Distillate

Now that THC Distillate – or The Clear – has spread outwards into so many legal states outside of Colorado, it’s a good time to talk about what it is. Here’s everything you need to know about The Clear, what it is, how it works, and how you can use it yourself.

What is distillate? 

The Clear is a concentrate known as distillate. Distillate is a clear to light yellow form of concentrated cannabis that is made through a distillation extraction method leaving behind a potent but flavorless and odorless form of cannabis. Distillate tends to check in anywhere between 90-99% THC, though it can also be made with other cannabinoids at similar potencies. From there, the concentrate is either reintroduced to terpenes to make the distillate vapable and pleasant to smoke or it is used in edibles, tinctures, and topicals without the added scents and flavors.

How is THC distillate different from other concentrates? 

Unlike other concentrates, such as shatter, wax, and live resin, distillate is made a little bit differently. Instead of utilizing a standard BHO (hydrocarbon) or CO2 extraction, distillate is made through the process of distillation, which we’ll touch on later in the article. While most concentrates are extracted from the plant and maintain the integrity of the terpenes, distillation strips everything away and leaves behind cannabinoids in their purest form.

With that said, distillate tends to leave a bit to be desired. On its own it’s completely flavorless, and without those vital terpenes, distillate never feels as potent or intense as other concentrates. Cannabinoids and terpenes work together to promote therapeutic effects in a phenomenon known as the entourage effect. Without the terpenes, distillates often feel less potent even though they have a higher cannabinoid content than many other concentrates.

That’s not to say that distillate is not useful, though. In edibles and topicals, pure distillate can still support the entourage effect thanks to the terpenes found in food or perfumes, making it exceptionally potent and viable without the hashy scent and flavor. Alternatively, many processors and extractors will reintroduce terpenes back into distillate intended for smoking or vaping so that the concentrate feels just as potent and flavorful as anything else.

Why do people use distillate? 

There are many benefits to THC distillates. They are most commonly used in edibles and topicals since they are potent but don’t have any cannabis or hash-like scents or flavors. Edible companies are especially partial to pure distillates since they can make better-tasting edibles that are also just as potent as traditional edibles made with oils. Topical companies like them for the same reason. They offer a concentrated dose of cannabinoids but don’t have a weed-tinged aroma that sometimes makes it off-putting to use topicals.

However, the most common way people use distillate is still through vaping. The benefits here are preferable for a few reasons. For one thing, distillate offers little to no impurities while shatters, waxes, and other concentrates frequently include impurities that may be harmful to the lungs. Distillate is also easy to make and store, and it’s easy to reintroduce terpenes back into the final product to help promote better flavors and the entourage effect.

How is distillate made? 

Distillate is made in a relatively lengthy but effective process. While many processors skip the BHO extraction process and instead jump straight into the distillation process, companies like The Clear like to start with BHO to ensure they’re making a highly refined product.

To start, a processor is given a batch of cannabis, trim, or both. After some light prepping, they’ll take the cannabis and put them in a pressurized chemical bath in a closed-loop system. The chemical bath is usually a liquified hydrocarbon gas, such as propane or butane. When the solvent used is butane (as it most frequently is), the extract it produces is known as BHO, or butane hash oil. This process blasts all of the plant materials from the cannabinoids and terpenes. This method is unique since it retains the chemical structure of any specific cannabis strain and preserves the cannabinoids and terpenes.

From there, the product is then purged of solvents completely in a vacuum, The next step is to remove leftover fats and waxes. The processor will then place the concentrate in a polar ethanol solvent at sub-zero temperatures using mason jars to help separate the waxes and lipids from the oil. These substances collect at the top of the jar and make it easy to separate and filter. However, ethanol is a bit volatile. It purges at a higher temperature than butane, so this winterization process often removes the majority of terpenes too. While pure distillate is often the preferred way to go, some processors will utilize special machinery such as rotary evaporators to reduce terpene loss in the purge process after winterization.

Either way, once the winterization process is complete, the processor can begin the distillation process. In the distillation extraction method, heat, steam, and pressure are used to separate the chemical compounds in the concentrate and make for a concentrated cannabinoid distillate. This final step removes all the terpenes and flavonoids from the oil to leave behind a pure cannabinoid oil. This step requires a lot of careful monitoring since each cannabinoid has a unique boiling point, but when done correctly, everything will be separated from the cannabinoid in question, leaving behind a pure distillate. From here, depending on the final product in question, terpenes are either reintroduced or the distillate is kept pure.

How to use distillate? 

THC Distillate can be consumed in many different ways. Most commonly, it’s turned into vape cartridges like the ones you can find at the dispensary by The Clear. Some distillate is specially formulated to be dabbable in a standard dab rig or with a dab straw. This distillate is mostly pure, though terpene blends are reintroduced to the final product to make them more flavorful and potent as well as stable or less viscous for smoking. However, distillate can also be used in topicals, tinctures, and edibles.

How much does distillate cost?

The price point for distillates ranges depending on the quality, the manufacturer, and of course standard dispensary markup. Vapeable distillates with terpenes will normally run you anywhere from $20-$55 per gram. Edibles and topicals made with distillate will also run you about $20-$40 for 100mg.

All in all, distillate is a more affordable and more refined cannabis concentrate that is worth giving a try. 

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