A marijuana concentrate comes in a variety of forms and is a concentrated mass that usually resembles a texture like butter or honey. A concentrate can be known as “budder,†oil, hash oil, honey oil, butane honey oil (BHO), wax, ear wax, 710 (oil upside down), shatter, black glass, and dabs. Weed oil in vaporizer cartridges is a form of concentrate, they are also found in edibles, tinctures, and medicated balms. Most of the time, when people talk about concentrates, they’re referring to dabbing a cannabis concentrate with a dab rig.
Concentrates contain all of the terpenes and cannabinoids of cannabis buds after distilling down the most desirable parts of the plant. This makes concentrates much more potent than smoking flower, with THC levels ranging anywhere from 40% to 80%, compared to average cannabis buds, which are typically about 20%.
Cannabis concentrate and extract are sometimes used interchangeably, although there is a difference. Extracts are a type of concentrate that are made by using a solvent. Therefore, all extracts are concentrates, but not all concentrates are extracts. Some concentrates are made by physical or mechanical means, without using solvents, such as dry sift, rosin, and kief which use physical means to gather trichomes. Be sure to purchase concentrates from licensed cannabis sellers to ensure quality products suitable for consumption without contamination, and use caution when using concentrates for the first time.