When you take a waft from a fully mature, fresh cannabis plant, you’ll understand why so many people fall in love with its aromas. The bouquet of fragrances contained in one sniff of a living flower may completely change the way you look at cannabis.
At some point, you may start to wonder whether it’s possible to translate these alluring aromas and flavors into a consumable product.
Yes, and the name of this product is live resin.
However, live resin cannabis concentrates aren’t that easy to make.
Once the plant is harvested, it undergoes several processes, including drying and curing. These two steps are essential for getting a consumable product, one that is not only potent but also full of aromas and flavors.
However, cannabis concentrates need to go through some kind of extraction. Many of the fragrant molecules contained in the cannabis plant are purged during the process to yield higher potency — sacrificing the essential oils known as terpenes.
Not all concentrates are made the same way, though.
In this article, we’ll show you what live resin cannabis concentrates are, how do they differ from other dabs, and how to use them to get the most out of their flavors.
What Are Live Resin Cannabis Concentrates?
Live resin belongs to the cannabis concentrates category. But unlike the majority of concentrates available for sale, live resin is made from freshly harvested plant material. The plant is put under subcritical temperatures prior to and during the extraction.
Freezing a live cannabis plant allows the manufacturer to preserve its entire terpene profile.
Other types of concentrates use dry and cure flowers, which seriously compromises their fragrances. With live resin, the plant gets frozen right away after being collected — these freezing temperatures are maintained throughout the whole extraction.
This, in turn, captures the plant’s valuable terpene profile, keeping the original aromas and flavors inside the concentrate.
The Origins of Live Resin
Live resin is relatively new compared to other forms of cannabis concentrates. It was first extracted between 2011 and 2013 by a small group of Colorado-based growers who introduced live resin to the market.
They created a special BHO extractor that operated on extremely low temperatures necessary for making live resin.
Together, the growers came up with an extraction method that was capable of extracting concentrates that contained remarkable amounts of terpenes — much more than what typical extraction would yield with dried flowers.
What Does Live Resin Look Like?
Live resin cannabis concentrates can take plenty of colors and forms. The type of cannabis strain used for extraction is an important factor in determining both the physical and chemical characteristics of the final product.
As mentioned, live resin is full of terpenes, offering much higher ratios than other dabs. With the extra terpene content, the consistency is closer to a liquid than a solid form such as shatter or budder.
The more terpenes inside your concentrate, the runnier and less stable it will get. The most common types of live resin are the sauce, budder, sap, and sugar.
How is Live Resin Different than Other Concentrates?
As mentioned, the most striking difference between live resins and other concentrated forms of cannabis lies in their terpene content. Live resins pack more terpenes on average than a typical BHO concentrate.
The higher levels of terpenes can also lead to more potent psychoactive effects and enhanced medical benefits of the strain because terpenes interact with cannabinoids to create synergistic effects also known as the entourage effect.
The above characteristics have made live resin cannabis concentrates one of the most desired weed formats among consumers. Concentrates aficionados tend to pay more attention to their product’s terpene content because they are aware that terpenes influence the effects of the extract.
As you may guess, live resin comes at higher prices than most concentrates — we’ll get to that later in the article.
For now, let’s focus on how to consume live resin.
Most Common Consumption Methods of Live Resin Cannabis Concentrates
The most effective route of administration for live resin cannabis concentrates is through inhalation — either by smoking it in a dab rig or vaping it in a vaporizer.
Here’s more about each method.
1. Dabbing
If you want to smoke your live resin, you’ll need a dab rig for the job. In essence, dab rigs are more advanced water pipes with special features designed for concentrate consumption.
A dab rig is equipped with a nail (a flat bowl to hold your live resin), a gas-powered torch, and a dabber, which is a spoon-shaped tool for measuring out concentrates.
To use a dab rig, you simply scoop out a portion of your live resin and transfer it onto the red-hot nail. The best temperature for dabbing live resin os around 315–400 degrees Fahrenheit. Higher temperatures may result in wasting the terpenes.
The final step requires you to inhale the extract through the mouthpiece of your rig — simple as that.
2. Vaporization
Live resin can also vaporized in a vape pen. Vape pens are portable devices that come with oil cartridges attached to the battery. You can fill these cartridges with live resin instead of your regular concentrate.
Here, things are even simpler. You simply screw the cartridge onto the pen’s battery, turn on the heating coil, and inhale the vapor through the mouthpiece.
How to Store Live Resin the Right Way
Storing live resin is all about maintaining as many fragrances and flavors as possible. You need to avoid exposure to heat, light, moisture, and open air.
The best way to store live resin cannabis concentrates is to keep them in an airtight and lightproof container. Doing so will allow you to maintain the consistency of the resin and the concentrations of cannabinoids and terpenes, which would otherwise degrade over time.
Storage containers for cannabis products are available in cannabis dispensaries or smoke shops.
What’s the Average Price Per Gram of Live Resin
Live resin will typically cost you more than other concentrated formats. Depending on your location, a gram of live resin may be worth between $10 and $50 more than the same volume of wax or shatter. Premium live resin concentrates — especially those extracted from rare cannabis varieties — can sell as high as $100 per gram, but the average price per gram ranges from $60–$80.
Live Resin Cannabis Concentrates: More Than Just a One Hit Wonder
The popularity of live resin concentrates has skyrocketed since their introduction in 2011. These once mysterious extracts are now trending among cannabis consumers — they’re one of the most sought-after premium cannabis products.
While a gram of live resin is priced higher than other concentrates, the entire experience — stunning aromas and a more potent experience resulting from the entourage effect — is actually worth the extra spendings.
Have you already tried live resin? What’s your impression of this form of concentrated weed?