[meizzwang]

I've been doing a lot of rosin squeezing on various different varieties of cannabis and am noticing that some varieties produce more viscous rosin than others. Those that are "thicker" are much easier to manage and scrape off the parchment paper, while the others that are almost liquid at room temp. are nearly impossible to scrape off the parchment paper. I also noticed that one variety, when squeezed a second time, produced rosin that was more viscous than the first squeeze.

When pressing rosin, does the temperature and amount of time it is being "squeezed" affect viscosity? What can you do to make an otherwise "liquid variety" more manageable without adding anything to it?

[Chrondiddle O]

Terpenes

Rosin containing higher percentages of terpenes will be less viscous and more likely to smear across the parchment rather than sticking to your tool
Use a cold surface under the parchment to collect these wetter consistencies
The rosin you're getting from a second press has been exposed to heat and some of the more volatile terps will have been evaporated,hence it is easier to collect than rosin from the first press of the same material,or material which has previously been pressed at a lower temperature which still contained the terpenes that the later/higher temp press cooked off into the atmosphere.

[PDX Dopesmoker]

I'd assume lower temperature presses would mean less decarboxylization which would in turn mean a more solid result.

[Mikell]

Too high a moisture content will produce an overly tacky hard to collect rosin. Letting it set out with a desiccant will help dry it out.

[meizzwang]

Originally Posted by Mikell

Too high a moisture content will produce an overly tacky hard to collect rosin. Letting it set out with a desiccant will help dry it out.

I thought the same thing, but I tried a squeeze on a year old, pretty dried out cannalope haze x C99, and it was still very liquid like and a pain to scrape off the parchment paper. If you know C99, it's a terp. dream come true! All of the very liquidy rosin samples I've tried have been out of this world flavor-wise, but many (but not all) of the more viscous rosin samples have also tasted pretty damn amazing, so not sure if there's any pattern there.

Another interesting yet slightly off topic observation: the Cannalope haze x C99 buds didn't have good tasting "green rips" despite careful trimming+ nutrient leaching before harvesting, but after a rosin squeeze, it was nothing but flavor!


While I can't confirm Chrondiddle's terp. hypothesis , the results I've seen seem to support it so far.

[Gr33nSanta]

I have yet to try the method with a desiccant, when you can't pick it up from the parchment, you likely fucked up. When that happens it is still dabable but you use something cold to pick it up or keep it in the fridge. I have made topical cream with all my old stuff I couldnt pick up at room temperature. The only time I have it hard to collect now is when I am in a hurry to try a new strain, hardly ever worth it, best to be patient.

The trick with the desiccant would be to have it in a very small jar, and give the desiccant a chance to do it's thing like at least 2 weeks to pull moisture out of that oil. I am looking forward to try it out. I am actually going to try it with other bubble hash rosin that has good texture just to see if I can remove more water from it and improve the smoke.

[Mikell]

I'd agree terpenes are likely another factor. Slight difference in the tackiness between a wet sample and a cultivar that always produces tacky rosin. I've seen two (for awhile I thought it was something I was doing) types do it, both very pungent. A chem type and a Sweet Skunk cross.

[PDX Dopesmoker]

Now that you two mention it, I made soft soft sticky stuff that was kind of difficult to work with from some hash that wasn't quite all the way dry about a year ago.
Is there any possibility that pressing at over 212ºF could dry out the material significantly & deliver a more solid resulting extract regardless the likely increase in decarboxylization fraction in the THC?

[Mikell]

Believe so. Tried that for kicks at 212 with some 25u this morning.

Bubbled and spat like a mother but the rosin was in a more solid state than I anticipated, easily collected. Haven't tried it or heard back yet, I imagine it crackles when dabbed. I know kindasfck intentionally presses hashes wetter and then dries in a desiccant chamber.

[Gr33nSanta]

If you have to increase temps to get desired consistency simply means your product isnt dry enough IMO. Ive been pressing, for almost a year now! and I never change the temperature of my plates, always on 83 Celcius. I think you can get slight more yield with more heat but ultimately it is more about how powerful your press is. I have a 10 ton, I could get better yields with a 20tons but it would still be set at 83 Celcius.