What is Bubble Hash & How Is It Made?

If you are a hash lover you might have asked yourself what the heck is bubble hash and how is it made in the first place.

If that’s you be assured that you are on the right blog. In the next few minutes you will understand what exactly is bubble hash and even know how to DIY it for yourself if you are willing to take up the challenge.

Making bubble hash is both an art and a science. Before getting to the art you must first understand the science behind it and a bit of history as well.

History of Hash Making

Hash making dates back to thousands of years. For example it dates back to the 8^th century in Israel as well as the Himalayas and Morocco.

With the legalization of cannabis in different parts of the world, this practice has even gained more popularity. With this, hash makers have devised different methods of creating the best quality hash. As you may already know, hash comes in different forms. An age old method of producing hash is through the use of ice water and this produces bubble hash.

As much as this method is not so popular those who know and have tried it swear by it.

What is the one good thing about ice water extraction?

There are many benefits to this method. For starters, the use of ice water eliminates the need for hash chemicals. Consequently, the bubble hash that is produced is pure. More benefits are illustrated later in this article.

What is Bubble Hash?

This is a form of concentrated cannabis that is created using water as the extraction solvent. The principle behind this form of cannabis extraction technique is ultimate preservation of cannabinoids and terpenes with high purity levels. Water is readily available, affordable, and safe to work with. This makes it an ideal extraction solvent especially for home extraction. This method had fallen out of favor as cannabis producers rushed to carbon dioxide and other commercially viable solvents. However, it is not being reconsidered in many quarters.

Cold water extraction is underpinned by three principles; water, ice, and agitation.

The Science of Making Bubble Hash

To make bubble hash, cannabis buds are subjected to ice water and agitated. The buds have to be dry while the water needs to be frozen. This prevents activating the cannabinoids through the process of decarboxylation. Since the buds are dry, the ice prevents them from breaking apart.

Agitation, or mixing, helps to break apart the resin glands (trichomes) from the plant material. The trichomes fall into the water and are collected through fine mesh bags. This is the kief.

Once the kief is collected it is caked into a hash known as bubble hash. The low temperatures will preserve the potency and integrity of the cannabinoids and terpenes.

Unlike other extraction methods, ice water extraction is simple and affordable, and easy to implement at home. Methods that use extreme heat run the risk of destroying the volatile compounds such as terpenes.

Bubble has provides a full range of terpenes which are responsible for the entourage effect. With this comes a rich aroma, taste, and enhanced effects. This is another reason why ice extraction is gaining traction.

On the flip side, bubble hash may not be as potent (THC rich) as similar concentrates such as BHO.

How Do You Make Bubble Hash?

Ice water extraction is one of the simplest cannabis extraction techniques seeing that requires just water, ice, and cannabis as the main ingredients. What this method requires is some diligence, patience, and skills.

What you will need

1. Bubble bags
2. 15 pounds of ice
3. 3-4 ounces of quality cannabis
4. 5 L bucket
5. Purified water
6. Cheesecloth

Method

1. Place the bubble bag in the bucket arranging from smallest to largest.
2. Add the high-quality cannabis buds into the bucket
3. Pour half of the ice on top of the buds.
4. Add the water to the buds
5. Agitate the ice, water, and buds without being too vigorous
6. Continue to agitate for 15 or 20 minutes
7. Let the mixture rest for about half an hour
8. Allow the first bubble bag to drain back into the bucket. It is okay to shake or squeeze it to get all the water out. Set aside
9. Take the next bubble bag and scrape the material at the bottom. Place the material you have collected on a cheesecloth. This is your first sample of bubble hash which is not as pure.
10. Take the next bubble bag and drain it into the bucket without squeezing this time round.
11. Scrape out the material at the bottom of the second bag and place on a cheesecloth
12. This is your second sample of bubble hash which should be more and purer. It will even be lighter in color
13. Repeat this procedure with the bubble bags until the last bag has gone through the process. This should give the purest form of bubble hash
14. Lastly, fold the cheesecloth over the collected bubble hash and get rid of the water through pressing

This method of cannabis extraction produces three to four different grades of bubble hash, depending on the number of screens that have been used. If you like you can mix all the different grades or use them separately.

As you may have noticed, making bubble hash is a simple and straight-forward process that you can easily do at home.

Bubble Hash vs Rosin vs Hash: What’s the Difference?

All three are solventless concentrates made from cannabis trichomes. The difference is how the trichomes are separated and handled.

• Hash (dry sift or hand-rubbed): trichomes are knocked off dry plant material through screens, or rubbed off live plants by hand, then pressed together. It is the oldest method.
• Bubble hash (ice water hash): plant material is agitated in ice-cold water so the brittle trichome heads break off, then the water is filtered through a series of micron mesh bags. Each bag catches a different grade.
• Rosin: heat and pressure squeeze resin out of flower, kief or bubble hash. Rosin pressed from bubble hash is often called hash rosin.

None of them use chemical solvents. For more, see what live rosin is and how to make hash at home.

Learn to Extract Like the Pros

The market for cannabis extracts is exploding! Enroll in Cannabis Training University today to learn everything you need to make professional quality cannabis concentrates.

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