What is hash
How to make hash
Rosin
Concentrates
Types of hash
Trichomes
Strains that wash
Episodes
Search the archive
BC Bubbleman
Co-hosts
AboutLive rosin is a solventless concentrate made in three stages: the plant is frozen right after harvest, washed into bubble hash in ice water, and that hash is dried and pressed with gentle heat into rosin. It is not rosin pressed from frozen flowers; the live part comes from the fresh frozen hash.
What is live rosin?
Live rosin is rosin pressed from live bubble hash: ice water hash washed out of cannabis that was frozen right after harvest instead of dried and cured (see fresh frozen hash). The live part refers to the fresh frozen plant, and that is the whole meaning of live rosin. As The Press Club puts it, live rosin is not rosin made by pressing frozen flowers; the plant is washed into hash first, and the hash is what gets pressed.
How live rosin is made
How live rosin is made, from the field to the jar:
- Harvest and freeze.
Cut the plant at its peak and get it into a deep freezer within hours. It is never dried or cured.
- Wash it into bubble hash.
Wash the frozen material in ice water and collect the resin heads in micron bags, the same way as any bubble hash.
- Dry the hash.
Freeze dry it, or air dry it on cardboard. Wet hash can’t be pressed: the water spits and pops in the press.
- Press it low and slow.
Pack the dry hash into a 15 to 37 micron rosin bag and press at about 160 to 190 °F with gentle, rising pressure. The full method is in how to make hash rosin.
- Cure it, or don’t.
Scrape it into a glass jar to enjoy fresh, or cold cure it for a few days until it whips into a creamy badder.
- Keep it cold.
Store it sealed, cold and dark. Fresh live rosin changes fast at room temperature.
Is live rosin better?
Is live rosin better? For flavor, usually; for strength, not really. Freezing the plant at harvest keeps the bright, fresh terpenes that drying and curing wear away, so live rosin tastes and smells closest to the living plant. How strong it is depends on the hash it was pressed from more than on whether that hash was live. Bubbleman sees two ends of a spectrum: cured traditional hash keeps a narrow, peppery profile, while new bubble and live hash rosin keep all of it.
From the archive: Bubbleman on live hash rosin
From the archive, Bubbleman on live hash rosin in his own words, from two live Sunday shows. Tap a time to hear that moment.
New bubble hash and live hash rosin is all of it. It’s all of it. So they really are different ends of the spectrum… So preserve your bubble hash and your… live hash rosin and cure your old hash.
On the two ends of the spectrum
I could go buy live hash rosin right now, 10 minutes from my house, and it would be on par with something that’s in my stash. To me, that is a massive, massive, massive success.
On how far live rosin has come
Why live rosin costs more
Live rosin costs more than most concentrates because every step is slow and nothing can be fixed later. The plant has to be frozen within hours, washed, dried and pressed in small batches, and because nothing gets purged afterward, only very good starting material makes very good rosin. Fresh frozen material is mostly water, too, so a full freezer of harvest turns into a small jar.
Live rosin vs live resin
Live rosin vs live resin comes down to solvent. Both start from fresh frozen plants, but live resin is extracted with butane or propane, while live rosin is pressed from ice water hash with no solvent at any step. The full comparison is in live rosin vs live resin.
How to keep live rosin
Keep live rosin sealed, cold and dark, in glass. Silicone reacts with rosin’s terpenes over a week or more, The Press Club warns, so glass is the container for anything kept longer. Live rosin is at its best fresh; Bubbleman’s rule is to preserve the bubble hash and the live hash rosin, and save the curing for traditional hash.
Live rosin questions
Live rosin questions, answered short:
What is live rosin?
Live rosin is rosin pressed from bubble hash that was washed out of fresh frozen cannabis, frozen right after harvest instead of dried. No solvent is used at any step.
How is live rosin made?
Live rosin is made by freezing the plant at harvest, washing it into bubble hash in ice water, drying that hash, and pressing it with gentle heat through a fine rosin bag.
What does live rosin mean?
Live rosin means rosin pressed from hash that was washed out of a plant frozen fresh at harvest instead of dried and cured, so it keeps more of its living terpenes.
Is live rosin better than rosin?
Live rosin is usually more flavorful than rosin pressed from dried material, because freezing keeps terpenes that drying loses. It isn’t necessarily stronger.
Is live rosin pressed from frozen flowers?
No, live rosin isn’t pressed from frozen flowers. The fresh frozen plant is washed into bubble hash first, and the dried hash is what gets pressed.
Sources for this live rosin guide
Sources for this live rosin guide:
- Live rosin vs live resin: what’s the difference?, The Press Club
- Live rosin vs live resin, Low Temp Industries
- How to press bubble hash rosin: a starter guide, The Press Club
- How to properly store rosin, The Press Club
- DOD Episode 2: the Soilgrown interview, Bubbleman’s World on YouTube
- Hash Church Season 12, Episodes 24 and 25: Bubbleman on live hash rosin, linked above