The New Avengers of Cannabis Concentrates:

An Analysis of Live Resin, Live Rosin, THC Diamonds & Terp Sauce

For quite some time, cannabis consumers have only experienced a few forms of cannabis concentrates. These concentrates come in the form of the traditional wax, shatter, and crumble. However, over the past few years, new cannabis concentrates have hit the market. New buzzwords such as Terp Sauce’ and ‘THC Diamonds’ are appearing in dispensaries and online with every new day. So just what exactly are these ‘new’ forms of cannabis concentrates? Let’s take a look! 

Terp Sauce

The first new superhero on the block is often referred to simply as Terp Sauce. The terminology is slang for Terpene Sauce. Terpenes are the aromatic oils found in virtually all buds of cannabis. They are responsible for the scents often associated with your favorite strains. That citrus aroma found in your bag of Lemon Haze? That is thanks to the terpene known as Limonene. How about that orange creamsicle scent that is often associated with the strain Mimosa? That is the terpene known as Myrcene. Although terpenes do not get consumers high, they are still popular for adding flavors to things such as edibles and vape cartridges, making terp sauce a very hot commodity.

Live Resin

Live resin is a form of Cannabis Concentrates that are prepared utilizing a technique that uses recently gathered cannabis and freezes it to extremely cool temperatures before and during the extraction process. Considering Cannabis Concentrates, Live resin is fairly new to the concentrate game. Its origins are often noted at some point between 2011 to 2013 with a handful of extractors as well as growers. In this group was a man called William Fenger, (a.k.a ‘Kind Bill,’) and a gentleman referred to as ‘Giddy Up’ were the two originators largely responsible with introducing Live Resin to the cannabis concentrate wave. Moreover, this was done by creating a specialized BHO extractor with the ability to maintain the incredibly low temperatures necessary to produce Live Resin Cannabis Concentrates. Add a dash of ingenuity fused that with their mission of utilizing ultra-chilled, even frozen, plant material for the cannabis concentrate. By using freshly frozen cannabis, the trichomes would be easily extractable into the concentrate. In unison, Giddy Up and Kind Bill were able to create methods able to extract Cannabis Concentrates heavily loaded with extremely high levels of terpenes and trichomes, making it quite the new contender among the heavy-hitting Cannabis Concentrates. 

Live Rosin

You are probably scratching your head, trying to figure why Live Resin is being mentioned again. This is known as Live Rosin. The term Rosin refers to a specific form of extraction that utilizes a combination of heat along with pressure to instantly force a viscous, sap-like material, or resin out of the bud. Additionally, the term “rosin” originated as a method of making a product used to create friction with violin bows. With cannabis, this method is incredibly versatile in that it can either be used with flowers or to clean up hash and kief into a full-melt hash oil. The result is often a pellucid, viscous, and can even resemble shatter. If performed properly, rosin can be reminiscent of the flavor, yield, and even potency of other extraction products that utilize solvents.

THC Diamonds

By now, you have come across those ultra-HD cannabis photos littered across Instagram. These pages are full of beautiful buds of cannabis, wax, crumbles, and those crystalline-yet-cannabis diamonds. These are often referred to as THC Diamonds. Some consumers even refer to these THC Diamonds as ‘Wizard Stones.’ Ironically, these forms of cannabinoid diamonds are made the same way traditional diamonds are formed: with a lot of heat, pressure as well as a specific amount of time. Scientifically, THC Diamonds are formed on a molecular level when the cannabinoids such as THC or THC-A become molded together a la the desired time and pressure. It is also worth noting that most THC diamonds are extracts of the cannabinoid known as THC-A. These diamonds have become more popular in recent years thanks to their level of potency.