t stronger than loose kief, because pressing changes the form, not the resin. It does keep better, since less of it is exposed to the air.
Can you smoke pressed kief?
Yes, you can smoke pressed kief like any hash: crumble a little over a bowl, roll it into a joint, or warm a piece and break it up.
Sources for this kief pressing guide
Sources for this kief pressing guide:
- Traditional style hash, Bubbleman’s World on YouTube
- Hash Church Season 12, Episode 14: Bubbleman’s traditional hash after eight months of curing, Buzzsprout
- Hash Church Season 12, Episode 17: Bubbleman on his traditional style hash, linked above