How is cannabis oil made?

Cannabis oil is a cannabis concentrate that is intended to contain a maximum of active agents and flavor in order to deliver an intense taste and effect.

There are several types of cannabis oils that all depend on how they were extracted and packaged. We can for example cite rosin, BHO or crumble.

Here we will see the principle of making cannabis oil and then detail these three different techniques mentioned above so that you can see more clearly on this subject.

What is cannabis oil?

Cannabis oil is a by-product of cannabis that we could compare to an essential oil of cannabis. The latter is composed of cannabinoids, the psychoactive agents of cannabis such as THC or CBD, as well as terpenes and flavonoids, which are the natural flavoring agents of cannabis.

Cannabis oils can reach around 70% THC so we can say with certainty that this is a potent cannabis concentrate.

Cannabis oil is often smoked, eaten, or dabbed (meaning vaporized neat).

The basic principle of cannabis oil

The basis of making oil is therefore to separate the active and flavoring agents from the plant in order to make a cannabis concentrate.

There are two methods to carry out this extraction, one mechanical and the other chemical.

Chemical oil extraction

To carry out a chemical extraction of cannabis oil, a solvent must be used. The principle is that the solvent will chemically bind to terpenes, flavonoids and cannabinoids and allow them to be separated from the plant material.

Several solvents can be used to perform this process, but the two main ones are isopropyl alcohol and butane.

Whatever the solvent used, the basic principle remains the same; mix the vegetable matter with the solvent, remove it using a filter so as to recover only the mixture of solvent and active and flavoring agents, then evaporate the solvent so as to recover only the oil of weed.

When this extraction is correctly carried out, the final result is free of any solvent residues and you therefore recover a pure and clean oil.

Mechanical oil extraction

There is also a mechanical way to make cannabis oil. The principle is very simple and it consists of slightly heating the jaws before applying a strong force on them which will compress the plant matter and squeeze out the cannabis oil. This method is less profitable than chemical extraction but it has the advantage of not using any solvents or chemicals.

It is this method that gives the cannabis oil called rosin.

The BHO

BHO is a cannabis oil made with butane as an extracting solvent, hence the acronym which stands for Butane Hash Oil.

The Crumble

Crumble is an oil that uses a chemical solvent but is purified using a vacuum chamber which creates small air bubbles inside the oil and gives it an appearance reminiscent of this famous apple pastry.

Conclusion

Now you know more about how cannabis oil is made, and you can now use this concentrate with full knowledge of how it was produced.