Processing Glossary

Biomass: A general term for any organic matter coming from a cannabis plant that can be processed and used for various products.

Broad-Spectrum: Extracts which keep the majority — but not all — of the active ingredients from the original cannabis plant. A cured resin product is an example, since the curing process inevitably leads to some loss of terpenes — as opposed to a live resin product, which would be full-spectrum.

Butane Hash Oil: BHO is a cannabis concentrate made using butane as the main hydrocarbon solvent during extraction.

Cannabinoid: A naturally-occurring compound found in cannabis plants. These compounds interact with cannabinoid receptors in a human body to produce various effects. The two most well-known cannabinoids are tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Even though cannabinoids are usually an output component of processing, they can also be an input in their isolated form, especially in infusion and formulation stages. In raw cannabis, cannabinols are found in their acidic form (e.g. THCA, CBDA, etc) and transform into their active form (THC, CBD, etc) through decarboxylation.

CO2 Extraction: A kind of solvent extraction that uses CO2 in either a high temperature and pressure… or low temperature and pressure state, to extract more cannabinoids in a shorter period of time.

Cold Curing: A manipulation process for increasing the structural stability of rosin — where rosin is placed in a container and stored for an extended period of time in a cooled environment, reducing the amount of nucleation that can occur. Furthermore, the curing rosin can be periodically agitated, recombining the terpenes and cannabinoids to create a more homogenous format.

Concentrate: like an extract — it involves extracting the desirable cannabis components from the rest of the biomass and present in a concentrated form.

Cured: Cured is a descriptive word that means the extract was created using dry-cured input material (instead of fresh/fresh-frozen material used in live extracts). This word will precede the type of extract it’s referring to, such as resin or rosin.

Decarboxylation: Separating the carboxyl elements from the rest of cannabinoid’s molecular structure for releasing as CO2 using heat. This process is typically executed before making infused edibles, and also before distillation. The heat also helps boil off any residual water or solvent that may be present in the oil.

Distillate: A high cannabinoid extract that is extracted using solvents, and has undergone refinement, decarboxylation, and distillation. Thus, it has no terpenes and almost entirely composed of decarboxylated cannabinoids. Usually distillate is utilized as a base for formulation or infusion.

Distillation: A process of refining where (typically winterized and decarboxylated) cannabis oil is vaporized and then condensed using finely-controlled guidelines to selectively divide compounds — usually cannabinoids or terpenes. This is typically executed using a short-path or wiped-film distillation setup.

Dry-Cured: Biomass that has been dried and cured in some process before being sent for processing.

Enhanced: A cannabis formula that has had external terpenes, molecular modifiers, and/or diluents added — resulting in boosted effects and/or usability.

Enhancement: A formulation process that increases the effects and/or usability of the cannabis formula, often through the process of adding terpenes, molecular modifiers, or some other compounds.

Ethanol Extraction: This is a type of solvent extraction that uses ethanol to extract cannabinoids. Terpenes are not typically preserved in this form of extraction because of the chemical makeup of ethanol and how they affect the post-extraction process. It is performed at room temperature or sub-freezing temperatures — with the colder environments pulling fewer amounts of impurities out.

Evaporation: A kind of solvent removal, where the solvent is boiled out of the extract using vacuum and/or heat — most often with a rotary or falling film evaporator. The solvent is usually recovered for future use during this process.

Extract: See concentrate above.

Filtration: An element of refinement involving the separation and removal of unwanted components from extracts to further purify, often including processes such as winterization and polishing.

Fresh: Biomass that hasn’t gone through any post-harvest processing before being sent for processing.

Fresh-Frozen: Biomass that has been flash-frozen immediately after harvest — either with dry ice or liquid nitrogen — and is then stored at sub-freezing temperatures until the point of extraction to preserve the maximum amount of terpenes.

Full-Spectrum: Full-spectrum extracts keep both the natural plant’s terpenes and cannabinoids in their original proportions. If either component is not a complete representation of the original plant, then the extract is not full-spectrum. Extracts would generally need to be derived from fresh or fresh-frozen biomass in order to qualify as full-spectrum. The term “whole plant extract” that is sometimes used is just another name for a full-spectrum extract.

Hash: A cannabis concentrate made from solventless extraction — either through washing (in the case of ice water hash), or through manual separation (in the case of hand rub hash or dry sift hash).

High Cannabinoid Extract: HCE for short. There has been no definitive minimum threshold for what constitutes a HCE, although anything over 85% total cannabinoids should be considered a HCE. This term can be combined with full-spectrum or broad-spectrum when applicable. For example, high cannabinoid broad-spectrum extract contains more than 85% total cannabinoids, while also maintaining the majority of the terpenes and any minor cannabinoids from the original plant.

High Terpene Extract: HTE for short. There has been no definitive minimum threshold for what constitutes a HTE — but logically, anything over 15% total terpenes should be considered a HTE. This term can be combined with full-spectrum or broad-spectrum when applicable. For example, high terpene full-spectrum extract contains more than 15% total terpenes, while also retaining the entire range of the terpenes and cannabinoids from the original plant in their natural proportions to one another.

Hydrocarbon Extraction: A type of solvent extraction using one or more hydrocarbons to extract cannabinoids and terpenes. Typical hydrocarbons include butane and propane. This is the only form of extraction that can effectively produce live resin, due to the non-polarity of hydrocarbon solvents preventing extraction of water with the desired components from the wet biomass.

Infused: A non-cannabis base substance that has had one or more cannabis components added to it. This includes edible and topical substances.

Isolate: A nearly 100% pure, single cannabinoid created through an isolation process, such as CBD isolate or THCA isolate.

Isolation: A process of refinement that separates a particular component of cannabis (typically cannabinoids) with almost 100% purity. There are a number of ways to implement this, including using chromatography, crystallization (e.g. “growing diamonds”).

Isolation: A process of refinement that separates a particular component of cannabis (typically cannabinoids) with almost 100% purity. There are a number of ways to implement this, including using chromatography, crystallization (e.g. “growing diamonds”).

Live: An extract created using fresh or fresh-frozen input material (as opposed to dry-cured material used in cured extracts). This word should precede the type of extract it’s referring to, such as resin or rosin.

Manual Separation: A solventless extraction process that relies on physical techniques like rubbing or sifting to isolate cannabis compounds from the plant material. Typical outputs include hand rub hash and dry sift hash.

Molecular Modifiers: Substances that can change the structure of cannabinoids to increase their solubility and/or absorption rate.

Polishing: An advanced filtration step, usually performed as a second pass after winterization, to further purify the extract. This includes processes for remediation (e.g. pesticides, heavy metals, mycotoxins, THC in hemp products, chlorophyll) such as CRC, chelation and chromatography, in addition to advanced filtration processes like nanofiltration.

Pressing: A solventless extraction method that uses a combination of heat and pressure to extract cannabis oil from dry-cured flower or hash (as a second-step extraction, typically with ice water hash), resulting in rosin.

Propane Hash Oil: PHO is a cannabis concentrate made using propane as the primary hydrocarbon solvent during the extraction process.

Purging: The process of removing residual solvents from cannabis extracts, typically using heat and/or vacuum in an oven. Unlike evaporation, purged solvents aren’t usually recovered for future use. This process is also used on spent biomass after extraction to eliminate residual solvents before disposal.

Resin: Refined output from solvent extraction. It can either be cured resin (if made from dry-cured biomass), or live resin (if made from fresh-frozen biomass).

Rosin: Output from pressing—the form of solventless extraction that uses a heated press — for example, a rosin press. This term is usually combined with whatever material was used in the extraction process for more clarity — for example hash rosin or flower rosin. It can either be cured rosin (if made from flower or hash derived from dry-cured biomass), or live resin (if made from hash derived from fresh or fresh-frozen biomass).

Solvents: Substances used to dissolve a plant’s cannabinoids and terpenes, separating them from the plant matter. Carbon dioxide (CO2), ethanol, and hydrocarbons like butane and propane are typically common solvents used in cannabis extraction.

Solvent Extraction: An extraction method that uses solvents such as CO2, ethanol or butane, to dissolve and extract the active compounds from a cannabis plant.

Solventless Extraction: An extraction method in which solvents are not used. Instead, solventless extraction separates trichomes (with the active compounds) from the rest of the plant material by friction and filtration, or from their parent structure using heat, filtration, and/or pressure.

Terpenes: Organic compounds produced by cannabis, and many other plants. They give cannabis their unique aromas and flavors. Some terpenes also have a therapeutic benefit and may work with cannabinoids in what’s known as the “entourage effect.”

Trim: the remaining leaves and plant material removed from the cannabis bud after harvest — typically during bucking and/or trimming. Even though trim is almost always less potent than the flower buds—it still contains cannabinoids and terpenes which can be used to make extracts, edibles, or other cannabis products — especially with Distillate, as the distillation process removes all non-cannabinoid components.

Warm Curing: A process of manipulation intended to increase the structural stability of rosin. Rosin is stored in a container (typically a mason jar) for an extended period of time in a heated environment (usually an oven, double boiler or heat pad), which accelerates the nucleation process — when the terpenes and cannabinoids separate. In addition, the curing rosin can be agitated periodically, recombining the terpenes and cannabinoids to create a more uniform consistency.

Washing: A solventless extraction method which involves agitating the cannabis plant material in ice-cold water for separating trichomes, which are then filtered through progressively smaller micron bags to yield the final product — often referred to as ice water or bubble hash.

Winterizing: A type of filtration, which involves fully dissolving cannabis extract in a solvent (usually ethanol), then freezing the solution, and pushing the frozen solution through progressively smaller micron filters, using either gravity or vacuum. Freezing the solution solidifies any lipids, residual water, and water-soluble contaminants, allowing them to be trapped in filters and removed from the final product.

Winterized Oil: Cannabis oil that has undergone the filtration process of winterization for removal of lipids (like fats and waxes) and chlorophyll. This process results in an oil that has smoother tastes, has a better shelf life and is easier to vaporize or dab.

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