Live resin is a concentrated form of cannabis. Its name comes from the fact that it is made from fresh cannabis plants and does not involve curing or drying. Many cannabis enthusiasts love live resin due to its aromatic and flavourful nature, especially when dabbing.
Understanding What Live Resin Is
As mentioned, live resin is made from fresh cannabis that is not cured or dried. It comes from the sugar leaves and flower buds of the plant, but not the stems or large fan leaves. Live resin is flash-frozen, which helps retain the flavour of the cannabis plant while preserving the compounds you want, such as THC.
The biggest goal during live resin production is to get the aroma and essence of the plant. Because of this, live resin is known for being flavourful and high-quality.
More Terpenes
Live resin tends to have more terpenes and essential oils than other cannabis concentrates, thanks to the fact that it does not involve curing or drying. Given that terpenes are responsible for the flavour and smell of cannabis, this is an important distinction.
What Live Resin Looks Like
Live resin extracts can come in a range of forms and colours. A great deal of the appearance depends on the strain used to create the concentrate.
One of the key elements of the appearance of live resin is its higher terpene content than other concentrates. This leads to it being more fluid compared to other concentrates. This comes from the fact that a higher level of concentrates increases the malleability and runniness of the concentrate.
Consistencies and Types
There are a few types of live resin, each of which has a different consistency. The most common include sauce, budder, badder, sugar, and sap. You are unlikely to find shatter as a live resin since shatter is typically brittle, while live resin is not.
Keep in mind that some sauce is live resin, but that is not always the case. This comes down to the fact that while live resin always uses fresh plants and flash-freezing, the sauce does not require fresh plants.
How Live Resin Is Made
We already mentioned that live resin is made from fresh cannabis plants and involves flash freezing, but there is more to it. You should not attempt to make live resin yourself since it can be dangerous.
In most cases, making live resin is similar to making other extracts, but with the solvent cooling to -40 degrees (Fahrenheit or Celsius). The other major difference is that the vacuum purge has a different temperature.
How to Store Your Live Resin
When you get live resin, you want to maintain its flavour and scent for as long as you can. The best way to do this is to store it away from moisture, light, heat, and open air. Temperature and light both increase the rate at which your live resin breaks down.
A light proof, airtight container is the best option. You should also store it in a cold room or refrigerator. This will prevent the cannabinoids from degrading and the terpenes from evaporating. The best containers for storing live resin will be made from glass or silicone, with the latter making it easier to scrape excess stickiness out of so that you don’t miss any of the concentrates.
How to Use Live Resin
There are a handful of ways to use live resin.
Dabbing
The main method of using live resin is by dabbing. This involves using a dab rig and a nail, which is a flat bowl. Nails contrast with the glass bowls that you would use to smoke buds as they are made from materials that can better withstand high temperatures. When you dab live resin, opt for a dabber that has a tip shaped like a spoon. This is somewhat unique as most other extracts require a flat-tipped dabber.
When you want to dab, you use a butane- or another gas-powered torch to preheat the nail. You want the nail to be about 315 to 400 Fahrenheit or 157 to 204 Celsius. Less than this will not lead to vaporizing the live resin or not sufficiently activating the terpenes and cannabinoids. Hotter than this may lead to combusting those components, and the positive effects and flavours you want. When in doubt with the temperature, aim for lower instead of higher as this will maximize your live resin’s flavour potential.
Once your nail is at the right temperature, put the torch somewhere safe (after turning it off). Use your dabber to put the live resin on the nail. It will vaporize quickly as soon as it comes into contact. You use this opportunity to inhale via the opening on the other side of the rig.
Supplementing Flowers
You can also use your live resin to enhance the buds or flowers that you smoke with a blunt, joint, bowl, or glass pipe. Just sprinkle a bit of the live resin on top and enjoy it as normal. This will add extra flavour to your buds and heighten the experience.
Vaping
Dabbing your live resin is a form of vaping since you use heat to vaporize it and then inhale the vapours rich in cannabinoids and terpenes. There are also two other methods of vaping live resin: using a vape pen designed for it or a nectar collector.
A nectar collector has a titanium or quartz tip, a silicone or glass body that potentially has a percolator, reclaimer, or small water chamber, plus a cylindrical silicone or glass mouthpiece. To use one, you heat the tip and then drag your nectar collector slowly across your concentrate dab while you inhale the vapour.
The easiest method is to get a vape pen that works with live resin cartridges. All you do is attach the cartridge to the battery and use the vape pen normally. A live resin cartridge is just an oil cartridge with live resin.
Conclusion
Live resin is considered the holy grail of cannabis extracts as it is the most flavourful and potent. The flash-freezing process and use of fresh plant material mean that more terpenes are preserved, improving the flavour and aroma of the concentrate.
