Live Resin Versus Distillate: What's The Difference?
You know the feeling.
You just walked into a new dispensary down the street and you are overwhelmed by limitless options. What do you choose? What flavor? What strain?
How should you smoke it? Is a live resin better than distillate, and how can you tell?
We at Weedsy are always working to bring you the best quality cannabis, and our live resin and distillate concentrates are no different. High quality for a better high. Concentrates tend to be stronger and more potent than typical dry herbs. Read on for everything you need to know about finding the perfect cannabis concentrate.
What's Live Resin?
Live resin is made from flash-frozen flowers of the cannabis plant, cut down at peak harvest to preserve the trichomes. It's these trichomes that are responsible for preserving the full spectrum of cannabinoids and terpenes that deliver live resin's true-to-strain experience. These are the essence of the plant, where the cannabinoids and terpenes are born, providing complex flavor profiles, from fresh mango and biscuit dough to lemon and skunk. The possibilities are endless because the terpenes are still alive and well in live resin.
Try our variety of flavors today. Each Twinsies pre-roll pack is packed with live resin. Try out Lemonati or Mango Chee for a tropical trip.
What's Distillate?
Distillate is made from another type of extract, much more formulaic than the live-resin method. It's more a process than a "product", but distillate is the name given to a cannabis extract that concentrates the desired cannabinoid, usually THC. All extraction processes use heat and pressure to create difference consistencies. Usually the goal is to separate the THC to make a highly potent product in the form of a clear, odorless liquid.
Weedsy infused pre-rolls are made with exotic strains that are infused with THC distillate. During that distillation process, the removal of the unwanted plant matter gives us the ability to add botanically derived terpenes to achieve the flavor aspect of the pre-roll.
Our Weedsy pre-rolls are made with distillate, kief, and quality THC. Try our Weedsy Infused Strawberry pre-Roll Pack for a taste of what we mean!
Live Resin vs Distillate: The Differences
The most pronounced difference between live resin and distillate is the high terpene content in the live resin. Because distillation requires extraction, it strips away all the excess plant material and keeps only the desirable compounds like terpenes, and cannabinoids such as THC, CBD, and CBG. When comparing live resin and distillate, it's sort of like buying juice at the grocery store. Live resin is the freshly-squeeze orange juice, while distillate is more like the concentrated orange juice in the refrigerator section.
The most notable differences are the extraction process, terpene and cannabinoid content, and the smoking experience as a whole. Let's look at the extraction process up close next.
The Extraction Process
The process begins by freezing freshly harvested cannabis plant matter. Them the plant matter is kept frozen for around 36 hours, usually around the time to begin extraction. Most live resin is extracted using a simple process that is similar to other concentrates. Plant material is passed through with a solvent which is then vaporized out, leaving that saucy, tasty residue behind. As long as the plant matter is frozen, freshly cut and extracted, it can be considered live-resin. Live-resin is extracted at low temperatures, preserving the flavor profiles and terpenes. Once extracted, live resin in ready to go.
Distillate is extracted at high temperatures and usually needs more refining, providing one kind of cannabinoid. Live resins are less defined and may contain many different compounds. It's usually the base ingredient of most edibles and cartridges. The name refers to the cannabis purification process that removes and separates the cannabinoids into unique products. It also allows the manufacturers to separate various cannabinoids for specific effects.
Terpene Content: Taste and Smell
The whole purpose of creating live resin is to preserve the strain's unique characteristics such as its taste and smell. If you've ever smelled an orange peel or a pine tree, you're smelling the naturally-occurring terpenes. They are found in various combinations and work together with the cannabinoids and flavonoids to produce a spectrum of feelings on the body and mind. With live resin, terpenes are preserved from the plant it was extracted from.
Our Weedsy Mango Chee pre-rolls, for example, taste a little fruity and a little skunky, without sacrificing the ripe mango taste on the front end.
Going with Live Resin pre-rolls means you don't sacrifice flavor or smoke, while distillate launches you into a high faster with flavor to boot!
The Smoking Experience
When debating live resin versus distillate, it comes down to the user's preference.
Sometimes you want a bright, juicy live resin that makes you salivate before pizza night, or maybe you are at your step-mom's house and you need to be a little more discreet. Or maybe you just like to get high and enjoy a higher concentration of THC.
When it comes to the highs associated with each, they are each carefully crafted for particular effects. Live resin tends to act similar to smoking dried flower, while distillate produces a more intense high at first that tends to last a shorter amount of time. Since there is a lack of cannabinoids and terpenes to produce what is known as the "Entourage Effect", distillate tends to wear off faster because most of the cannabinoids have been extracted.
Each product can be used for different purposes, so the question now is...
So, which should you choose?
Either choice is great.
Both live resin and distillates are crafted for different purposes, and neither is better or worse than the other. Each has it's own place in the cannabis industry. When it comes to choosing an extract, the most important quality is to consider the purity of the product and quality of the extract.
Always assess a cannabis processor and make sure they are using clean equipment in a stable environment, and they follow all requirements of the state-mandated compliances. Quality in, quality out.
From flower to concentrate and back again, Weedsy is along for the ride.
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