Flower rosin is pressed straight from dried flower: quick to make, lower in return and fuller, greener in taste. Hash rosin is pressed from bubble hash or dry sift made from dried plants. Live rosin is pressed from bubble hash washed out of fresh frozen plants, so it keeps the most terpenes and usually costs the most.
Hash rosin vs live rosin vs flower rosin at a glance
Hash rosin vs live rosin vs flower rosin at a glance, using The Press Club’s starting points:
| Flower rosin | Hash rosin | Live rosin | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pressed from | Dried flower | Bubble hash or dry sift | Bubble hash from fresh frozen plants |
| Rosin bag | 90 to 160 µm | 15 to 37 µm | 15 to 37 µm |
| Press heat | 180 to 220 °F | 160 to 190 °F | 160 to 190 °F |
| Return | 15 to 25% | 60 to 70% and up | 60 to 70% and up |
| Price | Lowest | Higher | Highest |
Flower rosin
Flower rosin is pressed straight from dried and cured flower in a coarse bag at higher heat. It is the quickest rosin to make and often has a broad, full flavor, and great flower is easier to find than great hash. The trade is that the flower gives up more plant oils, fats and lipids along with the resin, and only 15 to 25 percent of its weight comes back as rosin. How to press it is in how to make rosin.
Hash rosin
Hash rosin is pressed from hash made from dried plants: bubble hash or dry sift. The hash has already left the leaf and most plant oils behind, so the rosin is cleaner and the return far higher. More in hash rosin.
Live rosin
Live rosin is pressed from bubble hash washed out of fresh frozen plants that were never dried. It carries the brightest, freshest terpenes of the three and takes the most work, which is why it sits at the top of most menus. More in live rosin.
Is hash rosin the same as live rosin?
Hash rosin isn’t quite the same as live rosin. All live rosin is hash rosin, pressed from bubble hash, but only hash made from fresh frozen plants makes live rosin; hash rosin from dried plants is simply called hash rosin. So when people weigh live rosin vs hash rosin, they are really comparing hash washed from fresh frozen plants with hash washed from dried ones.
Which rosin keeps best?
Which rosin keeps best? None of them improves with age the way traditional hash does. Bubbleman is clear on it: live hash rosin, butane extracts and flower all fade over time, while traditional pressed hash is meant to cure. Keep any rosin cold, sealed and in glass, and enjoy it fresh. The video above shows what happens when old, cured bubble hash is pressed: Breeder Steve’s 11 year old bubble came out as a deep red rosin.
From the archive: Bubbleman on curing and preserving
From the archive, Bubbleman on curing and preserving in his own words, recorded live on Season 12, Episode 22, The Cryo Episode, Part II, with The Original Resinator. Tap a time to hear that moment.
Traditional hash obviously requires… it’s quite the opposite. It is literally the opposite. What you’re doing is you’re aging it, you’re creating that skin… With hash, we want to cure, which is quite the opposite of preserving.
On curing versus preservingHash actually gets better with age. Live hash rosin does not, BHO does not, flower does not… but traditional hash requires a proper curing, and that curing cannot happen in a colder environment.
On what ages well
Which rosin should you choose?
Which rosin to choose depends on what you want from it. Flower rosin is the most affordable way into solventless and shows off a strain’s full character. Hash rosin is cleaner and smoother. Live rosin is the brightest and the closest to the living plant, at a price to match.
Questions about the three rosins
Questions about hash rosin, live rosin and flower rosin, answered short:
What is the difference between hash rosin and live rosin?
The difference between hash rosin and live rosin is the plant the hash came from: live rosin is pressed from bubble hash made from fresh frozen plants, hash rosin from hash made from dried ones.
Is hash rosin the same as live rosin?
Hash rosin isn’t exactly the same as live rosin: all live rosin is a hash rosin, but hash rosin from dried plants isn’t live.
Flower rosin vs hash rosin: which is better?
Flower rosin vs hash rosin comes down to taste and budget: hash rosin is usually cleaner and smoother, while flower rosin is cheaper, quicker and can have a fuller flavor.
Hash rosin vs rosin: what’s the difference?
Hash rosin vs rosin is a part against the whole: rosin is any resin pressed out with heat and pressure, and hash rosin is rosin pressed from hash instead of flower. The Press Club notes that most rosin sold in dispensaries is pressed from ice water hash.
Which rosin has the most terpenes?
Live rosin usually has the most terpenes, because the plant was frozen at harvest instead of dried and cured.
Why is flower rosin cheaper?
Flower rosin is cheaper because it skips the wash and the drying: dried flower goes straight into the press, even though less of it comes back as rosin.
Sources for this comparison
Sources for this hash rosin vs live rosin vs flower rosin comparison:
- Flower rosin vs hash rosin, The Press Club
- Average rosin yields from various cannabis material, The Press Club
- What micron do I use?, The Press Club
- 11 year cured bubble hash rosin, Bubbleman’s World on YouTube
- Hash Church Season 12, Episode 22: Bubbleman on curing and preserving, linked above