Solventless concentrates are made without butane, propane, alcohol or CO2. Kief and dry sift are made with screens, charas by hand, bubble hash with ice water and rosin with heat and pressure. Solvent extracts such as live resin, shatter, wax and distillate are dissolved out of the plant with a solvent that has to be removed afterward.
What is solventless?
Solventless means nothing was used to dissolve the resin out of the plant. The resin heads are separated whole, by sifting, by washing in ice water or by hand, and then pressed with heat if the maker wants rosin. Water does the work in bubble hash, but it doesn’t dissolve the resin: it knocks the heads loose, carries them through the bags and then dries away without a trace.
What counts as solventless
What counts as solventless is anything made with only mechanical separation, cold, water, heat and pressure:
- Kief and dry sift, sifted through screens.
- Bubble hash, washed out with ice water.
- Pressed and hand rubbed hash: temple balls, charas and brick hash.
- Rosin of every kind, flower, hash and live, pressed with heat; see rosin.
- Piatella, full melt bubble cured cold.
Butane hash oil, shatter, wax, live resin, distillate, CO2 oil and alcohol extracts are not: a solvent dissolves the resin out and has to be removed afterward. Apart from flower rosin, every solventless product starts as hash; Bubbleman’s methods for making it are in how to make hash.
Solvent vs solventless
Solvent vs solventless is a difference in method: a solvent dissolves the resin out of the plant, while solventless separates it whole. Because a solvent dissolves everything it touches, live resin can be made from almost any plant. Solventless needs plants with the right kind of resin heads, yields less and takes more work, which is why it usually costs more. The clearest example is live rosin vs live resin: the same fresh frozen plant, two very different paths.
Where the word solventless came from
The word solventless, as Bubbleman tells it, came from the hash maker Nikka T. In Colorado around 2008, when everyone started dabbing, a dab meant butane oil, and Nikka T didn’t like that: you could dab water hash too. So the scene sorted itself into names, with Bubbleman the bubble hash guy and Nikka T the solventless guy, and the word stuck to everything made without solvents.
From the archive: Bubbleman on solventless
From the archive, Bubbleman on solventless in his own words, recorded live on Season 12, Episode 15, The Edibles Episode, with Marigold Sweets and Space Gems. Tap a time to hear that moment.
I’ve just been a solventless guy for the last like almost 30 years. So I love the idea that you’re making your edibles using bubble hash.
On almost 30 years of solventlessSo he created the solventless, right? There’s his term right there, solventless. That’s my solventless quiver: dry sift, bubble hash, and rosin… He’s like, back in the day in Colorado when everyone started dabbing, I guess around ’08 or whenever it was, dabbing was BHO.
On where the word came from
Why solventless matters to hash makers
Solventless matters to hash makers because nothing can hide in it. Nothing is purged out at the end, so whatever was in the plant ends up in the hash or rosin, and it is only ever as good as the plant and the hands behind it. That also means solventless isn’t automatically pesticide free: Bubbleman points to an event where at least six solventless makers were caught with myclobutanol, a fungicide, in their products, and as much as he would like most regulations gone, he says some have to stay. Ask to see the lab results.
What is solventless rosin?
Solventless rosin is any rosin, because rosin is made with nothing but heat and pressure. Flower, hash and live rosin all count; it is live resin, despite the similar name, that isn’t solventless.
Solventless hash rosin
Solventless hash rosin is pressed from bubble hash or dry sift, so it stays solventless at both steps: water or screens to make the hash, heat and pressure to make the rosin.
Solventless live rosin
Solventless live rosin is pressed from bubble hash washed out of fresh frozen plants, with no solvent at any step. The Press Club notes that the wash water is technically a solvent, but it evaporates without a trace, so the bubble hash and the live rosin pressed from it both count as solvent free.
Solventless questions
Solventless questions, answered short:
What does solventless mean?
Solventless means a concentrate made without any chemical solvent: the resin is separated with cold, water, screens, heat and pressure instead of being dissolved out.
Is bubble hash solventless?
Yes, bubble hash is solventless: ice water knocks the resin heads loose and then dries away, without dissolving anything.
Is rosin solventless?
Yes, rosin is solventless. It is pressed out with heat and pressure, with nothing added.
Is live resin solventless?
No, live resin isn’t solventless: it is extracted with butane or propane. Live rosin, pressed from ice water hash, is the solventless one.
Is solventless better?
Solventless is better in one clear way: nothing was added, so nothing has to be purged. It isn’t automatically pesticide free, though, so good solventless still needs clean plants and lab tests.
Who coined the word solventless?
Bubbleman credits the word solventless to the hash maker Nikka T, from Colorado around 2008, when dabs meant butane oil.
Sources for this guide to solventless
Sources for this guide to solventless:
- Live rosin vs live resin: what’s the difference?, The Press Club
- Live rosin vs live resin, Low Temp Industries
- Hash Church Season 12, Episode 13: Bubbleman on myclobutanol in solventless products, Buzzsprout
- Hash Church Season 11, Episode 8: the solventless episode, Bubbleman’s World on YouTube
- Hash Church Season 12, Episode 15: Bubbleman on solventless, linked above