MendoBudSmith Proves Possibilities Washing Dried and Cured Cannabis into Fresh Press Hash Rosin
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    • Jun 19, 2021
    • 6 min read

MendoBudSmith Proves Possibilities Washing Dried and Cured Cannabis into Fresh Press Hash Rosin

Updated: Mar 11, 2023

When @mendobudsmith came through and set up shop with two types of hash rosin, fresh or cured, I assumed he meant fresh-press or cold-cure rosin. I chose fresh and only a month later, sitting in his garage, did I understand he meant the material. Yeah, the material it was washed from, as in fresh press rosin from fresh frozen OR dried and cured plant material. Um, what.....?


As I sat reasoning the possibility of dry cannabis being washed and pressed into hash rosin that resembles fresh press live rosin, I remembered the old lesson: The more you know about something, the less you realize you know.


hash rosins
BudSmith's Mac1 with dried and cured material hash rosin on the left and fresh frozen live rosin on the right.

Just days after running the article titled "The Fresh Frozen Zeitgeist," my theory was crumbling. I'd often pondered the mere possibility of going from a rare five star melt, achieved with dry material to the whole she-bang, full-melt six-star hash. With traditional hash makers stuck at about the four-star quality ceiling for decades before fresh frozen harvests emerged, I'd overlooked the possibility of pressing traditional bubble hash into hash rosin. The enormous progress of ice hash and live rosins only seemed possible thanks to fresh-frozen harvests and yet, there I sat staring at fresh-pressed hash rosin made from dried and cured cannabis material.



hash rosin budsmith
Fresh Press Hash Rosin from Dried Cannabis Material. MendoBudSmith


My theory was redeemed however, as the dried and cured cannabis material is still frozen, but after the thirty-day drying process or cure. Freezing the cannabis makes the trichomes brittle and easier for the heads to break free from the trichome stems during the ice-water wash. While the zeitgeist remains frozen, this discovery confirmed a new evolution in our conceptual understanding of cannabis. An understanding of what is possible when optimal quality cannabis is used, like this cured plant hash rosin by @mendobudsmith, and extending all the way back to the lowest quality cannabis there is...


 

Let us not forget:


Until very recently, let's be clear about the two purposes or motivations for making hashish:


1. To concentrate extremely low-quality cannabis into an effective form.

Despite lofty rumors, the traditional forms of hashish emerging from the Arabic world required concentration to make for a useful product. The landrace varieties of cannabis growing naturally in the regions required concentrating massive amounts of bulk cannabis crops into a minute amount of consumable hashish. Legend and lore have grown, but despite the rumors and false assumptions, the quality of cannabis growing in these regions would provide little to no effect, otherwise. Hashish was the only effective form of cannabis known and the moment that cannabis flowers became useful alone, was the moment American hash making was relinquished to utilitarian need.


2. Extraction as a means to salvage and profit mightily off of another person's trash.

The 1960's popularity of an Americanized hashish was made from the trim and scraps of harvest. Farmers have been using these traditional sieving methods to make bubble-hash for decades. For the farmer it meant a few extra bucks or some quality smoke to help make it through long winters. With Prohibition keeping things firmly underground, the cannabis flower became and remained the prized possession for the next seventy-plus years, with only its excess trim and scrap devoted to any kind of extractions or hash making.




And by day 1 of U.S. recreational cannabis sales in Colorado around 2013, Butane Extraction proved vastly superior to bubble hash in salvaging the trash. Dabs and Dabbing were brand new, and the idea of full-melt hashish was obscure at best. Having no real clue what we were doing, Butane extraction and further distillation worked wonders to salvage THC and provide the first chemical solvent extracts on legal, and illegal markets made from trim and trash.


An entire industry (or maybe I should say The entire industry) blossomed on the buying and selling of bulk cannabis material, or biomass, worthy of little more than alcohol-soaked tinctures. This biomass was now being packed into closed-loop hydrocarbon extraction machines, where a bright yellow extract came out the other end. For years companies have gotten filthy-rich buying others trash and using chemical solvents to salvage usable THC distillates for nearly every cartridge and edible product we consume. Our grossly capitalist market took full advantage, infusing every product under the sun from trash grade cannabis material and CRC extracts are just the latest evolution in washing the trash.



After a decade of dabbing hydrocarbon extracts, refining the practice, evolving the quartz tools we use, carving out a place in the market and a demand for higher quality extracts, all before Fresh Frozen cannabis harvests provided the final push toward modern hashish: the use of cannabis flowers and whole plants rather than trim. Those first few jars of Live Resin sauce made from freshly frozen cannabis flowers blew the doors off everything we were used to prior. Fresh Frozen harvests finally brought a whole different motivation behind making hash.


 

3. To make and smoke the highest quality product ever achieved, while sacrificing enormous profits by choosing the solventless method, rather than plundering consumers for every last penny off someone else’s trash.


Borrowing the fresh-frozen philosophy, bubble hash makers nailed it. They figured out the age old question when touching and looking at live growing plants that asks, "how do we smoke you just like this?" Freezing the plants during harvest prevents months of terpene deterioration to provide hashish and hash rosin that tastes and smells identical to the living plant.


Now, some argue that terpenes can actually improve as they ripen or cure, as is the case with properly cured flower. This is one argument rosin cold cure or badder producers claim as the difference between fresh press rosin and a cold-cured rosin badder. Budsmith took it to a whole different level, curing the cannabis flower as normal, yet freezing it prior to the ice-water wash.

The fresh frozen answer to six-star hashish remains true, but the indelible mark that fresh frozen harvests have on the industry, is proving what is possible when using cannabis flower rather than someone’s trash and trim to extract from. It's incredible what can be achieved with just ice, water, and some pressure. @mendobudsmith's ability to craft phenomenal fresh-press rosin from both fresh frozen and dried cannabis is just the latest example of the possibilities.

 

I will admit, I did not enjoy the cured material hash rosin at first, with its much more traditional taste. I rarely smoke flower anymore, but that is exactly what the taste reminded me of. This would make sense as the cannabis material is dried and cured the exact same way his flower is prior to freezing it for the wash. Since the hash material was dried like flower, it was only logical that I asked if he had any of the dried flower to compare. With fresh frozen harvests, we never get to see the finished versions of the dried plant. These shots of his Mac 1 help make sense of the quality retained during cured material washes.


Dried Mac 1 Flower from Mendo Budsmith overflowing with trichomes.

My preference for the fresh-frozen rosin taste remains, but a whole different effect from the cured material rosin took me by surprise. By the second day I was choosing the rosin made from dried and cured material over the fresh frozen rosin purely for reasons stemming from the effects. The initial high or effect from the cured material seemed to be lacking at first, without the harsh-almost anxiety inducing effects of dabs first kicking in. The high comes on a bit slower with the cured rosin but materializes into a bodily euphoria felt heavily in the forearms and shoulders. It is almost comparable to an edible high, or relatable might be the better word. The high lasts longer from the cured material yet seems to dissipate without the tiring effects usually associated after smoking cannabis.


PB Mac Mints Fresh Press Rosin. Dry material on top and fresh frozen material on bottom.

The questions that initially came raining in about the cured material rosin, asked about yields and pricing, which only make the Budsmith look like a genius. Despite taking an additional thirty days of drying the plant, the cured material yields are often greater than from fresh frozen material! Add price into the equation, with the cured material rosin going for half the cost of his fresh frozen rosin and I'm sold. I ended up mixing jars together to get the best of both worlds. His Mac1 fresh frozen rosin is one of my favorites and the cured material version proved incredibly euphoric in a body high.


Scientific testing is crucial in understanding the dynamics and complexities at play.

Hopefully soon enough we will be able to compare and understand the effects of the cure. This is true for cold-cure rosin badders versus fresh press rosin, as well as for this latest evolution. I found I can write and read effectively during and after smoking the rosin from cured material, something I'd never say for the fresh frozen material. Clearly something is happening after harvest that we have failed to grasp in a meaningful way. Come on Science!


Wrap-Up


Chemical extractions never aimed for top quality, they simply aimed at effectively removing the THC molecule from almost any quality of cannabis. Chemical's dissolve trichomes from the plant, while water and agitation remove whole trichomes from the plant. Two entirely different actions with different motives. These chemical extracts are best left for their original purpose: Salvaging and making use of the trash, while solventless refinement continues to take over the cannabis world.


 

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