new
✍: Imran Rashid | 📆: September 23, 2023 | 📚: Oil & Gas Vol. 2 | 📖: 5-8 Minute Read
✍: Imran Rashid | 📆: September 23, 2023
📚: Oil & Gas Vol. 2 | 📖: 5-8 Minute Read
The reality is I could never possibly list every single extract anyone has ever heard of.
How did I make certain judgement calls?
How to get an extraction job?
✍: Imran Rashid | 📆: September 23, 2023 | 📚: Oil & Gas Vol. 3 | 📖: 3-5 Minute Read
✍: Imran Rashid | 📆: September 23, 2023
📚: Oil & Gas Vol. 3 | 📖: 3-5 Minute Read
This is currently a placeholder but I wanted to write less boring things than the default placeholder text.
Also, Hi!
The Case of the Missing Extracts
✍: Imran Rashid | 📆: September 23, 2023 | 📚: Oil & Gas Vol. 2 | 📖: 5-8 Minute Read
✍: Imran Rashid | 📆: September 23, 2023
📚: Oil & Gas Vol. 2 | 📖: 5-8 Minute Read
The reality is I could never possibly list every single extract anyone has ever heard of.
How did I make certain judgement calls?
Why Extractwise?
✍: Imran Rashid | 📆: September 23, 2023 | 📚: Oil & Gas Vol. 1 | 📖: 3-5 Minute Read
✍: Imran Rashid | 📆: September 23, 2023
📚: Oil & Gas Vol. 1 | 📖: 3-5 Minute Read
Want to know what motivated the creation and development of Extractwise? What problems did I notice that I'm trying to solve?
A short manifesto.
How to get an extraction job?
A manifesto - it's short, I promise.
Cannabis extraction is old and new. It's been around as long as humans have interacted with cannabis, but in the last 10 years, it has evolved rapidly.
Knowledge about cannabis extraction and cannabis extracts, however, is still massively eclipsed by a lingering veil of prohibition. A lot of evolution occurred and is occurring in illegal and quasi-legal environments, creating challenges for the curious learner.
If that wasn’t enough, there is often gatekeeping and contempt shown towards newbies - and quality information often isn’t broken down into simple explanations. Then, there is "education", which is really equal parts marketing, often coloured by the bias of whatever product they are tasked with trying to sell.
There is a paralyzing lack of understanding of extracts and extraction at every level of society, including consumers, retail staff, cultivators, and regulators. In a field this fast-paced, being able to grasp the basics massively improves your understanding of the present and elevates your potential to see the future.
Extractwise exists because learning is best done in a non-hostile environment. It for those with a non-technical background, and isn't trying to sell you products. No pyramid scheme here, folks.
Why Extractwise?
A manifesto - it's short, I promise.
Cannabis extraction is old and new. It's been around as long as humans have interacted with cannabis, but in the last 10 years, it has evolved rapidly.
Knowledge about cannabis extraction and cannabis extracts, however, is still massively eclipsed by a lingering veil of prohibition. A lot of evolution occurred and is occurring in illegal and quasi-legal environments, creating challenges for the curious learner.
If that wasn’t enough, there is often gatekeeping and contempt shown towards newbies - and quality information often isn’t broken down into simple explanations. Then, there is "education", which is really equal parts marketing, often coloured by the bias of whatever product they are tasked with trying to sell.
There is a paralyzing lack of understanding of extracts and extraction at every level of society, including consumers, retail staff, cultivators, and regulators. In a field this fast-paced, being able to grasp the basics massively improves your understanding of the present and elevates your potential to see the future.
Extractwise exists because learning is best done in a non-hostile environment. It for those with a non-technical background, and isn't trying to sell you products. No pyramid scheme here, folks.
The Case of the
Missing Extracts
How I Attempted to Preserve my
Sanity by Not Chasing Perfection
If you looked at the Extractwise homepage and said- “oh, it’s missing this, this, and this,” or, “that’s not it’s name, it should be called this instead,”- hear me out.Extract terminology is frustrating. It's non-standardized. Trying to give every single extract name it's own page would be an endless task. That said, this website is a work in progress - something missing just might be in development!If the following Q+A still leaves you unsatisfied, I actually love discussing this kind of stuff. Feel free to reach out to me here.
Where Is "RSO"?
“Rick Simpson Oil” (RSO) is Hash Oil with a brand name. It is Rick Simpson’s recipe for making something that already existed.
To me, this is like your grandma having a specific recipe for chocolate chip cookies, and you calling every chocolate chip cookie, “Grandma’s Cookies”. While we may love grandma, and I mean no disrespect to Rick Simpson - Hash Oil is a term that predates Rick Simpson Oil.Initially his recipe used naphtha, but over time ethanol came to be preferred (Realistically, there are a number of ways to make a similar looking, dark, oily cannabis extract). Other high proof alcohols, such as isopropanol or methanol produce a similar, if not practically identical product.Despite the fact that “RSO” has become more ubiquitous, I would like to promote the use of "Hash Oil", at least until there is evidence that suggests “RSO” refers to something that "Hash Oil" doesn't cover.
Why Not "BHO"?
“BHO”, or Butane Hash Oil, can refer to so many types of extract, it is more of an umbrella term than one specific thing.
However, because the idea of an “umbrella” may imply that everything under it only falls under it (and nowhere else), even using "BHO" in this way isn't completely accurate.Using BHO as an umbrella term for a whole class of extract excludes the fact that many of them can be made with Propane (a.k.a. PHO), or Isobutane, or mixtures of these hydrocarbons. Similar looking products may also be produced through solvent-less (no solvent added) techniques.Essentially, when the extraction yields a high concentration of THC-A and at least some terpene content, many different textures can be produced, and this isn’t exclusive to butane. Therefore, to simply label an extract as “BHO” can be quite deceptive.
Why Not The Term "Live Resin"?
I think the term “Live Resin” should be phased out. It is too ambiguous and easy to mix up with "live rosin".
“Live” tells us the extract was made from cannabis plants that haven’t been cured - as in dried in preparation for smoking or vaporizing. “Resin” indicates that the extract was made using additional solvents - most often being butane. Such products often appear saucy and are quite fragrant.Because the texture of live resin can vary, "live resin" often gets treated like a prefix follow by another extract name, as in "live resin diamonds". Sometimes it is just labelled "sugar", or "badder". Live resin can take on many different textures and appearances.This results in a hodgepodge of names like “live resin sugar” or “live resin badder”, where the term “resin” is somewhat redundant.“Live Badder” is sufficient to convey what “Live Resin Badder,” does. Perhaps “Live Badder - Extracted with: Butane,” paints an even clearer picture.Basically, if the variations of extract textures matter, then “live resin” is at best not useful, and at worst, confusing, especially given its similarities to “live rosin”.
What About Rosin Variants?
Have you heard of extract textures like parfait, creme brûlée, and jam? They're a little newer than the classic textures such as shatter and crumble (and yes, it does feel weird to say "classic" in the context of cannabis extracts).
They represent a change in physical appearance and behaviour of rosin as a result of post-extraction manipulation. This is similar to how many of the extracts that are present on the homepage are produced via manipulation of the resin produced from hydrocarbon extraction.Aside from perhaps "Jam", I need to learn a bit more about some of these textures to determine if they're appreciably different from one another to warrant creating pages for. Of course, you might say that some of the extracts I do have pages for are not that appreciably different from one another! That leads into another discussion for another post.
Is This Really The End?
I expect as I get more "What about this extract?" questions, I'll update this with more answers. As mentioned, you can always send me a message or feedback here, if you'd like to pick my brain further.